Gooding, David: 2 - Understanding Exodus

In this, our first session, we devote ourselves to a study of the book of Exodus. I want to raise the question, the practical question, why should we bother to study Exodus? After all, we're Christians, aren't we? Or if we're not, we ought to be. We're not under law, says the New Testament. Why study a book that tells us at great length how Israel came to be under God's law? And anyway, we're saved, aren't we? We're forgiven. We have the assurance of the New Testament that there is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus, and we're waiting for the Lord Jesus to come from heaven and take us home to one of the many mansions. Why should we bother about Exodus? It's old history, ancient history, is it not? I want to try to answer that question that I have raised and give at least six reasons why we should study the book of Exodus. Now, a word or two about the two sheets of paper that you have in your folder that are devoted to listing some of the details of the book. You will not need to refer to them in this present talk, unless, of course, you use them as a mental rest from listening to the preacher. You'll see that could be necessary. But they are there to suggest that the book of Exodus is not a collection, a haphazard collection of stories. It is an integrated whole, and the various parts of Exodus are linked together in what you might call logical coherence. And so the two sheets of paper are there to suggest to you some of the leading ideas that will help to get the book of Exodus as a whole upon your mind. With that, we come back to the question, why study the ancient book of Exodus? One first reason should be this, surely, that Christianity is not a philosophy. Anybody can think up a philosophy. Christianity is based on God's revelations of himself in history. And therefore, Christianity is rooted in that history that is recorded in Old Testament. So one of the reasons why we should be interested in Exodus is to consider the historical basis of Christianity. To help us study the accuracy of Old Testament history, one could begin at least, if you haven't already done so, by reading the book entitled On the Reliability of the Old Testament by Professor K. A. Kitchen. Not all agree with him, of course, who, uh, uh, there are very few things about which archaeologists all agree, but, um, here is a wealth of up-to-date archaeology and history of Old Testament. It is worth getting a copy if you can persuade your grandmother, uh, to give you this for a Christmas present if you haven't got it already, you would do very well. The second reason why we should study the book of Exodus, and a vastly more important reason, is because it re- it, uh, contains a record of the majestic self-revelation of the very character of God. The story is early given, how Moses' attention was drawn to a bush in the desert, an ordinary bush, such as there are thousands in such a desert. This des- this desert bush was aflame with fire. And to Moses' astonishment, though it burned, it was not consumed. And he drew near to be interested in what was the reason for this. And heard a voice saying, Moses, don't come any further, and take your sandal off your feet. The place whereon you stand is holy ground. It was a God of the universe. Come down to this desert. And his very presence in the burning bush set it alight with an unearthly fire. God came to commission Moses to release the Israels from, uh, Israel from the grip of Pharaoh and lead them out towards their great inheritance. Said Moses to God, now look, when I go to my people in Egypt and tell them the God of your fathers has appeared to me and has come down to bring you out of Egypt, and they say to me, yes, but what is his name? What am I to say? What is the personal name of God that tells out his very character and himself? That name which, when he divulges to us, sets up an intimate fellowship. As it is with friends. You know a Mrs. Smith? Oh well, there are thousands of Mrs. Smiths. And she says to you, sir, you may call me by my personal name. That you count a privilege. Sets a relationship. May I call God by his personal Personal name? name. It's this that is afoot. God's self-revelation of his name. I am that I am. Knowledge of God as the great I am. Constant. Always faithful. Who never changes as to his character. Come now to honor his covenant with Moses. To bring out his people, set them free, and lead them to their inheritance. That name, and belief in that name, would be an essential if ever Israel to were, were to break free of Pharaoh. They would need great faith in Moses to challenge the almighty Pharaoh. They would need greater faith in the I am, in the reality of God, if they were to escape the claws of the Egyptian monarch. Tell them, says God, tell them my name. I am that I am. Our Lord himself used the same tactics, didn't he? In the Gospel of John, we hear him talking to us about another sinister prince, the prince of this world, he calls him, who holds people enslaved. What will be the secret of delivering them from the his grasp? Among other things, it will be the declaration of the personal name of God. Says our Lord in John seventeen, as he gives account of his ministry. I have made known your name to the people you have given me, out of this world. And once more he says it at the end of his prayer. I have made known thy name and will go on to make it known, that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. Hm. So Moses went to Pharaoh, and he said, your majesty, you see, you are to let the Israelites go. Oh, really? Yes, because, you know, God appeared to our ancestor, and long before we came into Egypt, God had purposes for us, and he told us he would be, we would be here as a nation for rather a long time, but then he would come down and bring us out, you see. So, Pharaoh, um, you must let the people go. It's an interesting idea, said Pharaoh. Yes. But as for this, what did you say? There was a purpose behind your coming. That's absolute nonsense, you know, that's absolute nonsense, that is. What did you say? This God of yours has come down to bring you to an inheritance. Now look here. This is sheer mythology, you know. There isn't any inheritance for them. And as far as your Israelites are concerned, let me tell you what life is. Life is work and eat and then sleep. And then work. And eat. And sleep. And perhaps a game of golf or something, uh, now and again, but that's what it is. There's no divine purpose in the past, and certainly no inheritance in the future. There are many that live under that notion still. What is life? Any purpose behind your coming into this world? Any divine creatorial purpose? And is there? Do tell me, is there an inheritance beyond it, incorruptible and undefiled, and that fades not away? Or is life for us simply being born, growing up, working, eating, sleeping, working, eating, sleeping, game of rugby, perhaps, or golf, or something, getting married, and then oblivion. What will keep us and inspire us is to know God and his personal name, the I am, who is behind our entry to this world and waits to receive us in the next. The revelation of the name of God, therefore. You will remember the reference our Lord made to it in the Gospels when challenged by the Sadducees over the question whether there was or was not a resurrection of the dead. The Sadducees were highly religious, but they didn't believe in the resurrection. What was the point of religion then? Well, just to make you nice, of course. And behave well. And get on in politics. There's no heaven. No resurrection, according to the Sadducees. They asked Christ for evidence. And he said, don't you remember what God said to, uh, Moses? In declaring his name, said he, I am the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. What's that got to do with it? Well, let me use a little illustration. If you came to me and said, you're old, aren't you? Well, yes, I fa- fear I am, yes, yes. You say, did you know Spurgeon? So, excuse me, I'm not that old. He was dead before I was born. Did I know him? Well, of course not. I didn't know Abram either. If you went to God and you said, tell me, God, did you know Abram? God might well reply, what do you mean, did I know him? I know him now. There he is, look. For the God who made us and redeemed us through Christ is eternally loyal to us. And when we come to know him through Christ, it's an eternal relationship. But let's get another reason for studying Exodus. Exodus provides us with a prototype of redemption. And studying a prototype can be very helpful in coming to understand the final product. I was taken by some notable friends of mine down to the shores of Newcastle just recently, and we were there to celebrate the first flying of an aeroplane, you'll see, from Murloc Bay down to the very sands by Newcastle. And as we stood there, do you see, trying to imagine this first aeroplane, then the Red Arrows came and gave a display. There was a mighty difference between the Red Arrow planes and the first plane that, uh, was invented and flown here. But that first plane embodied a principle, uh, do you see, that is still incorporated in the most majestic airliner that flies above your head at thirty five thousand feet, an aileron. And so, the Passover, as described in Exodus, serves as a prototype of the great redemption that God has provided in Jesus Christ, our Lord. In the upper room, just before he died, our Lord gathered with his apostles and said, with desire, I have desire to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I say unto you, I will not eat it until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. Which sets us a problem, doesn't it? The Passover wasn't a prophecy. As the Jews celebrated at year by year, it was a memorial of something that happened in the long distant past. It wasn't a prophecy. How then could Passover be fulfilled? Well, in the same sense, as your modern airliner takes the original principles embodied in those primitive planes and carries them to vastly higher levels of engineering, so the Passover became a prototype of a vastly more important means of redemption through our Lord's sacrifice. What does his death mean? Was it simply a martyr's death? No, indeed, though it was that, it was infinitely more. And the Passover as a prototype will help us to perceive some of its significance. And so the, uh, New Testament treats it. John has a very vivid description of what happened when our Lord surrendered his spirit on the cross. There came a Roman soldier with a mighty great hammer. And he went to the first criminal who was still breathing and bashed the hammer in his legs, broke his legs, so he couldn't run away, even when he was taken down from a cross. They went to the second criminal and likewise break his leg. And you see, don't you, with John, you see the same man. He comes to the central cross, intent on breaking his legs as well. And he pauses. And he puts down his mallet. And broke not his legs. Why didn't break his legs? Well, he was dead already, of course. So the soldier thought it wasn't necessary. There was a deeper reason. It was written about the Passover sacrifice in the book of Exodus. You shall not break a bone of it. Is it important that none of our Lord's bones was broken? Yes, it is indeed important. And at that point in his gospel, the writer says, now he who saw it bear record, and he knows his record is true. The soldier went against his commands from Pilate, didn't break his legs. Though the soldier knew nothing about it. There was a restraining power. The Bible had said that of the Passover sacrifice, no bone shall be broken. This is the great Passover sacrifice, says Says John. John. Come with me, if you will, to the church at Corinth. They were a lively bunch, not short of words to speak, and not always complimentary of Paul either. And they had got a curious idea about the Christian gospel. They thought because the Christian gospel says that we have forgiveness through Christ's blood, that there is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus, that therefore it didn't matter if you sinned. And in particular, there was one member of the church at Corinth who had his father's wife. Whether the father was dead or not, in Greek morality, this was outrageous. You can't do it, says Paul. Why can't I? I'm saved, am I not? And forgiven. And there is no condemnation. You can't do it. Listen to the prototype. Do you see, when they f- kept the Passover meal, simultaneously they had to keep the feast of unleavened bread. Leaven, as the rabbis taught, pictured moral corruption. If you come to God through Christ as your Passover sacrifice, whose blood cleanses you from sin and delivers you from Satan, you have to keep the feast of unleavened bread. You can't have one without the other. It means... that sexual license is out of court. Now, it is true that there is forgiveness for Christians who fall. But falling will require repentance. Let us therefore not only celebrate Passover and our Lord's dying as our Passover lamb, but seek his grace to live a life of holiness. Uh. And I tell you another thing about Passover. You had to eat it, of course. You talked about eating the Passover. You had your bit of, um, roast lamb and, uh, unleavened bread, you see. But you couldn't just eat it any old how. You had to eat it with your shoes on your feet, your stuff in your hand, and your loins girt around. I've often thought that must have been very difficult. I, from time to time, I'd like, like you have been to, um, parties, stand-up parties, where your hostess urges you to take liberally of the sausages and the olives and the sandwiches and the sausage rolls and things. Mighty difficult to balance a cup of tea in one hand and the plate in another hand with slippery things upon it, do you see? Very difficult. And I've often imagined how difficult it must have been to add a staff in your hand in order to eat the Passover. But thus was it required. You couldn't eat it unless your shoes, uh, your feet were girt with, with shoes and staff in your hand, and your loins belted around. Why? Well, because eating that Passover meant that you were now about to begin a journey to the promised land and the glorious inheritance. It would be a long journey, but this is what Passover meant, and it had to begin that night. It wasn't optional. And Peter, in his first epistle and chapter one reminds us that we have been redeemed not with corruptible things as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ. And then he adds a, a, a, a, a simile, as of a lamb. You'll see he's thinking of the Old Testament lamb of the Passover. And then he says to us, gird up the loins of your mind. Well, modern people don't have loins anyway. B- at least they're not conscious of having loins. Loins, if they meet the term at all, is in the butcher shop. A loin of meat, but I think that's given up already. Do you see? What on earth are loins? So the modern translations do their best to to cut the metaphor out and, uh, bring it to reality, you see. Prepare your minds to do some serious thinking, which isn't bad going, is it? Gird up the loins of your mind. Prepare to do some rigorous thinking. The implications of being redeemed by the blood of our Passover lamb. Implications. That we have to think hard about the journey on which we are now set. Suppose you could come in one of these magic carpet affairs, way back to the time when, uh, uh, you know, Israel were already left Egypt six months to a year. And you're flying over the pyramids, and when you land, you come across old Zechariah. Well, he's a Jew, of course, one of your friends. Perhaps he even is in selling carpets, you see. And you say, well, Zechariah, surprised to see you here. Uh, I mean, why aren't you with all that other crowd of your fellow nationals, you know, on a journey across the desert? Well, he says, you know, I've nothing against religion, but they're really, um, overzealous, you see. I'm redeemed, but I think Egypt is a nice place to be in, you see. I don't see the need to this, uh, rigorous journeying across the Sinai Peninsula. I see. So you don't? So you're in Egypt? I see. Well, how do you think you're going to ever get into your inheritance? Well, I, I don't think about that, you see. You don't think about it. Well, how else you're going to get there then? We are redeemed with the blood of Christ. We have to prepare our minds to do some very serious thinking. It involves a journey. To be deliberately take. The journey can be pleasant. It can be tough. It is to occupy our thinking. On our road. Towards our great. And I cite it because one more example, you see, of the way that the Passover recorded in Exodus becomes in the New Testament a prototype, an example, a parable, if you like, of our redemption through Christ and the implications of being redeemed. And the person that has been claims to be redeemed, but is not concerned about making progress in the spiritual life, raises a very big question as to whether they realize what redemption is about anyway. The purpose of redemption. It is given us in Exodus chapter nineteen, where God comes to, uh, Israel and tells Moses to tell the Israelites, you have seen what I did, says God, to the Egyptians, and how I bear you on eagle's wings and brought you to myself. The goal of redemption? You say it was the great inheritance. No, it wasn't. The goal of redemption was God himself. You've seen what I did to the Egyptians, how I bore you on eagle's wings and brought you to myself. Therefore, if you will obey my voice indeed and keep my covenant, then shall you be a peculiar treasure unto me from among all peoples, for all the earth is mine, and you shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and an holy name. Peter cites it, doesn't he? As we all know and are familiar with. In first Peter and chapter two. God has shown his stupendous mercy, says Peter, and he has made us a people who once were not a people, but now are the people of God. And we have a task to show to the world at large the virtues of him that called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. You see, that wasn't always clear to the Israelites for the simple reason they forgot it. Do you see, there was a time when under God's discipline, God said to Moses, Moses, look, I promised you the promised land, and in spite of your sin, you can have it. It's good land anyway, flowing with milk and honey. So you can have it. The only thing is, says God, I shan't come with you. What would you have said to God if he'd make you that your proposition? I promised everybody that trusts the Lord Jesus that they will come to heaven. Okay. Well, so they will. I'll have them know that I shan't be there to meet them. If God made you that proposition, what would you say? No. Oh, rather blunt, that, isn't it? Wouldn't you say rather, well, God, I'm sorry about that. I had been looking forward to meeting you, but, um, if you can't come, well, heaven is a good place to go to, and we shall enjoy it very nicely. Yes. Would be serious to mistake the goal of redemption, wouldn't it? To suppose it were heaven. When, of course, it is God. And God all the way. For that reason, when God redeemed Israel, he came down and asked them to build him a tabernacle, so that he might come and dwell among them, even as they traveled. They wouldn't have to wait till they got to the promised land. God would dwell with them and walk with them. And centuries later, he said to David, when David proposed to build God a permanent temple, built in one place. God said to David, in effect, David, I suggest you leave the timetabling to me. Have I ever asked hitherto anybody to build me a temple? Ever since I took Israel out of Egypt. Now listen to what he says. I have walked with them. What a metaphor for God to use. God walking. God walking with this bunch of ex-slaves in a tabernacle that was movable on purpose. God walking every yard of every mile. What a magnificent thing it is, isn't it? I may reassure you, if you need reassuring, as a believer. This is God walking with you every footsore mile home to heaven. Which brings us, of course, to the... I nearly said the word. And in some circle it's become a bad word. The tabernacle. Just have a call. Oh, old lad, my boy, you are old because this is an old-fashioned truth, this is. Tabernacle. If you know what old fashioned truth is. Trouble is, it's given in detail, and it's given twice. First of all, in detailed command to build the tabernacle and its furniture, and then in detailed description of how the command was, uh, carried out. So much so that the tabernacle occupies about one quarter of the whole of the book of Exodus. It's grasped its original practical purpose, that God might walk with them. But why should we study it? Well, God at least thought it was important. Says the Epistle to the Hebrews in chapter eight, God commissioned Moses to make the tabernacle. And And ch- charged him that he was to copy exactly the model shown him in the mountain. I must not trouble you this Saturday morning with the technicalities of the vocabulary, but scholars do puzzle as to what exactly was this model that God showed Moses on the mountain. You could use the Greek word of an architect's model, for instance. When an architect is asked to build a bill- big public building, or a bungalow for me, he, uh, might make a model of it. God showed, and the Greek word could be translated that way, showed Moses a model. It was to give Moses some idea of the heavenly things. God in his mercy. As they journeyed, filling their minds and imaginations with heavenly things. It ain't bad going, you know. Set your affection on things above, says, uh, the epistle to us Christians. Well, how do you do that? Set your thoughts, actually, says the Greek. What is heaven like? Hmm. Hmm. You will know the story, won't you, of Genesis, when God made man and woman and put them in the garden, and they broke God's command. Do you see? And, uh, sinned and were cast out. Cast out from the tree of life. Ah. When Israel were redeemed, God came down and dwelled in the tabernacle, and the priests were allowed at least into the first division of the tabernacle. I wonder what they felt like. He's a young priest for the first time, he's going in, and his mama has got him all scrubbed up, uh, do you see, and the right clothes on, and uh, he's going in for the first time ever into the holy place. And when he gets in, whew, there are cherubim all around the place, on the roof, on the side curtain, on the veil, pooh, cherubim. If he knew his, um, Old Testament, let's hope he did, he would have remembered that when Adam and Eve were cast out of the garden, God sent a cherubim to guard the way of the tree of life, so the guilty man might not come to it. Here, when he gets in, cherubim galore, and they're not preventing his entrance. Oh, that thing there looks very much like a tree. Well, it was. It was a lampstand, actually, but made to look like a tree. With blossoms, you see, and buds and fruit. Made to look as if it were alive. Symbol of the tree of life. There is such a tree, isn't there? We don't know really what it's, what, what it's like botanically. But we're told in the last book of the Bible of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. Would you let me think about it? I need some help, for I'm a bit of a clodhopper. I need, uh, someone to stimulate my imagination as well as my logical thinking. I feel eternally grateful to God for that he's condescended to my level and gives me symbols of great eternal realities on which I can feast my imagination. I don't mean by the term imagination that they're not real. Can you imagine what it would be like to have dinner with Her Majesty? I don't make a habit of it. Do you see? All that fuss. Uh, do you see? But can you imagine what heaven is like? What will it be to dwell above and with the Lord of glory reign? Probably need some help with our imaginations. And you see... the New Testament tells you at length why the Holy Spirit devised the ground plan of the tabernacle building itself in the way he did. For the tabernacle building that Moses built was, it had two compartments. Do you see? There was the first compartment called the Holy Place, or called the First Tabernacle. Then there was a big veil, and after that big veil, there was the second compartment called the Most Holy Place. Do you see? Which was the immediate presence of God. Why did the Holy Spirit design it that way? Well, he tells us, Hebrews chapter uh nine. he did it on purpose. He put a veil there so that the way into the second compartment, where stood the throne of God, was not open. Only the high priest, and he only once a year, was allowed beyond that veil. The ordinary priests, never. Why was that? Well, the Holy Spirit tells us straight, their sacrifices weren't enough to cleanse the conscience and make someone fit to stand in the presence of God. But then we gather, our Lord came. And for thirty three years, he acted like a veil. Did our Lord. Well, you say, what do you mean? Well, with the veil in the tabernacle, a priest could come up thus far and look at the veil and, oh, beautiful colors anyway, blue, purple, scarlet, cherubim on it, beautiful. What is that saying about God? Yes. So when our Lord came in a body of flesh and blood, and you know, little children nestled on his knee, plucked his beard, maybe. And the prostitutes came and listened to him, touched him. And in him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead. What grace that our Lord should act thus as a veil. He doesn't act like that now. For at Calvary, the veil was rent. The flesh of Christ was rent, and then our Lord ascended into glory. For a believer, there's no veil now, says Hebrews chapter uh ten, because of Christ, we have boldness to enter into the holiest of all. Marvelous, isn't it? Go this old tabernacle. I, for one, am grateful for it, for I need simple, you know, simple illustrations. How near may I come to God? I can come, if you take the analogy of the tabernacle, past that first veil, you see, into the very presence of God. As many a believer doesn't have that assurance, you know. You do, I hope. I travel in countries where churches hold a different view. If you go into a church, two-thirds the way down is a wall right across. There are three doors in it. Sometimes in the service, the middle door is opened. There's a light inside. Only the priests are allowed in. The people have to stand outside. They don't have boldness to enter into the holiest. The last one I was in, there were some priests chanting. The door was open, but here was a widow woman, an elderly widow woman, clothed in black all the way round, on her knees on the floor, kissing the ground. And I couldn't re- help but remember the hymn, Why stand you then outside in fear? The blood of Christ invites us near. Boldness to enter the holiest of all. We've known it a long time. My dear Christian friends, there are multitudes that profess the name of Christ, that have no such assurance, and are not allowed to have by their religious authorities. And those of us who enjoy the wonderful liberty of the children of God, even now to enter the holiest of all, must find ourselves ready by this means or another to bring that liberty to all God's people. So may God bless these few observations as to why we should read, even as Christians, the book of Exodus. I tell you something else. I now have to sit down, as I shall never be asked again. But the Israelites were allowed to build the tabernacle. That made a change from building bricks in Egypt. Could you? No, surely not. Be asked to build heaven? You say, no, no, no, no. But build heaven. Just ponder the fact. Heaven will be a lot of people. Might I be allowed to contribute to the edification of the citizens of the eternal city.