Exodus

Exodus 9:  The Hardened Heart “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.” ( Hebrews 3:7) “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”  ( Hebrews 10:31) So far in this story, we have seen the following plagues:  Nile turned into blood; the plague of frogs … Read more

Exodus 4: What Do You Believe? “Moses answered: “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘ the Lord did not appear to you?” ( Exodus 4:1) Jesus said to her: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies, and … Read more

Exodus 5: When Truth Walks In Moses, now convinced that God is Who He says He is and is able to accomplish what needs to be done is ready to return to Egypt.  God begins to encourage Moses once Moses determines to obey God and follow His commandments.  Remember –“ Faithful is the One who … Read more

Exodus 6: The Mighty Hand of God As we closed chapter 5, we see a discouraged Moses asking God- ‘ is this why you sent me? Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble upon this people, and you have not rescued your people at all.’ We need … Read more

Exodus 7:Looking for Loopholes The story is told that in his last days, W.C. Fields was confined to a hospital and not expected to leave. Upon visiting him one day, his wife found W.C. reading a Gideon’s Bible. “ Bill,” she exclaimed, “ I did not know you were religious.” To which W.C remarked in … Read more

Exodus 8: Let’s Make a Deal We notice a pattern that is developing in these encounters between Moses and the Pharaoh. Moses will tell the Pharaoh the next plague God will send if he refuses to let God’s people go and the plague occurs as Moses said it would.  All of this is to give … Read more

If You Can? “Jesus asked the boy’s father, ‘ How long has he been like this? From childhood, he answered. It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us. If you can?, said Jesus. Everything is possible for him … Read more

The Holy of Holies: The Place of Intimacy Within the Holy of Holies was the Ark of the Covenant. A chest of acacia wood overlaid with pure gold inside and outside. This single piece of furniture contained three items within the chest:  the Ten Commandments on the stone tablets; Aaron’s rod that budded; and a … Read more

The Mercy Seat In the Holy of Holies there is only one piece of furniture, a wooden chest of acacia wood overlaid with gold with a solid gold cover with two angels on each end. This chest is commonly called the Ark of the Testimony. The word-‘testimony’ means witness. As we will see each part of … Read more

Law and Order: There is one other article to go into the Ark of the Testimony- the Ten Commandments written on the stone tablets. These laws, commandments given by God have not been amended, nor edited or deleted. They have stood as absolutes throughout the ages. There is a story behind these tablets which would … Read more

Exodus to Romans: From How to Get Out to How to Get In! Chapter 40 of Exodus begins with the setting up of the Tabernacle with everything done according to God’s pattern. This is almost like a checklist for a pilot about to take off. Moses carefully repeats everything the Lord tells him to do- almost like the … Read more

The Altar of Incense So far we have entered through the gate, mindful that Jesus told us in John 10: “ I am the gate and whoever enters through me will be saved.” In the courtyard we encountered the brazen altar sitting on raised ground where the innocent sacrifice, the lamb without blemish was brought. … Read more

Exodus 3: Are You Listening? “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in rebellion during the time of testing in desert, where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said … Read more

The Table of Shewbread As we look to our right in the Holy Place we see the Table of Shewbread. This was a small table made of acacia wood and overlaid with pure gold. It measured 3 feet by 1.5 feet and 2 feet, 3 inches high. It held 12 loaves of bread representing the … Read more

Exodus 2&3: Burned Out In Acts 7, we read  Stephen’s speech to the Sanhedrin. It is an amazing sermon based on Genesis and Exodus that holds the Sanhedrin spellbound as Stephen recounts the history of God and His people beginning with Abraham. In Acts 7:20, Stephen begins to tell the story of Moses and tells … Read more

Exodus 20: The Ancient Stone Boundaries “ When the Lord finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, He gave him the two tablets of the Testimony, the tablets of STONE  inscribed by the finger of God.” ( Exodus 31:18) The theme of the 20th chapter of Exodus is about three things:  giving of the 10 … Read more

Exodus 20: “Who are we for, Daddy?”   “ But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods of your forefathers served beyond the river, or the gods of the Ammonites in whose land you are living. But as for me and … Read more

Exodus 21: The Bondservant “ Then a new king, who did not know Joseph, came to power in Egypt.” ( Exodus 1:8) New Ruler- New Rules. And we know what followed, the new king began to make slaves of the Hebrews. Following the 10 plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, the destruction of the … Read more

Exodus 25: The Tabernacle “ Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you.” ( Exodus 25: 8,9) Notice 3 words in the above scripture: sanctuary, dwell and tabernacle. Sanctuary is a consecrated place, a … Read more

Exodus 25-27: The Place Where God Dwells The tabernacle was a sanctuary built for God according to His throne room in heaven. This would be the place He would choose to dwell among His people. The Tabernacle would be the focal point of Israel’s national life from the time God brought the people out of … Read more

The Holy Place: The Lampstand After cleansing himself at the bronze laver, the priest entered the Holy Place.  As we previously discussed, in the wilderness the only ones qualified to enter the Holy Place were the Levite priests. However, as Christians we have become a royal priesthood and can enter the Holy Place after cleansing … Read more

Exodus 18-19: Imitation of Life Imitation  is defined as the action of imitating. Imitating is defined as “ to follow as a model.”  ( Webster’s American English Dictionary) In chapter 18, we see Moses’ reunion with his father-in-law, Jethro, and a model of government or structure that allows a ministry to grow and be flexible … Read more

Exodus 1: The Story of Deliverance In I Corinthians 10 Paul wrote ‘ these things happened to Israel as examples and were written down as warnings for us.’ In the book of Exodus we will see the things that happened to Israel that are an example and a warning to us. Exodus is a story … Read more

Exodus 12:  The Passover The three plagues that followed the sixth plague of boils were:  plague of hail; plague of locusts and plague of darkness. The first six plagues had brought irritation, pain and hardship- but the next two plagues of hail and locusts had brought utter destruction to their economy as their crops, livestock … Read more

Exodus 13/14:  No Shortcuts “There are no shortcuts to any place worth going!” ( Beverly Sills, Opera Diva) Hebrews 11:28-29 tell us: ‘By faith Moses kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he who destroyed the firstborn should touch them. By faith they passed through the Red Sea as dry land, whereas the Egyptians, … Read more