Exiting Egypt, Part 4

Turn with me once again in your Bible to Exodus chapter 13 Exodus chapter 13 And what took Moses and two million Jews to do in one day, it takes us four weeks to do That's because I'm not Moses We have looked at the moment of their departure We've looked at the multitude who departed with them We have also looked at the memorials that were set up as they departed But today we're going to look at their movements How God moved them from place to place And you're going to find out that how God moved them is the same way God moves us

You mean to tell me that God has a cloud to lead us by day and a pillar of fire to lead us by night? Yeah, I do Well, how do you figure that? Well, you stay with me. I'm going to show you how God is seen in this whole movement Remember, the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire is a representation of the presence of God in the lives of that Jewish nation And God would move them day by day, step by step, just like God wants to move you day by day and step by step

And while you might not always agree with the places God moves you to, Israel was not always in agreement with the place God moved them to either But yet, as the psalmist said in Psalm 1830, as for God, his way is perfect and he is a shield to those who take refuge in him And my prayer for you and for me is that we today would understand what it means to follow the Lord step by step If we follow him, God will make us into what he wants us to be If we leave our ways and learn his will, we will live as he wants us to live And that's the story of Israel

That's the story of the nation of Israel, as they would leave their place of bondage and leave their place of bitterness And God would take them to another place, a place of barrenness But that place of barrenness would lead them to the place of blessedness, because that's how God works And just as God worked in the nation of Israel, so God wants to work in your life and in mine Let me read to you Exodus chapter 13, verse number 17, down to the end of that chapter

Now it came about when Pharaoh had let the people go that God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, even though it was near For God said, lest the people change their minds when they see war and they return to Egypt Hence, God led the people around by the way of the wilderness to the Red Sea And the sons of Israel went up in martial array from the land of Egypt And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him And he made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying, God shall surely take care of you, and you shall carry my bones from here with you

Then they set out from Succoth and camped in Etham on the edge of the wilderness And the Lord was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light that they might travel by day and by night He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night from before the people. I love it when we just have a few verses to talk about because there's so many things in just one verse that it's hard to cover lots of verses at one time But today we're just going to look at the movement

We're at our fourth point, our outline on exiting from Egypt In that movement, I want you to see two things The places that God moved them and the pillar that moved them Simple outline for simple people such as me And so that's where we're going this morning All right Their movement Where did they go? And I want you to notice what God did He first of all moved them from the place of bitterness Remember chapter 12 verse number 37 It says, Now the sons of Israel journeyed from Ramesses to Succoth Ramesses Where is that? Well, go back to Genesis chapter 47 for a second Genesis chapter 47

And you'll notice these words when Jacob's family settles in Goshen It says verse 11 So Joseph settled his father and his brothers and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt In the best of the land, in the land of what? Ramesses As Pharaoh had ordered Now you remember Exodus chapter 1 That they made, that is the Egyptians made the Israelites build for them cities One of those cities was called Ramesses And what they did was make them so bitter That is the nation of Israel so bitter and so downcast Because they mistreated the nation of Israel But you see when God moves his people

He moves them from the place of bitterness From the place of bondage Because that's how God works in the lives of his people See their movement is a description of salvation in the life of an individual They were redeemed by the blood of the Lamb And God moved them now from that place of bitterness to a better place That place is going to end up being Canaan Just like God removes us from our place of bondage, doesn't he? Being a slave to Satan and his demands That we might follow God and learn his will And serve him as he would like us to serve him Over in Psalm 49 it says this Verse 15

God redeems us from the power of the grave God redeems us that we might serve him And so these people would move from one place to another The journey from Ramesses to Succoth was about 15 miles So maybe it took them about a day to get there We don't know exactly how long it was But this was their first movement And notice this He moved them He rescued them from bondage And relieved them of their bitterness That he might ready them for battle Listen to what the text says Verse 17 Isn't God good? You see God knew that they couldn't handle facing the Philistines It would be too much for them

And God and his wonderful provision and care for his people Would take them round about another way That way would be through the wilderness It would be through the place of barrenness But he called them in such a way That he would ready them one day for battle Because when we get to Exodus chapter 17 They do have to fight the Amalekites But they weren't ready yet And God knew that And that tells us of the goodness of God The kindness of God The compassion of God That God is not going to allow us to face anything we can't handle With his power and help Isn't that true? That's the way God works

You know we find ourselves in a situation where we say How did I get here? I can't handle this Yes you can No it's too much for me Let me tell you something God is never going to give you too much to handle without his help That's the way he always works And yet he was going to ready them for battle Because you're going to face battles And is it not true that when you're born again And God removes you from the place of bondage And relieves you from the place of bitterness That he readies you for the place of battle There's going to be a battle The Christian life is warfare

And we've got to ask ourselves Are we being readied for battle? Are we strong in the word of the Lord? Are our swords sharpened? The sword of the spirit Is it sharpened to the point that I'm able to withstand the evil one When the time comes Because we need to resist him And how do we resist him? Steadfast in the faith Strong in the word of the Lord That's how we resist him And we need to be readied for battle But God would always take them through a prescribed route And that was the route of barrenness The wilderness It says These words

Hence God led the people around by the way of the wilderness To the Red Sea And the sons of Israel went up and marched away from the land of Egypt Listen God's plan Listen Was always to lead them through the land that was barren That was always his plan Back to Exodus chapter 3 Verse number 1 God said this In verse number 1 Chapter 3 Now Moses was pastoring the flock of Jethro His father-in-law The priest of Midian And he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness And came to Horeb The mountain of God The mountain of God was in the wilderness And God would say later to Moses

In verse number 12 These words Certainly I will be with you And this shall be the sign to you When it is I who have sent you When you have brought the people out of Egypt You shall worship God at this mountain You're going to worship right here in the wilderness And when God told Moses to go to Pharaoh He said God has said Let my people go That they might worship me in the wilderness Let them go three days into the wilderness That they may worship me And offer a sacrifice unto me God's plan was always to lead them through the place of barrenness

Why? Because God in your life always wants to demonstrate his power Because he always wants to develop his people And when God leads you in the wilderness That's where his power is demonstrated the clearest And that's where his people are developed the most That was God's plan Always Think about it this way When God leads you through the land that's barren He's protecting you from some other battle That you don't see See we forget that We think that because we're in this place of nothingness This place of wilderness This dry desert experience

That we're out there and God is putting us in a battle That we cannot face and cannot handle But you know what? It's just the opposite God is protecting you from another battle And while you're in the wilderness He is readying you for that battle That you might better represent him and honor him That's what God's doing That's what God was doing with the nation of Israel So we see the places where God moves us He moves us from the place of bondage From the place of bitterness He moves us to the place of battle To the place of barrenness To ultimately get us to where? The place of blessedness

Right? And that was the land of Canaan The land of blessing The land flowing with milk and honey And God leads us through life You and me Every single day In order that one day he will have us with him forever The place of ultimate blessing But how does God move us? That's where the pillar comes in The pillar of cloud by day The pillar of fire by night This is an amazing truth that you need to get a hold of Because it will revolutionize the way you think about how God moves in your life God was moving among his people

And you need to understand, first of all, the fact that God was going to provide for them Let me ask you a question Did they ask for a cloud by day or a fire by night? They say, hey Lord, could you give us a cloud that would show us where we're going today? And how about fire at night because we can't see? They didn't ask for that provision, did they? You know what? We didn't ask for the Spirit of God, did we? But God gave it to us John 14, Christ said, I will ask my Father and he will give you another comforter Another comforter And that Spirit came upon us the moment we were born again

Because the presence of God would move us moment by moment Now listen, for us to understand, we need to realize, verse number 21, that the Bible says, the Lord was going before them That's how you know that the cloud and the pillar were representative of the presence of God God was going before His people And He would lead them each and every step of the way When the cloud would move, they would move When the cloud stopped, they stopped And you know, they were never to get too far down the road without God moving or stopping

And it's very important for us to understand that God doesn't show us next year He shows us today Because that's all we got We don't know if we have tomorrow We don't know if we have next year or not Only God knows that But God wants us to depend upon Him day by day, moment by moment You say, well, I want to know what God's will is for me next month. I'm sorry, God's not going to reveal that to you today He might, but He probably won't He won't reveal His will to you about that until probably next month He's going to take you day by day He wants you in this present day to follow His will

He wants you to be saved because that is the will of God God's not willing that he should perish, but all should go to repentance. 2 Peter 3, 9 God wants you to be saved He wants you to be able to give thanks for all things. 1 Thessalonians 5, 18 For this is the will of God, that you give thanks in all things Right? You can't expect God to lead us if we're not following His will this day To give thanks to Him To submit to those in authority over us. 1 Peter 2, verses 12 and 13

Also, to understand that the will of God for us is to live a separated, sanctified life. 1 Thessalonians 4, verses 1 to 8 That we are to live a life that represents Him in holy consecration And so God wants us to follow His will day by day And then God will disclose to us other aspects of His will as it pertains specifically to our lives But God was going to lead them step by step That's why the Bible says, Keep in step with the Spirit and you won't fulfill the lust of the flesh We've got to walk in the Spirit

How do you walk in the Spirit? One step at a time, right? Your Christian life is one step at a time We forget about that But that's how God moves in and among His people The Bible says in Psalm 119, 105 Thy word is a lamp unto my path and a light unto my path God's word is a lamp and a light in the way that I should walk Because God's word is like a pillar of fire that guides me each and every day Granted, it's not some heat thing that comes out of the sky But it's in my hands You see, they couldn't pick up the word of the Lord and read it Because they didn't have it At least not yet

And when they finally got it, they had a hard time doing what it said But we have the word of the Lord It's a light and a lamp to our path And at the command of the Lord, we do what we're told to do It's just that simple Right? Easier said than done But that's just the way it is And God speaks to us through His dynamic word And this pillar, by day and by night, a cloud by day, a fire by night, is representative of the Spirit of God as it moves in and about God's people Listen, this pillar, this fire and cloud, was not given to them because they asked for it It was a supernatural provision

Just like the Spirit of God is a supernatural provision in the lives of God's people And the Spirit of God works in and among the people of God And that Spirit of God moves in among God's people to watch over them, to enlighten them, to guide them That's God's provision for His people But also notice this about this cloud and this pillar What was the purpose of it? To lead them That's what it says The Lord was going before them, by day, to lead them To give them light, verse number 21 It was to guide them It was to lead them

What is the Spirit of God to do in our lives but to lead us and to guide us? Romans chapter 8, verse number 14 As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God John 16, 13 When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth Listen very carefully The Spirit of God never works contrary to the Word of God The Spirit of God always works in congruency with the Word of God Not contradictory to the Word of God That's important to know, right? Notice this That this cloud was a protection for the people of God The Bible says in Psalm 105, verse number 39

For God spread a cloud over His people for a covering Could you imagine going through the wilderness in that hot sun every single day? God put that cloud over His people to protect them And that protection would be there at night to keep them warm as well as a pillar of fire was there Does not God give us a Spirit to protect us? Are we not sealed until the day of redemption? Notice this That this cloud, this pillar, would be a permanent fixture until they entered the land of Canaan, the promised land

But I want you to notice something about this whole cloud and pillar thing and how it represents the Spirit of God How do we know that it represents the Spirit of God, the presence of God among these people? Listen to this Numbers chapter 40, verse number 33 and 34 And He erected the court all around the tabernacle and the altar and hung up the veil for the gateway of the court Thus Moses finished the work Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting and the glory of the Lord filled, what? The tabernacle

The cloud would cover the tent of meeting and the glory of the Lord would fill the tabernacle Now listen The tabernacle was symbolic of Jesus Christ and His work And the cloud would come down upon that tabernacle once it was finished to commence the work of the priest in that temple And how it foreshadowed the coming of Jesus Christ, the Messiah Now listen to me very carefully If you miss this, you miss the whole point of the sermon You need to get this

Remember when Jesus Christ was baptized? His baptism was more than just an illustration of going down to the water, coming back up out of the water, illustrating at the very outset of His ministry what death He would have The baptism of Jesus Christ is the illumination to you and me that Jesus Christ is the Messiah How do we know that? Turn with me to the book of Isaiah, the fourth chapter Isaiah chapter four, verse number two In that day, the branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth will be the pride and the adornment of the survivors of Israel

And there will come about that He was left in Zion and remained in Jerusalem, and will be called holy, everyone who is recorded for life in Jerusalem When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and purged the bloodshed of Jerusalem from her midst by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning, then the Lord will create over the whole area of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, even smoke, and the brightness of a flaming fire by night

For over all the glory will be a canopy, and there will be a shelter to give shade from the heat by day, and refuge and protection from the storm and the rain Now listen, this is about the prophecy of the coming of the Messiah and what's going to happen when He restores Israel back to its land and the Son of Man reigns in Jerusalem It will be on what day? In the day of the branch of the Lord Now turn to Isaiah chapter 11 Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit Listen, verse 2 And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him

On who? The stem of Jesse The branch from his roots The branch is a name for Messiah Now listen folks, this is important Why? Turn to Matthew chapter 3 Matthew chapter 3 Then Jesus arrived from Galilee unto Jordan, coming to John to be baptized by him And John tried to prevent him, saying, I have need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me? But Jesus answering said to him, Permitted at this time, for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness Then he permitted him

And after being baptized, Jesus went up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God resting as a dove and coming upon him The fulfillment of Isaiah chapter 11, verse number 2, where the Spirit of God will rest upon who? The branch Jewish people, all of them know, that whoever the Messiah is, the Spirit of God will rest upon him Because without question, all the rabbis teach that the Messiah has a name The name is, are you ready for this? Nazir Nazir, the branch Now you know why the Jews were so infuriated at the inscription above the cross

Because it said that Yeshua, Jesus, from where? Nazir, the town or village of the branch That's Nazareth The branch was from the village of the branch And on the inception of his ministry, just like the inception of the ministry of the tabernacle, the Spirit of God then would come down upon the Messiah to illuminate all those who saw that this branch is the Messiah Jesus Christ is the branch He is the promised one He is the coming one

See that? See how the Old Testament explains to you the New Testament? And that's how you know that the cloud represents the Spirit of God among the people of God, communicating to them the truth of God, that they would know where to go And so when we today, in evangelicalism, in the 21st century, give our lives to Christ, the Spirit of God resides within us, right? And the Spirit of God moves in and among us to lead us and to guide us and to control us that we might understand the will of the Lord

And that's the lesson of the movement of the children of Israel from Ramesses to Succoth, to the borders of the Red Sea, as they begin their journeys to the Promised Land Let's pray.