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HopeLives365

Sabbath School 3rd Quarter 2025: Exodus

Mark Finley

01 Oppression: The Background and the Birth of Moses

We're starting a new series of lessons this quarter on the book of Exodus.

I am so incredibly excited about this series as I've been going over it.

The Spirit of God has just been speaking to my own heart and I can't wait to share with you the exciting lessons from Exodus, A Journey to the Promised Land.

Yuri Miskula, who is the Dean of the Theologico-Seminary at Andrews University.

He begins the introduction with an incredibly powerful sentence, The God revealed in the book of Exodus is the loving Lord who at the appointed time and with his mighty actions brought salvation and deliverance to his people.

Although Moses is a central figure in the book of Exodus.

God is the 1 who is the principal subject of that book.

He is the God who is reliable, the God who is trustworthy, the God who never will let his people down, the God who is the God of truth.

We jump right into the first lesson in the series called Oppression, the Background and birth of Moses.

When I read this lesson, I was impressed with this single thought, that God's people at times oppressed, marginalized, crushed, apparently defeated, knocked down, are never really defeated, because God is always with his people.

In the opening paragraph, I love this sentence, the book of Exodus resonates with accounts of the oppressed, the marginalized, the persecuted, the exploited and degraded.

Thus people today who feel abandoned, forgotten and enslaved can find hope because the same God who saved the Hebrews can save them as well.

This is the God, the miraculous deliverance from Egypt through the Red Sea, with the spectacular deliverance of Israel.

This mighty act of God reveals a God of mighty acts, a God who will deliver his people.

In Sunday's lesson, we read about God's people in Egypt.

When Joseph was thrown into that pit and betrayed by his brothers, when he was sold to Ishmaelite traders and brought down to Egypt.

Little did Joseph know the miracle that God would work.

Joseph, due to his faithfulness to God, gained favor with Pharaoh, eventually becoming next to the Egyptian Pharaoh, we might call Joseph the prime minister of Egypt.

At a time of famine, the brothers of Joseph and the family of Joseph, the sons of Jacob, became part of the Egyptian nation.

They actually were Israelites within the borders of Egypt.

We read about that story, of course, in the book of Genesis.

Reading about the story of the Israelites coming to the land of Egypt.

It says in Genesis 46, verse 27, and the sons of Joseph, which were born him in Egypt, were 2 souls, all the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt were 3 score and 10.

So when they came in, they were 70 people that came in of the family of Jacob.

But it's interesting to notice that in Exodus 12, verse 37, When they left Egypt, it was a dramatically different story.

And the children of Israel journeyed from Ramesses to Succoth about 600, 000 on foot that were men beside children.

So if you got 600, 000 men and you've got women and children, you probably have a million and a half to 2000000 Israelites.

From 70 in Genesis to 2000000, the blessing of God rested upon the people of God, the Israelites.

Now, they went through oppression, their taskmasters ruled over them cruelly, but yet God blessed them.

Going through oppression, going through difficulty, facing challenges does not in any way mean that we forfeit the blessing of God.

In Exodus chapter 1, verse 8 to 11, We read about the taskmasters that lorded it over the Israelites.

Now there rose up a new king over Egypt which knew not Joseph.

And he said unto the people, behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we.

Come on, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it come to pass When they're full without any war, they join also unto our enemies and fight against us.

Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens.

And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Ramses.

But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew.

Notice, the Egyptian taskmasters were afflicting the Israelites, but yet the Israelites grew.

Again, because you're going through difficulty, challenges, because you feel at times the weight of Satan's oppression does not mean that God's not blessing you.

Does not mean that God doesn't have something special in store for you.

Now, let's get a little historical background.

Why is it that Israel was being blessed in the midst of Egyptian oppression.

Genesis chapter 37 and Genesis chapter 39 reveal the reasons for that.

So let's go to Genesis chapter 39 and verse 2.

And the Lord was with Joseph and he was a prosperous man and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.

You let your eyes drop down to verse 21, but the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.

So the Lord is with Joseph, gives him favor in the sight of Pharaoh.

Pharaoh's wife condemns Joseph of illicit activity and immoral activity, immoral advances, improper advances.

Joseph ends up in prison, but the scripture says in verse 21, the Lord is with Joseph.

Joseph then interprets the dream of the baker and the butler.

God is with him and he becomes the ambassador in Pharaoh's house.

In the midst of oppression, in the midst of difficulty, in the midst of challenges, when God is with us, he blesses us in the midst of all that.

Now let's look at some historical background about these pharaohs.

The pharaoh that did not know Joseph was a pharaoh by the name of Ammoses.

He was the ruler who feared the Israelites and oppressed them.

He is the 1 that issued the death decree for all the Hebrew children.

Recently, in a visit to Egypt, we went to the great mausoleum, the great palace of Hatshepsut.

She was no doubt the daughter of Tut-Moses I, who issued this death decree.

She is the 1 that found Moses in this little basket.

Now, Tut-Moses I's daughter, Hetz-Shepshud, had a brother, and he was Tutmoses III.

And evidently Hatshepsut raises Moses, but Moses is this co-regent to rule with Tutmoses III.

Tutmoses III is jealous of Moses and there's a conflict there.

So We'll study more about that as we go on, but that gives you a little bit about the historical background.

So we find then a death decree that is passed, that all male children be killed by Tutmoses I.

He feels that the Israelites are growing.

And as the result of the growth of those Israelites, they may side with their enemies.

So a decree is passed and we find that in Exodus chapter 1.

And I'm gonna start reading about the midwives.

So this decree is passed, and the Pharaoh declares that the male children be killed.

Verse 15 of Exodus 1, and the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives of which the name of 1 was Shabbatah and the name of the other, Puah.

He said, when you do the office of midwife to the Hebrew woman, and you see them upon the stools, if it be a son, you kill him, but if it be a daughter, she shall live.

But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men, children alive." Here you have faithfulness to God.

These women are commanded to go contrary to the commandments of God.

Yet in spite of the mightiest Pharaoh in the land, in spite of the mightiest man in the land, they refused to do so.

Now, I was interested in a note way at the end of our lessons regarding these midwives under Friday's lesson.

It speaks about why Satan wanted to do away with the Hebrew children.

It's from Patriarchs and Prophets page 242.

Satan, he knew that a deliverer was to be raised up among the Israelites and by leading the king to destroy their children, he hoped to defeat the divine purpose.

But the women feared God and dared not execute the cruel mandate.

The Lord approved their course and prospered them." Now here's the good news.

In spite of all of Satan's plans, God overruled, and God thwarted the plans of the enemy.

When we are faithful to God, God indeed blesses us in unusual ways.

In Wednesday's lesson, we read about the providential birth of Moses.

There went a man of the house of Levi and took to him the wife and daughter of Levi.

02 The Burning Bush

You will remember that in our last lesson, we noticed in this first in a series on Exodus, the journey from Egypt to the promised land.

You'll remember that we studied the fact that although Satan tried to destroy Moses' life at birth, God changed, transformed that curse into a blessing.

And that when the Egyptians lorded it over, the Israelites and these taskmasters were cruel to them, God still blessed them.

Here's the lesson from our first Sabbath school study this quarter.

God miraculously works with his children in spite of the devil's attempts to thwart and destroy.

That the sovereign God has a plan for your life and mine, and although at times it'll appear as if the devil is winning with Jesus and through Jesus and because of Jesus, we can be victorious.

God for Moses turned the curse into a blessing and he will turn every curse that the devil throws at you into a blessing.

Now let's pray and then we're gonna start lesson number 2.

Father in heaven, thank you so much that you turned curses into blessings.

Thank you so much that when the devil oppresses us that you are greater than the evil 1.

So Lord bless us as we study this lesson, help us learn divine insights, I pray thee in Christ's name, amen.

The title of our lesson is The Burning Bush.

But before we go there, we need to look at Exodus chapter 3, verse 7 and 8.

There are 2 words in these verses that deeply impress me.

And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians to bring them up out of that land into a good land in a large land, a land flowing with milk and honey under the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Pisidites and the Hivites and the Jebusites.

It says, the Lord said, I have surely seen.

When we face challenges, when we face difficulties, when we face heartaches, God sees it all.

When we cry out to him in the darkness of our night, God hears that.

And he says, I've come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and bring them to a good land flowing with milk and honey.

The story, this is really the story of the gospel.

God sees our cry in our discouragement in sin.

He sees our cry in our shame when we failed him.

God sees our cry and He comes down to deliver us, to bring us to the goodly land of grace, the goodly land of salvation.

So just as God led Israel out of Egyptian bondage to the promised land.

So he leads us out of the bondage of sin, out of the shackles of Satan, out of the prison house of evil, to the land of freedom and grace and goodness in Jesus Christ our Lord.

God is leading his church today from the Egypt of this world.

Yes, at times we fail, but God is going to get his church to the promised land.

Remember he was 40 years in Egypt, 12 brought up by his mother, 28 educated in the University of Egypt, but he had some things to want to learn.

So God led him out there into the wilderness.

Moses kept the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian.

And he led the flock to the backside of the desert and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.

And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush.

And he looked and behold, the bush burned with fire and the bush was not consumed." I don't know if what Moses was thinking about that, he probably didn't understand spontaneous combustion back then, or he might have because of his Egyptian upbringing, but this was not spontaneous combustion of a bush because it was hot in the desert sun.

And Moses said, I'll go now turn aside and see this great sight.

So the bush is in flames, but it's not consumed.

And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses.

And he said, draw not near, put off your shoes from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.

Moreover, he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.

And Moses hid his face for he was afraid to look upon God." Why does God say that he's the God of Abraham, Isaac, and the God of Jacob, because God had made a covenant with them that through them and their families, the earth would be blessed.

It didn't look like anybody was being blessed from the earth.

It didn't look like that Israel was fulfilling its purpose, being imprisoned in the Egyptian culture, being imprisoned by the Egyptian armies with the taskmasters lording over them.

But God is saying, I am going to fulfill the covenant that I have.

I'm going to fulfill the covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, Jacob.

I am going to lead my people out of Egyptian bondage.

Moses saw the, under Sunday's lesson, first paragraph, Moses saw that the burning bush was not being consumed by fire.

Thus he knew he was seeing a miracle and that something dramatic and important must be taking place right before him.

As he moved closer, the Lord told him to take off his shoes.

The Lord promised the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, that their descendants would inherit Canaan, a promise Moses surely knew about.

God is saying to Moses, I am reliable, I am trustworthy, I am truthful, I will fulfill my word.

Every promise, you remember that old song?

We can claim the promises of God and know that he is reliable.

Now, some people are concerned because in Exodus 3, verse 2, it says, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him.

Later on, it says in verse 6, when God speaks to him, he says, I am the God of the Father, of thy Father, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

In verse 2, it says the angel of the Lord.

In verse 6, it says he's the Lord himself.

Really not very much of a conflict there.

The word angel in the Hebrew language there means messenger.

So it says here, I am the messenger of the Lord.

In other words, Jesus Christ comes down, the all-powerful Christ, the almighty son of God, the 1 who represents God to man and man to God.

I like the way it is put here when it talks about the concept of the angel of God.

You'll find this under the note in Monday's lesson, second paragraph.

Do not be confused with the title, Angel of the Lord, as a depiction of Jesus Christ.

The term angel itself simply means messenger, and it always depends on the context.

03 Rough Start

The story of Exodus is the story of God's providential, miraculous works.

We see in the book of Exodus, God's power, God's sovereignty, but we also see God's care, God's love for his people.

Moses, the principal character in the book of Exodus, is constantly learning lessons of faith to depend upon God.

In lesson 3 in this week's study, it's titled A Rough Start.

Father in heaven, we thank you with all of our hearts for Jesus.

We thank you that although sometimes We have rough starts and sometimes life is up, sometimes it's down, sometimes we walk through the valley, sometimes we're on the mountain peak, but we're thankful that God is with us, not only in the good times, not only we're on the mountain, but also when we're in the valley.

So Lord be with us in our study today, in Christ's name, amen.

You know, some Christians feel that if you're a Christian, you will have health, wealth, and happiness.

You'll have prosperity and success, but that is not necessarily so.

We see that in the life of Moses, and the life of the Israelites.

God said to Moses when he was wandering in the wilderness, go to Pharaoh and tell Pharaoh to let my people go.

Did God work miracles in the life of Moses to assure Moses of his divine guidance?

You remember the rod would become a snake and then Moses would pick it up by the tail and become a rod again.

Remember Moses would put his hand in his bosom, it'd become a leprous, he'd take it out, it'd be healed.

Remember he'd sprinkle the blood on the water.

Sure, God would work miracle after miracle after miracle.

So Moses had the assurance that he was called of God.

He had the assurance that God's power would sustain him, but Moses faced challenges.

In Sabbath afternoon's lesson, the second paragraph says, those who trust in God will face numerous trials.

When we persevere, however, God brings solutions that come on his terms and in his time.

His ways may conflict with our expectations for quick and instantaneous solutions, but we must learn to trust him regardless.

So God is constantly leading us to deeper trust.

When Moses went to Pharaoh, Pharaoh's response was 1 of defiance.

In Exodus chapter 5 verse 1 and 2 we read, and afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, thus says the Lord God of Israel, let my people go that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.' And Pharaoh said, who is the Lord that I should obey his voice to let Israel go?

I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go." What defiance, What rebellion against the true God.

Here, Pharaoh says, I do not know the Lord.

Pharaoh had every opportunity to know God.

The Israelites had been in bondage in Egyptian for decades, centuries.

Here in our lesson, third paragraph down, says, Egypt with the Pharaoh as king is symbolic of a power that denies God's presence and authority.

It is an entity that stands in opposition to God, his word, and his people.

So Egypt would represent atheism, an atheistic philosophy of life.

This becomes important because later in the French Revolution, in Revelation chapter 11, France during that Revolution when it denied God and championed atheism, said that France says, who is God?

And France denies the existence of God during the 18th century French revolution.

So Egypt is used as a symbol of godlessness, of rebellion, of defiance, of atheism in the French Revolution.

Interesting though, you go to Daniel chapter 11, you have that battle between the King of the North and the King of the South.

North and South are always directions in relation to Israel.

Jerusalem, Jerusalem represents God's people, His church.

North, you had the Babylonian attackers, but then the flag passes on in North to false religion, onto Romanism and the papacy.

In the South, you have Egypt, King of the North, King of the South, last days, battle between the religious powers under the auspices of the papacy, in the King of the North symbol, King of the South symbol, you look at the concept of Egypt, concept of atheism, defiance against the true God.

So false religion, united with the kings of the earth, the politicians, and the financiers of the earth, the economic entrepreneurs of the earth.

So there's this triumphant of union represented all in this king of the north.

It is Babylon, false religion, politics, moneyed people.

And then in the King of the South in Egypt, you have atheism and eventually false religion united with the political and religious and economic powers triumphs over atheism and ushers in a time similar to what Moses experienced where Pharaoh says, I will not let my people go.

In other words, there would be a union of church and state, a vice-like grip on God's people.

But we go to Monday's lesson, and this is a rough start for Moses.

Exodus 5, verse 3 and onward says, And they said, The God of the Hebrews has met with us.

Let us go, we pray thee, 3 days, journey into the desert and sacrifice unto the Lord our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence with the sword.

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