Today we are continuing a new sermon series I have entitled “Route 66” because we are taking a journey together through all 66 books of the Bible in 66 Sundays. My challenge to you, after hearing a message about each book of the Bible is to read the book of the week. Then we invite you during the week to join us for one of our small groups where I will try to answer questions you may have about your reading.
So, today we are focusing on the second book of the Old Testament, the book of Exodus. Each week my plan is to tell you something about the author of the book we are studying, the date it was probably written, the themes of the book, the structure, and then focus on one key concept from each book. So, here we go…
Author
Last week we talked about the traditional view that Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible. I pointed out that there is no internal claim to Mosaic authorship in any of these books. Deuteronomy talks about Moses writing down the Law. But nowhere do these books say that Moses wrote all of them.
The view of modern scholarship, for the past 200 years, as we saw last week, is a bit more complicated. The belief of modern scholars is that in the book of Exodus we have at least three sources woven together. These sources are designated by the letters J, E, and P. The J stands for Jahwist or Yahwist because that source uses the personal name for God, Yahweh. The E stands for Elohim because that source uses the more general name for God. And P stands for the priestly source.
The documentary hypothesis, as it is called, reminds us of something very important about the Bible from the get-go. The Bible is not simply one book by one author. It is a collection of books, a sacred library if you will, containing many voices of faith writing over many centuries. This makes the foundation of our faith richer rather than poorer.
Date
The traditional dating for the book of Exodus goes along with the idea of Moses as author. Thus, the traditional date puts the writing of Exodus in the 15th century BCE. The view of modern scholarship puts the date of writing for Exodus much later. My former professor, Richard Elliott Friedman, believes that the J source was written in Judah during the time of the divided kingdom, between 922 and 722 BCE. He also believes that the E source was written in the northern kingdom of Israel during the same period. According to this theory, the two sources were united by an editor writing in Judah after the northern kingdom was carted off into exile by the Assyrians in 722 BCE. And the P source was written in reaction to JE during the reign of King Hezekiah. If you want to know more about who wrote the first five books of the Bible and when, I recommend reading Who Wrote the Bible by Richard Elliott Friedman.
Themes
So, let’s talk about the themes in this book. The word exodus means exit or departure. In this book we have accounts of God bringing his people Israel out of slavery in Egypt. The message for all of us in this is that God can also show us the way out of our troubles.
In this book we see yet another administration of the covenant of grace. In Genesis we saw God’s covenant with Adam, with Noah, and with Abraham. Now we see God’s covenant with the nation of Israel through Moses as the covenant mediator, like the Messiah who is to come. This covenant with Israel is a covenant of grace not of works. Notice the preface to the Ten Commandments: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” The Lord essentially says to his people Israel, “I have saved you, now having been saved, here is how I want you to live.”
Exodus lays a foundational theology in which God reveals his name (Yahweh), his attributes (justice, truthfulness, mercy, faithfulness, and holiness), his redemption, his law, and how he is to be worshiped.
The idea of salvation through sacrifice is especially important in Exodus. It is only through the covering of blood that the Israelites are saved from destruction as the death angel passes over Egypt.
The foundation of biblical ethics and morality is laid out in The Ten Commandments. The ordinances of the Book of the Covenant (20:22-20:33) teach the Israelites how to apply God’s law in a practical way.
The book concludes with an elaborate discussion of worship. Just as the Passover points forward to the sacrifice of the Messiah, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29), so too do the various aspects of tabernacle worship point forward to the person and work of the Messiah. The tabernacle shows us God dwelling with his people. And to this day the Lord continues to be enthroned on the praises of his people (Psalm 22:3).
Structure
The structure of the book of Exodus falls into three sections: Divine Redemption (1-18), Divine Covenant (19-24), and Divine Worship (25-40).
Key Concept—Putting God First
The key concept from Exodus that I want to focus on for our remaining time is: Putting God First. In recent years many Christians have been upset about the fact that the Ten Commandments have been removed from courtroom and public classroom walls. But I have often wondered how many of the same Christians could tell us what the Ten Commandments are. I wonder, how many can you remember off the top of your head?
Now, some of you may have the courage to wonder, “Why do we even need to know the Ten Commandments today? After all, we aren’t under the law as Christians, are we?”
The Protestant Reformers of the 16th century saw three uses of the law:
- To lead us as a tutor to Christ. (Galatians 3:24)
- To restrain the corruption of society. (Romans 7:7)
- To guide the Christian in holy living (Matthew 5:17-20)
We are not under the law in such a way that we can earn our salvation by obeying it. We cannot and do not obey fully in our own power. But the Ten Commandments do offer us a guide for living.
We read of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 which begins this way…
And God spoke all these words:
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.”
Note: The God who demands our allegiance is the one who has already met our needs. The God who gave the Israelites the Ten Commandments was the God who had brought them out of slavery in the land of Egypt. He was their Savior, not their taskmaster, nor their slavedriver. “Did the Lord deliver these people out of four hundred years of slavery in Egypt just to browbeat them and brutalize them in the wilderness?”[1] No way!
God was not giving the Israelites these commandments as a new way of earning his favor. What God was doing with Israel was giving them his law as a guide. He was giving his guidelines for living to a rescued people.
Now, I realize that these commandments often sound stern to us. There are two “do’s” and eight “don’ts” here and we can often be put off by that. But don’t we as loving parents and grandparents often do the same thing with our children and grandchildren?
I remember many years ago when we took a family trip from Pennsylvania down to Virginia to see my extended family. At the top of Shenandoah Mountain there is a lookout point. There is a place to park, beside which is a stone wall, a few feet high, running along the top of a very high cliff. On this occasion we pulled into the parking lot. The doors of our van flew open, and our three sons piled out of the car. Before I fully realized what was happening, Josh was climbing up on the wall.
Was this a time to whisper sweetly? Was it a time for “values clarification”? No. As my father-heart lurched within my chest I shouted at the top of my voice, “Josh! Stop! Stop right now!” And while I was shouting, I was running at top speed to rescue Josh before he got on top of the wall and toppled over the other side and down the cliff.
When we read the Ten Commandments, we need to hear the Father-heart of God calling us, “Stop, don’t go near that cliff. I love you. I’ve got a better way.” And the God who is calling to us in the Ten Commandments is also the God who has met our needs in the past. He is the God who has met our need for salvation through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.
Now this leads me to ask a question: Is it too much for God to ask us to put him first in our lives? Considering that he is the God who has met our needs in Christ, I don’t think it is too much to ask.
But what things do we put first in our lives? Let’s ask the question from the old Abbot and Costello sketch, “Who’s on first?”
I think there are a lot of things that vie for first place in our lives. And many of these things are good. They just aren’t meant to take first place.
For example, a lot of people put work first. “But,” you ask, “God wants me to support my family doesn’t he?” yes, I think he does. But I don’t think God wants work to be first in our lives. He wants to be first.
Others put family first. I have seen lots of people work hard so their kids can have more privileges, more toys, more stuff. But in the end those kids end up lacking what they really need: more time with mom and dad. I have seen so many families try to put their kids first by rushing them around from one activity to another. It seems like parents are afraid of down time. We are afraid of silence. And in the end, there is no room left for God.
Some people put church first in their lives. Their whole life seems to revolve around activities at church. That’s great. But it is not the same as putting God first.
I am reminded of the saying: “Jesus is coming back. Look busy!”
Actually, I don’t think God is much interested in our busyness. He is interested in having a relationship with us. So, how do we put God first in our lives?
First, I think we must make room for him. It’s like when Becky and I converted a garage into a family room in a former house. We had so much stuff in that one-car garage. We didn’t even have room for a car. Some of it was valuable stuff we needed to keep. Some of it was useless clutter we needed to get rid of. So, we had to build a shed to keep the stuff we needed to keep. We gave excess stuff to a local thrift shop. Then some stuff we simply threw out. That garage looked so neat once it was cleaned out. But that was just the beginning. It looked even better once it was transformed into a family room with new walls, new windows, carpet, fresh paint, a couch, a table, a desk. Bottom line: we had to make space for that family room by cleaning out the old garage first.
We must do the same thing in our relationship with God. Remember what Jesus said in his Parable of the Sower? The seed represents God’s word and some of the seed falls among thorns. Jesus says, “The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.” (Matthew 13:22) To make room for God in our lives we need to get rid of some of the weeds that are there, the thorns, the needless junk that chokes out room for God.
How do we know what we need to get rid of? Pray like David, “Search me O God, and know my heart; test me, and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalm 139:23-24) Pray like that and God will show you what you need to get rid of.
Let’s consider one more question: What happens when we put God first?
First, when we do this, it relieves us of worry.
Jesus makes a wonderful promise in Matthew 6:33, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
When we put God first, we can be sure he is going to meet all our needs. Not our greeds, but our needs. And this relieves us of a lot of worry.
The second thing that will happen when we put God first is that it will make an impact on the people around us. They will notice something different about us.
I remember a time when I was in college, and I was really excited about what God was doing in my life. I must have had a smile on my face as I walked into class one day because a girl in my class asked me, “What are you so happy about?”
I responded, “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
She said, “I would like to know.”
And I said, “Go out to dinner with me and I’ll tell you.”
Well, we did go out to dinner, and I told her over our meal about my relationship with Jesus Christ. It was a bit of missionary dating.
But the point is, when we put God first in our lives, other people are going to take notice. As Lloyd Ogilvie once said…
The people around us can always read our hearts by our faces. The inner things we live with will always show up on our faces. The soul is dyed with the color of our commitment. Our task is not to argue, philosophize, speculate, cajole, but to live a life that demands an explanation. Is there anything about us that would force people to say, “Now that’s living! That’s the way I wish I could live!” A joy-filled life will always demand an explanation…
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