The book of Exodus tells the dramatic story of how God freed the Israelites from their slave labor in Egypt and led them through the desert to a “land flowing with milk and honey” (3:8). This account is not merely biblical history, but signifies how Christ freed us from our sins and guides us on the path of holiness to the Promised Land of his eternal kingdom.
It took ten devasting plagues from God before the stubborn Egyptian Pharaoh permitted the Jews to leave Egypt. These plagues included water turning to blood, making the foul-smelling water undrinkable; an infestation of frogs, gnats, flies and locusts; an outbreak of festering skin boils; a catastrophic hailstorm; pitch black darkness for three days; a fatal virus affecting livestock; and all the firstborn sons in Egypt being struck down in a single night (7:14 – 12:32).
Shortly after Pharaoh let the Israelites go, he reneged on his decision and sent his army chasing after them. As the Israelites approached the Red Sea, they fear-ed the worst with the pursuing army closing in behind them. God rescued them by parting the Red Sea, so they could cross on dry ground, but the walls of water collapsed, swirling around Pharaoh’s army, drowning them (14:10-31).
At Mount Sinai (a.k.a. Horeb) God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, a framework of rules for moral living (20:1-17). Many of the Jews disobeyed these commands, for which their punishment was to die in the desert, never entering the temporal Promised Land of Canaan.
For forty-years (16:35), the Lord faithfully guided the Israelites through the desert by his Divine Presence in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night (13:21-22; 40:38). God provided them with manna, which “tasted like wafers made with honey” (16:31) and quail (16:11-15) for food, and water (15:22-25,27; 17:1-6).
Chapters 25-40 primarily deal with God’s instructions to Moses for constructing a tabernacle and the furnishings within it. The tabernacle was the sacred, portable tent where the glory of the Divine Presence resided among his people (40:34-35,38).
If we obediently walk in the path of righteousness and put our trust in God, who abounds in love and faithfulness (34:6-7), his Divine Presence will go with us, his holy people, to guide us on our life’s journey through all kinds of trials, and ultimately give us peace in his glorious refuge of eternal rest (33:12,14).
Walking with Jesus Series, Refl. #124, Sept. 2025
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