The Road of Exodus
The Road of Exodus
By: Brittany Shields
“I won’t forget
The wonder of how You brought
Deliverance, the exodus of my heart”
Though I’m not a fan of Bethel church’s theology, this Bethel song struck me as we sang it in church one Sunday.
It continues,
“‘Cause You found me
You freed me
Held back the waters for my release…
’Cause you stepped into my Egypt
And you took me by the hand
And you marched me out in freedom
Into the promised land
And now I will not forget You
I’ll sing of all You’ve done
Death is swallowed up forever
By the fury of Your love.”
The exodus of God’s people from Egypt is one of the most referenced events in the Bible.
After prosperity during Joseph’s reign, the Israelites spent 400 years in slavery in Egypt, their faith dulled by worship of Egyptian gods.
Until God raised up an unlikely leader— Moses— to lead them out.
We know the story. The plagues of locusts and frogs. The Nile turning to blood. The death of the firstborn. It’s a classic Sunday school story.
I think sometimes we forget that it’s our story too.
We’ve been enslaved in our own Egypts. Our sinful nature and rebellious hearts.
The Bible tells us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Rom. 5:8) That we were dead in our sin. (Eph 2:1-10) Following every desire of the flesh and never being satisfied. (Rom 6) Never being able to save ourselves— dead people can’t make themselves alive.
But when Jesus walked on this Earth, holiness surrounded by evil, he lived the life we never could, died the death our sin deserves, and ensured the life we never imagined. All because of love.
He stepped into our Egypts and offered us freedom from the evil inside us. Salvation. Hope. Life. All the things and more that our slavery to sin cannot provide. (Rom 8)
Maybe you haven’t made the exodus yet. Maybe you remember the Israelites in the desert eating manna. In Egypt they got meat! Why would you leave? A life devoted to Christ sounds dry and bland. And you kinda like being able to do ‘whatever you want.’
But perhaps you haven’t tasted true freedom yet?
That manna you are rejecting is love and provision and faithfulness. And on the other side of that is the Promised Land. And that’s anything but boring!
“For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you… but it is because the Lord loves you… that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoah king of Egypt.” (Deut 7:6-9)
Freedom in Christ is freedom from fear. Because God is sovereign we don’t fear the unknown. Because God defeated death we don’t fear the after-life. We don’t fear hardship. We don’t fear sickness. We don’t fear the future. God is at work and we trust his plans because of his character and his love for us. When we are weak, the power of Christ rests on us. (2 Cor 12:9-10)
Freedom in Christ is freedom from guilt and shame. If our faith is in Christ, there is no condemnation for our sin. We have been forgiven. There is nothing that can separate us from his love. There is nothing we have done that cannot be covered by his grace.
Freedom in Christ is freedom from the power of sin. Faith in Christ brings the gift of the Holy Spirit who helps us fight our sin and choose to do good. The power of sin is broken and we are overcomers. (Rom 8)
Freedom in Christ is freedom from having to define ourselves and discover our identity. We don’t have to pursue the enigma of self-actualization. The shallow cultural answers for identity are empty and unsatisfying. Our Creator gives us deep identity and worth that transcends standards of society. We are new creations. (Eph 1:3-14; 2 Cor 5:17)
Freedom in Christ is also freedom from false love and small thoughts. In his book, Gentle and Lowly, Dane Ortlund exposes these desires overshadowed by our rebelliousness.
“The world is starving for a yearning love, a love that remembers instead of forsakes. A love that isn’t tied to our loveliness. A love that gets down underneath our messiness. A love that is bigger than the enveloping darkness we might be walking through even today. A love of which even the very best human romance is the faintest of whispers… On the cross, we see what God did to satisfy his yearning for us. He went that far… Repent of your small thoughts of God’s heart. Repent and let him love you.”
The plagues poured out on the Egyptians were not random inconveniences. They were symbolic and meaningful. They served not only as a discipline to Egypt but were a visual reminder to Israel that Israel’s God was far more superior to any other god their hearts were drawn to.
The plagues corresponded to different Egyptian gods. Heqet was an Egyptian goddess with a frog’s head. Khepri was an Egyptian god with a head of a fly. There’s a god of the Nile, god of the earth, goddess of medicine. God demonstrated his sovereignty over all of them. There are no other gods before him and he showed the Egyptians and the Israelites this plague after plague after plague.
You may not worship a frog-headed goddess, but before we finally bow to Christ, we bow to something. What is it for you? Self? Knowledge? Science? Culture? Government? Fame and fortune? Feelings? Perfection? Friends? Health?
What rules you?
Whatever it is that you bow down to, it is nothing compared to the great and mighty Creator of the world. If He hasn’t already, I am confident that God will show you the inadequacy of your god.
God has shown his power, his love, his justice, his grace, his mercy, his providence, his provision, his faithfulness, his steadfastness, his patience. And he is beckoning you. He wants you to come out. To exodus. To leave your slavery and taste the freedom he offers.
There is nothing for you to do but receive it. While we were dead in our sin, he died for us. He didn’t wait until we got our lives together and felt really bad about our sin. He didn’t wait for us to deserve it or be loveable. He loved us FIRST. (1 Jn. 4:19)
While we were still his enemies he demonstrated his desire for us to come. And he promises that any who come to him, he will not turn away. (Jn 6:37)
“Do not minimize your sin or excuse it away. Raise no defense. Simply take it to the one who is already at the right hand of the Father, advocating for you on the basis of his own wounds. Let your own unrighteousness, in all your darkness and despair, drive you to Jesus Christ, the righteous, in all his brightness and sufficiency.” [Ortlund]
In their book Gospel as Center, the writers say this,
“Whether we have known an imprisonment of body, mind, habit, guilt, relationship, or circumstance, Jesus Christ comes to save us eternally from it all. This is great news—and it is the gospel!”
Take his hand and march to freedom. His deliverance is for you.
And if we have left our Egypts, we must remember our God.
As the people crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land God commanded them to construct a pile of stones— an ebenezer— and to tell their children of what God did for them.
As the lyrics say, God found us, he freed us, and we will sing of all he’s done.
When we experience times of doubt and we wonder why we ever left Egypt— remember our God. When we lose the ones we love and we wonder if God loves us— remember what our God did for us.
When God has provided manna and we wish we had meat— remember what our God did for us.
When the days are long and the darkness presses in— remember what our God did for us.
“God is much more concerned to make our eternal state secure than to make our temporal existence easy.” [Gospel as Center]
“I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your wonders of old.” (Psalm 77:11)
Preach the gospel to yourself. Recount his deliverance. Look beyond your circumstances to the bigger picture of his love and the life he offers.
The road of exodus is not easy. We may walk through fire, deep waters, and dry lands. But we are loved, guided, and protected by our Creator, our Deliverer, our Redeemer, our Father, our Friend, our Provider, our Lord.
Leave your Egypt behind and find life.
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1)
Share this blog to your social media!