26 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.” 27 So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the Lord threwthe Egyptians into the midst of the sea. 28 The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained. 29 But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. 30 Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. 31 Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses -Exodus 14:26-31
In just a few short weeks, Lent will begin with Ash Wednesday, and so will our Lenten Sermon Series on the book of Exodus. Above is just a snippet of God’s greatest act of salvation in the Old Testament: the Exodus. This is also an event that is referenced a lot in the Old Testament. How many times is the Exodus mentioned? Is it mentioned just in Exodus? Is it mentioned twenty times? Thirty times? Fifty times? Ninety times? No. It is mentioned more. The Exodus is mentioned 125 times in the Old Testament alone!
It is the greatest event of salvation in the Old Testament where God rescues His people from slavery and a land of death. But in the New Testament, we see an even greater act of salvation, which is mentioned every week in our worship services. What is it? It is the death and resurrection of Jesus that releases you from the bonds of sin, death, and the devil, and gives you life eternal! It is an event greater than the crossing of the Red Sea and the Exodus!
This Lenten season, we will look at the book of Exodus with the theme of “Let my people go!” It is something that Moses asks Pharaoh seven times (5:1, 7:16, 8:1, 8:20, 9:1, 9:13, and 10:3), and when he eventually does, the greatest Old Testament salvation event is revealed. This also helps to show us what kind of God we have: One that loves and cares! Building on this thought, scholar Reed Lessing points out, “Throughout the book of Exodus God reveals who he is through his absence and his presence, through his silence and his speech, through his wrath and his mercy, and through his judgment and his amazing grace. In doing so, the book paints a beautiful portrait of Jesus.” Throughout this Lenten season, we will see this beautiful portrait of Jesus and God’s amazing salvation. Below are the texts that will be covered, and when. We hope you join us this Lenten Season!
Ash Wednesday “Big Things with Small Stuff” (Ex 2:1–10)
Lent One “How God Changes Us” (Ex 3:1–14)
Lent Two “Stop Trying and Start Trusting” (Ex 14:1–29)
Lent Three “Strike the Rock!” (Ex 17:1–7)
Lent Four “Mine!” (Ex 20:1–17)
Lent Five “Digging Ourselves into a Hole” (Ex 32:1–14)
Palm Sunday “A New Beginning!” (Ex 34:1–8)
Maundy Thursday “Access!” (Ex 24:1–11)
Good Friday “Agnus Dei” (Ex 12:1–13)
Easter “Against All Odds!” (Ex 15:1–18
~Pastor Kooi
(Originally published in Emmaus Footprints, Vol. XX, Number 7, February 2019)