Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: Exodus 2:23-25 | Date: December 31, 2017 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

The Defining Events of Israel’s History

Today, the Exodus and the New Exodus, or a little bit more specifically, we could look at both themes of exile and Exodus. And we’ll see that as we work through. Let’s begin with Exodus chapter 2, verses 23 to 25:

During those many days, the king of Egypt died. 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.

Let’s bow together for prayer. Our Father, as we have sung, we praise you that you are the God of all history and the God of our lives. We praise you for how you have brought us to this point, and we trust you for the remainder of our lives, and we trust you for eternity. We are happy that we can rest in your good care. We are thankful most of all in your good providence that you have sent your Son to be our Redeemer and that you have drawn us to him in faith. We’re grateful for the great joy of knowing him. We thank you for the joy of knowing that in him our sins are forgiven and that we are accepted before you, that we’ve been freed from our sin and from our bondage and brought into the freedom of God’s sons. We thank you for your Word that has given us this great story that we may rejoice in it. And we pray that you will strengthen the hearts of your people this morning as we rehearse again together this wonderful plan of redemption that you have accomplished for us in your Son. In his name we pray. Amen.

The two defining events of the Old Testament with regard to Israel are, of course, the Exodus and the exile. The Exodus, the stories recorded for us in the book of Exodus, of course, and the exile, recorded for us in the books of Kings and Chronicles, where after Israel had been unfaithful to the covenant, they must finally endure the covenant curses, and God hurls them out of their land, and they’re carried off into exile.

The exile theme actually begins back in Genesis chapter 3. That seems to be where we begin to track out all of our themes. But the exile theme also begins back in Genesis chapter 3, where Adam and Eve were expelled from the place of blessing. They were banished from God’s presence. They must live east of Eden, apart from the presence of God. The family of Abraham as well is in a kind of exile that we find in the book of Genesis as well. God had promised a land to Abraham, and by the time we get to the end of Exodus, Abraham’s family, though it had grown, was nowhere near that land. They’re off into Egypt.

We turn into the book of Exodus, chapter 1, chapter 2, and we find the people of Israel again. The family of Abraham had grown, but they are not only still in Egypt, but they’re in slavery in Egypt. And then the book of Exodus itself carries this theme of deliverance. The word “Exodus” simply means “a way out,” and that is the theme of the book of Exodus. It’s the way out; it’s the deliverance from the slavery in Egypt. Or as the prophet Micah puts it, I think in such a graphic way, God snatched Israel from their slavery in Egypt and led them to their own land.

We read in the book of Exodus and then through Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy as well, that God led them from Egypt to Mount Sinai where God enacted a covenant and made them his people. He made them a nation. The covenant that God enacted at Sinai was the constitution, so to speak, for the nation of Israel, organizing them as a people of God, a people of his own possession, with the law enacted for them to obey God, in terms of which were for his blessing. And eventually then they were led to the land of promise that God had promised to Abraham that his descendants would have.

High Points of the Exodus Story

The high points of the Exodus story are familiar, but let me highlight just some of them before we begin to trace it through the rest of the Old Testament. Israel, of course, was suffering under harsh bondage, and God raised up a prophet by the name of Moses to lead the people out of Egypt. God tells Israel, if you’d like to see it in chapter 3 of Exodus verse 21, “I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians and they shall not go away empty.” That is, I will rescue you from this land and in fact the Egyptians will be eager for you to leave by the time I’ve done.

And then, of course, follows the series of judgments, the series of ten plagues that God brings upon Egypt to punish them for the way they have oppressed his people, Israel. And you remember that series of plagues culminates in the tenth plague, which is the death of the firstborn, where God says he will come through Egypt that night and destroy the firstborn in every house. He offered a way out for Israel. They could slaughter a lamb, collect its blood in a basin, dip a hyssop branch into the blood, and paint the doorposts both sides and above. And God says, “If you have done this, your firstborn will be spared.” And God comes through in judgment through Egypt that night, and it says the wails and the cries of the people of Egypt were heard everywhere.

But the people of Israel were spared through the slaying of the Passover lamb and of course then the Passover meal was to be observed and it became a perpetual reminder of God’s deliverance of the people of Israel from their slavery. With that, then, of course, is the Passover lamb, the blood, the hyssop branch, the firstborn. These kinds of notes highlight the theme of the Exodus and the event of it in the book of Exodus.

The people of Egypt now are eager for the people of Israel to leave, and they say, “Take our gold, take our silver, take our clothes, just go.” God has a way of making people willing. Reminds me of the story later in Israel’s history when he sent hornets to the Canaanites and made them willing to leave as well. But God was not quite through with Pharaoh yet. He hardens his heart one last time and Pharaoh’s army chases after Israel, traps them at the Red Sea. God protects them there, you remember, splits the sea wide open in half, and the people of Israel cross over the Red Sea on dry land. Finally now, the army is set loose and they come after Israel. And in the midst of the sea, God closes up the waters again and the army of Pharaoh is destroyed in the Red Sea. And on the other side of the Red Sea, the people of Israel, Exodus chapter 15, sing the song of Moses, a song of deliverance for God’s work for them.

From there, of course, they go to Sinai, where God establishes a covenant relationship with them. They become a nation of God’s people, a people of his own possession. It was said back in Exodus chapter 3, “Let my people go that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.” And now they come to Sinai where covenant instructions are given for the whole sacrificial system: the priesthood, the sacrifices, the various holy days. In this way, the people of Israel could worship the Lord God. But of course, as the story progresses, the people of Israel did not trust God as they were called to, and they were in a sense exiled again for 40 years there in the wilderness until finally Joshua is raised up by God to lead them into the promised land. God had promised this land to Abraham, and we read in the book of Joshua, promise kept.

Prominent Themes of the Exodus

Now there are several prominent themes—actually themes that are major themes in their own right—but prominent themes that are actually taken up by this larger Exodus theme that we find as we progress through the Bible, and it takes up these other themes in them. The theme of deliverance, of course, often spoken of as in terms of redemption, or more specifically, a ransoming of Israel from Egypt. The theme of Passover is prominent in this Exodus theme as well. Other themes are themes like Moses, plagues, judgment, deliverance through judgment. For instance, through the plagues, judgment of the plagues, they are delivered. Through the judgment of the paschal lamb, they are delivered.

Other themes like Sinai, covenant, God making a people his own, God making a way through the wilderness. Also the land theme, which was the ultimate objective of the Exodus, that they could be brought into their own land. Nationhood, a people of God. The waters, passing through the waters. All of these themes highlight the larger theme of Exodus, where God rescued his people from Egypt. Especially prominent in this Exodus theme is the theme that I mentioned already, and that’s the theme of ransoming or redeeming Israel. And we find this with a couple of different kinds of language in the original, but it’s still this theme of ransoming Israel from their slavery.

In fact, in Exodus chapter 6, before the fact, Exodus 6 verses 6 through 8 say: “Therefore say to the people of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you, I will ransom you with an outstretched arm, with great acts of judgment. I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God.'” In Exodus chapter 15, after the fact, we have the song of Moses that Israel sang: “You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have ransomed, and you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode.”

This, the Exodus, is the defining event of the people of Israel as a people. God had promised Abraham that he would give him descendants, he would make of them a great nation, he would make them his people, and it is the Exodus that accomplishes that. This is the defining event in the nation of Israel in their history. God rescued his people, he made them his own, he made them a great nation and blessed as he promised to Abraham. And forever after then, this, the Exodus, was the historic proof of God’s love; it was the historic proof of God’s power, God’s faithfulness, that God will keep his word. And in fact, it is rehearsed many times through the Old Testament as the evidence that Israel can trust this God in his providence.

For example, 2 Samuel chapter 7 verse 23: “Who is like your people Israel? There’s always that note through the Old Testament that Israel is uniquely blessed of all the people of the earth. Who is like your people of Israel? The one nation on earth whom God went to redeem to be his people, making himself a name and doing for them great and awesome things by driving out before your people whom you ransomed for yourself from Egypt, a nation and its gods.” We find this in the book of Psalms repeatedly. Our Wednesday night prayer group, we have been working through one Psalm at a time each week, and we’ve seen this over and over again, that they’re always pointing back. This is the event that demonstrates that this is a God who can be trusted. This is the God who brought us out of Egypt. This is the God who redeemed us. This is the God who went to work and bared his arm for us.

Later in Israel’s history we find it even more, even in times of Israel’s rebellion. God points back to this event as the demonstration of what he has done for them and what he had done to make them his own. Micah chapter 6 and verse 4: “I brought you up from the land of Egypt and I ransomed you from the house of bondage and I sent before you Moses and Aaron and Miriam.” Psalm 78 verse 42 and following, we have a rehearsal of this as well. We’re pointing back in times of Israel’s rebellion, pointing back to what God had done for them. Israel did not keep in mind the Lord’s power or the day when he ransomed them from the foe.

And then one particularly interesting reminder of this theme that we have in the Old Testament is Hosea chapter 11 and verse 1. We don’t have time to go to it. You might want to mark it down and see it again in Matthew as well. But in Hosea 11 and verse 1, the prophet says, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.” And of course the reminiscence is back to Exodus chapter 2. Israel is my firstborn son. Let my son go. And now in a time of Israel’s rebellion, God is looking back to what he has done to make them his people, even though now they are such rebels. God says, “Out of Egypt, I’ve called my son.” It’s a historical reference back to what God has done for his people to make them his. This was the defining moment, the defining event that made Israel a nation, that made Israel the people of God.

A Paradigm of God’s Redemptive Work

Now, what’s the point? It’s an interesting reminder of God’s power. It’s an interesting reminder of God’s electing love, that he had chosen Israel to make them his, and he goes to such length to make them his. But what’s the point of it all? I think you’ve heard me say it before, that there is a stark difference, a contrast between the way we commemorate an event and the way God commemorates an event. When we have an important event, we make a movie after the fact commemorating it. And what God does is he stages the play ahead of time and then rehearses it again and rehearses it again, sometimes before the big one comes.

And in fact, that’s how the theme of the Exodus is treated in the scriptures. We have it with many other themes in the scripture. You have David as a theme, kingship as a theme, all leading to the great King. You have the prophet theme, leading to the great prophet. And you have the priest-king theme, looking to the great Priest, and the sacrifice, looking to the great sacrifice. And you have the manna, looking to the real manna. And you have so much of this: the tabernacle, the temple, looking to the great tabernacle and temple. Even with themes like the flood, we have it running through scripture, pointing to the real judgment that is to come.

But we have that here with the theme of Exodus, that God is staging the play ahead of time, all to direct our attention to a greater Exodus that is yet to come. And so because of that, we find recurring echoes of the Exodus theme throughout the Old Testament, particularly in the Psalms and in the Prophets. It’s like a refrain that keeps getting sung over and over again, referring back to what God has done for his people, and it becomes then a paradigm, a pattern, a kind of template of God’s redemptive work for his people that is yet to come.

Let’s track out some of that. We find it actually in the very next generation after the Exodus, in the time of Joshua. Joshua, of course, led the people of God into their promised land. And you remember incidents like, “Joshua, take your sandals off, you’re on holy ground.” Does that ring a bell? Sound like Exodus? Or we find others like the Jordan River parting and the people walking through on dry land. That should ring a bell. Bruce Waltke in his Old Testament theology tracks out something like 14 connections, allusions from the time of Joshua in that event back to the Exodus to remind them that this is the second generation doing a redo of the Exodus.

I don’t have time to work through them. Perhaps another time we can, but in various of the Psalms, we find David particularly not only echoing the Exodus theme, but taking up the Exodus theme with reference to his own personal deliverance. Saul was chasing him after his life. God delivered him. And it’s all couched in Exodus themes, as though David has experienced now his own personal Exodus. And you have allusions back to the shining face of the people, allusions to the deliverance, passing through the waters, and so on. The avenging angels encamping around them and protecting them. All of this drawing our attention to the Exodus theme, but hear David saying, “I’ve experienced my own Exodus. God has been at work in delivering me.” And he picks up language from the book of Exodus, applies it to himself. Even in Psalm 34 is a fascinating one where he takes the language of the Passover lamb and applies it to himself—that God has spared me and not a bone was broken. Does that ring a bell? And the Exodus and the Passover lamb, and of course the Apostle John picks that up and applies it to Jesus at his crucifixion as well. Psalm 144 is another example there. It’s not as explicit, but there we have the people of God delivered and singing a new song and God leading them through the mighty waters in rescue and so on.

Well, we find those kinds of allusions throughout the Old Testament. As I say, it’d be fun to track them out in detail unless you see them with your own eyes and not just hear it from me. But that’ll have to be another time. We’re trying for the big picture this morning. But the theme actually grows from there, and it becomes the ground of hope for God’s continued intervention for his people as well, and his continued deliverance of them from their enemies.

For example, in Isaiah chapter 10, we have an echo of Exodus chapter 14. I’ll just read it here for you: “Therefore, thus says the Lord God of hosts, ‘O my people who dwell in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrians, for when they strike with the rod and lift up their staff against you as the Egyptians did, for in a very little while my fury will come to an end, and my anger will be directed toward their destruction, and the Lord of hosts will wield against them a whip, as when he struck Midian at the Rock of Horeb, and his staff will be over the sea, and he will lift it as he did in Egypt.'” And again, we find Exodus as something of a paradigm, a template of God’s commitment to his people, and it’s a theme that recurs over and over again throughout the Psalms, and especially in the Prophets, over and over again.

Interestingly, along with that, we have the exile theme cropping up in the prophets as well. After centuries of rebellion, they have violated the covenant and their covenant responsibilities. Israel, both the Northern and the Southern kingdoms, must endure the covenant curses. And the Northern kingdom is carried off into Assyria. Roughly 150 years later, the Southern kingdom is carried off into Babylon. And it’s described sometimes in terms of exile. God hurling them out of their land or a reversal of the Exodus. Ezekiel says Judah will lay waste, mark it, 40 years. Remember the 40 years in the wilderness? Amos: “I will lead you 40 years in the wilderness.”

Well, we have the exile theme cropping up like that, and in conjunction with it, we find in the prophets also this new Exodus theme cropping up as well. God will bring his people back to their land, just as he had promised to Abraham. God delivered Israel from Egypt in the past, so he will deliver Israel from the nations that have taken them into exile. So Isaiah 49 verses 24 to 26: God the Redeemer will deliver his people from Babylon. And there’s Exodus imagery that is used. There’s the divine warrior, there’s the armor of the Lord, the hand of the Lord outstretched. He’ll carry his people on eagle’s wings. He’ll make a highway in the desert. He’ll send plagues in judgment on those peoples. The firstborn will be spared. The rock will be with them in the wilderness. There will be water from the rock provided for them. All of this Exodus imagery brought up to show them that God is still committed to his people and he will deliver them from Babylon just as he had delivered them from Egypt so many centuries before.

Isaiah chapter 61 and verse one: God will bring liberty to the captives and this time, this time the people will not leave in haste as they did from Egypt, but God will provide food and water and he will guide them safely. This theme is famously prominent in Isaiah 40-55, the so-called Book of Consolation. We have references there to the tyranny of Pharaoh, both of Egypt and of Babylon. We have the judgment of Egypt, the escape from Egypt, people leaving Babylon but not having to hurry this time. As I have just mentioned, the separating of the waters in the Exodus. In Isaiah 42, verses 10 to 12, Israel will sing again the song of Moses. Isaiah chapter 51, verses 9 to 11: “Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord. Awake, as in the days of old, the generation of long ago. Was it not you who cut Rahab?” That’s the nickname for Egypt. “Was it not you who cut Egypt in pieces, who pierced the dragon? Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over? And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing. Everlasting joy shall be on their heads, and they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”

That’s Isaiah. We have it in Jeremiah as well. He was the prophet, you remember, to the generation of exiles. Jeremiah chapter 16 is a particularly interesting sample of this. Jeremiah 16 verses 12 and following: first of all, verses 12 and 13, we have the language of exile. “Because you are stubborn, I’ll hurl you out of this land.” But then it picks right up in the next verse with the theme of the new Exodus: “The days are coming, declares the Lord, when it shall be no longer said, ‘As the Lord lives who brought the people up out of the land of Egypt,’ but ‘As the Lord lives who brought the people of Israel out of the North country and out of all the countries where he has driven them,’ for I will bring them back to their own land that I gave to their fathers.”

We find it again in Jeremiah chapter 21. We have the exile, the reversal of the Exodus, people hurled out of their land, but then picks up in the next verses, this new Exodus theme as well. God will bring them back. And what’s particularly interesting—and this will make its way closer to where we are—what’s particularly interesting is that the language of this New Exodus theme that we find in the Old Testament prophets sometimes goes beyond the language of just bringing them back from Babylon. Sometimes the language exceeds that and it seems to be reflecting a greater Exodus, a greater deliverance, a greater bringing back.

So for example, Isaiah chapter 43: “But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: ‘Fear not, for I have ransomed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; and when you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, flame shall not consume you. Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, who brings forth chariot and horse and army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, they are quenched like a wick. Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.'”

And notice here how the language seems to exceed any return just from Babylon. “I’ll make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild beasts will honor me and the jackals and the ostriches. And I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself, that they might declare my praise.” And then it begins to take on this new creation theme. It’s not only bringing them back from Babylon, but the desert’s going to sprout, and there’ll be rivers through the desert, and my people will thrive, and this will be a return, not just back to the land of Israel, this will be a return all the way back to Eden.

In Jeremiah 16 verses 12 and following, as I’ve already mentioned it, this new Exodus, he says, will be so big, it will eclipse the original Exodus and any other. It will no longer be said, “This is the Lord who brought his people up out of Egypt,” but rather it will be said, “This is the Lord who brought his people out of the north country and out of all of the countries to which they were scattered.” And so Jeremiah says, “You’ve broken the covenant, God will scatter you.” But then again, he says, “There’ll be a new Exodus. It’ll be grander than anything you’ve seen before. And he’ll bring us back to Eden.”

And that of course brings us to the end of the Old Testament, where the return from Babylon is described for us in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. And the interesting thing there is that that return described for us in Ezra and Nehemiah is really not all that spectacular. There’s no blooming deserts. There’s no land renewed like Eden. They’ve returned to the land, but it’s not the time of the new covenant. It’s not the time of the Davidic Messiah. And it’s certainly not a bringing back to Eden. But there we have it, the Old Testament tracking out—this is too brief, but just a tracking out of this Exodus theme—that God delivered his people and made them his own, and for all of their disobedience, God will bring them back again, and it’s gonna be a grand thing. And then it happens, but not really.

Jesus the New Moses

Now where do you think all of that is leading? Well, here in church, you know the answer is Jesus. I heard a story some time ago about a pastor who was teaching a children’s Sunday school class, and he gave an illustration, and he said, “I’m thinking, children, I’m thinking of a small animal. He’s furry, he’s gray, he has a big bushy tail, he climbs up trees, he eats nuts. What is it?” There’s a silence and finally one little boy raises his hand. “Pastor, I’m sure the answer is Jesus, but it sounds like a squirrel.” If you ever fall asleep in church and someone asks you a question, the answer is Jesus. That’s where it’s taking us. It’s always where it’s taking us and that’s where this is taking us as well.

And it’s fascinating as we open volume two of the book, Matthew chapter one and verse one and following, very quickly we find Jesus presented as a new Moses. Again, this would be fun to track this out. For now, you’ll just have to listen to me highlight it. But we find, for example, in the early chapters of Matthew, the infancy narrative of Jesus with the narrow escape of the child. Does that ring a bell? Sounds like Exodus 2. You might remember as well, there’s the slaughter of the children in Matthew and in Exodus. You might remember Matthew chapter 2 and verse 20, where after Joseph and Mary had gone to Egypt, now Herod had died, and God speaks to Joseph and says, “You can come back now.” The language is, “They are dead which sought the young child’s life.” And that is language lifted right out of Exodus chapter 4 verse 19, where God appears to Moses and said, “They are dead which sought your life.”

Matthew chapter three, John the Baptist’s ministry is summarized as one who is preparing the way in the wilderness, right out of Isaiah chapter 40. Matthew chapter four, we have Jesus tempted of the devil in the wilderness, mark it 40 days. And all of Jesus’ responses to Satan are taken right out of Israel in the wilderness passages. We have Matthew chapter five, where Jesus delivers the law from the mountain, the Sermon on the Mount. Sounds a lot like Moses.

And I think most fascinating of all, Matthew chapter two and verse 15: because Herod is seeking to destroy the child, Joseph and Mary must flee to Egypt with the baby Jesus. And now they’re called back and Matthew says they come back out of Egypt, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets saying—and here he quotes Hosea 11:1—”Out of Egypt I’ve called my son.” Now that’s a fascinating thing. Hosea’s remark, “Out of Egypt I’ve called my son,” is just a historical reference back to what God did in Exodus. And now what Matthew was saying, no, all of that was a template. All of that was a staging of the play ahead of time. And now his real Son, Israel par excellence, Jesus is coming out of Egypt and he is leading in a new Exodus.

The Greater Exodus Accomplished in Jerusalem

Well, there’s more. But the question then is how? How will he lead in this new Exodus? And here we get into passages throughout the Gospels, even in Acts and the Epistles, in a big way of how the work of Jesus Christ delivers us and accomplishes a new Exodus. One of my favorite is Luke chapter 9 and verse 31. Just a cryptic remark. Jesus, he remembers on the Mount of Transfiguration and Moses and Elijah are there and they’re talking. And it says that Jesus discussed with them, they spoke of his “departure” that he would accomplish in Jerusalem. And the language is fascinating. Jesus spoke of his “exodus” that he would fulfill in Jerusalem. That’s just not the way he’s talked normally. There’s no question he’s talking about his death and resurrection that will come in Jerusalem. If you’ve read through Matthew, if you’ve read through any of the Gospels once, you know that’s what he’s talking about. But the way he describes it is fascinating. He spoke of the “exodus” that he would accomplish or fulfill in Jerusalem. And there he refers to his death and resurrection as accomplishing what this Exodus initially portrayed. It will be a greater Exodus from a greater exile, redeeming his people from their sin.

You find an echo of this in the famous saying of Jesus, Matthew 20, verse 28: “Son of man did not come to be ministered to, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many.” That’s Exodus language. We could track that out another time. In Matthew chapter 26, we have it in a very explicit way. We’re at the Lord’s table, the Last Supper. Jesus observes this Passover meal and transforms it into a meal that we observe still today. That original Passover meal was intended to look back to a deliverance from Egypt and from bondage and slavery. And now that meal is transformed and we look back to Jesus and the deliverance from sin that he accomplished in his death.

The unleavened bread was to commemorate their hasty Exodus from Egypt. And now the bread is to commemorate and cause us to remember his body, which was given for us. The blood of the Passover lamb is what gave them their deliverance from Egypt with their firstborns. And now the blood Jesus takes in the cup and says, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is given for the forgiveness of sins.” And all of that language calls up Jeremiah chapter 31 in the new covenant, which itself is associated with the new Exodus theme. And all of that comes together that Jesus is leading in a new Exodus. Every time we take the cup—”do this in remembrance of me”—we remember that it is through his death and resurrection that we are redeemed from a greater bondage.

All of this is meant to inform our understanding of the cross and Jesus’ death. This is a new Exodus, a new deliverance, and in fact Jesus himself is exiled on the cross, bearing the punishment, forsaken of God, redeeming his people. The Gospel of John is particularly famous for handling this theme. Jesus is the new manna, he’s the new Moses. But especially in the Gospel of John, he is the Passover, slain at the time of the Passover. Just as in Egypt, there was the lamb that was slain and his blood was shed and was applied to the doorpost—and because of the slain lamb, the people of Israel are free—so now Jesus, because of his blood shed, in behalf of his people and in their place, bearing the judgment of God, bears their curse, bears their exile, so that they are set free.

This theme is picked up in the Gospels in so many different ways. It’s an interesting story. For some time, for years, New Testament scholars would debate: Does Mark pick up this Exodus theme in the Gospel of Mark? “Yes, he does.” “No, he doesn’t.” “Yes, he does.” “No, he doesn’t.” “Well, look, you can see some themes here that pick it up.” “Yeah, but it’s not the language of Exodus. It’s not anchored exegetically. You can’t prove it.” “Yes, it does.” “No, it’s not.” Then some smart guy comes along. His name is Ricky Watts. Actually, his name is Rick E. Watts. Ricky Watts. Smart guy comes along, writes his PhD dissertation at the University of Cambridge, and demonstrates that Mark is taking up this Exodus theme, but he’s not reaching to Exodus, he’s getting it from Isaiah, who picks it up from Exodus. And now everybody knows Mark deals with the Exodus theme, through Isaiah and the new Exodus theme.

A couple of months ago, I was interviewing a British scholar for Books at a Glance. He’s written a book on the theology of Paul, and he mentioned an interesting story. Back when Ricky Watts was doing this work, he said he, years ago, he was talking to him and says, “You know, I’ve wondered if I see the same thing in Paul.” “No, no, no, it’s not in Paul, it’s in Mark.” Well, now everybody knows it’s in Paul. Paul picks it up in several different ways. Of course, most famously in 1 Corinthians 5: “Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed for us.” And now, more recently, a man named David Powell has written a book entitled, Acts and the Isaiahic New Exodus. Don’t you love the way scholars talk? Acts and the Isaiahic New Exodus. But again, he’s tracing the theme back through Isaiah, and he’s demonstrating not only that Luke, in the book of Acts, picks up this theme of the Exodus, but actually, this Exodus theme becomes a substructure for Luke’s agenda in the book of Acts, bringing a light to the Gentiles.

Well, New Testament students are recognizing increasingly that there is this massive overarching structure of thought to understand Jesus and to understand the story of the New Testament—that the Exodus was given to demonstrate God’s faithfulness and ultimately the work that he would accomplish in Jesus and his death and resurrection. And it’s not just a citation here and there of some Exodus theme, but it’s a substructure in how we understand Jesus and his work, and it crops up over and over again.

We find it famously in the book of Hebrews. Jesus is the better Moses, the greater deliverer, the better priest, the better covenant, the better tabernacle, bringing us to a better than Sinai—he brings us to Mount Zion. And he brings his people out of a bondage that’s far worse than the bondage of Egypt. He brings them out of the bondage of sin, and he defeats an enemy so much worse than Pharaoh; he defeats Satan himself. And because by his deliverance, we have been brought into the freedom of God’s sons because by Jesus’ work in Hebrews, we’ve been brought into rest. We must be careful not to fail to trust him so that we may experience that rest.

Peter picks it up as well. He opens his letter to the chosen sojourners dispersed abroad. He tells them, “Gird up the loins of your mind because you’ve been redeemed with a spotless lamb.” The church he describes as a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation called out. All of that is drawn from Exodus and Isaiah in the new Exodus theme. In Peter as well, the Christians are described as sojourners, being fed a spiritual food. Ring a bell?

The Ultimate Exodus

And then we come to the book of Revelation. Chapter 2, the faithful are given the hidden manna. Chapter 5, they sing praises around the throne to the Lamb who has ransomed us by your blood to God. Revelation chapter 6 through 16, very famously, echo the plagues of Egypt: the hail, the fire, the sea turning to blood, a third of the creatures dying, darkness, the locusts—all of this famously recalling the judgments on Egypt. In chapter 12, the woman, that is the messianic community, is delivered safely through the plagues, and she is carried on eagles’ wings out into the desert. And in Revelation chapter 15, after being brought safely through the plagues, the redeemed in heaven sing the song of Moses.

When Israel came out of Egypt, they built a tabernacle. God took up residence in it. And then in Revelation 21 and 22, God prepares a new dwelling place, a new heaven and a new earth, a new sanctuary, which is the glory of his presence. The first Exodus was followed by a conquest of Canaan. Prophets point to a new conquest, a new return from exile. That conquest is fulfilled finally in Revelation chapter 19, where Jesus comes as a conquering new Joshua, defeats his enemies, sets up a kingdom, and establishes the rule of God on the earth. This is the ultimate Exodus. The last trumpet sounds and God sends his angels. Jesus says, “I’ll send my angels and they’ll gather the elect from the four winds.” The dead will be raised imperishable and they’ll be caught up to meet the Lord and to be with him in his presence forever.

Here we were lost in our sins, exiled from the presence of God, and God came to the rescue. God the Son himself came and was himself exiled, bearing our sin, exhausting the curse, and by it all, snatching us out of our bondage and bringing us to the freedom of the promised land. And in Christ today, we are pilgrims between the ages making our way to the ultimate promised land. And to help us understand all of the greatness and the significance of it all, God staged the play centuries in advance, replayed it over a couple of times, until finally the new Moses and the new Joshua came to save his people from their sins. And this is the grand stage on which the Bible portrays the story of redemption.

You may not have considered it, but if you have not yet come to Christ, exile is exactly where you are. You have no right to the presence of God and you have no access. You have no joy of his fellowship and no reason to think that he will bless. You’re lost and you’re in bondage to your sin. The Bible is written to tell us that God has sent a deliverer and he’s the only way out. And the good news is he offers himself freely to all who will come to him in faith and be saved. Amen.

Let’s pray. Our Father, what a marvelous book this is, what a marvelous story, what a great Redeemer we have. Oh, Lord, we remember. We remember what it was to be lost in the bondage of our sin. And we remember the joy of the freedom that we enjoy now in Christ. Thank you for sending him for us. Thank you for the freedom that you’ve given us in him. And we thank you for the blessed hope that we enjoy yet. In his name we pray. Amen.