Editorial Note: This is a transcript of an audio talk delivered in January 2025. It has been lightly edited by Claude AI for readability: spelling errors have been corrected, paragraphs and sentences have been added for clarity, Scripture quotations have been highlighted, conversational banter and interjections have been marked, and a Scripture index has been appended at the end. The spoken style, theological content, and the speaker’s own words have been preserved throughout.

An Amazing Exodus Sermon

Church of the Lord God — January 2025

I teach a small group online in the UK and I have done that for a few years now. There are subtitles available in case you cannot understand me, by the way. So, we will be going through the book of Genesis — well, Daniel first of all, then Genesis, then Exodus.

So we are in Exodus. We are in Exodus 5, but we are not going to go to chapter 6 now. We are going to bring over just a little bit of what we looked at before. Now I do not have a watch on me. I am going to rely on the pastor to tell me when I have gone on too long. And if I hear any rumblings, I will also know that something is wrong.

Opening Prayer

Okay. Is it customary to pray? Let us pray.

Oh Lord, how weak we feel, and how inadequate, Lord, faced with the challenges of everyday life — never mind the challenges of the world around us, Lord. Yet you bring us your Word, Father, which is sufficient and adequate, Lord, for equipping us for life as it is. We just want to praise you, Lord, that you have not left us in bondage as with the children of Israel, but have worked through time, century after century, to deliver us, Lord, using your own people, but ultimately by your mighty hand. So help us and encourage us as we revisit these very familiar chapters. Help us to think more of you, Lord, and see you more in our present circumstances today. In the name of Jesus we pray, for his sake. Amen.

[Banter] Alright. Now, I am not a Baptist — I am a Presbyterian by background — so I will not be doing too much jumping up and down. I like the… sorry about that, but let us just begin.

Exodus 1:1–2 — Unlikely Ancestors

So if you have your Bible open — Exodus 1:1 — or your tablet or your phone or whatever, let us go through and meditate and think about the passage.

The first verse is innocuous enough:

“Now these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt. Every man and his household came with Jacob.”

The first verse of Exodus mentions Jacob. And Jacob is considered by many to be a very bad man — a liar, and so on. And yet it is strange who the Lord God chooses to honour. We have gone through Jacob’s story — that is another study in itself. And yet God associates his name with Jacob, does he not? “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” So our assessment of men should match God’s assessment of men. Should it not?

A lot of people speak badly of Jacob, but here he is in verse 1.

Now verse 2 tells us an awful lot. It is just a list of names, but those names are associated with people who lived hard lives, and we know something of their stories. Reuben — these are the people who are the ancestors, the founders as it were, of the nation of Israel.

But what did Reuben do? He lay with his father’s concubine. He was a disgraceful man. And yet here he is in Scripture, and God is using that man.

And Simeon and Levi — were they good men or bad men? What did they do together, more than their brothers? They ran a scheme. Their sister Dinah had been assaulted. And they plotted together. They said, “Let us pretend to receive these men into the covenant through circumcision.” And then they fell upon the men of Shechem and murdered them. These were terrible men — awful men. And yet here they are in Scripture, and God is using them.

Is that not remarkable? Is God not an amazing God? He is able to use sometimes the worst of men.

And what about Judah? Judah was a strong man. Judah was the one that everyone could see would carry on the legacy. And yet, did he marry well? No. He married a Canaanite. They had a first son, and God took that son. They had a second son, and God took that son. And for the third son, Judah loved his own sons more than he loved the promise of the coming Messiah. So he would not risk losing another son. He made a promise to Tamar and then put her away. And then there is a whole episode in that story.

But Judah, unlike the others, repents. Very interesting. At the end of the Tamar episode, he says something very notable:

“You are more righteous than I am in this matter.”

He says that publicly, in front of the assembly. Now that matter of Tamar does not immediately jump off the page as a happy story, but there are plenty of lessons in it.

So this is just the first two verses, and my goodness, we see how mighty God is in using men who sometimes are — well, let us just say — not very good.

And the rest of the brothers, apart from Benjamin — well, they tried to kill the most righteous one among them and sold him into slavery. So, not a very happy family. If you think you have bad brothers — well, okay. There are worse ones out there.

Verse 5 — What Is a Soul?

Now verse 5. I mentioned this this morning when I was doing a review with my own group. There is a word in verse 5 worth pausing on: soul. What is a soul? Is a soul something that can float through walls and windows and come up through the rafters?

Here is how the Bible uses the word:

“And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls.”

So a soul is a whole person. In today’s world, we want to reduce a person to the merely physical — this part or that part. “I am a heart specialist, I am a lung specialist, I am a bottom specialist” — all these specialists. But what the Bible says is that we are living souls. Souls are whole beings.

So our emotions affect even our bones. Our sinning affects even our bones. Envy, for instance, is like rottenness in the bones. This is the biblical idea. Even in this verse, we have to re-evaluate our thinking. When we use a key word like soul, we must remember that it was not a procession of ghosts that came out of Egypt. They were real people, whole people, with a story, with a history that changed during their lifetimes — some grew, some fell, others repented, and so on.

Alright. Seventy souls went to Egypt, but Joseph was already there.

Verse 6 — Joseph Died

“And Joseph died, and all his brethren and all that generation.”

What does that tell us? Joseph — one of the great men in the Bible. A tremendous character. But he died. And all his brethren and all that generation. So in God’s order, people die and are buried and move on. We have always got to be thinking forward.

[Personal interjection] Now, I am new to the marriage game — I will admit I am a little backward. I am 49, alright. But we have to be thinking, as many of you do, about the next generation and the next generation after that. I know there are many grandparents here invested in their grandchildren’s lives. But even as a young person, you should be thinking about the next generation.

Verses 7–8 — Be Fruitful and Multiply

“And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceedingly mighty. And the land was filled with them.”

Now, what is the first commandment ever recorded in the Bible — in order of appearance? Can anyone think of it? It is a commandment, though it does not come labelled as such. Anyone? Be fruitful and multiply. And verse 7 indicates that by the grace of God, they were fruitful and they did multiply.

You know, it is such a deep commandment that it was not given merely to man’s conscious mind — it was written into our very being. That is me, writing into my being — in case you are wondering.

And the land was filled with them. Now, under Joseph, Egypt was a good place to be. You might read that Joseph was a socialist — that he introduced high taxes. I have heard this argument: that he had a 20% tax on agriculture. But that is not quite right. He arranged with the people a 20% portion of one particular harvest at one particular time. He was a good governor. Taxes on the land were low, and he governed wisely. He was given free rein. Egypt was a good place to be.

In fact, we know that the brothers of Joseph did good business there. They were good cattlemen, and they ended up prospering — looking after even the king’s cattle, and having the best of the land. But just like Egypt, well, my own country — the UK — used to be a really free place. Things change in history, and we must be conscious of that and adapt accordingly. The US used to be a tremendously free place also. But there are people pushing it in a certain direction. And here we have real history — real stuff.

Verse 9 — A New King Arises

Now verse 9. Something very interesting. Who is speaking in verse 9? Who is it? The new king. And the king of Egypt is known by a special title — what is it? Pharaoh. Excellent. So he was the number one ruler of the day — forget about the Trilateral Commission or the CFR or anyone behind the scenes. There was nobody approaching the Pharaoh of Egypt. He had all the might and power you could imagine.

And what does he say?

“The people, or the children of Israel, are more and mightier than we.”

Interesting. He is the top man in charge, with all the forces of Egypt at his disposal — all the chariots — and yet he says, “The children of Israel are more and mightier than we.” That calls to mind the conquest of Canaan. Rahab was able to say that the protection of Egypt had been removed from all the land of Canaan, and they were terrified of Israel. Absolutely terrified.

So as we look at our contemporary situation, we can be assured that things have not changed. The people who are high and mighty, making all sorts of proclamations and regulations — “You will own nothing” and “Eat the peat bogs” or whatever it happens to be — these people are looking at the Church of Christ and saying, “The children of Israel are more and mightier than we.”

In fact, I was reading just the other day about Tertullian — a churchman of the early centuries, perhaps the second century — and he says to Caesar: “There are more of us in one province than there are in your entire army.” So he is putting Caesar on notice. A churchman of the persecuted church.

So when we look at the opposition we face, we must look at it with the eyes of faith. Those who do not look with the eyes of faith say what?

“We are grasshoppers in our own eyes.”

Grasshoppers. Not very big. Easily squished. But that is not how God sees it.

Verses 10–13 — Come, Let Us Deal Wisely

“Come, let us deal wisely with them.”

They are terrified that Israel will grow out of control and end their regime. And what is their tactic? They did not send in the army straight away. No machine guns. Instead:

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

This was their number one tactic. Do we have taskmasters in this country? I wonder. Was that not part of the Declaration of Independence — that King George III was sending taskmasters to afflict the people with their burdens? Do we have burdens placed upon us that are unnecessary? Why are they doing this?

[Personal interjection] You know, I am just back from Costa Rica. I do not know what you think of when you hear Costa Rica. You are probably thinking palm trees and beaches, maybe. I am thinking very high prices in Walmart. That is what I am thinking. It is a country where it is very transparent and clear that there is a class at the top skimming all the money into their pockets. The prices for food are about two or three times what they are here. And the people are not rich. It is amazingly transparent.

And we do not have taskmasters driving us in the streets, but we have taxes, and more taxes, and more taxes after that, which force us to work. What happens if you do not pay your taxes in this country? Yes? You get arrested.

[Banter] Just like that Johnny Cash song. That is right.

So the taskmasters are there — they are just hiding behind all the regulations. This is where we find ourselves today.

And so they built store cities, Pithom and Raamses — big industrial projects for the glory of the empire. But here is how God works. Verse 12:

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

Wow! So how do you fight tyranny? Well, get married earlier than I did.

[Banter] I am very glad to be where I am, mind you. But, you know, it is to have a family and walk with the Lord.

The more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel. So no matter what face the authorities put on — that they are high and mighty, that they have everything under control — in reality, they are grieved because of those heaven-blessed people.

So what is their tactic? Verse 13: they crank it up. They increase the pressure.

“And the children of Israel served with rigour.”

So although they are scared, although they are grieved, although they are concerned — it does not stop them from oppressing. But we must not misinterpret what they are doing. This is all in the text. I have not invented this. I am just reading it and interpreting it.

Verse 15 — The Political Control of Healthcare

Now verse 15. The political control of healthcare. The king said to the midwives — so healthcare is being used for political ends, to prop up the regime. Are we surprised when we discover that healthcare can sometimes be absurd and even deadly? Well, we need not scratch our heads too much. In my country, the NHS is very clearly directly controlled by the government. In the US it is controlled by regulations, but the net effect is that it is politically ordained.

And he said:

“When you do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, if it be a son, then ye shall kill him.”

That is what you call a medical protocol. In the UK we had something called the Liverpool Care Pathway, which meant that when an elderly person came in, you were to gradually increase the sedation, stop feeding them, and effectively hasten their death. That is a protocol. This is a protocol here in Exodus 15.

What we saw with COVID was also a protocol driven by political ends rather than health ends, because we know there are many different ways of dealing with communicable diseases. And if we had simply looked at Leviticus, we would have known exactly how communicable diseases work. If you have a communicable disease, what should happen? Quarantine. It is very clear. Easy to see.

What is interesting also is that Shiphrah and Puah — is there anyone here named Shiphrah? Any Puahs? No? — were they men or women? They were women. Both midwives. And they both operated within their own profession as women to counter tyranny. Interesting. God can use a woman in her profession. As a woman, she does not have to become a man, she does not have to pretend to be something she is not. Very clear.

Did they obey the protocol? No, they did not. They were not just following orders. They resisted the protocol.

And by the way, this is what tyrannies do — they simply kill children. Because under socialism, there is never enough money, never enough food, never enough of anything. I was reading, as part of my work, excerpts from Soviet dissidents who had come across to the West. It was terrible. This was in the 1980s — a book from 1982. The mortality rate for men between 25 and 35 years old was catastrophically awful, because they simply did not have enough food. Under socialism, you never have enough of anything. Why? Because everything is politically controlled.

Exodus 12:12 — War Against the Gods of Egypt

[To a congregation member] But let us go beyond that. Would somebody look at Exodus 12:12, please, and just read it out.

“For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgement. I am the LORD.”

Wow. So who was God fighting against? Against all the gods of Egypt. Pharaoh was the linchpin of the system — in our day we would say the civil government, or whatever we want to call it. But it was very personal in those days. Below him were the people, and behind him were the gods.

I am not going to speculate too much about gods and demons. But the point is this: what Moses was confronting — what God was making war with — in that day and in this day, is not just a civil government in isolation. On the one hand, the people want their welfare money, their benefits, their security. But also there are the gods — there is a religious system behind it that makes it perfectly logical and reasonable to obey the state in all things. So as we think about political liberty and religious liberty today — what is happening in Washington, in London, wherever — we cannot just confront it on a merely political level. We have to think religiously.

You might say, what does the civil government have to do with God? Well, if we consider the philosophy of the day, that philosophy states that the civil government itself is God. Whatever god there may be, it is the civil government. So as we face and confront political tyranny, we must do as Moses did later — by saying, “Thus saith the LORD.” We confront one power and one religious system with another. And until that other religious system — the Lordship of Christ — becomes the governing force in a country, you will not have lasting political liberty.

[To congregation] I have no idea what time it is. How am I doing?

[Banter — congregation responds] Good? Alright.

Exodus 1:19 — The Midwives’ Deception

Now, if there are any questions or comments, please put up your hand. Alright, so the King of Egypt calls them in and says, “Why have you done this?” And they said, “Well, they are very lively.” Was that a lie? It was a deception, as you may say. But are there other instances in Scripture where women have deceived to save lives? Can we think of any?

[Congregation] Rahab and the spies.

And ultimately, Rahab saved not only the spies’ lives but her own life and the life of her entire family. So we have to be careful as we look at an ethical situation and judge it thinking of the whole law of God and the instances from the Word of God. After all, the first five books of the Bible are all called Torah in the Scriptures. They are all referred to as such by Jesus himself, in that sense.

And God reveals himself in verse 20:

“Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty. And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God…”

We know they feared God because they did not obey the medical protocol that led to death. And there are many medical protocols today that lead to death. I believe the thinking is: “If I don’t rock the boat, I will keep my job, get my pension — it is the realistic thing to do. I have got a mortgage, I have got debts to pay.” But God asks us to think differently. God is our provider. God exists and He is a rewarder of those who earnestly seek Him.

These midwives earnestly sought Him in all their ways. And God is revealing himself here to be a covenant God — a God who seeks the obedience that we offer in the real world, not just in some spiritual realm floating in the air. Within their professions, these women were blessed. He made them houses — which sounds like they acquired a lot of real estate, but in fact the house here refers, as in the house of Levi, to a mighty and notable progeny — good sons, a good family, a good name. They were given not just children themselves, but descendants down the line. Isn’t that interesting?

Verse 22 — Ratcheting Up Tyranny

Now, what happens next? Does Pharaoh say, “Fair enough, you have got me — I am going to let this go”? No. Verse 22:

“And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive.”

The only thing a civil government can ever do when threatened is ratchet things up — more taxes, more debt, more government spending. And Pharaoh did not have to send in the army again because he had an army of snitches, an army of snoops who would be very happy to phone the police and say, “I see my neighbour has five cars outside — I think they are having a wee Christian meeting.” So they ratcheted it up. They tried through the hospitals and now they were trying it through the whole population.

[Banter] Now I am harping on a little. I am sure you could provide many more examples. How am I doing for time?

Exodus 2:1 — No Men in the Chapter

Now, chapter 2, verse 1.

[Banter] Now, normally we think of people in Old Testament times wearing tea towels on their heads and robes, but here we have the house of Levi — so perhaps we can conclude that the children of Israel wore Levis. We are not sure. That is what you call the house of Levi.

And the woman conceived and bore a son. And when she could no longer hide him, she hid him in a basket. Why could she no longer hide him? Was it because soldiers were going through the streets? I do not think so. I think it was because of the decree at the end of the last chapter — what we have now is an army of snitches, next-door neighbours who were willing to phone the authorities.

Now, as you scroll through chapter 2, you will notice something. Listen — there are no men here. There are no men in this chapter. We have Jochebed, we have Miriam — their names are not mentioned here — and we have a man from the house of Levi. What are the men doing? Why are they not here?

[To congregation] Are they at the bar? What are they doing? What do you think? Given what we just read in chapter 1.

[Congregation] Making bricks.

Exactly. They were working to pay their taxes. They were making bricks, doing their forced labour. That is a great tactic of the state — to separate husband and wife through labour, labour, labour. Another way of separating husband and wife is to raise taxes so much that everyone has to work. Interesting, isn’t it?

And yet we find here again that these women are not incapable. They do not throw their hands up, start crying, and fall to pieces. They have a son, they have hidden him for three months. We might get the impression that they simply and randomly dropped Moses into the river one day, fingers crossed, hoping for the best. But I do not think that is what happened.

The Daughter of Pharaoh

The sister watched. And we find the reason, I think, in verse 5. This is the daughter of Pharaoh. Now — why is she bathing in the river? Do you think she does not have baths at home? She is the daughter of Pharaoh, the richest man in the world. She probably has plenty of baths. So why is she in the river?

This is something ritualistic. The Nile is a deity — it represents a god, a provider. She is not getting into a dirty river just to get clean. This is something that Jochebed and Miriam would have known about. Egypt was a very static society. The whole religion was that everything must always stay the same. And Pharaoh, although powerful, was also very constrained. He was basically under the control of the priests, under the control of religion.

So I think, knowing all this, Jochebed — a very capable woman in the face of incredible persecution and incredible odds — made a plan. And she is not the first woman in the Bible to do so.

Women Who Planned — Tamar and Rebekah

Is there any woman in the Bible who planned extensively to preserve the godly offspring that had already been born? Let me search my memory banks.

Look at the story of Tamar again. Read it and ask yourself: how else would the Lord Jesus be born if Tamar had not done what she did? And ask yourself — how much preparation would Tamar have had to make in order to do what she did?

And before Tamar, there was another woman who worked in the background to preserve the godly line. And that was Rebekah. Rebekah worked — she made the hairy suit for Jacob. She had it on standby. She had the cloak. This did not just happen spontaneously. She worked at it, thought it through, prepared. Tamar had to make a costume. She had to know the whereabouts of Judah.

And so too here we have another example of a very capable woman, in the face of difficult circumstances, where the men simply were not present. Judah was not present; Isaac had been in rebellion against God; and it fell to the women to do something. And here in Exodus we have yet another example of that. And because of this — because of God’s blessing upon this — ultimately the godly offspring was born and delivered.

Closing

We are going to leave it there. But I think you can see and agree just how closely Exodus mirrors our own day — how very relevant it is, how it gives us a framework of understanding, pointers, and encouragement. Women feature very heavily in these first two chapters. Interesting, isn’t it? The men were simply flat out — they could not do a thing.

There is much, much more in the Scripture along a similar line as we go forward. But I am going to end there and we will pass that over.

[Closing banter] Yeah, so that was the way. I will have to find a watch. Let us all stand. Thank you.

Scripture Index

The following passages were quoted, referenced, or discussed during this talk:

ReferenceContext
Exodus 1:1Names of the children of Israel who came into Egypt with Jacob
Exodus 1:2List of the sons of Israel — Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and others
Exodus 1:5All the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls
Exodus 1:6Joseph died, and all his brethren and all that generation
Exodus 1:7The children of Israel were fruitful and multiplied exceedingly
Exodus 1:9Pharaoh says the children of Israel are more and mightier than we
Exodus 1:10”Come, let us deal wisely with them”
Exodus 1:11Taskmasters set over Israel to afflict them; cities of Pithom and Raamses
Exodus 1:12The more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew
Exodus 1:13The children of Israel served with rigour
Exodus 1:15The king of Egypt speaks to the midwives Shiphrah and Puah
Exodus 1:16”When ye do the office of a midwife… if it be a son, then ye shall kill him”
Exodus 1:20God dealt well with the midwives; the people multiplied and waxed very mighty
Exodus 1:22Pharaoh commands all his people to cast every newborn son into the river
Exodus 2:1A man of the house of Levi married a daughter of Levi
Exodus 2:5The daughter of Pharaoh comes down to bathe in the river
Exodus 12:12God declares He will execute judgement against all the gods of Egypt
Genesis (Tamar episode)Judah declares Tamar “more righteous than I” — Genesis 38
Numbers 13The spies’ report — “We are grasshoppers in our own eyes”
Proverbs 14:30Envy is rottenness in the bones
Habakkuk 2:4The just shall live by faith
Joshua 2Rahab and the spies
Leviticus (communicable disease laws)Quarantine principles for communicable disease
Genesis 1:28Be fruitful and multiply — the first commandment
Genesis 35:22Reuben lies with his father’s concubine
Genesis 34Simeon and Levi destroy Shechem
Genesis 38Tamar and Judah
Genesis 27Rebekah plans to secure the blessing for Jacob