09. Exodus: From Slavery to Presence
As we progress through our study of the unified story of Scripture, it becomes clearer with each page that God knows the end from the beginning.
Long before Israel was enslaved in Egypt (even before Abram’s name had changed to Abraham or he had any children) the LORD said to Abram,
Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions.
Genesis 15:13-14
This story unfolds in the second book of the Bible, called Exodus.
Exodus means ‘going out’ — they went out of Egypt.
Throughout Scripture, Egypt is repeatedly called the house of slavery. (Ex. 13:14, 20:2)
Israel’s slavery in Egypt is a picture of mankind’s slavery to sin and death.
After nine prior plagues, Israel was protected from the final plague, death of the firstborn, by applying the blood of the lamb to their doorpost.
Here Exodus 12 introduces Passover and for the first time in Scripture we find the words,
“He will see the blood… and will pass over…” (Ex. 12:11, 23)
As Christians, we’ve been saved from death and slavery through the blood of Christ, our passover lamb, who has been sacrificed. (1 Cor. 5:7)
After the final plague, the LORD brought them out of Egypt and said,
"You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.”
Exodus 19:4
The Exodus story is not only a story of plagues, miracles, glory and escaping oppression, but of deliverance from slavery into God’s presence.
Just as God said would happen, Israel left Egypt with great spoils and ultimately passed through the Red Sea on dry land.
This passing through the waters was a baptism parallel — it was a picture of them leaving their old life behind and entering into a new life. (1 Cor. 10:2)
However, in the wilderness, the nation of Israel grumbled against God. (Ex. 16:2, 8)
The psalmists said, “They forgot what God had done, the wonders he had shown them.” (Ps. 78:11)
They hardened their hearts to the LORD and worshipped idols, even sacrificing their children in false worship. (Acts 7:41-43; Heb. 3:8-9)
Yet, even though they hardened their hearts and didn’t enter God’s rest, the Spirit prophesied of a future day to enter God’s rest. And we who have believed in Christ enter that rest. (Ps. 95:7-11; Heb. 3:3, 7-8)
Furthermore, the prophet Isaiah foretold a “new thing” that God was doing,
This is what the Lord says — he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick: “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.
Isaiah 43:16-21
Can you see how the LORD himself is using exodus language to point toward a greater deliverance still to come?
When Christ appeared at the fullness of time, on one occasion he went to the Mountain of Transfiguration.
There Jesus spoke with Moses and Elijah, and Luke 9:31 tells us explicitly,
“They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem.”
That word used for “departure” is the Greek word “exodos”.
Jesus Christ spoke of his exodus (going out), which was about to be fulfilled at Jerusalem through his crucifixion, burial, resurrection, and ascension.
Through Christ’s exodus, we are delivered from the house of slavery to sin and Satan, and are baptized into Christ — our old life is gone and we are brought into the promised rest of God’s presence.
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Colossians 1:13
Mirroring the rescue of the Israelites, God has rescued all who believe in the blood of the Lamb out of the true house of slavery.
In closing, we await an imminent final exodus, when the Lord Jesus Christ will return to judge all the world — living and dead — and deliver his people once for all into the promised land of new creation where we will forever be in God’s presence.