We are in a series called “Sword Sharpening,” looking at how to make the most of our time with the Bible. We are currently breaking the Bible’s storyline (His Story) into eight sections. This week we will look at the fourth section, Exodus – 2 Kings, and call it the ‘Kingdom Foreshadowed’.
Last week as we finished the section ‘Kingdom Covenant,’ we had the nation of Israel in Egypt. After a while, new pharaohs came into power who didn’t continue to bless Israel, and eventually, Israel found itself enslaved. As a nation, Egypt embodies all that’s gone wrong with humanity: idolatry, worshiping false gods, injustice, slavery, and giving in to evil.
His Story continues as God raises a descendant of Abraham named Moses, and God partners with Moses to rescue His people from slavery and bondage in Egypt.
Exodus 3:5-10 (NIV)
5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God. 7 The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey–the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”
What I find most challenging in breaking the Bible down into these eight sections is how many things I want to talk about and yet being aware that I need to keep it down to three or four main points. I also want them to be memorable. So far, we have the first three sections of His Story, and the main points look like this:
Kingdom Revealed – Cosmic Temple, Divine Realm/Earthly Realm, God has a heart for family.
Kingdom Rebellion – The Fall, the Flood, the Tower of Babel
Kingdom Covenant – Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph
I have spent a considerable amount of thought this week to come up with these four main points for this section:
Kingdom Foreshadowed – Ten Plagues, Ten Words, Tabernacle, Temple
The people of Israel are rescued from slavery and bondage in Egypt through the ten plagues. The last of the ten plagues is where we get ‘the Passover’ from.
After being rescued, the people of Israel are taught how to live as the family of God by way of the ten words (commandments). God did not give these commandments to people trying to earn their deliverance. He had already delivered them. He had already rescued them. These ten words are all about relationships. Love God and love your neighbor as yourself.
Then we were introduced to the Tabernacle. God wants to make a place for heaven and earth to meet again.
Exodus 40:34-38 (NIV)
34 Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. 35 Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud had settled upon it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. 36 In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out; 37 but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out–until the day it lifted. 38 So the cloud of the LORD was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel during all their travels.
The presence of God in the Tabernacle is the culmination of His Story from Genesis 1 up to this point. The Tabernacle is a picture of the heaven and earth connection that God desires.
And then, with Joshua assuming the helm, Israel enters the land God had promised to Abraham. They are supposed to clear the land and drive out those who refuse to worship the one true God. But they fall short again and begin worshiping the gods of the nations around them, which leads to more corruption and injustice. We are introduced to the kings of Israel, and under David and Solomon, we see Israel at its peak, with Jerusalem as the capital with the glorious temple that David prepared for and Solomon built. It is, in some ways, a picture of God’s people living in God’s place, under God’s rule and blessing, and at the same time, we see Israel committing acts of slavery, polygamy, and violence. We also see the people of Israel putting themselves first instead of God. Israel’s continued rebellion will have significant consequences, which we will examine in the next section of His Story, Kingdom Coming.
Steve Lawes is a Church Consultant and also provides coaching for pastors, churches, ministries and church planters.
