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Out of Egypt, Into the Wilderness

This Sunday we return to our series through the book of Exodus, Out of Egypt: Salvation and the Glory of God

So far we've seen God demonstrate his glory by saving his people Israel. While Pharaoh, King of Egypt, thought he could thwart God's plans and rob him of his children, God made his name known to both Pharaoh and Israel by raising up Moses and leading his people out of Egypt through great signs and wonders.  

As we pick up the story, we find Israel now entering the wilderness between Egypt and the land God promised their ancestors. Here in the wilderness God will reveal to them why he saved them--that they might be his special covenant people among all the nations. They are the people to whom he gives his Law, among whom he chooses to dwell through the tabernacle, and before whom he displays his glory. Yet here in the wilderness their faith will be tested, as they wrestle with what it means to uphold their covenant with God their Savior and King.

The wilderness is also frequently used as a metaphor for the church's experience today (e.g. 1 Pet. 1:1; 2:11). It's a fitting image, as we live out our days in a fallen world, looking back to our salvation in the cross and resurrection of Christ, and forward with hope to Christ's return and the new creation to come.

But the story of Exodus is also a reminder that, like Israel, live out our days as "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light" (1 Pet. 2:9). Yet unlike Israel, who lived in the shadow and looked forward to Christ, we live out our days under the sun of Christ's fulfilled mission. We live under grace, not under law, because "God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit" (Rom. 8:3-4).

So join us as we pick up our journey through Exodus and behold God's salvation and glory.