There is no one whose life has not “been shaped and deeply influenced by the second book of the Bible, the book of Exodus. This book, this foundation of civilisation, is all about the roots of human freedom. That’s the key to the book: the roots of human freedom.
The central figure is God with Moses as the servant of God. This massive book falls into two halves – one, the birth of a nation in the first 18 chapters, two, the building of a nation in the last 22 chapters. This nation was born and built up in order to be a working model of God’s plan for society. Therefore, its purpose was to be a great missionary nation.
The nation was born by being delivered from slavery in Egypt, and the first 12 chapters describe the great conflict between the will of God and the demonic.
Next they are delivered from the sea, when trapped by it, then in the wilderness, they are de-livered from starvation, and the first half ends with the newly delivered nation brought to Mount Sinai for the next stage of its development. This was the building of a missionary nation.
In the remaining 22 chapters of the book of Exodus there are three massive foundations for the building of God’s servant community.
First, they were a covenanting people. God could be trusted to do His part:. Could they be trusted to do theirs?
The second great foundation was the Book in which the special relationship was sealed by a covenant. The terms of the covenant are set out clearly. Freedom is not doing what you like and pleasing yourself, it’s pleasing God Not to a subdued and unwilling people, but to a nation gladly accepting and promising to keep the laws by which civilisation can be free.
The third great foundation is the worship of the people. The big top tent, called the Tabernacle, was a movable cathedral and should provide a model for the modern church. When God moved on they packed up the whole caboodle and moved on with Him.
All the roots of human freedom are found in the book of Exodus. God’s kind of freedom is the key to un¬locking’ this book. Freedom is being delivered by God into a relationship where the law of God sets you free to live properly and the worship of God inspires you to live fully.

Back to Believe it or Not