Exodus- "The Way Out"

People are looking for all kinds of things to happen today in the Church, but what we need to do is set our priorities according to the Word of God and look towards that which it recommends us to look. It really is not a big secret to learn how to have the ability to understand types and shadows in the Word. There are keys -- things to look for -- and when you find them, the whole Bible comes alive. It takes on a whole new meaning to you. What we are going to do in this series is take a truth out of each chapter in the book of Exodus and study it carefully.

First of all, the very title "Exodus" comes from a word in the Hebrew which means "to exit," and it is figurative of death. And that is really an eye-opener. We talk about the death of Christ, which is an "Exodus" of sorts. It is derived from two words that mean "road, a process, a route or distance a mode," or means, "journey or highway."

Does that sound familiar? The Bible speaks continually about a highway, or a road or path that goes through the church. We find here that the highway is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. That's what this book actually speaks about.

The author of the book is, of course, Moses. And the book covers approximately 360 years. It's purpose is to show the redemption of the Hebrew nation from the bondage of Egypt. The overall theme of the book of Exodus is redemption. It tells how God buys back His people from the slavery of sin and brings them into His presence. He brought them out that He might bring them in.

During the period between Genesis and Exodus, Israel had become a nation while in Egypt. This book opens with the nation's bondage there and the preparation of Moses to be their deliverer and mediator. The book continues with God's supernatural judgment upon Egypt by plagues and the redemption of Israel by the blood of the Passover lamb.

At Mt. Sinai the law was received, and the book closed with the Glory of God coming to dwell among the people when the Tabernacle of Moses was finished.

Throughout this book we will see that God desires to dwell among His people, but this can only happen on His terms. Redemption is made possible only by the blood of the sacrifice. That is an overall summary of the book of Exodus.

So let us begin in Exodus chapter 1.

There are many principles in these chapters, and we are just going to touch on a few in each one. We will see how they pertain to us today.

In chapter 1, the book begins with the children in bondage. One of the main thoughts here is that the King of Egypt, the Pharaoh, did not know Joseph, the man of God. As a result of that, we find that heavy burdens were laid on the children of Israel.

And the children of Israel picture a people that are in bondage to the world, and are working to survive. These are natural pictures but they portray spiritual truths. As though they were in bondage, making bricks to survive, many of the spiritual seed of Abraham are in bondage today, just working as hard as they can. Many of God's people are really being controlled by the king of this world and not by the King of Kings.

Here's the principle that we want to show you. It's the principle of the mid-wives. In chapter 1 Verse 15,

Exodus 1:15-21 And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah: And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live. But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive. And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said unto them, Why have ye done this thing, and have saved the men children alive? And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are lively, and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them. Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty. And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses.

Here are two women who picture what it takes to defy the king of this world and let the birth of that son happen, anyway. Here are the definitions of the names of these two women. Shiphrah means "trumpet clear". It speaks of a clear, sounding word. Puah means "utterance, command or mouth", and the principle is that if we are going to defy the king of this world system, that says the promised Son cannot be birthed from our lives, we've got to combine the power of the spoken word of our lips, uttering what the trumpet-sound has said to us. Do you understand that?

We've got to take the revelation that we have and put it on our lips and speak it forth. Because these women disobeyed this king and allowed the son to be born anyway, God "made them houses." How many of you would like God to make a house for you? That's the whole idea. Its not that He will give you a house, but that He will make you into a house, or make us into a habitation of Himself.

In the second chapter, we have the deliverance of Moses. I trust you know a little about this book. Moses is a deliverer of the nation of Israel. As a little baby he is placed in the water. The decree had gone forth that all of the sons that were born were to be killed in this river. They were to be tossed in the river and drowned.

So the principle is this, Moses pictures our deliverer. How many of you know that Jesus is our heavenly Moses? He is delivering a people, and there is no way that the king of this world can stop the deliverer from being born. But here is Moses, a type of Christ, who is placed in the very place where all of the other sons died. What does that sound like to you? It speaks of the Cross, because Jesus hung in a place where the death of all of us was accomplished.

Moses was placed into that place of death. Moses was a type of Christ. His name literally means "brought out." He was brought up out of the water, and that also speaks of resurrection.

So we see the principle of Moses being the type of Christ as he was placed in the place of death and then raised up out of that place. Death and resurrection.

Now we come to Chapter 3 which speaks of the burning bush. Here are some more spiritual principles. Moses knew what he was called to do.

Hold your place and lets look at Acts chapter 7, Moses is mentioned. Remember that Moses was raised in Pharaoh's house. Pharaoh actually footed the bill for the education and uprearing of the deliverer, himself -- the very one who would be used to take his slaves away from him was raised in his house and the king of Egypt paid all the bills!

When it was time for Moses to get involved in his ministry, he went out one day and saw the Egyptians mistreating one of his people and he killed him.

Acts 7:25 shows an interesting thought here.

25 For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not.

After forty years, Moses came to the end of himself. That's a long time. I'm just a few years over forty. That's a long time to work on the backside of the desert. Imagine how many times he must have thoughtthat he would never fulfill God's plan for his life?

I know that God has given all of us visions. God has a vision of all of our lives. We may spiritually be on the backside of the desert. But does that mean the vision wasn't of God? No. Here's Moses and a picture of what delivers people. He knew he was called to deliver Israel before he went into the desert. Nevertheless, God's calling would yet be fulfilled. This experience in the desert is what brings people to a place where they're on the road that God has for the church once again.

Let me speak of this in terms of the entire scope of the church. My vision is big. There is a tremendous Christian world out there whose vision has been lowered to merely having their needs met. The biggest thing that most people ever think about, is "If I go to church, and if I study the Word, and do these several things, I can have plenty of money, I can be healthy, and have a nice family." I promise you that if you had all of those things and God is interested in those things you would not be satisfied nor fulfilled in your life. Man was created for more than that. Man was created to be an expression of God. The Body of Christ has an inner-seated desire to express Jesus perfectly. However, for many of us in the church-world, that is a forgotten dream.

I know that the early church believed this. They knew that there were in contact with Him, and understood that this meant they were to express Him perfectly.

We're a far cry today from what you see in the book of Acts. But does that mean it's over? No. Moses was called to deliver Israel and forty years later, it looked grim, but the calling was sure. Forty years is just one generation. It spiritually refers to the period of time for the old man to die. Moses' "old man" had to die.

Here is Moses and what was he doing? He was being faithful to the task at hand. He was herding sheep just as Jesus is termed a shepherd, and was on the backside of the desert.

And then he saw a bush on fire. The principle is, that the believers today who have come to the end of themselves and have no idea that they will every grow up to be like Him, need to see a burning bush that is not consumed.

What we're talking about is the Branch-man. Jesus said, "I am the vine and you are the branches". Some of that Branch- man needs to get on fire with the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the point that they are on fire.

When the church world, those who are destined to be believers to be delivers in Zion, see a people who are on fire and yet not consumed, they will turn aside to see and their vision will then be restored. That is the principle there.