Exodus … More than a great story

Like all the great stories that have ever been written, Exodus is held together by a dramatic and engaging plot. The plot of Exodus comes to us in four acts. Act one is creation. Out of his covenant to Abraham, God creates the great nation of Israel. In Egypt, this nation becomes a nation, prospering and growing and growing.

Act two, slavery. Even though they are prospering and growing, the children of Israel are taken into slavery. It is a horrible, horrible bondage from which they’re unable to escape. And they are held in this cruel, everyday captivity for over four-hundred years. But that's not the end of the story.

The third act is redemption. God unleashes his gracious and almighty power to redeem Israel from slavery in Egypt, not because they deserved it, not because they earned it, but because he chose to place his love on them.

But there's a fourth act, it's restoration. God not only wants to redeem his people, but he also wants to restore them. And by giving his ceremonial and moral law, God seeks to restore his people to what he created, chose, and redeemed them to be.

What I love about this, is that creation, slavery, redemption, and restoration is the overarching plot of the whole Bible. God creates Adam and Eve. They are living in a perfect world in a perfect relationship with him. Yet, they step outside of his boundaries and sin enters the world. And the Bible teaches that sin is enslaving; we are born into the slavery of sin. God, in his grace, is unwilling to leave his world that way. And so, the whole story of the Bible marches to the moment when the Redeemer will be born and live and die and rise again and ascend so that we would have redemption. And then by his Spirit and sanctifying grace, God works to restore us. That's the plot of scripture.

But again, it's the plot of our lives. God created us, but sin sadly enslaves us, and we have no ability on our own to escape that slavery. By grace, God redeems us, offers his forgiveness, his reconciling acceptance that we don’t deserve and could never earn. And then he's not done. In sanctifying mercy, he works to restore us. You see, again, Exodus pictures, for us, the whole sweep of the biblical narrative, but pictures for us again, the work of grace, the work of the gospel in our life, and the promises God keeps.

The promise that God made to Abraham that his descendants would be a great nation has happened with the children of Israel. Remember how God fulfilled the promise of a place for His children, the land of promise flowing with milk and honey. That through Abraham's descendants, the whole world would be blessed; that God raises up Moses to be a mediator to stand between God and His people. And then the gift of gifts is the presence of God within and for His people.

Of course, Moses was only a shadow. The true mediator is Jesus, who now sits at the right hand of Father in His royal priestly reign, interceding for us. He is the Mediator of mediators. And we have become the place where God dwells (1 Peter 2). His presence is with us because we are his temple. And he works to convict us. He works to guide us. He works to empower us. He works to transform us by his grace. You see, Exodus is more than the story of the children of Israel. Exodus reminds us of who we are and what we have been given, and it shapes our lives as children of God.

We can trust God because He will never abandon His promises. All the promises He's made, He will keep. Because of God's promises to Abraham, the grace of God has extended beyond Israel. That grace has reached us and has saved us and is now transforming us.