Well I plan to start a series on Exodus but I don't think it will necessarily be sequential in terms of I'll do the same next week and then the week after but we might dot around a bit. I want to start looking at Exodus because it's something, I've preached one or two sermons from Exodus down the years, but very, very few by comparison to other books. So I thought it was time that we had a look at this. But this week, what I want to do is set the context for the whole thing.

The context is the redemption that is in the purposes of God, the redemption of his people from this world. You see, the Bible is the record that God has given regarding redemption. What is redemption? It's the ransom payment. It's the payment of the price of release from bondage. It's the redemption that God has accomplished of his people from bondage and of sin. And what does he release them? Two, he's released them from the bondage of sin to his glorious kingdom, to a hope, to an inheritance, to an assured place in that kingdom. And how has he done it in this book, the Bible?

He's done it in type, in pictures, pictures, in shadows. You know, you see a shadow coming on a sunny day. You know somebody real is coming around that corner. He's done it through pictures like that of shadows. He's done it through historical records of a people and the world in general. He's done it through poetry.

He's done it through prophecy, clear prophecy, where God has inspired men to stand and speak to their generation things that are the purposes of God. And in the New Testament especially, he's done it in explicit revelation. Though you might say that, for example, the prophecy of Isaiah is the gospel according to Isaiah, because it's such explicit revelation there too. What we have is one consistent inspired message written by many different authors down many hundreds of years, thousands of years in fact, one consistent inspired message because it's the one Holy Spirit that breathed the message. And it has one goal. It has one goal. The goal is life for his people. The goal is the glory that his people are destined for. The goal is the glory of God in the accomplishment of that, and the adoration of our God.

This is the revelation of unseen things. You know, in one of the epistles, Paul says that the things that we see that look so solid, they're temporary, they're passing away. The things that we don't see, the unseen things, those are the eternal things.

And that's what we look for. We look for a city that has a builder, a foundation, so it's builder and maker is God. We do not have a city here. Here we have no continuing city, but we look for one to come. And it's revealed in the scripture bit by bit. Layer upon layer. Scene upon scene.

So now we come to Exodus, which is the second book of the Bible. The second book of the Bible. And the number two speaks of a division, doesn't it? The number two speaks of a division. Esau, Jacob. Ishmael, Isaac. It speaks of a division. One or the other. It speaks of a division. And in Exodus chapter 11 and verse seven, We read there that the Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel. So as Genesis, the first book, is the book of beginnings, in that book the key theme is election. In Genesis it's the electing grace of God in choosing his people, he chose. chose Abel to start with, chose Abel.

He chose Shem. He chose Enoch. He chose Noah. And then of Noah's sons, he chose Shem. And then Abraham, out of an idolatrous society, God chose him. Abraham didn't decide. Abraham didn't think and deduce there must be a God and therefore I must go and find him. Abraham was called by God to come out of that place. And then they got it wrong, as people always do, and they had a son Ishmael. He wasn't the one, it was Isaac. Isaac was the seed to be called, the promised seed. And Jacob, not Esau, Jacob, and all the way down the line to Christ. God is a God of electing grace.

He talks in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 13 and verse 48, about those who were ordained to eternal life. You look around this world, there's some out there, we don't know them at the moment, they're ordained to eternal life. What will bring them to visibility? It's the preaching of the gospel. When Paul preached, In the Acts of the Apostles, those that were ordained to eternal life believed.

You, brethren, says Paul to the Thessalonians, you're beloved of God, we thank God for you, beloved from before the beginning of time, that God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation. How? Through sanctification of the Spirit, God set apart. And belief of the truth. Belief of the truth is the manifestation of the fact that they've been called out of darkness into his marvelous light.

So, we preach that message. That's the message we preach because it's the message we find in the Bible. We call ourselves the biblical gospel church for that reason, because we seek to preach the biblical message of how God saves a people for his eternal glory, for his kingdom, to be with him.

But most of what professing Christianity, you know, it calls itself Christianity, but if you look at what they actually say and what they actually believe, they don't believe this message. They don't believe this book. They twist it and they alter it. They do not believe that message of a God who is sovereign. But God has declared it. What does it matter what they say? God has declared it and he's given it to us.

The book of Exodus is the redemption of Israel from the bondage of Egypt. And it pictures the redemption of the Israel of God, the people of God, the chosen people of God, Jews and Gentiles from all generations, the redemption of them from the kingdom of Satan into his glorious kingdom. Now, note this.

You see, when I use terms like Israel and Egypt, people will be thinking, oh, look, look, what about the politics in the world today? Look, the ancient division of Shem from Ham, the sons of Noah, the ancient division of Isaac from Ishmael, the sons of Abraham, it has affected world politics even today. You see it everywhere. In the Middle East and wider, But when it speaks of Israel and Egypt in the book of Exodus, I have got nothing to say in this series about current politics and conflict. Do you see what I'm saying? Yes, you can't avoid it, it's there.

You know, the fact that Ishmael and Isaac were separated right back there in the days of Abraham has had its effect today. You read the script, you can't deny it, it's there, but Regarding this book of Exodus, I've got nothing to say about current politics and current world conflict.

It's all in the hands of God anyway. It's all in the hands of God for what reason? For the destruction of the kingdom of Satan and for the triumph of his kingdom. So our focus is God revealing through ancient Israel and Egypt, 1500 years before Christ, three and a half thousand years ago, about now, it's God revealing through those events the redemption of his elect from Satan's bondage by the redemption accomplished by Christ and his blood. In Luke 9 and verse 31, you know I used the term then the redemption accomplished by Christ. The redemption accomplished by Christ.

In Luke chapter nine, we have the account of the transfiguration, or one of the accounts of the transfiguration, where Jesus took Peter, James, and John up the mountain, and he, the man who had no comeliness that we should desire him, just looked like anybody else, was transformed into his heavenly glory. And Moses and Elijah in heaven, appeared with him. Verse 30, Behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke with him.

But what did they speak of? Of his decease, of his death, of the death of Christ. That's what they spoke about. Listen to this. which should tragically happen to him at Jerusalem. No. They didn't talk about a death that would tragically happen to him. They talked about his death which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.

It was accomplished. The death of Christ was God's accomplishment. Why was it an accomplishment? To finish redemption, to finish it, to accomplish the redemption of his people from this world. So then, first of all, an overview of Exodus, very briefly. We see in the book of Exodus a people who are enslaved and they need redemption to set them free. A people who are enslaved, who need redemption to set them free. Secondly, we see a God who is powerful enough to set them free, as God did with Egypt, with the plagues, with all the things that he did. It was God showing his hand, God showing who he was. It was, who was it that redeemed them from the bondage of Egypt? It was God, and again and again.

Look up in your concordance or in your, your Bible search thing on your phone or your computer. Look up God and Redeemer and you'll see loads of references to God who is the Redeemer of his people. Who is it that redeems his people from the curse of the law? It's our God in the person of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And then we see the means of redeeming. What's the currency that pays for the redemption? And the answer is blood. For we see it in the Passover and the Passover lamb. We see that quite clearly here.

And then we see them being led out. And there's a call to those that God has redeemed to follow the Lord's leading. And then when they go out, of course, they're still sinners and they're failures and they keep on failing. And we see also in this book the provision that God makes for the failures of the redeemed. And they're all pictures of gospel grace. It's all in symbol, in picture, and in type.

Egypt represents this world. Pharaoh represents Satan. Slavery The slavery of the people represents the bondage of sin. The groanings of the Israelites under the cruel taskmasters of the Egyptians speaks of conviction of sin in this world. Moses speaks of Christ. Moses speaks of Christ. The Passover speaks of blood redemption. The actual going out, the exodus, speaks of liberty, freedom. Crossing the Red Sea speaks of union with Christ. The wilderness wanderings speak of the pilgrim journey of the people of God towards the promised land, towards the celestial city.

So then, let's start where this starts, in the first seven verses. In the first seven verses we see Israel in Egypt. Israel in Egypt. Verse one, now these are the names of the children of Israel which came into Egypt. Every man and his household came with Jacob. And then the names of the sons of Jacob are there. And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were 70 souls. And Joseph was in Egypt already.

So they came down on those trucks that Pharaoh sent at Joseph's behest to go and get them and bring them down from the land of famine where they were in such want, and to put them in a land of comfort, the land of Goshen. But, of course, as happened in time, Joseph died, and his brethren, and all that generation, and the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty, and the land was filled with them. There were lots of them. They were a big nation. It is reckoned that there were probably about two million of them by this stage. Why were they there?

The people of God's choice from whom Christ would come according to the flesh. Christ is the promised seed of the woman. When the fall occurred in the Garden of Eden in Genesis chapter 3, God promised that the seed of the woman would come to redeem his people from the curse of that sin and of that fall. This seed was to come from the line that God would choose. These are the people of God's choice, from whom Christ would come according to the flesh.

It tells us that in Romans 9, where Paul is talking about the Israelites. Verse 4, he says, there are Israelites, these kinsmen, to whom pertaineth the adoption and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the law and the service of God and the promises. These were the people that God had set apart for his purpose. whose are the fathers, and of whom, listen, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen. Did you ever see a clearer verse that tells you that the Lord Jesus Christ is undoubtedly God blessed forever? It's right there staring you in the face. It's unavoidable.

But he was to come from this line of these people, these people that God had chosen. God had promised it to Abraham, I will make of you a great nation. In you all, in your seed, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. And God had ordained a famine.

When Jacob and his sons were there, God had ordained a famine to drive them down. into Egypt where there was plenty, where there was no famine. Because why? Because God had already sent down there one of the sons of Jacob, Joseph. And from a state of abject cruelty and wickedness by the brothers, sent him down there to become second only to Pharaoh, to make provision for that famine, to make provision so that there would be plenty in the land of Egypt, so that all lands around would come. And so these, Jacob and his sons and their family, the 70 souls came down into Egypt because of that famine. And that continued for a while, and then Joseph died, And things changed and they came into bondage and they needed redemption from that bondage into the promised land.

And this is exactly as God had revealed earlier to Abraham. If you turn back to Genesis chapter 15 and verse 13, we see there God is speaking with Abram. He's not been told that he's Abraham by this stage. Abraham means he's the father of many nations, but at this stage he's Abram. the name with which he came out of Ur of the Chaldees. And he said, God said to Abram, know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them, and they shall afflict them 400 years. There it is, God had already told Abraham that it would happen. How could God tell Abraham that this was going to happen? because he's ordained that it will happen. Why has he ordained it? For his own eternal purposes of grace.

And also that nation whom they shall serve will I judge and afterward they shall come out with great substance and thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace and shall be buried in a good old age but in the fourth generation they shall come hither again, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. I wonder what that means. We'll think about that in a minute.

So 430 years total, 430, because in Exodus chapter 12 and verse 40, it tells us that there were 400 years of affliction, but there was 430 years. That's in the Sermon of Stephen, the first martyr in Acts chapter 7. In Acts chapter 7 and verse 6, God spake on this wise that his seed should sojourn in a strange land and that they should bring them into bondage and entreat them evil for 400 years. And I forget where it says it exactly, but anyway, it was 430 years in total, but there were 30 years of relative peace and comfort for them, followed by 400 years of affliction.

Why was it 400 years? Why was it necessary? You know, there's an old saying that the wheels of God grind exceeding slow. Why was it this long? Well, it was to grow a people of 70 people into a nation. It was to allow, as I said back in Genesis 15, it was to allow the sin of the Amorites, who were a particularly evil people, to come to its peak so that Israel would be God's instrument of judgment on the Amorites when they came back into the promised land. Somebody wrote this, even the wrath of man is yoked to the chariot wheel of God's decrees. Could it also? Why 400 years?

What did those brothers do to Joseph? They hated him. They envied him. They captured him when he went just to provide them with comfort from their father. And they put him in a pit and they were going to kill him. And they sold him to traders who took him down into Egypt. They did a wicked thing. Could that 400 years have been retribution from God for some of the wicked treatment of Joseph?

So you say, okay, maybe, interesting stuff, interesting history. Why is it relevant to us? Well, the answer is this. It's the same God that we worship today. He doesn't change. He's unchangeable. The king's heart is still in the hands of God. Who are the kings today? You know, the world leaders that are doing all that they're doing. Fear not. Their hearts are in the hands of God. Why are they doing what they're doing? As I've said, It's the destruction of the kingdom of Satan and the triumph of the kingdom of God. Today's unfolding of world history all serves to fulfill God's salvation.

But why 400 years of hard slavery? Well, I think there are pictures there too. It pictures the fall from the paradise of Eden into Satan's thrall. Genesis chapter three, the fall in the garden of Eden. And how does it picture it? They had 30 years of Comfort, and abundance, and bliss, and peace, and the prince of the realm, the prime minister of the realm was their loving brother. And it so pictures Christ and his people. They had that, that abundance, that peace from Joseph.

And then they went to 400 years of Pharaoh's cruelty, down into Satan's thrall. Adam brought humanity down into the bondage of Satan. Jacob brought Israel down, it turned out, into slavery and bondage in Egypt. Why? So that God might redeem them out of it. This is it. The theme is redemption. So that God might redeem them out of that situation, buy them back out of that situation. Did the Egyptians...

Why did it go from being very comfortable to being not very pleasant? Did the Egyptians start to resent the Hebrews for being shepherds? You know, if you remember when they first came down, Joseph said to his brothers, Don't tell Pharaoh that you're shepherds, because a shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians. Why is the shepherd an abomination to the Egyptians?

I don't really know. But does it speak of this world hating the Lamb of God, hating the good shepherd who is our Lord Jesus Christ? Who was the new king in verse 8? Look in verse 8 of Exodus 1. There arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. Why didn't he know Joseph?

Again, if we turn back to, and you don't need to do this, but to Stephen's sermon, and you know that sermon of Stephen in Acts chapter seven, of course, when he was about to be martyred, the first Christian martyr, it's all in the inspiration of God. And there in Acts chapter seven, and verse 18, till there arose another king which knew not Joseph.

Now, if you go to look at what the Greek word is there for another, there are two Greek words for another. One is another of the same kind, and this is the Greek word heteros, which is another of a different kind. There was another king who wasn't like the other. kings of Egypt.

It seems, and this is where we have to compare scripture with scripture, but in Isaiah 52, this is the same Holy Spirit who brings it all together, but in Isaiah 52 verse 4 it says this, for thus saith the Lord God, my people went down a fortime into Egypt to sojourn there, and the Assyrian oppressed them without a cause.

What? Didn't it mean the Egyptian oppressed them without, no, the Assyrian oppressed them without a cause. It seems according to scripture, it seems according to scripture, that there had been a takeover by Assyrians in Egypt at this time, who knew not Joseph, and who knew not the history of that thing. And they were a minority ruling. They were a minority ruling Egypt in general, but they knew not. And look what they did. He said to his people, verse 9 of Exodus 1, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we.

Could that be we Assyrians? Could it be the ones ruling Egypt at that time? Come on, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply. And it come to pass that when there falleth out any war between the Assyrians and the Egyptians, They join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land. It seems to me that that is quite plausible. World history cast doubt on this. Yes, Assyria did take over Egypt, but it was only around 600 B.C. or thereabout that that happened.

But this is God's word. How many times have we seen that the academics and the theologians and the archaeologists of this world have cast doubt on the record of this book. And it subsequently turned out that they were wrong, and what God said was right, and it could well still be.

There's some archaeological evidence that yet hasn't been uncovered. There's something that hasn't been uncovered that might say. If the word of God says it was the Assyrian that oppressed the Israelites when they were down in Egypt, it probably was, and it would explain why he didn't know. He didn't know Joseph.

Anyway, Egypt pictures the world. Egypt pictures the world. The scripture name for Egypt is Mizraim, and its literal meaning is double straightness. And it speaks of the, you know, you look on a map, and the Nile runs from south to north into the Mediterranean Sea. And the banks of the Nile is a double straightness, Mizraim. And the banks of the Nile are fertile and abundant because every year the floods in the heights of Ethiopia come down the river and the river rises by a colossal amount and it overflows its banks and they've made canals and they've made irrigation channels and you've got this strip of land, this double straightness on either side of the river that is rich with life and abundance and prosperity, and it's bounded on either side by desert, Sahara Desert. It's bounded by death. There's life, worldly life in the middle, and it's bounded by death. There's little rainfall in Egypt because the water comes down the Nile from where it rains in the heights further south in Africa.

They're independent of heaven. They look for their water of life down to the river Nile. They look down to the river for life. But the promised land that was the inheritance of the people of God looked up to heaven for life-giving rain. Just like this world in which we live, It lives without any conscious dependence on God. Egypt lived without any conscious dependence on rain from heaven, because it came down the river.

As men sought the source of the Nile, you know, it was the thing of the 1800s, wasn't it? The explorers going off to find the source of the Nile. Just in the same way, people in this world seek the source of godless life. They worship the creature rather than the Creator, who is God, blessed forever. These people worship the Nile. They look to that for their life and their prosperity.

You see what a picture Egypt is of the world around. What seemed to Israel as paradise restored when they went down into the land of Goshen in Egypt, and had all the abundance of the flood plains of the River Nile, what seemed to Israel as paradise restored, like the people of this world see the riches and the blessings and the beauty of this world as all theirs to enjoy, it became slavery to them.

It became bondage. It became a burden without any hope of freedom, and that's exactly what Satan's kingdom does for all mankind out of hatred for God and of his beloved people. He promises that you shall be like gods. That's what Satan said to Eve in the Garden of Eden. God knows that you shall be like gods, and he promises that. Satan promises that to this world, and they fall for it, and they end up in the slavery and bondage of sin without any hope. and separated from the true source of life. Next point, and we have to hurry. Pharaoh pictures Satan.

In Genesis 3.15, the fall was the triumph of Satan. You see, Satan knew that God had loved a people who he was going to exalt to the highest position in heaven, second only to God and his Christ.

God's justice could not permit people who were sinners to inherit that kingdom. So Satan fermented the fall in Eden. But God promised the seed to come from the woman, the seed of the woman, who was a man. who would redeem his people from the curse of the law by his lifeblood. He would pay the price for their liberty with his lifeblood.

A man from the line of God's chosen people. Satan must stop that man coming into the world. We saw it in Revelation 12. In Revelation 12 we saw that there was a woman clothed with the sun. This is the people of God in the world. This is the church of Christ in the world. All of the symbolism of the sun and the moon and the 12 stars. All of that speaks of the church, the true church of the living God. And she was going to bring forth a child, she was going to bring forth a son, and that son was the Christ who would come from that people. She being with child cried, travailing in birth.

And there, in verse 3, you see another wonder, another shocking thing. a great red dragon having seven heads. This is the devil. This is the devil mimicking God. Seven is God's number of perfection. He's mimicking God. He's got ten horns of power. He's seven crowns upon his head.

And he draws down a third of the angels, the stars of heaven, and casts them down to earth. And he stood before the woman, which was ready to be delivered of this child, for to devour the child as soon as it was born, so that the seed of the woman would be killed. And she brought forth a man-child, and he accomplished his purposes and went back to heaven."

What does that say to us? It says Satan is always trying to stop the Christ of God coming and accomplishing his decease. We see it. The people from whom the seed would come had grown greatly, They were fertile, they were strong, they were healthy. They are the manifestation of that woman of Revelation 12 in those days at this time.

From them, the promised seed would come, who would crush, it says in Genesis 3.15, Satan's head. So Satan must destroy this people, because if he destroys this people, the seed of the woman can't come. His instrument, Satan's instrument in this, is this Pharaoh who knew not Joseph. His instrument is hard labor and oppression.

And then, in the second half of the chapter, which we won't turn to now, but we read it, it's the infanticide, it's the killing of all of the male children, so that the line must die out. But God frustrated his orders. God ordained that not only would the deliverer not be killed as a baby, which we'll see in chapter two, Moses was the deliverer that God raised up. Not only would the deliverer not be killed as a baby, but that deliverer would be raised as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. And he would learn all of the culture and all of the learning of the land of Egypt and all of the culture of it. He would be a man who was well taught, but he would be the one who would lead the people out to the borders of the promised land. And in exactly the same way as when Satan was convinced he had destroyed Jesus Christ, the seed, on the cross, just As that time he was convinced he'd destroyed Christ, his power to accuse God's people was stripped of him. Did you see that when we read Revelation 12?

The accuser of the brethren is cast down. Why? Because he no longer had any power to accuse them. Why not? Because Christ had taken away that with which he might accuse them. And so God will strip Pharaoh of his power to enslave his people. It's the power of God that will do it. And we'll see that as we progress through the book of Exodus.

The line would be preserved from Abraham, from Isaac, from Jacob. the promised seed would come when the fullness of the time was come, says Galatians 4 verse 4. God sent forth his son, the seed, made of a woman, made under the law, why? To redeem, to redeem, there's that word again, to redeem those who are under the law. And in him shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, for God will have his people in every It says that, in Genesis 22, 18, God promised Abraham, in you, in your seed, shall all nations of the earth be blessed.

Just turn to Isaiah chapter 19. Now I want you to see something here. Isaiah chapter 19, verse 23. Verse 23. He's been talking about Egypt and Assyria and all these other things, the Lord shall smite Egypt. and he shall be treated of them and shall heal them. In that day, verse 23 of Isaiah 19, in that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt and the Egyptian into Assyria and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians. In that day shall Israel, the people of God, be a third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land, whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, blessed be Egypt, my people, and Assyria, the work of my hands. Israel mine inheritance is that not a glorious prophecy of the fulfillment of what God said to Abraham in you all nations of the earth shall be blessed in your seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed the very ones who were the arch enemies of the people of God trying to destroy them in the hands of Satan would be the inheritance of God, Egypt my people, Assyria the work of my hands. God has his people in all nations. Now, I just want you to think on these things. We've just started, we've just set the scene for the book of Exodus, for the book of redemption out of slavery, out of bondage to the promised land.

Is this not God's marvellous work? Is it not a marvellous work that God has ordained? Are you not staggered as you see? You know, if you've ever been around a magnificent exhibition, and there are some that are so magnificent they take your breath away. You look at it and you think, wow, never, couldn't possibly see anything like that. I tell you, to the child of God, with his eyes opened by the Spirit of God and the gift of faith, As the message of saving grace unfolds, it is a marvellous thing to see. It's a wonderful thing to see.

It's the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. In Matthew 21 verse 42, Jesus said to them, the Jews, did you never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same has become the head of the corner. He's speaking of himself, building his church, building his church, on him the cornerstone. He says, this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.

What God has started, what God has started, He will finish. He will roll it down history and finish it. What we see today is no different. It's just the fulfillment of everything. In Philippians 1 verse 6, Paul says to the Philippians that he's convinced that He who has started a good work in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. God who has started this work of redemption will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. His people will all be with Him there. People who by nature are Assyrians and Egyptians, not Israel, but he will make them his people.

You can rest on it, child of God, in the full assurance of faith. That's what Paul, I think it's Paul, calls it in Hebrews. The full assurance of faith. It is nearly all fulfilled. We only wait for his return. We wait, watching on the tiptoe of faith, as Don Faulkner used to say. It says in the book of Revelation, chapter one, I think it's verse six, or is it verse seven? Behold, he cometh.

Are you ready? Are you watching? Are you waiting? Are you eagerly anticipating? You know what you need? You need a lamp. And you know what you need in that lamp? You need oil in that lamp. Holy Spirit oil, hence the parable of the wise and the foolish virgins. Let's be amongst those, seek to be amongst those who are wise and follow the leading of our God. This is the story, the history of redemption. And here we have it in Exodus chapter one. And by God's grace, hopefully we'll see much more of it. Amen.