Week 4 - RESCUE (Moses)
CONNECT
What are you thankful for?
What challenge are you facing?
Have there been any answers to prayer?
Pray for each other.
Did anything stand out to you from last week’s follow-up Bible readings and connection prompts?
How did your “I will …” statement from last week go?
How did your sharing goal from last week go?
How’s your memory work coming along?
Colossians 1:13-14 (NLT)
13 For [God the Father] has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, 14 who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.
DISCOVER
Let’s start with a review.
CREATION
God created everything and as humans, we have been made in God’s image to rule the world on His behalf.
REBELLION
Through Satan’s temptation, humans rebelled against God, but God promised One who would destroy Satan.
RESCUE (Abraham)
God called Abraham from out of the world and promised Abraham that his family would be a Blessing to the whole world.
God’s promise to Abraham can be broken down into these four promises:
1. PEOPLE
I will make you into a great nation (Genesis 12:2).
2. PLACE
I will give this land to your descendants (Genesis 12:7).
3. PROTECTION
I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt (Genesis 12:3).
4. PURPOSE
All the families on earth will be blessed through you (Genesis 12:3).
God began to fulfill these promises. Over three generations, Abraham’s family begins to grow. This family is called the Israelites (or just Israel), the Hebrews or the Jews. Due to a severe regional famine, however, they had to move to Egypt to survive and over time they became slaves to the Egyptians.
But what about the promises? What about the promised PEOPLE, PLACE, PROTECTION and PURPOSE? Are they in jeopardy? Would God—could God—keep His promises?
God had actually told Abraham about this time of slavery. He had also promised Abraham that He would RESCUE his family from their oppression (see Genesis 15:13-16).
So now …
RESCUE (Moses)
The Liberation
As we read in last week’s follow-up Bible readings, God called Moses to rescue His people. So Moses went to Pharaoh (the king of the Egyptians) and demanded, “Let my people go.” But Pharaoh did just the opposite. He made the Israelites work harder and their slavery even worse. So God used 10 plagues or disasters to loosen Pharaoh and the Egyptians’ grip on His people.
You would think that through these plagues God was attacking Pharaoh and the Egyptians for their unjust treatment of His people. But that’s only part of it. In the last plague of the death of the firstborn, we read …
Exodus 12:12 (NLT)
On that night I will pass through the land of Egypt and strike down every firstborn son and firstborn male animal in the land of Egypt. I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt, for I am the LORD!
Who is God ultimately judging when He strikes down the firstborn sons?
Remember there’s more to reality than what meets the eye. Remember the serpent that approached Eve wasn’t just a snake, but the appearance of Satan to tempt her. The same is happening here. Egypt and Pharaoh are controlled by spiritual beings and demonic powers called gods. It’s on these gods that God is executing judgment. And when you know that Pharaoh himself was considered the incarnation of the Egyptian Sun God, then the death of Pharaoh’s own son was the death of the next incarnation of the Sun God. The plagues, then, were a power encounter between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness. As their Rescuer (Warrior-King), God fights for the freedom of His people from the clutches of Satan and the human agents he is employing on the earth.
In fact, after God had destroyed Pharaoh and his chariot forces in the Red Sea, Moses’ sister Miriam put to song the true meaning of the Exodus—God’s great Rescue of His people from the Egyptians.
Exodus 15:3, 11-12 & 18 (NLT)
3 The LORD is a warrior;
Yahweh is his name!11 “Who is like you among the gods, O LORD—
glorious in holiness,
awesome in splendor,
performing great wonders?
12 You raised your right hand,
and the earth swallowed our enemies.18 The LORD will reign forever and ever!
God is our Rescuer because God is our King! And the king and the gods of the Egyptians couldn’t stop Him.
The Law
Through Moses, God has rescued His people from their slavery to the Egyptians. Now, through Moses, God gives His people His law.
Up until this point, Israel has just been a big family, but now, through the law, Israel becomes an official nation. Having delivered them, God exercises His right as their King and issues the law as Israel’s constitution.
These laws are far from arbitrary. They flow from God’s perfect character and reveal how God’s people are to live with their perfect God. They also show Israel how to live freely within their newfound freedom. Finally, as Israel lived by God’s law, they would be a light to the world of who God is and how good He really is.
Though the law of God given through Moses is more than just the following 10 Commandments, the 10 Commandments boil the law down to 10 key components.
Exodus 20:1-17 (NLT)
1 Then God gave the people all these instructions:
2 “I am the LORD your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery.
3 “You must not have any other god but me.
4 “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. 5 You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. 6 But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands.
7 “You must not misuse the name of the LORD your God. The LORD will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name.
8 “Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 You have six days each week for your ordinary work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the LORD your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.
12 “Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the LORD your God is giving you.
13 “You must not murder.
14 “You must not commit adultery.
15 “You must not steal.
16 “You must not testify falsely against your neighbor.
17 “You must not covet your neighbor’s house. You must not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.”
Put each of the 10 Commandments in your own words.
How would life be like if everyone actually obeyed these 10 Commandments? How do these laws actually lead to true freedom?
How are you doing at obeying these 10 Commandments? Which one(s) have you disobeyed?
Exodus 20:1-2 (NLT)
1 Then God gave the people all these instructions:
2 “I am the LORD your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery.
Did God give these 10 Commandments to rescue His people or because He had already rescued His people? In other words, was the law given to save people or to saved people? What’s the difference? Why is this important?
In the New Testament, Jesus further boils the law of God down to two commands.
Matthew 22:37-40 (NIV)
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
How are the 10 Commandments divided between our responsibility to love God and love others?
Why would love for God and for others fulfill the intent of God’s law.
How are you doing at loving God with all that you are and your neighbor as yourself?
The Lamb
We’re in trouble, aren’t we? Who can keep God’s law perfectly?
But God never intended His law to be our means of salvation because He knows we can’t keep it perfectly. In fact, God uses the law to show us that we can’t save ourselves or make ourselves right with Him (see Romans 3:20). God, however, graciously provided through the very law we can’t keep a means of forgiveness—a sacrificial system.
Through the sacrificial system, God allowed an animal to be sacrificed in the place of a sinner. This is called substitutionary atonement. It’s substitutionary because the animal is a substitute for the sinner. And it’s atonement because, though sin has separated the sinner from God, the sacrifice removes that sin so the two can be one again. Hence, substitutionary at-one-ment.
Here’s how the sacrifice was made:
Leviticus 4:32-35 (NIV)
32 If someone brings a lamb as their sin offering, they are to bring a female without defect. 33 They are to lay their hand on its head and slaughter it for a sin offering at the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered. 34 Then the priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. 35 They shall remove all the fat, just as the fat is removed from the lamb of the fellowship offering, and the priest shall burn it on the altar on top of the food offerings presented to the LORD. In this way the priest will make atonement for them for the sin they have committed, and they will be forgiven.
Leviticus 16:21 (NLT)
[Aaron, the High Priest] will lay both of his hands on the goat’s head and confess over it all the wickedness, rebellion, and sins of the people of Israel. In this way, he will transfer the people’s sins to the head of the goat.
Why would one lay hands on the animal and confess his or her sins over its head?
Leviticus 17:11 (NIV)
For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.
What’s the importance of blood?
Once again, that’s substitutionary at-one-ment: the lamb’s life for your life—the lamb’s blood for your blood. The lamb takes your sin and dies in your place so your sin can be forgiven and you can be at one with God again.
Looking Ahead
Once again, the Bible is divided into the Old Testament and the New Testament. Listen to who this sacrificial system pointed to:
John 1:29 (NLT)
The next day John [the Baptist] saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
Jesus took personal responsibility for our obedience to the law and our disobedience of the law. He did this by living the life we should have and dying the death we would have. Jesus perfectly obeyed God’s law and then He shed His blood in a sacrificial death for our sin, that is, our disobedience of God’s law. But once again, we’re jumping the gun and getting way ahead of ourselves. So stay tuned!
Connection Prompt
You have been using these connection prompts:
Lift UP Your Praise - Lord, I praise you for …
Bow DOWN in Repentance - Lord, I repent of …
Take IN God’s Word - Lord, I hear You saying … & With Your help I will …
One of Moses’ main ministries was to connect with God through prayer (see Exodus 33:7-11) and to intercede for his people (see Exodus 32:9-14). This week, we’ll add this connection prompt:
Pray OUT Your Requests - Lord, I pray for ...
LIVE
What truth have you discovered from today’s Bible passage(s) and conversation?
What would stop you from believing and obeying this truth?
How will you live out this truth this coming week? Finish this statement: “I will ….”
Who else needs to hear this truth? How could you share it with them?
When will we meet again?
Who will facilitate that meeting?
Pray for God’s help as you seek to follow Jesus this coming week.
FOLLOW-UP BIBLE READINGS
Here are the Bible passages you are encouraged to read this coming week:
BUDDY SYSTEM
Connect with your buddy this week and ask each other these questions:
How are your readings going?
How’s your “I will …” statement coming along?
How’s your sharing goal coming along?
How can I pray for you?