Week 5

As we begin Exodus, we see in the very first verses it is tying in to Genesis. It reminds the reader that the 12 tribes of Israel are in Egypt through Joseph's hand and provision, and that God has been with them and blessed them. They are becoming so prosperous and numerous that once a new Pharaoh assumed power, "who did not know Joseph", he is threatened by their numbers and prosperity and begins to enslave them. He will begin to oppress them in a progressive way. First, the Pharaoh will force them to produce more and work harder, evidence of his cruelty. Second, he will order the Hebrew midwives to kill every Hebrew male child that they deliver (a move they will resist because they fear God more than Pharaoh… God in turn will bless them and protect them). Third, when this last cruel plot failed, he will institutionalize the murder of every firstborn male child of the Hebrew people. Pharaoh is the cause of enormous and grave suffering, both physically and emotionally of God's chosen people. This will not stand. The time has come in history for God to act again. Moses writes, "God hears the cry of the Israelites and He remembers the covenant he made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." He is ready to act. He remains steadfast to his promises to Israel. It is important to note that in the Bible, miracles do not happen all the time… it really seems they come in three seasons. This will be the first season of miracles in the Bible - the story of the Exodus! The other season of great miracles occur around the beginning of the Prophetic era and then lastly around Christ and the founding of the early church. These are all signs of God breaking into history at specific times for specific purposes. Today, many scholars will want to argue that there was no exodus at all… that these stories are impossible and there is no way to prove them. But the story of the Exodus is CENTRAL to faith. The great feast of Passover, which is so central to Judaism, happens here. The Exodus is followed by long years of theological interpretation by the children of God and it was also predicted and foretold to happen by God himself. Either the Bible is lying, or we have to take it at face value because this is the CORE of the Old Testament. We see that God chooses Moses from the Levite tribe to be the one who delivers Israel. He is uniquely qualified to lead: born a Hebrew, saved by his Hebrew mother and Egyptian adoptive mother. He will be well versed in both cultures. He knows who the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is, and at the same time knew Egyptian culture and military skill first-hand. He is instinctively a man of justice: he exacts justice on the Egyptian who is arguing with the Hebrew by killing the Egyptian. When he flees Egypt because his murder is discovered, he protects the women in Midian against the shepherds who are refusing to give them water. He will find his wife there in Midian (Midian's are descendants of Abraham, by Keturah, the wife after Sarah died). This might help explain her motives behind jumping out and circumcising their son on the way back from Midian to Egypt to begin his mission to save Israel from slavery. It appears God is about to kill Moses for his willful disobedience in not circumcising his son. If he is going back to lead the people of Abraham out of Egypt, then how could he be guilty of violating the very covenant between God and his people, of which circumcision was paramount? She jumps in and circumcises their son herself. God will not tolerate disobedience in His called leader. The essence of Moses mission: rescue Israel from their oppressive bondage and lead them into the promised land. God will tell Moses exactly what to expect with Pharaoh. 4:21, "And the Lord said to Moses, "When you go back to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put in your power; but I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go. Then you shall say to Pharaoh, "Thus says the Lord, Israel is my firstborn son. I said to you, Let my son go that he may worship me." But you refused to let him go; now I will kill your firstborn son." So we know what is going to happen. Moses knows what is going to happen. The Hebrew people do not. They will have to learn to trust through witnessing these mighty acts of God's power once they happen. What is this about God hardening Pharaoh's heart? What does that mean? First it is important to note, that Pharaoh is not trying to do right, he is not humble before Moses about God… in fact, he asks the question, "Who is this God?" He is a cruel man who has treated Israel horribly. His heart is already hard. In fact, in the first few plagues, it says that Pharaoh's heart was hardened. He is obstinate, "I do not know the Lord, and I will not let his people go." And every time it appears he will relent and let them go, he changes his own mind. However, it is also important to note that God played a hand in his hardening as well. Toward the end of the plagues, it says, "God hardened his heart". In addition, God tells Moses beforehand that he will harden Pharaoh's heart. Sometimes we get a picture from this that God is unjust, that Pharaoh was cruelly manipulated by God, just like Judas was in Christ's betrayal. But we must note that God is only hardening a heart that has already been hardened. Choices by that individual have already been made for obstinance and rejection of God. Therefore, God is strengthening and enforcing an inner conviction of hostility toward himself that was already there. His hardening has great purpose: to make God known to the Egyptians as well as the Israelites… indeed to make his name great to the whole world. We read that even the inhabitants of Canaan hear about these mighty acts that God performed. God's ultimate goal is to display fantastic, amazing power, and that can only happen as Pharaoh heart is continually strengthened to resist (and not give in to resistance). Have you ever thought about how many are the plagues? Couldn't God have stopped at just five? They get redundant. God continues to harden Pharaoh's already hard heart, so that the plagues will be many, so that God can deliver the knock-out punch, so there can be absolutely no question to his greatness and power. When we read Romans 1, we see that part of the world's punishment for rejection of God, is God stepping out of the way, and allowing us to reject him… when we don't see fit to acknowledge God, he gives us over to a debased mind and to do the things that should not be done. Our punishment for rejecting God, is him allowing us to go our own way. When we ask God to leave our schools, our homes, our businesses, He will leave… That is part of our judgment and punishment. God has total sovereignty to set up the conditions under which he will bless and curse.

Plagues: Purpose: their purpose is clear - to show the power and greatness of God. God is making himself known through them. It is his hand of action in history. They demonstrate His complete and sovereign power. They seem to be surgical and purposeful and seem to be an attack against the Egyptian gods. It seems to be a showdown between God and the gods of Egypt. Between chapters 6 and 13 we hear, "you will know that I am the Lord," over and over. The first plague falls on the Nile, which was considered the "mother of life". The frogs were worshipped because they live in two worlds at one time (water and land), therefore the frog is sacred because he knows the secret to life. Insects were worshipped, especially the fly, because they could turn dead stuff into life (maggots). The dung beetle was also worshipped, for it buries it's eggs in manure and they produce life, so they clearly know the secret to life. The ram, goat and bull were male animals worshipped because they hold power. They worshipped vegetation because plants die and rise every year, like the god Osiris who was a symbol of this. The mightiest god of all was Amon-re, the sun god. and we will see God turns off the sun god, the mightiest who could never fail for three whole days. Ultimately God takes life itself. God is saying I am not like any of these "gods"; I hold all these in my hands; you will know that I am the Lord, God is destroying all the false things believed to give life. Progression: The first three plagues seem to include the magicians of Pharaoh. In the first two (changing the Nile to blood and the frogs) the magicians are able to duplicate. But by the time, we get to the frogs, the magicians cannot duplicate it and even they cry out, "This is the Finger of God!" By the time we get to the fourth plague, God begins to distinguish the plagues between the Israelites and the Egyptians. These plagues do not affect the land of Goshen where the Israelites live. God is able to be surgical and precise with these plagues. And by the time we get to the later plagues, it is clear that there is no one or god comparable to the God of Israel. And then we have His final decisive act with the Passover. The Passover and the crossing of the Red Sea stand together as the story of God's deliverance for his people from Egyptian bondage. We might forget that Pharaoh killed all the firstborn children of Israel. God will respond. He calls Israel his firstborn son. He will deliver his firstborn son out of the hand of Pharaoh in order to make his own name great and to fulfill his promise to Abraham. When we get to Passover, we take a long break as God explains the liturgy, the order, the need to maintain this festival throughout the generations as a memorial for what God is doing for Israel.

God is very specific about the Passover meal - about the lamb without blemish, you may not break its bones, it must be roasted over a fire, wholly consumed and burned. The blood of that lamb would be the sign by which the angel of death would Passover God's people, and smite all the first born sons of animal and human alike among the Egyptians. Israel must remember it, from generation to generation, they must remember these mighty of acts of deliverance by God for his people. With this final act of Passover, Pharaoh will indeed know who God is, he will have the answer to his first question. And just as God told Moses it would happen; Israel is allowed to leave with great plunder from the Egyptians. They are begging them to leave, and giving them all their wealth, just as God said he would do. About a million people are leaving Goshen, walking out, with no violence on their part. And God will go before them in a great cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night to guide them. They get to the Red Sea, and again Pharaoh changes his mind, if that is even possible. He pursues Israel, they become terrified. Moses says to stand still and watch the Lord fight for them. And with a mighty hand, God separates the sea, Israel crosses on dry ground, and the sea will swallow up Pharaoh and his army. the battle is done, it is complete victory. God has rescued His people; the promise of Abraham is rolling on. He is rescuing Israel from destruction by the hand of the Egyptians. God steps into time and space to reveal himself in glory and awesome works. The exodus is so central to the meaning and theme of God throughout the Bible - that God delivers His people FIRST. He first redeems us, rescues us, before we are made righteous. The Passover will gain its true meaning when Jesus celebrated it with his disciples before his death. He would be the lamb that would be slain in order for God's wrath for sin to pass over all of us who are in sin. We are delivered now, we are rescued, we are free from the bondage of slavery represented by Egypt. The new Exodus has taken place through the death of Jesus through whom we've been rescued from this present evil age. Galatians 5-6 The church in Galatia has been falling into legalism. The Gentiles have been taught by Judaizers that they need to become "Jewish" before they become Christian, by circumcision and adhering to food laws and observing certain festival days. Paul responds in these last chapters by saying that the Holy Spirit is now the key. The law is good in the sense that it is perfect because it is from God. God does not contradict himself or change. What is in the law is what is right and it is the standard by which we are judged. However, Christ has now come and perfectly fulfilled the requirements of the law, so that when we become united with Christ by our faith, then we receive from Jesus the spiritual blessings he imparts, and those blessings allow us to follow the spirit of the law because the Holy Spirit now lives in us. Jesus has now made a new humanity, a new creation, by imparting the gift of the Holy Spirit to believers; therefore, Paul exhorts them to stay united to Christ.

What are the blessings that come because of our union with Christ?

Freedom! This is not a license to be immoral. It brings responsibility and accountability. What does freedom look like?

Ephesians: Textual note: There is debate over whether this letter was intended for the Ephesian church because in verse 1 "the saints who are in Ephesus" appears to be added later, it is missing from various manuscripts. The most likely explanation is this letter was written from Paul's house arrest period, where he would write four of the epistles that we have today. This letter was probably intended to be a circular letter, carried to various churches, but as Ephesus was probably the largest church, would have settled there and remained there.

We have four letters that have survived from his house arrest. Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon, all delivered by the same man, Onesimus. The letter to Ephesians and Colossians were to churches, but the one to Philemon is meant for Philemon, an individual who is the owner of Onesimus, a slave that Paul converted while in prison. Philippians was also written from prison and sent by Epaphroditus.

This particular letter is an appeal to the Gentiles not to exclude the Jews from worship. It is addressing division in the church that is resulting from centuries of hatred between the two cultural groups. In the Ephesian church, for example, there were many more Gentiles than there were Jews. So the Gentiles knew they were in the majority and could outvote the Jewish Christians, but the Jews believed they were the priority because of their history as God's chosen people through whom the Gentiles would be blessed. This letter is an appeal for the Gentile Christians to be tolerant of their Jewish Christian brothers and sisters whose relationship to Messiah was still important. Paul did not want to see two churches. This is the only letter where Paul uses the term "church" in universal sense, not as a local congregation. This letter is a macro view of the church universal. This letter describes what Paul sees as the character of the church. How important is the church to Paul? Paul describes its importance in the first chapter. It is essential in God's plan of salvation . Paul will write that it was God's purpose from the foundation of the world to create an entity upon which He could lavish spiritual blessings on the world. The Bible is the account of how He accomplishes this. Jesus is the One through whom it is accomplished, and the church is the entity to whom the spiritual blessings in Christ are given. How important is the church? When people say "I don't need church. I'm closer to God in the woods, or when I'm on my boat praying, or when I'm on my back porch with my coffee, than I am in church." That person has never read Ephesians. Here Paul exalts the church to a very high level. Read first 23 verses. Issues: Here many will rest their doctrine of predestination upon. V. 5 says, "He predestined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved." And again in v. 11, "In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined (or predestined) according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will." Here is the Wesleyan view on these passages and on predestination as a whole: The concept of election is introduced and clarified with the phrase "in Christ". Christians are chosen/elect "in Christ", who is the elect one. Christ is the elect one. He is the one God chose before the creation of the world to the one through whom we could all come to him. in so much as we are in him, we are chosen. We are not predestined to believe, but rather, as believers, God has a wonderful design for us, in Christ, as part of his overall plan to unite the whole of creation under the headship of Christ. Therefore, if we are in Christ, we are elect. Paul will go on to say "you are saved by grace through faith". Spiritual blessings for those in Christ:

Then Paul turns to a teaching on the universality of the church. He begins the teaching by talking about the past experience of everyone who is presently in the church. That is you have a " past ". 2:1 says, "You were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath". In other words, we were all dead because our life was governed by the principles of this world, which can never give life. "Everybody serves somebody"… it is either Satan or God. and if it's not God, it's Satan. We were following what was in our hearts, which was not God, it was the spirit of this world. We were slaves to our flesh and incurred the wrath of God.

BUT that was what we were. This is what we are today : "God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved - and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God - not the result of works, so that no one may boast."

This has already been done. Paul is trying to encourage them.

Paul is urging the Gentile believers that they should be grateful God removed the barrier of circumcision that kept them from being in the family of God. Now, in the church, they could be true believers without having to be circumcised, without being a blood descendant of Abraham. Now they are united by the cross. Jesus eliminates the ultimate barrier of sin so Gentiles can come before God at all times. What is true for Gentiles is true for the Jews, only difference is, it happened earlier for the Jews. But now both are condemned because Jew couldn't live up to the law, so he stood condemned. Gentile was without God in the world, they were ignorant of the law, so they were guilty too. They have the same problem ultimately and now both need to be rescued in the same way as well. Now they are united in God only through Christ. Jesus is the bridge that now unites them. They share one body with Christ.

3 images of unity between Jews and Gentile: Kingdom of saints (where God has given the same rights and privileges as he gave the Jews), Family/household (all members have the same father, they are now linked together as brothers and sisters), Spiritual temple (where Christ is the foundation; each member a stone, and God is the builder.

If the two groups that had centuries of hate toward each other can come together in Christ and obey his command for unity surely we can to.