I’ve been thinking about the story of the Exodus in Scripture. It has these main parts:
- God delivered His people.
- God delivered HIs people from slavery, from bondage.
- God delivered His people to a chosen status, sonship, a treasured possession.
- God delivered His people through the obedience of a man (Moses).
- God delivered His people for a purpose, not just the privilege of being God’s people, but the responsibility of obedience.
Does that sound familiar in the context of our redemption?
God also said to Moses, “I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty,
Exodus 6:2-8
but by my name the Lord I did not make myself fully known to them.
I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, where they resided as foreigners.
Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant. “Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.
I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.
I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God.
Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.
And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob.
I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord.’”
Notice the “I will” statements of God …
- I will bring you out from under the yoke [of slavery]
- I will free you from being slaves
- I will redeem you
- I will take you as my own people
- I will be your God
- I will bring you to the land
- I will give [the land] to you as a possession
Check out what the New Testament says about our “exodus!”
I will bring you out from under the yoke –
Galatians 5:1 … It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
Matthew 11:28-30 … “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Jesus removes the yoke of our slavery and invites us to be yoked to Him. His is not the yoke of the law but of relationship – where He offers us rest for our souls!
I will free you from being slaves –
Romans 6:17-18 … But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
Romans 8:14-15 … For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.
Jesus buys us out of slavery and adopts us as His children. He removes the stigma of slavery and gives us the freedom and rights as children of the King.
I will redeem you –
1 Peter 1:18 … For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors
Galatians 3:14 … [Christ] redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.
Titus 2:14 … Jesus Christ … gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.
Jesus redeemed us, paid the penalty for our sin, through his blood, according to the riches of GoGod’srace that He pours out on us! Not because of our works, our good deeds, but simply because He loves us!
I will take you as my own people –
John 1:12-13 …. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
Galatians 3:26-28 … So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Romans 8:16-17a … The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ –
When we are redeemed, we not only become God’s people, we are adopted into His family!
I will be your God –
2 Corinthians 6:16 … What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
Revelation 21:3 … And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.
He is our GOD! He is the creator, redeemer, friend, brother … the GOD who saves us!
I will bring you to the land and give it to you as a possession –
John 14: 1-3 …“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
Colossians 3:4 … When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Ephesians 2:6-7 … And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
1 Corinthians 3:16 … Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?
Revelation 21:1 – 3 … Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.
In our redemption, the Spirit of God comes to dwell inside of us and secures us “in Christ” our promised land! Where He is, so are we! He lives in us, in our midst, and we are seated with Him in the heavenly realms. One day He will bring His new creation – a new heaven and earth – and we will dwell securely with Him forever!
The EXODUS is a picture of our salvation, but there is one more point to make! We were delivered from the dominion of darkness, placed into the kingdom of light, rescued from slavery to sin, adopted into God’s family … all for this purpose … to participate in His divine nature and to bring glory to God.
Romans 15:7-9: Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God’s truth, so that the promises made to the patriarchs might be confirmed and, moreover, that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy.
John 15:8 … This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
2 Peter 1:3-4a … His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature
2 Corinthians 4:6-7 … For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
When you read the Exodus story,
don’t forget to thank God for His outstretched arm
and mighty acts on your behalf in rescuing you!
