THROUGH THE BIBLE (Exodus)

By Bishop Elijah H. Hankerson III, BA, MA, DD

LESSON NOTES:

I.                  THE AUTHOR OF EXODUS.

It is commonly believed that Moses was the author of Exodus. That is the only way that pre-historic information could have been received and transmitted. Moses received this information when he went to the top of Mount Sinai and heard from the LORD.

Exodus 19:20 ²⁰The LORD descended to the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. So Moses went up

Exodus 24:15 ¹⁵When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it,

Exodus 24:18 ¹⁸Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

Exodus 24:12-13 12The LORD said to Moses, "Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction." 13Then Moses set out with Joshua his aide, and Moses went up on the mountain of God.

Exodus 34:2 2Be ready in the morning, and then come up on Mount Sinai. Present yourself to me there on top of the mountain.

Exodus 19:3 3Then Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain and said, "This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel:

II.            THE REASON EXODUS WAS AUTHORED. This book was written to show how God protected Abraham’s descendants, during their 400 years of bondage in Egypt. It shows how a family progressed into becoming a nation. It was God’s promise that God would make a great nation out of his descendants.

Genesis 12:1-3 ¹The LORD had said to Abram, "Go from your country, your people and your father's household to the land I will show you. ²"I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. ³I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."

  III.      GOD HAD WARNED ABRAHAM THAT HIS DESENCENDETS WOULD FACE GREAT SUFFERING IN EGYPT.

Genesis 15:13-14 ¹³Then the LORD said to him, "Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. ¹⁴But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.

  IV.      BECAUSE OF GOD’S RELATIONSHIP AND PROMISE WITH ABRAHAM; HE HEARD THE CRY OF THE ISRAELITES.

Exodus 2:23-25 ²³During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. ²⁴God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. ²⁵So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.

Exodus 3:7-10 ⁷The 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. ⁸So 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. ⁹And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. ¹⁰So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt."

Psalm 105:8-11 8He remembers his covenant forever, the promise he made, for a thousand generations, 9the covenant he made with Abraham, the oath he swore to Isaac. 10He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting covenant: 11"To you I will give the land of Canaan as the portion you will inherit."

Psalm 106:44-46 ⁴⁴Yet he took note of their distress when he heard their cry; ⁴⁵for their sake he remembered his covenant and out of his great love he relented. ⁴⁶He caused all who held them captive to show them mercy.

 V.            GOD TRAINED A LEADER TO LEAD HIS PEOPLE. Moses, whose name means “drawn out,” was raised up by God, not only to lead the Israelites out of bondage to establish a nation. He was very prepared to lead.

A.             HE WAS RAISED AMONG ROYALTY.

Exodus 2:7-10 ⁷Then his sister asked Pharaoh's daughter, "Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?" ⁸"Yes, go," she answered. So the girl went and got the baby's mother. ⁹Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you." So the woman took the baby and nursed him. ¹⁰When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh's daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, "I drew him out of the water."

B.             HE WAS CONSECRATED.

Hebrews 11:24-25 ²⁴By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. ²⁵He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.

C.             HE WAS EDUCATED AND A POWERFUL SPEAKER.

1.               PEOPLE REMEMBER HOW AARON WAS HIS SPOKESMAN.

Exodus 4:10-17 ¹⁰Moses said to the LORD, "Pardon your servant, LORD. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue." ¹¹The LORD said to him, "Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the LORD? ¹²Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say." ¹³But Moses said, "Pardon your servant, LORD. Please send someone else." ¹⁴Then the LORD's anger burned against Moses and he said, "What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and he will be glad to see you. ¹⁵You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. ¹⁶He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him. ¹⁷But take this staff in your hand so you can perform the signs with it."

2.               BUT THEY FORGET HOW HE EVENTUALLY BECAME A MIGHTY SPEAKER.

Acts 7:22 ²²Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.

  VI.EXODUS PREVIEWS JESUS AS OUR PASSOVER LAMB.

Exodus 12:12-13 ¹²"On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD. ¹³The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.

John 1:29 29The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

    VII.THE ECONOMY OF THE NATION WAS ESTABLISHED. Because it is through this nation that the redeemer will come.

Exodus 12:35-36 ³⁵The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing. ³⁶The LORD had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered the Egyptians.

VIII.THE COMMANDEMENTS AND THE LAW WERE GIVEN TO POINT US TO CHRIST. The law was never intended to save. It was intended to show us the righteousness of God; which we cannot attain. It is only through the Christ of God that we can meet God’s righteous requirements.

Exodus 20:1-17 New International Version (NIV)

20 And God spoke all these words:

² “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

³ “You shall have no other gods before me.

⁴ “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. ⁵ You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, ⁶ but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

⁷ “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

⁸ “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. ⁹ Six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. ¹¹ For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

¹² “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

¹³ “You shall not murder.

¹⁴ “You shall not commit adultery.

¹⁵ “You shall not steal.

¹⁶ “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

¹⁷ “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

Exodus 31:18

When He had finished speaking with him upon Mount Sinai, He gave Moses the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written by the finger of God.

John 1:17 ¹⁷For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Galatians 3:24-26 ²⁴So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. ²⁶So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith,

Romans 3:19-20 ¹⁹Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. ²⁰Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God's sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.

IX.ONE NIGHT TO BRING ISRAEL OUT OF EGYPT; MANY YEARS TO GET EGYPT OUF OT THE PEOPLE. However, Moses prayer of intercession is symbolic of how Christ has stood in the gap for us.

Exodus 12:42 ⁴²Because the LORD kept vigil that night to bring them out of Egypt, on this night all the Israelites are to keep vigil to honor the LORD for the generations to come.

Exodus 32:19-35 New International Version (NIV)

¹⁹ When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. ²⁰ And he took the calf the people had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it.

²¹ He said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you, that you led them into such great sin?”

²² “Do not be angry, my lord,” Aaron answered. “You know how prone these people are to evil. ²³ They said to me, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’ ²⁴ So I told them, ‘Whoever has any gold jewelry, take it off.’ Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!”

²⁵ Moses saw that the people were running wild and that Aaron had let them get out of control and so become a laughingstock to their enemies. ²⁶ So he stood at the entrance to the camp and said, “Whoever is for the Lord, come to me.” And all the Levites rallied to him.

²⁷ Then he said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbor.’” ²⁸ The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people died. ²⁹ Then Moses said, “You have been set apart to the Lord today, for you were against your own sons and brothers, and he has blessed you this day.”

³⁰ The next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a great sin. But now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.”

³¹ So Moses went back to the Lord and said, “Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold. ³² But now, please forgive their sin—but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written.”

³³ The Lord replied to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book. ³⁴ Now go, lead the people to the place I spoke of, and my angel will go before you. However, when the time comes for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin.”

³⁵ And the Lord struck the people with a plague because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made.

X.THE TABERNACLE’S INSTRUCTIONS ARE GIVEN. It was patterned after the Temple in Heaven; the one where Jesus offered His blood for us.

Exodus 25:8-9 8"Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. 9Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you.

Exodus 25:40 40See that you make them according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.

Exodus 25:9 9Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you.

Hebrews 8:1-6 ¹Now the main point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, ²and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the LORD, not by a mere human being. ³Every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, and so it was necessary for this one also to have something to offer. ⁴If he were on earth, he would not be a priest, for there are already priests who offer the gifts prescribed by the law. ⁵They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: "See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain." ⁶But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises.

Hebrews 9:23 ²³It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

Exodus 26:30 ³⁰"Set up the tabernacle according to the plan shown you on the mountain.

Hebrews 9:12 12He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.

Hebrews 9:25 25Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own.

XI.                  THE NAME OF THE LORD IS GIVEN. God (Elohim) introduces Himself as the LORD (Yahweh). This is God’ covenant name with His people. It is to be used forever. It is used forever because it is in the Name that is above every name: the Name of Jesus the Christ! The Name of God (Yahweh) is in the Name of Jesus (“Yahweh is Salvation”).

Exodus 3:13-15 ¹³Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?" ¹⁴God said to Moses, "I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I am has sent me to you.'" ¹⁵God also said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, 'The LORD, the God of your fathers-the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob-has sent me to you.' "This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation.

XII.Prayer for Salvation. As we close, if you have not received this Jesus pray this simple prayer:

"Father, I know that I have sinned against You. Please forgive me. Wash me clean. I promise to trust in Jesus, Your Son. I believe that He died for me—He took my sin upon Himself when He died on the cross. I believe that He was raised from the dead. I surrender my life to Jesus today.

"Thank You, Father, for Your gift of forgiveness and eternal life. Please help me to live for you. In Jesus' name, Amen."