From the Editor’s Notebook
Christ The Lord Is Risen Today
Christ the Lord is risen today,
Sons of men and angels say:
Raise your joys and triumphs high,
Sing, ye heav’ns and earth reply.
Lives again our glorious King,
Where, O death, is now thy sting?
Dying once He all doth save,
Where’s thy victory, O grave?
Love’s redeeming work is done,
Fought the fight, the battle won,
Death in vain forbids Him rise,
Christ has opened Paradise.
This popular Easter hymn by Charles Wesley (1707-1788) originally had eleven stanzas of four lines. In many formal churches it has become traditional to use it as the processional hymn at every Easter sunrise service.
The tune generally used is entitled “Easter Hymn” and was composed in the fourth century. It is interesting to note that Charles Wesley’s “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” was sung for 100 years to the “Easter Hymn” tune, until the 1840 adaptation of Mendelssohn’s tune to Wesley’s Christmas carol.
Pointers on the Pentateuch
Exodus: The Book of Redemption
Key Word: Redemption.
Message: Redemption by purchase (i.e., blood) and by power.
Key Verses: 12:23 & 24 — “The Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when He seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come into your houses to smite you. And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons forever.” 20:2 — “I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.”
Introduction
Exodus has been called “the sequel to Genesis,” G. Campbell Morgan having said, “In the Book of Exodus nothing is commenced, nothing finished.”1 The word exodus comes from the Greek and means “the way put,” commonly known in English as “exit.” The book continues the chain of events begun in Genesis, the patriarchal family having become a nation numbering between two and three million people during the three-and-a-half centuries between Genesis and Exodus. In Genesis 15:13-16 the Lord told Abraham that at least 400 years would elapse between the promise of Canaan as an inheritance and its possession as an inheritance (cf. . Ex. 12:40; Gal. 3:17 — the 430 years are from the time Jacob went down to Egypt until the exodus). The book of Exodus covers some 216 years, its message having been accurately stated in Hebrews 11:23-29.
Exodus is a book which begins in gloom and ends in glory. It tells how God came in grace to deliver a people in bondage, and then how He came down in glory to dwell in the midst of a redeemed people. Exodus deals with a nation rather than with outstanding individuals, Moses being the prominent individual throughout the book, his name occurring over 700 times in the Bible. That Moses was the human author of Exodus is affirmed by the Lord Jesus Christ (Mark 12:26; Luke 20:37). Moses was an outstanding type of Christ, illustrating the fact that throughout the Scriptures redemption is centered in a man, the Man Christ Jesus. Egypt is a type of the world, Pharaoh a type of Satan, and Israel a type of man, enslaved and needing redemption.
Commenting on the relation between Genesis and Exodus, W. Graham Scroggie has stated: “The connection between GENESIS and EXODUS is intimate. In the one the Divine purpose is revealed, and in the other the Divine performance is exhibited. In the one are human effort and failure, and in the other are Divine power and triumph. In the one is a word of promise, and in the other is a work of fulfillment. In the one is a People chosen, and in the other is a People called. In the one is God’s electing mercy, and in the other is God’s electing manner. In the one is the revelation of nationality, and in the other is the realization of nationality.”2
Outline
1. Slavery (1-2)
2. Salvation (3-15:21)
3. Separation (15:22-40:38)
Notable Notes
In Exodus, chapters 1-18 are historical; chapters 19-40 are legislative.
Exodus begins with the words: “Now these are the names …” (1:1), for redemption always involves names — names written by God’s grace into His book.
The great events in Exodus are:
1. The training of Moses.
2. The Ten Plagues.
3. The Passover.
4. The Red Sea passage.
5. The giving of the Law.
6. The ordination of a priesthood.
7. The construction of the Tabernacle.
Exodus should be studied in a number of ways:
1. Christologically.
2. Typically.
3. Prophetically.
4. Scripturally.
5. Spiritually.
6. Dispensationally.
7. Religiously.
8. Historically.
9. Institutionally.
10. Biographically.
11. Geographically.
There are three sets of three things which are significant to trace through in Exodus.
1. Slavery, Emanciation, Reconstruction.
2. Egypt, Red Sea, Sinai.
3. The Ten Plagues, the Passover, the Ten Commandments.
It is interesting to trace the word Exodus in connection with Luke 9:31 and 2 Peter 1:15. Only by exodus can there be eisodus (cf. Deut. 6:23).
Nationally, Israel’s Ruler was to be Jehovah; its constitution was the Law given on Mount Sinai; its central shrine was the Tabernacle; its bond of unity was the spiritual worship of the one true God; and its hope was the “Prophet … like unto thee (Moses)” (Deut. 18:18)
Exodus provides a straightforward account of God’s dealings with His people from slavery, to sons, to separation and service. Furthermore, the book is a source of instruction regarding the divine principles which underlie God’s dealings with man. Still further, Exodus is a picture book of the New Testament, the original Pilgrim’s Progress with the pillar of God’s presence leading the way (Ex. 12:21-22). The book is a parable and parallel of the Christian’s pilgrimage (cf. 1 Cor. 10:11).
Herbert Lockyer wrote: “If in Genesis the earth is born by the Spirit out of the water, in Exodus Israel is born anew by the Spirit out of the water.”3
In the book of Exodus the LORD JESUS CHRIST is seen as “THE LAMB OF GOD” (cf. Ex. 12 with John 1:29).
1 J. Vernon McGee, Briefing the Bible, p. 8.
2 W. Graham Scroggie, Know Your Bible, I, p. 26.
3 Herbert Lockyer, All the Books and Chapters of the Bible, p. 24.