Multiply 13: Exodus and Redemption
10. Creation
11. The Fall
12. God’s Covenant with Abraham
13. Exodus and Redemption
14. God’s Covenant with Moses
15. Sacrifice and Atonement
16. God’s Presence on Earth
17. The Kingdom of God
18. Exile and the Promise of Restoration
Exodus and Redemption:
 As Genesis ends, we see God working toward the fulfillment of His promises to Abraham. God’s people had grown significantly,
which was perfectly in line with His promise that Abraham’s descendants would be “as numerous as the stars in the sky.” But in
the beginning of the book of Exodus, it looks like something has gone wrong. Exodus begins with a significant problem: God’s
people are slaves in a foreign land…This raises an important question: Was God really keeping His promises to Abraham if his
descendants were slaves in Egypt? The answer is yes. In fact, God specifically told Abraham that this would happen:
o The LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a
land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four
hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward
they shall come out with great possessions.” (Gen. 15:13–14)
Moses’ Encounter with I AM: During this period of exile, God was preparing to rescue His people from slavery:
 2:23 During that long period of time the king of Egypt died, and the Israelites groaned because of the slave labor. They cried out,
and their desperate cry because of their slave labor went up to God. 2:24 God heard their groaning, God remembered his
covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob, 2:25 God saw the Israelites, and God understood….3:1 Now Moses was
shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came
to the mountain of God, to Horeb. 3:2 The angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from within a bush. He looked –
and the bush was ablaze with fire, but it was not being consumed! 3:3 So Moses thought, “I will turn aside to see this amazing
sight. Why does the bush not burn up?” 3:4 When the LORD saw that he had turned aside to look, God called to him from within
the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.” 3:5 God said, “Do not approach any closer! Take your sandals
off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 3:6 He added, “I am the God of your father, the God of
Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God. 3:7 The LORD
said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt. I have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I
know their sorrows. 3:8 I have come down to deliver them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land
to a land that is both good and spacious, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the region of the Canaanites, Hittites,
Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. 3:9 And now indeed the cry of the Israelites has come to me, and I have also seen
how severely the Egyptians oppress them. 3:10 So now go, and I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out
of Egypt.” 3:11 Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, or that I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt? 3:12
He replied, “Surely I will be with you, and this will be the sign to you that I have sent you: When you bring the people out of
Egypt, you and they will serve God on this mountain.” 3:13 Moses said to God, “If I go to the Israelites and tell them, ‘The God of
your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ – what should I say to them?” 3:14 God said to Moses, “I
AM that I AM.” And he said, “You must say this to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” 3:15 God also said to Moses, “You
must say this 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, and this is my memorial from generation to generation.’ 3:16 “Go and bring
together the elders of Israel and tell them, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, appeared to me – the God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob – saying, “I have attended carefully to you and to what has been done to you in Egypt, 3:17 and I have promised that I will
bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, to a
land flowing with milk and honey.” 3:18 “The elders will listen to you, and then you and the elders of Israel must go to the king
of Egypt and tell him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. So now, let us go three days’ journey into the
wilderness, so that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.’ 3:19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go, not even
under force. 3:20 So I will extend my hand and strike Egypt with all my wonders that I will do among them, and after that he will
release you. 3:21 “I will grant this people favor with the Egyptians, so that when you depart you will not leave empty-handed.
3:22 Every woman will ask her neighbor and the one who happens to be staying in her house for items of silver and gold and for
clothing. You will put these articles on your sons and daughters – thus you will plunder Egypt!”
1. Read Exodus 2:23–3:22 carefully. It records one of the rare instances when a human being had an audible conversation with
Almighty God. What stands out to you about Moses’s encounter with God in this passage?
2. Read Exodus 5:22–6:13. What does this passage reveal about God and His relationship to His people?
 God sent Moses back to Egypt to lead His people out of slavery and into the land that He had promised to give Abraham’s
descendants. When Moses arrived, he gave Pharaoh a simple command from God: “Let my people go!”
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The Passover Lamb:
 Though God clearly demonstrated His power over Pharaoh and all of Egypt’s gods through the first nine plagues, it was the
tenth plague that ultimately got Pharaoh’s attention. God warned that unless Pharaoh released His people, every firstborn in
the land of Egypt would be killed. Tragically, Pharaoh refused, and the consequences were devastating:
o 12:29 It happened at midnight – the Lord attacked all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh
who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the prison, and all the firstborn of the cattle. 12:30
Pharaoh got up in the night, along with all his servants and all Egypt, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was
no house in which there was not someone dead. (Ex. 12:29–30)
3. How does God’s provision of the Passover Lamb for the Israelites help us understand Jesus’s sacrifice for us?
 This night was the first Passover, an event that the Jews have celebrated once a year ever since. It is full of significance that
Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, recast the Passover celebration in terms of His own death and resurrection. Jesus could
hardly have been clearer that He was laying down His life for His followers, as their Passover Lamb. Paul makes this connection
explicit in the New Testament where he told us, “Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed” (1 Cor. 5:7).
Through the Red Sea:
 As Israel sat with their backs to the Red Sea, Pharaoh’s army approached rapidly. God then split the waters of the Red Sea,
allowing His people to walk across on dry land, and then destroyed Pharaoh and his army as the waters closed in around them.
o 14:30 So the Lord saved Israel on that day from the power of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the
shore of the sea. 14:31 When Israel saw the great power that the Lord had exercised over the Egyptians, they feared the
Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses. (Ex 14:30-31)
4. Read Exodus 15:1–21. How did the Israelites describe God’s act of redemption immediately after He led them out of slavery?
 Note 1: Compare it to Psalm 90, the oldest Psalm. In Psalm 90, Moses acknowledges the eternality of God, the frailty of man,
the sinfulness of man, the shortness of life, and prays for God’s grace on His people.
 Note 2: Miriam, the prophetess and Aaron’s sister, may be the first worship leader in the Bible (Ex 15:20-21)
5. What do God’s actions in Israel’s exodus teach us about God?
 Though God sometimes makes direct statements about who He is and how we should relate to Him, He often reveals Himself to
us through His actions. Reflect on what God did as He called His people out of Egypt.
6. The story of the exodus sets the paradigm for what God’s redemption looks like. How have you seen God’s hand at work in
your own life?
A Forgetful People:
 As we close this session, it may be helpful to take note of Israel’s long-term reaction to God’s incredible deliverance. What did
they do, time and again, in response to God’s redemptive grace? They forgot! They complained! They longed for the days when
they were back in Egypt. As we read these accounts, it seems unbelievable. How could this people who had so clearly seen
God’s hand at work stop trusting God and begin complaining about their circumstances? But before we become too critical of
the Israelites, let’s look at our own lives. We may not have been saved from an oncoming army by walking through the sea on
dry land, but those events are a part of our heritage. Not only that, but we have seen God come through for us in incredibly
powerful and personal ways. No matter what we try to make ourselves believe in our darkest moments, every one of us has
unmistakably seen the hand of God in our lives. But we forget. We complain. We lose our trust in God and try to go back to
doing things our own way. Take some time to learn from Israel’s example and focus on remembering God’s provision in life’s
most difficult circumstances.
7. What does Israel’s tendency to forget God’s redemption and begin complaining teach us about humanity?
8. Make this more personal. Take some time to write about the times that God rescued you. What can you do to keep yourself
focused on who God is and what He has done?
9. Spend some time in prayer. Ask God to make the story of Israel’s exodus vivid to you. Ask Him for the faith to believe that He
will come through on His promises to you no matter how desperate the situation appears. Pray that God would help you trust
Him for your salvation.
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