Reading the book of Exodus allows us to discover how great is our God, I AM THAT I AM.
In the beginning we read of Moses’ encounter with God. He gave so many excuses to the LORD upon his appointment as a person the LORD wanted to use – “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” (3:11) “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, “The LORD did not appear to you?” (4:1).
There are some possible reasons why Moses gave such excuses:
- He is unsure of himself
- Avoiding responsibility
- Lacking the assertiveness that this divine calling demands of him.
Yet we see the Lord always provided an avenue for Moses to experience His Greatness and Presence whenever Moses asked.
Besides the story of Moses’ divine calling, there are other encounters that we can discover in this book.
The first part of the book (Chap 1-18), uncovers for us how the LORD had planned from the beginning, to rescue His people through Moses. In this story, God showed His mighty power to Pharaoh with 10 plagues (Chap 7-11). The 10 different plagues signifies His power and greatness not only to Pharaoh but to the whole land of Egypt.
The second part of the book (Chap 19-24) chronicles the LORD’s covenant with Israel – renewing with them as a people His covenant first made with Abraham. The terms of the covenant, also known as The Ten Commandment (Chap 20) is a summary of The Law of Moses.
The main purpose of Chap 19-24 is:
- To show the awful sinfulness of human in their moral distance from God.
- To demonstrate humanity’s need for a mediator in order to approach God.
- To outline how humans should live more abundantly guided by the unchangeable perfections of the nature of God as revealed in the moral law.
“Everything the LORD has said we will do” (24:3) – that statement was the beginning of when Moses wrote down every single word said by the LORD to him. And the covenant was confirmed as Moses went up the mountain and stayed 40 days and nights in His presence.
It was an amazing experience that a prophet could ever experience.
The third part of the book (Chap 25-40) focuses on preparing God’s people to live in His holy presence.
The set-up of the Tabernacle is constructed as the LORD commands. It “brings” the LORD’s presence right in the midst of His people in a very symbolic way.
The Lord now lived in the midst of His people as their King and He continue to lead them throughout the next forty years in the desert. The signal for them to continue their journey was “whenever the cloud lifted” (40:36).
Summing up the story of the book of Exodus, we need God’s presence in everything that we do. We need to continue living under His presence every day and to love Him as we obey what He has commanded.
No matter how many times do we ask Him “Who will You send with me?”
The LORD who is the Faithful One will answer, “My presence will go with you…”