An overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Exodus 2 & for December 1, 2024 with the title, “Seen & Heard.” A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRO:  ??? Can you share a time in your life when you desperately called out to God for help???

(For example; Cheryl & I have had several times like this: when we had graduated from seminary with a new baby, but no full-time church yet; we were so desperately needy; then in 2012 when I became sick and had to step down from ministry and began to apply for disability; and now again with my wife Cheryl’s crippling stroke this August, we have had several opportunities in our lives to desperately call out to the Lord.

The truth is, we have ALL probably had times like that, when we were under great pressure, or trial, and we called out to God for help. If so, we can understand something about the situation that Israel was in, in our passage for today in Exodus 2 & 3. It was a time of great distress for them — but the Bible says that God saw and heard, and answered their cry — and He will do the same for us today, too!  (He HAS done it, in Jesus, as we will see!)

CONTEXT

Having finished our study of the Book of Acts last session, we switch back to the Old Testament this quarter, to the books of Exodus & Leviticus. 

A few months ago, we studied the Book of Genesis, where we saw that God called Abraham to establish a people for Himself, through whom He would bless the world by giving them His word, and the coming Messiah who would save us from our sins. We saw how God protected and provided for this new people by sending Joseph to Egypt, where he was able to keep them alive during the great famine in the land.

Now we pick up the story in the Book of Exodus. This book opens with the people of Israel still in Egypt. 1:7 indicates that Israel had multiplied greatly in Egypt, but :8 says then a new king arose who did not know Joseph. So the Egyptians enslaved the Israelites and put them to forced labor, building cities — and they also began putting the Israelite babies to death. So this was a time of great oppression and bondage for Israel. This brings us to our focus passages for today: Exodus 2:23-25, and Exodus 3:7-15.

OUTLINE:

I. The Concern (2:23-25)

II. The Promise (3:7-9)

III. The Mission (3:10-12)

IV. The Name (3:13-15)

TEXT:

I.  The Concern  (2:23-25)

“Now it came about in the course of those many days that the king of Egypt died. And the sons of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry for help because of their bondage rose up to God. 24 So God heard their groaning; and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 25 God saw the sons of Israel, and God took notice of them.”

NOTICE THE SUCCESSION OF VERBS HERE (:24-25) that indicate God’s response to Israel’s cry:

— “God heard”

— “God remembered”

— “God saw”

— “God took notice”

It is really just a remarkable torrent of verbs, one cascading after another, proclaiming just how much God does see and care! He did notice!

And it’s not just Israel in Egypt that He sees and cares about; it’s US too! Every one of us!

— Psalm 139 says: “You know when I sit down and when I rise up … You scrutinize my path and my lying down and are intimately acquainted with all my ways.” Notice how detailed that is: God is INTIMATELY acquainted with ALL my ways!

— In the New Testament Jesus re-emphasizes this. He tells us in Matthew 10:29-31:

“Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.” In other words, God sees and knows every detail of your life: the very hairs of your head are numbered! And not only does He impersonally “know” these facts; He CARES: “You are more valuable than many sparrows!”

God sees, knows, and cares.

An illustration you can use if you’re led to: when I was in seminary, a friend of mine and I were talking about God’s will. He said, I don’t think God cares about the little details of our lives, little decisions, like which way we tie our shoelaces. I said, “Well Jesus said the very hairs of our head are numbered. Sounds like shoelaces to me!” God does care; and He cares about US!

To me one of the greatest examples of this is found in Genesis 16, when Sarah, jealous of her servant Hagar, drove her away with her son Ishmael to die in the desert. But the angel of the LORD met her by a spring of water, and reassured her, and told her to go back and submit to her mistress Sarah. And significantly, :13 says that Hagar “called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, ‘You are a God who sees” (El-ro-i; “El” meaning “God,” and the Hebrew “ra-ah”, “to see”.) God is “El-Ro-i,” the “God who sees.”

But one of the key things here is this: WHO IS HAGAR? Who in the world is SHE, to have any claim on God’s attention? She is what the world would call a worthless chattel, sent away like an unwanted animal to die, cast away. BUT GOD SAW! “El-Ro-i”! GOD CARED! FOR HER! 

??? What does this tell us about those times when we feel like God doesn’t see or care???

It reminds us that He DOES! And if no other place in scripture convinces us of that, God demonstrated it once and for all on the cross! On the cross God said to the world: I see you; I love you; and I want you back! And I want you back enough to send My Son to die on the cross, to bear your sins, so that you can come back to Me. 

God sees; God knows; God cares. You can tell your class: maybe you have something going on in your life today, and you may feel like God just doesn’t know or care about it. He does. He is the “God who sees,” (El-Ro-I) and He is the God who cares, about YOU, and “the very hairs of your head”!

II.  The Promise  (3:7-9)

The Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings. 8 So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. 9 Now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to Me; furthermore, I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them.”

So God re-emphasizes here: “I HAVE surely seen the affliction of My people … and have given heed to their cry” (How many times is this emphasized in this passage?! God sees and cares for His people! 

Then significantly He says in :8 “So I have come down to deliver them” (perhaps a foreshadowing of how one day in the future He would literally “come down” to Earth in Christ, to deliver us from the eternal consequences our sin!)

So a couple of spiritual applications here:

A. First, notice the two-fold nature of what God promised He would do for them:

— “deliver them from the power of the Egyptians.” He promised to save them from these harsh taskmasters who had enslaved them and were murdering their children. But not only that:

— “AND to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey …”.

So it’s a two-fold promise: 

— I’ll deliver you FROM Egypt,

— and I’ll bring you TO this Promised Land.

This is a good reminder to us that God’s promise is two-fold:

— He not only delivers us FROM our slavery to sin,

— but He also brings us TO His heavenly kingdom.

It reminds me of Colossians 1:13 in the New Testament:

“For He rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the Kingdom of His beloved Son.”

Do you see how it’s that same two-fold effect:

— “He rescued us FROM the domain of darkness”

— “and transferred us TO the Kingdom of His beloved Son”

So God’s salvation involved both what He delivers us FROM, and what He delivers us TO: FROM sin and its slavish consequences, and TO the glorious Kingdom of Christ. 

I am reading a great book by Thom Rainer called The Unexpected Journey, which relates 12 stories of people who came from different backgrounds to faith in Christ. Just last night I read one about a woman who had been caught up in the New Age movement and particularly astrology. She said that on the final night of a class on the inner life, she was introduced to her “spiritual master,” and she did meet him in dreams. She said “The first time I saw him in my visions, he looked very kind and benevolent … only in hindsight do I realize that I was dealing with a dangerous demonic presence”! But in what she would eventually discover was an answer to a co-worker’s prayers, Marcia had a strong urge to visit a church, and when she did, she said “I couldn’t explain it. What I felt was total love overwhelming me. It was like a waterfall of love.” Marcia ended up being saved. And what happened? She was set free from the controlling demonic presence, into the “waterfall” of the love of Christ!  (pp. 159-167)

This is what happens to each of us when we’re saved: we’re delivered FROM slavery to sin, TO the Kingdom of Christ!

B. Secondly, notice that God DID keep His promise! Did He deliver them from Egypt? YES He did; the whole first part of Exodus is about how He did that. And did He bring them to the land He promised them? YES He did! (And in fact they are still there today, right?!)

So this reminds us that God DOES keep His promises. Did it sometimes look like it would not happen? Yes it did. Things would get worse in Egypt before it got better. And there were times in the wilderness when it would look like they would never make it. But they DID. God DID keep His promise.

So that should encourage us today: God keeps His promises. There may times for us, like there were for Israel, when things look bad; when it looks like His promise will not be fulfilled. But we should have faith. God keeps His promises! 

You might ask your group: ??? What are some of God’s promises that we should be confident in TODAY???

(Some answers might include:

— If we have called on Him to save us and forgive us; He WILL! (Romans 10:13)

— We can trust that He will keep us secure and we will not lose our salvation (John 10: 27-29)

— That He will provide our needs (Philippians 4:19)

— That He will hear our prayers according to His will (I John 5:14)

You/your group can share your answers …

But God made them some promises that day, and He KEPT them. God has not changed, so we can be confident that He will keep His promises to US today as well. 

III. The Mission (3:10-12)

So God promised that He would deliver Israel — but HOW would He do it? He told Moses: I am going to use YOU:

:10 “Therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.” 11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?”

God says, “Therefore, come now, and I will send YOU …”

He says I am going to deliver Israel, and I’m going to use YOU to do it! 

By the way, this is how God often does things. We might think: God, why don’t You help so-and-so? And God says, YES I will: and I am going to use YOU to do it!

— YOU go see them

— YOU talk to them

— YOU witness to them

— YOU give to them/meet their need

— YOU help them

It’s one thing (and an easy thing) to say that “someone” should help a person/situation — but it’s another to let God use you to part of the solution. But that is often exactly what He does. You might challenge your group: Is there something you’ve been saying to God: “You need to do something” about, that perhaps He is telling you today that YES He will — and He is going to use YOU to do it! Be ready! 

But what was Moses’ response to that? 

:11 says “But Moses said  to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh …”?

NOTICE THREE TIMES he uses the personal pronoun here:

— “Who am I”

— “That I should go to Pharaoh”

— “and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt

For Moses it’s all “I,” “I”, “I”!!! And he’s going “I” can’t do that!

And this is a lot of us too, right? We often look at our own power and strength, and we don’t think we can do something God has called us to do. (Anybody ever say to God, “Lord, that’s just not something I can do!”? We’ve probably all had that feeling/used that excuse. We can’t do it.)

But what was God’s answer to Him?

12 “And He said, “Certainly I will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain.”

God’s answer was: “Certainly I will be with you.” 

Moses’ focus was on what HE couldn’t do.

God’s focus was on what HE COULD do! 

??? You might ask your group: does anybody have a testimony of a time when you just felt like you couldn’t do something, but God gave you the power/strength/ability to do it?

(For example: I have a couple of physical conditions which make it difficult for me to stand for long; I get very shaky. For several years now I preach sitting down. But I have had a couple of situations where I knew I was going to have to stand and speak, and I wrestled with God (one of them I was up almost all night talking to God about it; another I literally just stepped out, not knowing how I was going to be able to do it) but each time God helped me to do what I needed to do — and blessed in a great way. He can do in/through us, what we can’t do.)

You/your group can share your own testimonies like that. The point is, don’t be limited by “I … I … I.” It’s not up to us; it’s what GOD can do! Moses would see that big time over the next years; it’s not what HE could do; it’s what GOD could do. (And that’s why after the episode of the Golden Calf he would tell the Lord in Exodus 33:15 “If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here.” He knew that God’s presence and power were absolutely vital. It’s not what WE can do, but what HE can do, that makes all the difference. (This is also a good reminder as to why prayer is vital to the success of everything we do as well!)

IV.  THE NAME  (3:13-15)

13 Then Moses said to God, “Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” 15 God, furthermore, said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations.’”

So in :13 Moses did something that perhaps you have done before (I know I do): we think, “Ok, if I do this, what am I going to say if they ask this or that?” We try to anticipate hurdles or questions and have something ready. Moses did this too: if they ask me what Your name is, what do I tell them?

And the Lord answered in one of the great verses of scripture: “I AM WHO I AM.” Tell them, “I AM has sent me.”

God had already told Abraham (Gen. 15:7) that His name was YHWH or Jehovah, which is based on the Hebrew word for “I AM.” Here God explains that: this is who He is: “I AM THAT I AM.” He is the Great “I AM,” the One who has always been, is now, and always will be.” 

A.W. Tozer describes God as being like a great river, that flows in front of you, but look back as far as you can see, and the river stretches back; look ahead as far as you can, and it continues on. So it is with YHWH. He was, He is, and He always will be. This is the idea behind His name, “I AM.”

— It’s 4 letters in Hebrew:  yod, he, waw, he (read from right to left!)  יְהוָ֗ה

— It’s translated YHWH, “Yahweh,” or “Jehovah.” (Some theologians call it “The Tetragrammaton” for its 4 letters)

— In the NASB and many other translations, they print it as “LORD” in all 4 capitals. So when you are reading the Old Testament and see LORD in all 4 caps like this, you know that in the original Hebrew that word is not “Lord” (the Hebrew word “Adonai”) but “YHWH,” “I AM.”

(When you read it that way it makes a lot more sense in a number of passages, like Isaiah 42:8, “My name is the LORD, that is My name.” Literally it should read: “My name is YHWH, that is my name.” “the LORD” is not His name; YHWH, “I AM THAT I AM”, THAT is His name! You can see how much more sense that makes in these passages!)

Here in Exodus 3:14 is where that comes from! God tells Moses His name is Yahweh, Jehovah; “The Great I AM.”

But it gets even better, as many of you know. In John 8 in the New Testament, the Pharisees are arguing with Jesus and they claim to be Abraham’s descendants, and He says to them, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it, and was glad.” They said to Him, “You are not yet 50 years old, and have YOU seen Abraham?” And Jesus said to them:  “Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham came into being, “I AM”!! This is one of the most powerful statements Jesus ever made. Because He was claiming that HE is the Great “I AM” of Exodus 3! And the Jews did not miss the reference: :59 says they picked up stones to stone Him! WHY? Because He was claiming to be GOD — the great “I AM” Himself!

In fact, many see the whole Book of John organized around 7 “I AM” statements Jesus made in that book (the bread of life (6:35), the light of the world (8:12), the door (10:7), the good shepherd (10:11, 14), the resurrection and the life (11:25), the way the truth and the life (14:6) and the true vine (15:1).)  and all of these together form Jesus’ unmistakable claim to be “I AM” God! 

So don’t let anybody ever tell you Jesus was just a good teacher, etc. NO! He claimed to be God! This is just what C.S. Lewis was saying in the quote I recommended last week — if you didn’t use it then, you might use it here — or even if you did, you might use it again because it is SO vital. In Mere Christianity Lewis writes:

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher.  He would either be a lunatic — on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else He would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was and is the Son of God; or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”  (Mere Christianity, Chapter 3, p. 56)  

We hear a lot today of what Lewis would call “patronizing nonsense” about Jesus being just a human teacher. Let’s be firm in our convictions — let’s make sure that as teachers we have equipped our people to combat this notion. Jesus is not just a mere human teacher, He is the eternal “I AM” GOD! 

Just as in Exodus 3:8 God says to Moses “So I have come down to deliver them,” so in the New Testament He ultimately “comes down” to Earth as Jesus the Messiah; God Himself come to Earth to deliver us and  save us from our sins — because God DOES see; He does hear, He does know, and He does care — for US! Let’s do our best to help our people realize that this Sunday! 

___________________________________________________

— If you’ll type your email in the “Follow blog via email” blank on my blog home page, WordPress will automatically send you next week’s lesson and you won’t have to search for it.

— And if you write something in the Comments below, I’ll be sure to pray for your and your group by name this week. 

Per my licensing agreement with Lifeway:

— These weekly lessons are based on content from Explore the Bible Adult Resources. The presentation is my own and has not been reviewed by Lifeway.

— Lifeway resources are available at: goExploretheBible.com  and: goexplorethebible.com/adults-training

— If you have questions about Explore the Bible resources you may send emails to explorethebible@lifeway.com