The God Who is There: Moses and the Covenant with Israel
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
Turn to Exodus
I originally was going to preach from Exodus all the way through Ruth which would be 7 entire books, but as I studied and prepared in Exodus I realized there was no way I was going to skim this so much to be able to also teach the main ideas through the rest of the 6 books. Theere is simply too much gold in Exodus to do that.
The Story so Far
Adam, Eve, the Fall
The Promised Child
The Progression of Sin
Righteous Noah and the Hard Reset on Humanity
Pagan Abraham and the Covenant family
The promise of 400 years of captivity
Isaac
Jacob (renamed Israel)
Stolen from Esau
Joseph
Judah getting the blessing
4 Major Themes
God’s Presence
In the Garden
In the promise to Abraham to be with him and his offspring
Huge point of today
Covenant
With Humanity
Re-established with Noah
With Abraham
Re-established with Isaac and Jacob
Priest-Kingship
Adam in the garden
Abraham and offspring as mediators and promised kings from Abraham’s line
Sacrifice
The animal killed to clothe Adam and Eve
The sacrifice of the promised son
Basic Outline
Israel’s Captivity and Release (Exodus 1-18)
The Mosaic Covenant (or Sinaitic Covenant, or The Covenant with Israel, or The Old Covenant) (Exodus 19-24)
A Dwelling for the Divine King (Exodus 25-40)
Pray!
Exodus
Exodus
1. Israel’s Captivity and Release
1. Israel’s Captivity and Release
Death of Joseph and the Oppression of Abraham’s Descendents (Gen 15:13-14)
Moses’ birth, raised in Egypt, escape to Midian (2:1-22)
God Hears Israel’s Groaning Exodus 2:23-25
Exodus 2:23–25 (ESV)
During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God.
And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.
The God who Sees
The God who Knows
God Calls Moses (3-6)
The Burning bush
I AM WHO I AM
Exodus 3:14–15 (ESV)
God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ” God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.
In English, that sounds like a philosophical statement about God’s existence. In Hebrew, the passage uses the verb ehyeh that is normally translated “I am” or “I will be.” That translation is, in most situations, adequate. But for the meaning of God’s name in Exodus 3 and several other places in the Bible, the word carries the added weight of representing God himself: Yahweh, “I am.”
Indeed, the Hebrews, suffering under their oppressors, needed to know that he was present with them, not just that he exists!
And that is precisely what God announced to Moses and memorialized in his name Yahweh. In biblical Hebrew, the verb indicates the appearance or presence of the thing.
And wherever God’s presence is invoked, that announcement is filled with the certainty of his attention, his care, his power, and his grace. At the burning bush we could say that God said, “Tell your people, I am Present has sent me to you.” God sent Moses to the people in Egypt with that marvelous announcement. And the Exodus and all the miracles surrounding it would be a lesson for all generations that God is Yahweh, present with his people in all their sufferings (cf., Exod 5:2; 7:17; 8:22–23; 12:51; 13:21; 33:14–19; 40:34–38; also Num 6:23–27; Psa 113:1–9).
God has many titles in Scripture, such as “Father,” “Almighty,” “King,” and “Savior.” Each of his titles reveals another of his many roles or attributes. But “Yahweh” is more than a title. It shows us not simply that God exists but also that he is near to his people in love.
The God who is There Ex 3:14-15
Moses’s Excuse and miraculous signs
Exodus 6:7–8 (ESV)
I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.’ ”
The God Who is Powerful (7-17)
Moses and Aaron Confront Pharoah
Miraculous sign
Counterfeit response
The Ten Plagues for Ten Egyptian Gods
Nile, Frogs, Gnats, Flies, Livestock, Boils, Hail, Locusts, Darkness, Pharoah himself
The Passover
Take a lamb and
12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. 13 The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.
The Exodus
The great gifts of gold and silver
Great Signs of God’s Power
Pillars of Cloud and Fire
On the Shore of the Red Sea
Pharoah changes his mind and chases them down
Israel Complains (Ex. 14:10-14)
Were there no graves in Egypt, that you’ve brought us to die out here?
What have you done to us?
Didn’t we say “leave us alone to serve the Egyptians?”
It would be better to be a slave than to die in the wilderness.
Moses Responds
Fear Not
Stand Firm
See the Salvation of Yahweh
He will fight for you
You just need to be quiet
God has Moses raise his staff
God then splits the water in two and the Israelites can cross the sea on dry ground
As the Egyptians followed, God drowned them in the water
The signs in the Wilderness
Bitter water made sweet
Manna from Heaven
Water from a rock (17:1-7)
Through it all the people are grumbling and wanting to return to slavery in Egypt!
2. The Mosaic Covenant (19-24)
2. The Mosaic Covenant (19-24)
The Preparation for the Covenant (19)
Exodus 19:1–8 (ESV)
On the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. They set out from Rephidim and came into the wilderness of Sinai, and they encamped in the wilderness. There Israel encamped before the mountain, while Moses went up to God. The Lord called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”
So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him. All the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” And Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord.
“This is what I’ve done for you, now respond with obedience”
Not, “obey, and I will give you!”
And we can be tempted to read this as “Your reward for obedience is you shall be my treasured possession”
But the better reading is that obedience and keeping the Covenant naturally results in becoming the treasured possession of YHWH
The preparation of everyone for YHWH to come before them
The warning to avoid the mountain
the dangerous nature of holiness
Moses’ Need to go up and down and up and down and up and down
The great gap between God and sinful humanity
The Conditions of the Covenant (20-23:19)
The Book of the Covenant (20-23)
The Ten Words(20)
Exodus 20:1–17 (ESV)
1 And God spoke all these words, saying, 2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
13 “You shall not murder.
14 “You shall not commit adultery.
15 “You shall not steal.
16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”
The Judgements (21-23)
Laws about altars and images
Laws about how to treat one another
Laws about sabbaths and festivals
The Conquest of Canaan Promised (23:20-33)
The Covenant Confirmed (24) READ
Exodus 24:1–8 (ESV)
Then he said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar. Moses alone shall come near to the Lord, but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him.”
Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.” And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. And he sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar. Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
3. A Dwelling for the Divine King (25-40)
3. A Dwelling for the Divine King (25-40)
Moses Goes up the mountain to learn what more God has to instruct them with
Instructions for the Dwelling Place (25-31)
freewill offerings
The Ark of the Covenant - The Place where God’s Presence was Manifest
Tables and Lampstands
Tabernacle - Dwelling place of God
The Bronze Altar
Tabernacle court
Oil for the everburning lamp
Atonement Offerings
Atonement definition - At-One-Ment
Instructions for the priests
garments - 43 verses!
the Consecration of the priests- 46 verses!
Incense altar
Temple Tax
Incense and anointing oil
People set aside and chosen by God for specific work
The purpose for all of this? God’s presence in a way that will not destroy their sinful selves!
The daily and yearly sacrifices of animals and other sacrifices, the specific ways to make things and the warnings to not treat the holy things as profane, the ceremonial washings
It’s to make them pure so they aren’t destroyed in the presence of God!
Exodus 29:19–21 (ESV)
“You shall take the other ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram, and you shall kill the ram and take part of its blood and put it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron and on the tips of the right ears of his sons, and on the thumbs of their right hands and on the great toes of their right feet, and throw the rest of the blood against the sides of the altar. Then you shall take part of the blood that is on the altar, and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron and his garments, and on his sons and his sons’ garments with him. He and his garments shall be holy, and his sons and his sons’ garments with him.
Exodus 29:35–46 (ESV)
“Thus you shall do to Aaron and to his sons, according to all that I have commanded you. Through seven days shall you ordain them, and every day you shall offer a bull as a sin offering for atonement. Also you shall purify the altar, when you make atonement for it, and shall anoint it to consecrate it. Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and consecrate it, and the altar shall be most holy. Whatever touches the altar shall become holy.
“Now this is what you shall offer on the altar: two lambs a year old day by day regularly. One lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight. And with the first lamb a tenth measure of fine flour mingled with a fourth of a hin of beaten oil, and a fourth of a hin of wine for a drink offering. The other lamb you shall offer at twilight, and shall offer with it a grain offering and its drink offering, as in the morning, for a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the Lord. It shall be a regular burnt offering throughout your generations at the entrance of the tent of meeting before the Lord, where I will meet with you, to speak to you there. There I will meet with the people of Israel, and it shall be sanctified by my glory. I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar. Aaron also and his sons I will consecrate to serve me as priests. I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God.
At the Foot of Sinai(32-34)
The Israelites Shape their God (32)
While Moses was on the mountain...
The mockery of the covenant agreements (The offerings, altars, feasts)
Exodus 32:2–6 (ESV)
So Aaron said to them, “Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.
Paul uses this verse (32:6) to exhort the Corinthian church to throw off idolatry and sexual immorality
7 Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.”
Aaron’s excuses
23 For they said to me, ‘Make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 24 So I said to them, ‘Let any who have gold take it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”
They tried to take the God who sees, knows, is present, and is powerful and make him into an image they could understand
The Consequences of Sin
YHWH says his presence can no longer be with them because they might all be destroyed for their sin
Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.”
When the people heard this disastrous word, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments. For the Lord had said to Moses, “Say to the people of Israel, ‘You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do with you.’ ”
The Construction! (35-40)
All is built as it was commanded
YHWH gives some final instructions in how to arrange all the pieces
Then...
Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Throughout all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out. But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out till the day that it was taken up. For the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys.
The Presence of God was with man!
Final Takeaways
Final Takeaways
The God Who Sees
He is not blind to your suffering
He is with you.
He is not blind to our sin
He is not blind to the ways we worship
He tells us time and again about how we are to worship him
He does not accept false worship (other religions, paganism)
He does not accept pseudo-worship
He does not accept the worship of hypocrites
The God Who knows
He knew what he was doing when he attacked the gods of Egypt
It wasn’t some mistake that the plagues correlated with some of the greatest Egyptian gods
He knew what he was doing in instituting the Passover
He knew what he was doing when he told his people to cover their home with a spotless lamb’s blood
He knew what he was doing when it was appointed that Jesus would die at the time of the Passover
He knew what he was doing in sending his Son to the earth
To defeat the serpent, to be a blessing to all the nations of the earth, to perfectly uphold the Covenant Law, to save his people from their sins
He knew what he was doing when he created you and put you on your life path, no matter how hard it has been
To Christians, He knew what he was doing when he called you to come and be grafted in to the Covenant people, the family of Abraham
To non-Christians, he knew what he was doing when he brought you here this morning
It is no mistake that you are hearing this
Choose today, you are not guaranteed tomorrow
The God Who is Present
He is not aloof and far off
“You’re missing it!” Children’s book
Jesus came to bring the presence of God to all the earth
In life, The perfect law-keeper
In death, The perfect Passover sacrifice, the perfect blood to be spilled for the New Covenant
In resurrection, the perfect blessing to ALL the nations
In Ascension to the right hand of God, the perfect priest-king mediator
Hebrews - the great high priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses
One day Jesus will return and will bring about the physical presence of God with man again
The God Who is Powerful
He is powerful over all the gods that people wish to serve
This is why I have no fear of the things that we have been told to fear
The Satanic Panic
Other religions
Atheists and secularists
I do reject those things that YHWH has said are wicked, and I do call others to reject those things, I recognize how very dangerous those things are, but I do not fear them! If YHWH is powerful to defeat the dark power of the Egyptian gods, He is powerful to protect me, his child.
He will fight for you! You just need to trust him!
Let’s Pray