Come & See Podcast

Before God gives a single commandment, He says this: "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." Grace comes first. They were not freed because they kept the law. They were given the law because they had been freed.

The Ten Commandments are not a system of control. They are a manual for how human beings were designed to live — and a mirror that shows us how far we fall from it. Read at surface level they seem achievable. Read as Christ read them, they are impossible: murder becomes the destruction of a reputation, adultery becomes a look, theft becomes a desire we cannot put down. That is precisely the point. St. Paul calls the law a tutor, given to guard us and to lead us to Christ, because it can tell us what is right without ever being able to change us.

In this episode we walk through all ten commandments and the questions they raise. What does it mean that God is jealous? How do we square visiting the iniquity of fathers upon children with Ezekiel's promise that the soul who sins shall die? What is the Sabbath rest actually for, and why did the Church move it to the day of the Resurrection? And why are icons not a violation of the second commandment?

The chapter ends where it must. The people, terrified, stand far off and beg Moses to speak to God for them. And Moses walks alone into the thick darkness where God was.

Key questions explored:

• Why does God recount the deliverance from Egypt before giving a single commandment?
• If the commandments cannot be kept, why were they given at all?
• What does it mean that God describes Himself as "a jealous God"?
• How do we reconcile "visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children" with Ezekiel 18?
• Why is making an icon not the same as making a carved image — and what changed at the Incarnation?
• What is the significance of the altar of unhewn stone with no steps?

Three months to the day since they walked out of Egypt, Israel arrives at the foot of Mount Sinai. They will not leave for a year. Everything that remains of Exodus, the whole of Leviticus, and half of Numbers takes place at this one mountain.And before God says a single commandment, He tells them how to prepare. Consecrate yourselves. Wash your clothes. Be ready on the third day. Do not come near the mountain, or even touch its base. This chapter is not about the law — it is about what it costs to come into the presence of God.In this episode we explore the extraordinary theology of Sinai. God tells Israel He bore them on eagles' wings and brought them to Himself, and calls them a kingdom of priests and a holy nation — words St. Peter will later apply directly to the Church. We look at the thick darkness in which God descends, and why the Fathers, especially St. Gregory of Nyssa, understood that darkness not as absence but as the mark of a God who can never be fully comprehended. We explore the three days of washing as a foreshadowing of baptism, the trumpet blast that no human hand sounded, and the astonishing detail recorded in Hebrews that Moses himself trembled.And underneath all of it: a God who sets boundaries not to keep His people out, but because He is preparing to come and dwell in their midst.Key questions explored:

• Why does God tell Israel to consecrate themselves and wait three days before He descends?
• What does it mean that God bore them "on eagles' wings" — and how do eagles carry their young?
• How can Israel be called "a kingdom of priests" while the priesthood of Aaron is still to come?
• Why does God appear in thick darkness rather than in light — and what did St. Gregory of Nyssa see in this?
• Why would touching the mountain bring death, and how does this change once we are adopted as sons and daughters?

Moses leads two million people. He has parted a sea, called down plagues on an empire, and struck water from a rock. And when his father-in-law arrives at the camp, Moses goes out to meet him, bows to the ground, and kisses him.Jethro is a priest of Midian — descended from Abraham through Keturah, outside the covenant line, not of Israel. And yet he knows the true God, blesses Him, and offers sacrifice. The Church Fathers saw in him a portrait of the Gentiles who come to faith on hearing what God has done. Origen calls him a model of those who recognise God's power and join His people; St. Cyril of Alexandria writes that when the Gentiles acknowledge the work of God, they are drawn into His covenant and blessing.In this episode we explore Jethro's visit in full: the reunion of Moses with Zipporah and his two sons, and the meaning hidden in their names. The burnt offering Jethro brings, and the meal shared by Aaron and all the elders of Israel before God — a gathering that looks remarkably like the liturgy. And then the moment Jethro watches Moses judging the people alone from morning until evening and tells him plainly: "The thing that you do is not good. You will surely wear yourself out."The counsel that follows becomes the blueprint for order in the Church — rulers of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. But the more remarkable thing is that Moses listened.

Key questions explored:

• Who is Jethro, and how does a priest of Midian come to know and worship the God of Israel?
• What do the names Gershom and Eliezer reveal about Moses' years in exile?
• How can Jethro offer sacrifice before God when the priesthood has not yet been established?
• Why does Moses bow down to his father-in-law — and how is this different from worship?
• What does Jethro's system of delegated leadership reveal about the structure of the Church today?

There is no water. The people are thirsty. And for the second time in a month, they turn on Moses — this time with enough fury that Moses fears for his life. "Why did you bring us out of Egypt to kill us with thirst?"

God's instruction is simple and strange: take your staff — the same staff that parted the Red Sea — and strike the rock. Water will come out.

St. Paul, writing to the Corinthians, will later say: "They drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ" (1 Corinthians 10:4). The rock is struck so that water flows. Christ is struck — crucified — so that living water flows for all who are thirsty.

In this episode we explore Exodus chapter 17 in its entirety. The water from the rock opens the chapter; the battle with the Amalekites closes it. These two episodes are more connected than they appear. Moses stands on the hill with his staff raised, and while his hands are up, Israel prevails. When they drop, Amalek prevails. Aaron and Hur find a stone for Moses to sit on and hold his arms up — one on either side. The image of arms stretched wide, held up by others, on a hill, was not lost on the early Church.

And at the end of the chapter, a new name appears for the first time in Scripture: Joshua — whose name in Hebrew is Yeshua. Jesus.

Key questions explored:

• What does St. Paul mean when he says "the Rock was Christ" — and how does this change how we read Exodus?

• Why does God command Moses to strike the rock, rather than speak to it (as He will command later)?

• What is the theological significance of Moses' raised arms during the battle with Amalek?

• Why is Joshua introduced here — and what does his name foreshadow?

It has been six weeks since the Red Sea. The food is running out. And Israel, with remarkable speed, has begun to remember Egypt fondly — the fish they ate freely, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks and garlic. They have forgotten the whips. They have forgotten the mud. What they remember is the food.This is not weakness unique to Israel. It is the human condition: suffering sharpens memory selectively, and comfort dulls it just as fast.God's response to their grumbling is not punishment. It is bread. Each morning, a thin, flake-like substance appears on the ground — "What is it?" the people say, which is exactly what the Hebrew word manna means. Each evening, quail cover the camp. The instructions are precise: gather only what you need for today. Do not keep it until morning. On the sixth day, gather double. On the seventh, rest.This is not merely food. It is a school. God is teaching His people to trust Him one day at a time.In this episode, we explore Exodus chapter 16 and its extraordinary theological depth — including how Jesus draws directly on this chapter in John 6 when He calls Himself the true bread from heaven, and how manna prefigures the Eucharist in ways that the Church Fathers found inexhaustible.Key questions explored:• Why does God restrict how much manna the people can gather — and what is He teaching them?• What is the significance of the double portion on the sixth day and the rest on the seventh?• How does Jesus use the language of Exodus 16 in John 6 to speak about the Eucharist?• What does manna as "bread from heaven" reveal about the nature of the Incarnation?

After the sea closes over Pharaoh's army, Israel does something that no amount of theological preparation quite prepares you for: they sing.The Song of Moses is the first great hymn of the Bible — a spontaneous eruption of praise from a people who have just witnessed the impossible. "The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation." Miriam takes up a tambourine. The women dance. And the song that erupts on the shore of the Red Sea echoes all the way to the book of Revelation, where the redeemed in heaven sing this same song before the throne of God.In this episode, we explore Exodus chapter 15 in depth. We look at how the Coptic Orthodox Church has preserved this hymn as the first of the Biblical Odes, sung as part of the midnight praises — and traditionally only sung by those who have been baptised, because you cannot sing the song of crossing if you have not crossed. We then travel with Israel to Marah, where the water is bitter and the people grumble, and discover that a tree thrown into the water makes it sweet — a moment the Church has long read as pointing to the cross.And finally, Elim: twelve springs, seventy palms, and rest.Key questions explored:• Why is the Song of Moses sung again in the book of Revelation — and what does this continuity reveal?• How does the Coptic tradition of singing this hymn only after baptism illuminate its spiritual meaning?• What is the theological significance of the tree that sweetened the bitter waters at Marah?• What does it mean that God identifies Himself as "the Lord who heals you" immediately after the miracle at Marah?

The sea is in front of them. The Egyptian army is behind them. The wilderness is on either side. And the people of Israel do what human beings always do in impossible situations — they turn on the person who led them there."Were there not enough graves in Egypt?" they cry to Moses. "Why have you brought us out here to die?"Moses' answer is one of the most extraordinary commands in all of Scripture: "Stand still. And see the salvation of the Lord."Exodus chapter 14 is the crossing of the Red Sea — the defining moment of the Old Testament, the supreme act of deliverance before the cross itself. In this episode, we explore the theology beneath the miracle: why God hardened Pharaoh's heart, how the Angel of the Lord moved to stand between Israel and their enemy, and what St. Paul means when he says that Israel was "baptised into Moses in the cloud and in the sea" (1 Corinthians 10:1–2).The same water that saved Israel drowned their enemies. Baptism is not merely a ritual. It is a crossing over.Key questions explored:• Why did God lead Israel into what appeared to be a trap — with no escape?• What does it mean that God "hardened Pharaoh's heart," and how do we reconcile this with human free will?• How does St. Paul interpret the Red Sea crossing as a type of baptism?• What happened to the Egyptian army — and what does this say about the finality of God's deliverance?

God could have taken Israel straight to the Promised Land. The direct route along the coast of Philistia was shorter, faster, and more obvious. God chose not to take it. Instead, He led them the long way — through the wilderness — because He knew that if they faced war too soon, they would run back to Egypt.The God who parts seas also plans routes.

And sometimes the longer road is the more merciful one.In this episode, we explore Exodus chapter 13 and the rich theology woven into Israel's departure. The consecration of the firstborn — every firstborn son belonging to God, every firstborn donkey redeemed by a lamb — foreshadows the redemption of humanity by the Lamb of God.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread is not just a commemoration of the past; it is a call to live in the reality of freedom right now.And then there is the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night — the visible, tangible, constant presence of God guiding His people. He did not speak from a distance. He went with them.

Key questions explored:

• Why did God choose the longer route — and what does this reveal about how He leads us?
• What does it mean that every firstborn donkey had to be redeemed by a lamb — or have its neck broken?
• How does the consecration of the firstborn point to Christ as the firstborn of all creation?
• What is the theological significance of the pillar of cloud and pillar of fire?

It is midnight. A great cry goes up across Egypt — there is not a house without death. Pharaoh, broken at last, calls for Moses and Aaron in the dark. "Go," he says. "Take everything. And bless me also."Two million people walk out of Egypt that night. They go with silver and gold from their neighbours — the unpaid wages of generations of slavery, given freely in a night. A mixed multitude goes with them. And with every step, they are no longer called the congregation of Israel. They are called the armies of the Lord.This episode concludes our journey through Exodus chapter 12, exploring the Feast of Unleavened Bread as a call to total freedom from sin, the seven-day completeness of the feast, and why the Passover is to be observed "forever." We also explore the stunning detail that not a bone of the Passover lamb was to be broken — a detail the Gospel of John will remember at the cross.Key questions explored:• What does the removal of leaven (yeast) from the home symbolise spiritually?• Who was the "mixed multitude" that left Egypt — and what does this say about the universal scope of salvation?• Why does God insist that the Passover is observed "forever," and how does this relate to the Eucharist?• What does the unbroken bone of the Passover lamb reveal about the crucifixion of Jesus?

"This month shall be your beginning of months." God doesn't just deliver Israel — he resets their entire calendar. Everything before this moment is prologue. This is where it truly begins.In Exodus 12:1–7, God gives the Passover instructions in extraordinary detail, and almost every detail is a portrait of Christ. The lamb chosen on the 10th day — the day Jesus entered Jerusalem. The lamb kept in the house for five days, becoming part of the family, before being sacrificed — just as we must come to know Christ before we can understand what his sacrifice means. The lamb without blemish, male, in its prime — because Christ died in his prime, offering his very best. And the blood, placed not on the floor (we do not trample the blood of Christ), but on the two doorposts and the lintel — the sign of the cross.We also explore the striking phrase "congregation of Israel" — used here for the very first time in Scripture — and how it mirrors the Church established by the new Passover, the Eucharist. And we tackle the question many have wondered about: if every household had their own lamb, how is it "one" Passover? The same question people ask about the Eucharist being the same sacrifice in every church, in every city, at the same time.Key questions explored:• Why does God say "this month shall be the first of months" — and what does this new beginning point to?• What does it mean that the lamb was chosen on the 10th day, kept for five days, then sacrificed on the 14th?• Why must the lamb be without blemish, male, and one year old — and what does each detail reveal about Christ?• Why is the blood placed on the doorposts and lintel but not on the floor?• How is the Eucharist the "one sacrifice" when it is offered simultaneously in churches all over the world?