(Exodus 32) Impatience is a danger to the people of God. It always – as all our sins do – wears a pious mask but essentially it is a mindset that we know better than God the schedule for our lives. And this means that impatience is a form of idolatry. Moses ‘was delayed’ (by […]
(Exodus 25-31) Psalm 84 begins, “How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts! My soul has a longing, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.” And towards the end it continues, “For a day in your courts is better than a […]
(Exodus 24) The “words of the LORD and all the rules” that Moses tells the people refers to the previous 3 chapters of Exodus, where what life in the covenant of God looks like has been spelled out. Hearing these words, the people are convinced that the covenant is good and desirable – “All the […]
(Exodus 17) “The first responsibility of the people of God is to trust and obey their Saviour God. He has promised to be with us, even to the end of the age (Matt. 28:16-20). We have everything we need for life and godliness granted to us by divine power (2 Peter 1:3) and this is […]
(Exodus 15:22-16:36) The next stage in Israel’s life begins following the rescue through the sea. Between then and the entry into the Promised Land, Israel is going to be trained and matured in the wilderness. Their life—like ours—is going to be preparation for the life to come. This section is like a replay of Genesis […]
(Exodus 11-12) “In the end, all shall be music.” This saying of, I believe, Jonathan Edwards, the great American theologian and preacher, captures in its poetry a reality that is deeply resonant with us who belong to the church of Jesus Christ. For there is something essentially musical about being the redeemed people of God. […]
(Exodus 14) “The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared…” (Titus 2:11) Suddenly in the narrative of the Bible a new note, which will prove to be the dominant note of the whole book, appears – the loud trumpet blast of salvation as God’s act appears for the first time in this chapter. Vv. […]
(Exodus 13) The disaster of the last sign, the taking of the firstborn, resulted in Pharaoh and the people of Egypt being only too glad for Israel to leave (12:31-33.) To keep them in slavery would be death to their beloved nation. And so the Israelites left in a hurry (12:39) – the dough that […]
(Exodus 11-12) When Pharaoh was in charge of time, Israel’s existence became an endless, day by day, repetition of wearisome toil that seemed to have been going on for ever and that had no end in sight. It was slavery simply for the sake of slavery. Past and present were just limitless extensions of an […]
(Exodus 8-10) The message God sent to Pharaoh by his prophet Moses throughout these chapters was simple and steady, an unchanging and persistent call that Pharaoh let His people God to serve Him in the wilderness. God’s persistence in warning is met by persistent resistance from Pharaoh. The signs (that we call plagues) that God […]