"I Will Lead You Out!"
Exodus 3:16-22

“16 Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt: 17 And I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, unto a land flowing with milk and honey. 18 And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God. 19 And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand. 20 And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go. 21 And I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians: and it shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye shall not go empty: 22 But every woman shall borrow of her neighbour, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters; and ye shall spoil the Egyptians.” (Ex 3:16-22 AV)

A. This history can be encapsulated by a few brief statements about the ancient world and its history that has been given in the Bible. This is the only history of that ancient world and those who do not believe the Bible have a most difficult task of preposterous guesswork to try to figure out the history from rocks and bones and unsupported theses, central is the guess that things have always continued the same, and the processes the same, since the beginning of the world.

B. What are these statements by which we can encapsulate the times before Moses?

1. God had created the world in six days, and had created man and woman in His image and placed them in paradise as a figure of His promise to them of eternal life if they would obey His voice.

2. They did not and the curse of sin and death had come upon Adam and Eve and all their descendents, and Adam and Eve were driven from Paradise.

3. But God had given Adam and Eve a Promise that the kingdom of Satan, erected upon the guilt of Adam and Eve, would be crushed by the Seed of the Woman.

4. This Promise was confirmed by a sign and seal of the sacrament of blood offerings instituted at the beginning and continued throughout the history of the world, even to this day in some primitive societies that do not know the Gospel.

5. This Promises was preserved and the sacrament preserved in a line of holy patriarchs that continued until the day of Moses. Some of the record might have been written down, but was most probably preserved in entirety in the word of mouth tradition passed down from generation to generation.

6. We know the names of the patriarchs before the Flood and some of them after the flood. The Promise was not only preserved in the family of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob but also in the memories of other families, such as Melchisedik and Rhuel and Jethro, in inlaws of Moses.

7. But the focus of the Promised Redeemer had become focused in the family of Abraham, Issac and Jacob, the very people who had endured bondage in Egypt during the 400 some years since the days of Abraham. This promise was centered on the blessing that was promised Abraham as his inheritance, of which Canaan was a figure: that he would receive the Holy Spirit that would transform his character and give him eternal life, as Paul tells us in Galatians 3:13-14 “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”

8. The fact that the message that Moses received was from the Angel of the Lord who referred to Abraham, Issac, and Jacob would connect in the mind of Moses with the promises that had been given from the beginning of the world. Certain, Israel had some memory of these things, and the promise that was given to Jacob and Bethel when he moved to Egypt with his family, that God would remember them and bring them out.

9. The nation of Israel, then, was tied to the promise of the Redemption that was promised in Jesus Christ, as the Seed of the Woman, who would bruise the head of the serpent: this is the scarlet ribbon, the Passover blood, the smoke of the burnt offerings that runs throughout the history of the world.

A. There are many deceivers that have entered into the world, and their promises to their followers did not come to pass, and have been conveniently forgotten.

B. Not so, the promises that were given to Moses at the Burning Bush; every one of these promises were fulfilled. For we read in 1Kings when Solomon dedicated the temple at Jerusalem: 1Ki 8:56 “Blessed be the LORD, that hath given rest unto his people Israel, according to all that he promised: there hath not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant.”

C. Not only the inheritance of the land, which is a figure of the true inheritance in glory, but the Seed of the Woman did appear, born of the Virgin Mary, witnessed to by the law and the prophets. As Jesus himself testified to the disciples after his resurrection: Luke 24:25-27 “Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.” (Lu 24:25-27 AV)

D. And Peter, on the day of Pentecost, preached that Jesus and His Resurrection was witnessed by the prophets like Joel and David the King, as the one promised and is Lord and Messiah. He said that the Holy Spirit was the fulfillment of the promises made to the fathers.

E. Peter, after the multitude gathered from all over the world at Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Pentecost was smitten in heart and asked whey they should do, said, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” Acts 2:38, 29

A. Vs. 2 of this chapter calls this Person the “Angel of Jehovah.” Angel means messenger, but this is no created Angel, but a Messenger above all messengers. He must be the very Word of God Himself, the eternal Wisdom and Mediator between God and man.

B. This is indicated by the following considerations.

1. Fire is one of the major figures that are used in Scripture for the Essence of God, as we see in the following.

a) De 4:24 For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.

b) De 4:33 Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live?

c) De 9:10 And the LORD delivered unto me two tables of stone written with the finger of God; and on them was written according to all the words, which the LORD spake with you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly.

d) Ps 50:3 Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.

e) Eze 24:9 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe to the bloody city! I will even make the pile for fire great.

f) 2Th 1:8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:

g) Re 4:5 And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.

2. The Angel of Jehovah went with the people of Israel and appears throughout their history, and the names of Deity are given to Him:

a) In this passage He calls Himself “I am that I am” the same name that Jesus applied to Himself in John 8.

b) Ex. 23:20-23: “Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him. But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries. For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off.” (Ex 23:20-23)

c) He is the Messenger of the Covenant: Mal. 3:1 who would purify the sons of Jacob.

d) His is the express image of God, in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily: Col 2:9 “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.”

C. Jesus Christ, the eternal Word of God, has been the only Mediator between God and man from the beginning of the world. It was according to His wisdom that the world were made; Decreed by the Father, given order by the Son, energized by the Holy Spirit, for our world is a Trinitarian world and our salvation is a Trinitarian salvation.

1. All these things are written for our admonition, unto the ends of the world are come, according to 1Cor. 10.

2. God is pledging Himself in the person of Jesus Christ to fulfill the promises that He made to Israel: there are two major parts of this promise to Israel,

a) An earthly inheritance, in time and space in this world: the land of Canaan. This would be a type and figure of that which is to come, heaven and glory at last.

b) A heavenly inheritance, one reserved in heaven for us,

3. This inheritance, which is given to every man who believes, whether Jew or Gentile, for there is no difference:

“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” (1Pe 1:1-5 AV)