Exodus
Well, church, it’s good to see you. It’s good to be with you today. My name is Jared Romy, and I’m one of the pastors. We are in our series called Generations: Genesis to Revelation, walking through the Bible from front to back. I’m pretty excited about how it has launched and all the components coming together—from the resources in the lobby, through our kids connection, to the tools online. It will be really helpful if you get the chart and have it on your phone or tablet, or download it, print it out, and bring it with you. It’s what we are basing these conversations and sermons on, so you can make notes and file them away to come back to later. I really encourage you to grab those. They are available every Wednesday by the end of the workday.
We have a lot of ground to cover today, so let’s get to work. Turn in your Bibles to Exodus.
Exodus is the second book of your Bible. It is the sequel to Genesis, and it is the prequel to Leviticus. In Genesis, God was there in the beginning, creating everything and raising up a people. Yet we find the book closing with Joseph in Egypt, and Jacob arriving with seventy of his family members. Seventy people—that is all that made up the Hebrew people in chapter one.
What you need to know about the timeline of Exodus is this: chapters one and two span roughly 430 years. Chapters three and four cover about 40 years. Chapters five all the way through 40 cover only a single year. There is a massive amount of time covered early on, and then the narrative slows way down.
Moses is the author, writing this while wandering in the wilderness. When Exodus opens, you see those seventy Hebrew people in Egypt.
Exodus 1:7 (NASB)
But the sons of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly, and multiplied, and became exceedingly mighty, so that the land was filled with them.
By some estimations, the Hebrew people grow to three million strong. Three million people in Egypt—slaves, oppressed, living at the bottom of the social ladder. It was a hard life. They were the blue-collar workforce for Egypt, doing forced construction and harsh labor. Yet, under that oppression, they continued to multiply.
Drawn Out of the Water
In chapter one, Pharaoh grows terrified of their numbers. He commands the midwives to kill all the newborn Hebrew boys while letting the girls live. But the midwives feared God and concealed the babies, hiding them from the terror of Pharaoh.
Then in chapter two, we see the birth of Moses from the tribe of Levi. His mother fears for his life, so she conceals him as long as she can. When she can no longer hide him, she places him in a basket among the reeds of the Nile River. Pharaoh’s daughter comes down to bathe, discovers the infant, and has compassion on him, knowing he is a Hebrew child. She arranges for a Hebrew nursemaid—Moses’ own mother—to care for him, and eventually takes him into the royal household as her son, naming him Moses.
Moses means “drawn out of the water.” That name is deeply prophetic, because God will use that exact language throughout Exodus: “I am going to draw my people out. I am coming down to draw them out of Egypt.” Even in Moses’ entrance into the world, we see a parallel to what God will do with the entire nation.
Moses grows up in the royal household. One day, he goes out and watches an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave. Moses intervenes, kills the Egyptian, and buries his body in the sand, assuming nobody saw. The next day, he tries to break up a fight between two Hebrews, and one of them asks, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?”
Fear strikes Moses because his sin has been exposed. Knowing Pharaoh will execute him, Moses flees to Midian. While resting at a well, he defends the daughters of a priest named Reuel from aggressive shepherds who were driving them away from the water. He waters their flock, and when their father hears about it, he invites Moses in. Moses settles there, marries Zipporah, and spends forty years in the desert as a shepherd—being shaped and prepared for the wilderness leadership to come.
All during this time, the Hebrew people are groaning under their heavy burdens.
Exodus 2:23 (NASB)
Now it came about in [the course of] those many days that the king of Egypt died. And the sons of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry for help because of [their] bondage rose up to God.
God hears the cries of His people and has compassion. We have a compassionate God who hears the groaning of your heart. He is a holy God who brings fierce judgment against wickedness, but He is profoundly compassionate toward His people. He heard their cry, and He remembered His covenant with Abraham—the covenant of land, seed, and blessing.
The Burning Bush and the Great I AM
While Moses is tending sheep on Mount Horeb, he encounters a miraculous sight.
Exodus 3:2 (NASB)
The angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed.
Moses decides to turn aside to look at this bush that is burning without being consumed.
Exodus 3:4-5 (NASB)
When the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, ‘Moses, Moses!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ Then He said, ‘Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.’
We need to approach God with deep reverence and holiness. If we don’t, He will remind us of who He is. God tells Moses, “Take off your sandals; the ground you are standing on is holy.”
Exodus 3:6 (NASB)
He said also, ‘I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
God commissions Moses to go back to Egypt to deliver His people. Moses immediately pushes back: “Who do I tell them sent me?”
You have to remember, for over four hundred years, the Hebrews lived immersed in Egypt’s polytheistic culture. Four hundred and thirty years is twice as long as the United States has been a nation. Over that length of time, the stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob might have felt like ancient folklore.
God answers Moses, “You tell them I AM THAT I AM sent you. You tell them the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has sent you.”
Chapters four through six show Moses wrestling with his calling. If you are in leadership and you struggle with self-doubt, take heart. Moses struggled immensely. He worried about his speech, felt unqualified, and battled insecurity. Moses is a masterclass in leadership: trusting God, making mistakes, paying the “dumb tax,” and learning to depend entirely on the Lord. God repeatedly reassures him, “I will do this. I will deliver the people through you.”
Typically, when people read Exodus, they think of two things: the man Moses or the supernatural experiences. We think of Charlton Heston, the parting of the Red Sea, the ten plagues, and the fire on Mount Sinai. But Exodus is not primarily about a man or a supernatural event. The central message of Exodus is God declaring: “I am the Lord, and you shall have no other gods before Me.”
The Battle of the Gods
God sends Moses and Aaron to Pharaoh, but Pharaoh rejects the Lord’s command and increases the burden on the Hebrews, forcing them to gather their own straw while demanding the exact same quota of bricks. When the people cry out in despair, God promises deliverance once again.
Aren’t you grateful that God passionately pursues His stubborn, self-willed creation? If I were God, I would have abandoned humanity back in Genesis 3. But God is faithful to His covenant promises.
When Moses is about eighty years old, the ten plagues begin in chapters seven through twelve. These plagues were devastating, shaking Egypt’s society and economy to its core.
When you study the plagues—blood, frogs, gnats, flies, diseased livestock, boils, hail, locusts, darkness, and the death of the firstborn—each one directly opposed an Egyptian deity. The Egyptians worshiped hundreds of gods. By striking the Nile, the livestock, the crops, and the sun, the Lord was systematically dismantling Egypt’s pantheon. He was showing them: I am infinitely greater than the worthless idols you place your hope in.
Throughout these plagues, God protected His people. When the seventh plague struck—terrifying hail, thunder, and fire—it destroyed Egypt, but Goshen, where the Hebrews lived, remained completely untouched. Imagine standing in Goshen, watching divine judgment fall all around the border while not a single hailstone hits your home.
In chapter four, verse twenty-one, God told Moses that He would harden Pharaoh’s heart. Later, the text says Pharaoh hardened his own heart. Which was it? It was both. God utilized Pharaoh’s stubborn rebellion to display His sovereign power and justice over Egypt, showing both the Egyptians and the Hebrews that He alone is God.
During the ninth plague, thick darkness covered Egypt for three days. Ra, the sun god, was one of Egypt’s supreme deities. God turned off the sun, demonstrating that their greatest god was nothing before the Creator of the universe.
The Blood of the Lamb
Finally, God announced the tenth and most severe plague: the death of every firstborn male across Egypt, from Pharaoh on his throne to the livestock in the field. But in the face of this judgment, God provided a way of rescue through the Passover.
Exodus 12:3-5 (NASB)
’Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a lamb for each household. ’Now if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the number of persons [in them]; according to what each man should eat, you are to divide the lamb. ’Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.
Notice the description of this lamb. It had to be a male without blemish. God instructed every household to sacrifice their lamb at twilight, take the blood, and apply it to the two doorposts and the lintel of their house. They were to roast the lamb, eat it in haste with their sandals on and staffs in hand, ready to move.
Exodus 12:12-13 (NASB)
’For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments– I am the LORD. ’The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; 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.
When judgment swept through Egypt at midnight, any home marked by the blood of the spotless lamb was spared. Death passed over them—not because the people inside were inherently better, but because they were sheltered by the blood of the sacrifice. God provided a lamb to avert judgment, foreshadowing the ultimate Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, who takes away the sin of the world.
Pharaoh summoned Moses that night and told him to take the people and get out. God drew His people out of slavery, just as He promised.
Into the Wilderness
Three million people moved out into the desert. To give you some perspective on three million people: if each family had a modest space for a tent, their camp would have covered over one hundred square miles. In Fresno terms, that is like packing every square foot from Clovis Avenue to Marks Avenue, from Downtown all the way to Woodward Park, with people and livestock. That is the massive congregation Moses had to lead.
God led them visibly—by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. Wouldn’t that make life easier? You wake up, look out the tent, see where the pillar of fire is moving, and say, “There’s God. Let’s go that way.”
When the people reached the edge of the Red Sea, Pharaoh changed his mind and chased them down with six hundred of his best chariots. Trapped between the Egyptian army and the water, the people were paralyzed with fear. But God stood between them as a pillar of cloud and fire, holding back the enemy.
Moses stretched out his staff, and the Lord divided the sea, allowing the entire nation to walk across on dry ground with walls of water on their right and left. When Pharaoh’s army pursued them into the seabed, God released the waters, sweeping away the chariots and horsemen.
You would think that after seeing the plagues, the Passover, and the parting of the Red Sea, the people would trust God forever. But within days, they began grumbling about water and food. They even complained, “We remember the fish, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic we ate in Egypt!”
It has often been said that it was easy for God to take His people out of Egypt, but far harder to take Egypt out of His people. Even in their freedom, they craved the comforts of their former slavery. Yet God graciously rained down manna from heaven every morning, brought water gushing from a rock, and defended them against attacking enemies like the Amalekites.
Moses quickly became overwhelmed trying to judge and govern three million people by himself. In chapter eighteen, his father-in-law, Jethro, gives him wise counsel: “What you are doing is not good. You cannot do this alone. Raise up capable, God-fearing men to share the burden.” Moses listened, appointed leaders over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, and brought order to the camp.
The Law and the Tabernacle
In chapter nineteen, the people arrive at Mount Sinai. Up to this point in Exodus, the focus has been the power of God delivering His people. From chapter twenty onward, the focus shifts to the holiness of God dwelling with His people.
To be a nation, a people needs a land, citizens, and a constitution. At Sinai, God establishes a covenant with Israel, giving them His law—beginning with the Ten Commandments.
Exodus 20:2-3 (NASB)
’I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. ’You shall have no other gods before Me.
That first commandment is the heartbeat of Exodus: “You shall have no other gods before Me.”
He commands them not to make carved images or bow to idols. While we might not have wooden carvings or golden statues on our mantels, we worship modern idols: the approval of others, career success, physical beauty, money, power, and comfort. An idol is anything we look to for security, identity, or satisfaction apart from God.
He commands them not to take the Lord’s name in vain. That means far more than avoiding profanity; it means not carrying or using God’s name flippantly, frivolously, or dishonestly. It means not using God’s name as a spiritual bargaining chip or claiming His authority for our selfish agendas.
He commands them to remember the Sabbath day. God worked six days in creation and rested on the seventh—not because He was tired, but to give us a pattern. Sabbath is an intentional rhythm of rest, worship, and realigning our hearts with God. In our frantic, overworked culture, true Sabbath rest has largely been lost.
He commands us to honor our father and mother. This is the bedrock of a healthy society, calling families to love, care, respect, and provide for one another across generations.
The remaining commandments protect the community: do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not lie, and do not covet.
God gave these moral, civil, and ceremonial laws to reveal His holy character and expose human sinfulness. The law was never meant to be a system of self-salvation; it was meant to show us that we fall short and desperately need a Savior.
From chapter twenty-five through forty, God gives detailed instructions for building the Tabernacle—a portable sanctuary where His presence would dwell among His people.
Every piece of the Tabernacle points forward to Jesus Christ. The Tabernacle had only one entrance, always facing east. You could not enter from the sides or the back; there was only one door into God’s presence. Jesus declared, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” The altar points to Christ’s sacrifice, the bread of the Presence points to Christ as the Bread of Life, and the golden lampstand points to Christ as the Light of the World.
The Golden Calf and the Glory of God
While Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving the law, the people below grew impatient. They gathered their gold, melted it down, made a golden calf, and engaged in pagan worship.
Think about that: within a year of witnessing the plagues and walking through the Red Sea on dry land, they were dancing around a golden calf, saying, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”
Before we judge them too harshly, we must look in the mirror. How often have we experienced God’s grace, seen His faithfulness, and then turned right back to our own selfish idols? Our hearts are naturally prone to wander.
God judged their rebellion, Moses interceded on their behalf, and God renewed His covenant with the nation. Moses returned to the mountain, received new tablets of the law, and his face shone with the reflected glory of God.
Finally, the people constructed the Tabernacle exactly as the Lord had commanded. In the closing verses of the book, the work is finished.
Exodus 40:34-35 (NASB)
Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.
The glory of the Lord came down and filled the Tabernacle. God made His dwelling place in the middle of His redeemed people.
Centuries later, the apostle John looked back at that imagery when writing about Jesus:
John 1:14 (NASB)
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Jesus came and tabernacled among us. In Christ, God took on flesh and walked in our midst so that we could be cleansed of our sin and brought into authentic relationship with Him.
Exodus calls us back to the primary reality of who God is: He is the Great I AM, our Deliverer, and the holy God who dwells with us.
Are you putting other gods before Him? Are you looking to your career, your relationships, your bank account, or your comfort to give you what only God can provide? Or are you resting fully in the one true God who drew you out of darkness and into His light?
Let’s pray.
Father, thank You for the book of Exodus. Thank You for Your unmatched power, Your holiness, and Your relentless grace in pursuing a stubborn, imperfect people. Forgive us for the idols we create and the subtle things we place before You. Remind us this week of who You are—the Great I AM. Teach us to rest in the blood of Christ, our true Passover Lamb, and help us live for Your glory alone. We pray all this in Jesus’ name. Amen.