Family Chapel

This second half of the Ten Commandments can be summarized as a call to love your neighbor. God is pursuing communal formation in providing instructions on how to rightly relate to our horizontal relationships. More than seeking to provide a detailed list of rules to follow, God is aiming to form a people who are marked by humility, forgiveness, purity, generosity, truthfulness, and satisfaction.

God gives his people the 10 commandments and we will look at the first four. These four commandments describe the vertical relationship between God and His people. There must be no other gods than Yahweh, and we must worship and honor him supremely. Our vertical relationship with God then forms the basis and foundation for all our horizontal relationship and with life itself.

The Israelites finally arrive at Mt. Sinai where they meet with God in order to be officially established as a nation. But as God descends on Mt. Sinai to renew covenant with His people, His presence proves to be dangerous. The only way for God's people to draw near to the dangerous God is through a mediator who provides consecration.

Before the Israelites arrive at Mt. Sinai, where they will enter into a covenant with God and be officially inaugurated as a nation, Moses' father-in-law visits Moses. In this seemingly random story, we gain important insights into the mission of God's people. The mission of God’s people is to make God known through the ministries of evangelism and discipleship. We are to make God known as we tell others about God's salvation and as we help others to grow in God's instructions.

As the Israelites continue to make their way through the Wilderness, they are attacked by the Amalekites and for the first time, they have to engage in military battle. As Moses lifts up his hands in prayer, the Israelites defeat the Amalekites because the battle belongs to the Lord. Likewise for us, we too face battles, but our battles are in the realm of spiritual warfare. We can experience victory through God's mighty power as we touch his throne through prayer.

After experiencing God's amazing work of salvation through the crossing of the Red Sea and with pharaoh and Egypt now behind them, the Israelites might have expected a smooth journey to the Promised Land. But God tests His people by bringing them into various challenging situations. However, this testing is not for their salvation, rather it is for their sanctification. God puts His people to the test in order to mature them by growing their knowledge of His character and deepening their experience of His grace.

As the Israelites have been safely delivered across the Red Sea and saw their old masters in the waters behind them, they break out into song and worship. As they have just experienced salvation, we now see them celebrate salvation. Much in the same way it was for the Israelites, song and worship is a pivotal part of the lives of God's people as we declare and remember God's victory and deliverance with awe and joy.

After leading the people out of Egypt, God carries out his final act of deliverance to free the Israelites from Egypt: the parting of the Red Sea. Through this passage, we see the Israelites experience salvation in the face of death as they are pursued by pharaoh, by placing their faith in God, through the help of Moses as a mediator. And likewise for us, we experience salvation when we come to the end of ourselves as we put our trust in God through the mediating ministry of Jesus.

God brings forth the final plague to deliver His people out from Egypt. This exodus is a pivotal event of salvation and it sheds light on what it means for God to save His people. We see that salvation means we are rescued from sin through God's merciful provision of a substitute. Salvation means that we are commissioned to a new beginning and called to turn away from our old way of life. Salvation means we are consecrated to God for a life of faithful service. Ultimately, Exodus points forward to the Gospel with Jesus as our true Passover Lamb who serves as our substitute sacrifice, who leads us into a new way of life, and who calls us to serve His Kingdom.

God will wage war against Pharoah and all the false gods of Egypt and bring judgment so that all may know that he is the sovereign God Yahweh. He is the one who will also fully deliver and bring His people out from Egypt as he had promised.

As we navigate through the cycle of plagues and Pharoah's stubborn heart, we will see God deliver his people with a mighty hand and outstretched arm. And His deliverance is absolutely powerful, total, and gracious.