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A lot of Christians ignore the Tenach (Old Testament). Maybe it’s because they’re not encouraged to read it; maybe the reason is that it doesn’t seem as relevant or important as the New Testament; maybe it’s because it’s longer and there are some things in it that are harder to understand or relate to, like the genealogies and details about the Tabernacle and sacrifices.

Rabbi Paul didn’t feel that way. He wrote to Messiah’s Community in Corinth: These things happened to the Jewish people as an example and they were written down for our instruction (1 Corinthians 10:11). God designed things so that we are to learn valuable lessons from the story of Israel.

Genesis 1-2: The Beginning Of The Story

I want to begin the story of Genesis and Exodus. It’s part of a long story. It’s the greatest story. It’s a true story. Our story starts in the beginning, when the good and wise and powerful Creator made the universe, this world and everything in it. God crowned His magnificent creation with two special creatures, made in His image – with mind, with will, with emotion, with the ability to reason, and with the ability to produce others made in His image – so that a multitude of human beings could know God, love God, enjoy God, and be enjoyed by God, and become His beloved sons and daughters and friends and be with Him forever.

Genesis 3: The Fall Of Man, The Promise Of The Redeemer, And Temporary Atonement

Very soon after the creation, something horrible happened that ruined humanity and damaged the universe and everything in it. After being warned not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Adam and Eve disobeyed. By sinning, they joined the rebellion of the fallen angels. This one act of disobedience changed everything. It allowed sin and death to enter this world and dominate it. It allowed Satan and the demons to control this planet. It ruined human nature. Every aspect of who we are was affected – our mind, emotion and will; our body, soul and spirit; our sexuality; our relationships with one another and with the creation. And, worst of all, it ruined our relationship with God.

When He appeared in the garden, instead of coming to God, Adam and Eve avoided Him and hid among the trees. They were alienated from the Creator, who is the Source of Life. Instead of being headed to life, they were headed to death – the First Death – physical death, followed by the Second Death – which is Gehenna, Hell, the Lake of Fire.

But God did not leave humanity in this ruined condition. He promised that He would send the Seed of the Woman who would crush the head of the satanic snake and reverse the damage done in Eden. And, until this special human being arrived, He provided a way to temporarily cover our sins and enable a right relationship with Him to be restored.

That temporary covering came through the sacrifice of innocent animals. Instead of their covering of leaves, God provided Adam and Eve with garments of skin, which came from the first animal that was sacrificed. Those garments of skin, and the blood of the animal that was shed, covered the nakedness and sinful condition of Adam and Eve and enabled a right relationship with God to be restored.

Genesis 4-9: The Corruption Of Humanity And The Flood

But even with the temporary atonement that came from the death of an animal, the consequences of sin continued to spread. Cain, the first human being born into this world, murdered his brother, Abel. Within several generations, humanity became corrupt and violent. Things got so bad that the Lord destroyed humanity with a world-wide flood. Only righteous Noah and his wife, three sons and their wives survived the destruction.

Genesis 10-11: The Repopulation And Recorruption Of Humanity

After they came out of the ark, Noah’s descendants began repopulating the world. But again, within a few generations, humanity became corrupt. The descendants of Cham, Shem and Yafet turned away from the one true and living God who alone is able to redeem, and began worshiping false gods. They sacrificed their children to these gods. They became sexually perverse, militaristic and cruel.

Genesis 12-50 The Creation Of The Redeeming Nation

This time, instead of destroying recorrupted humanity and leaving a remnant to start over, the Creator did something different. He created a special nation by choosing one man – Abraham. The Lord made a covenant with him that included the promise that through Abraham and his descendants, the nations of the world would be blessed. This covenant of redemption was reaffirmed to Isaac and to Jacob.

Through Jacob’s descendants, the truth about the one true God would be revealed to the other peoples. God’s good laws and wise principles would be seen by the other nations. Through the Chosen People, the right way of atonement through a God-ordained sacrificial system would be most clearly seen. Finally, through Israel, the Seed of the Woman, the Messiah, the Redeemer and Savior of the world would come and undo all the damage done in Eden.

Exodus 1-12: Salvation From Egypt

When the nation of Israel was in the early stages of formation, the surrounding peoples were older, bigger, stronger and evil. How could God grow a holy nation in the midst of these unholy nations, so that the holy nation would be safe, and not be corrupted by the other nations, and become useless? The Creator needed a way to protect this infant nation while it grew to maturity.

Here’s how He did it: The Lord arranged things so that the powerful nation of Egypt would be an incubator for the Chosen People. God worked so that there was a devastating, seven year famine in that part of the Middle East, and the descendants of Abraham migrated to Egypt, where God had previously arranged for Joseph to be, in a position of authority, so that he could store enough food for Egypt and the infant nation to survive the famine. There in Egypt, the infant nation survived the famine, settled and began to multiply.

But years later a new Pharaoh came to power who did not remember Joseph and all the good he had done, and instead of showing gratitude towards Joseph’s people, the king enslaved us. To control our multiplying population, he began killing our sons.

The next part of our story focuses on one of those sons who was targeted for death. Moses is born, put in a basket and placed along the shore of the Nile river. He is found by the daughter of the king and raised in the home of Pharaoh with all the advantages of being a prince of Egypt.

When he became an adult, he went to his people and saw how difficult live was for us – the slavery, the hard labor and mistreatment – and he killed an Egyptian who was mistreating one of us. The murder became known and Moses fled to Midian, where he married Tziporah, the daughter of the priest of Midian. One day, while he was near Mount Sinai and taking care of the family’s flock, God spoke to Moses from a bush that was on fire but didn’t burned up. The Lord informed Moses that it was His intention to free the suffering Israelis and bring us to the land He gave to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Moses was instructed to return to Egypt, confront the king and demand the release of the Jewish people.

Understandably, Moses was reluctant to accept this challenge. God reassured Him that He would help him. He will do miracles that will convince the Egyptians to release the people, and Moses will successfully lead them to this mountain.

Moses returned to Egypt and confronted the king, but Pharaoh refused to let Israel go – time after time after time. After each refusal, God poured out a devastating plague on the land of Egypt. These plagues not only humbled the Egyptians, but also demonstrated the superiority of the God of Israel over the gods of Egypt. The Egyptians worshiped various animals, men like Pharaoh, the Nile river and the sun; and when their gods were affected by the plagues, the God of Israel was shown to be superior to all the gods of Egypt.

The tenth plague was the worst of all – death for all the first-born males throughout the land of Egypt – the first-born of Israel and the first-born of the Egyptians, and even the first-born of the animals. There was only one way a first-born male could survive that terrible night – by his family killing an unblemished year-old male lamb and placing some of the blood on the two doorposts and the top of the door of the home. That first Passover there was a great outcry throughout Egypt, because every home experienced the death of the first-born son. But as He promised, on each door where He saw the blood of a spotless lamb, God passed over that home and spared the son from death. After experiencing the miraculous power of the God of Israel and the death of his first-born son, Pharaoh finally released the holy nation from the incubator of Egypt.

Exodus 13-14: Passing Through The Red Sea

Our story doesn’t end there. We left our homes and arrived at the Red Sea. Meanwhile, Pharaoh had a change of heart and decided it was a mistake to free us and sent his army to re-enslave us. The God who alone can save, rescue and deliver placed a cloudy pillar between us and the Egyptian army. Then the Lord divided the waters and enabled us to walk through the sea on dry ground, it to the other side. When the Egyptians followed, the walls of water collapsed, drowning the army.

The Red Sea is water that separates us from Egypt. It represents a decisive break with the past. It is an ending of an old enslaved way of living and the beginning of a new, redeemed way of life.

The Red Sea immediately follows Passover. Someone who experiences salvation through Messiah, our Passover Lamb, should immediately pass through the waters of the Red Sea – in our case, that means baptism – and with the grace of God and the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit and the wisdom of the Word of God and the help of the Community of Faith, make a decisive break with previous sinful ways, and begin a new, godly way of life.

Exodus 15: A New Song

The first thing we did on the other side of the Red Sea was sing. Salvation and a decisive break with the sinful past and commitment to a new life results in a new song – full of joy and truth and praise to God. The joy of the Lord needs to be our strength – the joy that comes from the Lord and comes from knowing the God of our salvation. Are you experiencing that kind of joy? A happiness not dependant on your circumstances, but a deeper kind of joy that comes from knowing you are a new creature, right with God and sure to live forever?

Exodus 15: Trials In The Wilderness

Our story continues with Israel in the wilderness, headed first to Mount Sinai and then on to the promised land. The wilderness represents the life of a person who is saved, but still living in a fallen world. The promised land represents arriving at the heavenly Jerusalem.

The Chosen People were in a wilderness. Hundreds of thousands of people and their animals needed water to drink. We came to a place that had water, but it was too bitter to drink. Moses prayed and the Lord showed him a tree, which when cut down and put into the water, caused the water to become sweet.

After we experience salvation from our Egypt by having faith in Messiah, our Passover Lamb, and we make a decisive break from the past and cross the Red Sea of baptism; and even after experiencing joy, we will experience trials. Some may be quite bitter. But our trials can become sweet – when we understand that trials are necessary. They are beneficial. God uses trials to purify us and bring us to spiritual maturity.

Exodus 16: Provision In The Wilderness

There will be trials in the wilderness. But there also will be supernatural provision. After leaving the place where the bitter water became sweet, and going to another place that had good water, as the people journeyed to Sinai we complained about missing the good food back in Egypt. The Lord caused a huge number of quail to land and manna to fall. The lesson for us: God is able to sustain us in our wilderness. He promises to give us, not a comfortable life, but our daily manna. He wants us to be thankful for what we have, not complain about what we don’t have. He wants us to learn how to be content if our needs are being met.

Exodus 16: Rest In The Wilderness

There are trials in the wilderness, and provision in the wilderness, and there is rest – even in the wilderness. The Lord commanded the people to rest every seventh day and promised to give them enough provision during the first six days so they could rest on the seventh. The lesson for us? We can enjoy rest in this wearying world, spiritual rest, when we know that Messiah did the hard work of salvation for us; when we understand that we are saved by God’s grace and our faith. And it’s also good for us to have a day of rest each week from our normal activities – and focus on God and go to Shema!

Exodus 17: Continued Provision In The Wilderness

God had turned the bitter water sweet. He provided manna and quail. As they continued their journey to Sinai, Israel came to Rephidim, but there was no water there. The Lord instructed Moses to strike a rock, and water miraculously flowed from the rock that met the needs of the nation. Hasn’t God met your needs? Can’t you trust Him to continue to meet your needs?

Exodus 17: Battles In The Wilderness

At Rephidim, the Amalekites attacked. When Moses held his hands up, Israel prevailed. When his hands got tired and he let them down, Amalek prevailed. So Aaron and Hur supported Moses’ hands until the Amalekites were defeated. The lesson: Our prayers, combined with the support of our brothers and sisters in Messiah’s Community, will enable us to be victorious in our battles – our inner battles and our battles against outside forces that would harm us. We need to learn how to pray better, and we need the support of Messiah’s community to be victorious in our battles.

Exodus 18: Leadership In The Wilderness

There is leadership in the wilderness. Moses’ father-in-law arrived. He saw Moses overburdened by his leadership responsibilities and advised him to appoint qualified men to share the responsibilities. For us today, we need God-appointed spiritual leaders. We need pastors and teachers and those who will lead us in the work of evangelism. We need to be connected to a community that has God-ordained leaders who inspire us by their example, teach us and challenge us when we need correction. Listening to someone on TV, radio or the Internet is not a substitute for being part of a Community with God-ordained leaders.

Exodus 19-23: Spiritual Growth In The Wilderness

Finally, in fulfillment of the Lord’s promise to Moses, we arrived at Mount Sinai. There, in an awesome display of power, God gave us the Ten Commandments, followed by more laws and teachings. And this too applies to us: We are saved by hearing the Good News about Messiah, our Passover Lamb. It’s a simple message, so simple that a child can understand it. But there is more to learn. The Lord wants us to grow in our knowledge of God and His Word. There is to be spiritual growth in the wilderness.

Exodus 24: Making And Celebrating The Covenant In The Wilderness

At Sinai, a covenant is made between God and Israel. It’s sealed with the blood of animal sacrifices and celebrated with the leaders eating a covenant meal on Sinai in the presence of God. For us, we are to celebrate Messiah’s New Covenant by having a meal – eating the bread and drinking the wine – in the presence of God. There is celebration of the covenant relationship in the wilderness. And my advice – make sure you followed Israel’s example and go through the Red Sea by being baptized before you participate in the covenant meal – the Lord’s Supper, holy communion, the Eucharist. Make sure you are washed before you eat.

Exodus 25-31: Building The Tabernacle In The Wilderness

Moses ascended Sinai and is given instructions to build the Tabernacle – where the sacrifices would be offered and where God would be able to live among us in a very special way. There is forgiveness and worship and closeness to God – even in the wilderness.

Exodus 32-34: Failure And Recovery In The Wilderness

There is failure and there is recovery in the wilderness. While Moses was on Sinai, the people broke the covenant by worshiping a golden calf. When Moses came down the mountain, he broke the Ten Commandment tablets, symbolic of the covenant. The golden calf was burned, ground to powder, scattered on water and drunk by the people, demonstrating it was no god. Then, after severe punishment, confession of sin, and remorse expressed by the people, Moses ascended Sinai again, where new tablets were made. The covenant was renewed.

Like Israel, the sons and daughters of God will make mistakes. We will sin. We will not arrive at a state of sinless perfection in this life. There will be failures. There may be divine discipline. But God is gracious and there can be mercy, recovery and renewal – if we confess our sins and turn from them and turn back to God.

Exodus 35-40: Building And Filling The Tabernacle

Exodus ends with the Tabernacle built, the priests to ready to be ordained for their very important ministry, and the glorious, dwelling presence of God filling the Tabernacle.

Genesis and Exodus end, but the great story of redemption continues. The Chosen People will go on to experience great supernatural victories and also shameful defeats. We will experience a devastating exile but also a return from exile.

God will raise up prophets, priests and kings, holy men and holy women to help us, until the ultimate prophet, priest and king, the Messiah, the Seed of the Woman, who alone is able to redeem us from the ruinous consequences of the Fall, arrives among us and bring us and the world ultimate salvation.

To commemorate our deliverance from Egypt, each year the Jewish people observe a special Passover meal. During the meal, we ask four questions. I want to conclude by asking you some questions:

Have you kept the true meaning of the Passover? Is Yeshua your Passover Lamb? Have you, by knowing who Yeshua is, and transferring your loyalties to Him, applied His blood to the doorposts of your heart?

Are you experiencing the joy that comes from knowing Messiah, our Passover Lamb, and the Exodus from Egypt He provides?

Have you passed through the Red Sea by making a commitment to join Messiah and His Community? Are you serious about making a decisive break with the sins of the past and living a new, godly life? And have you express this by being baptized?

Are you receiving daily spiritual food to sustain your spiritual life?

Are you growing in your knowledge of God and His Word?

Are you part of a community with God-ordained leaders who can give you the help and support you need?

Do you understand that trials are necessary and beneficial and are part of the way God will bring you to spiritual maturity?

Are you thankful for what you have, or are you complaining about what you don’t have? Are you learning how to be content if your needs are being met?

Are you through prayer and support from Messiah’s Community, overcoming your Amaleks?

These things happened to the Jewish people as an example and they were written down for our instruction (1 Corinthians 10:11).