We began our discussion with God's revelation of His name to Moses at the burning bush. He is YHWH. He is the God who is known by His action in the world. He is the one who made promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He promised Abraham in Genisis 12.1-3, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
As the Israelites in Egypt looked around, they could see that they were indeed a great nation. If God kept this promise, surely He will keep the rest of the promises of His covenant. The God of promise, Yahweh, is their king. He is all-powerful. He keeps His promises. He is Israel's covenant-keeping God and Lord.
As they wandered out from Egypt into the desert and faced trials, they knew that they had a Sovereign, all-powerful God who had adopted them as His children. As His children, they were to be about the Father's business. As Dr. Williams said, "What God is doing in Abraham redemptively is what God intended to do with Adam creatively." Israel was God's redeemed people. They were part of His re-creation through a redeemed, covenant people.
Because God is who He is, each and every Israelite could look back to this event, the Exodus, and know that God keeps His promises. They are to remember this during the Passover. They are to confess the Lord's grace to them. They are to remember His salvation. They were called out of Egypt to the land, not just for rescue, but to do something. They were to be a nation of priests, a holy nation.
The Exodus was God's great redemptive act for the nation of Israel in the Old Testament. As this community received the Pentateuch, they were to look back on God's faithfulness to His covenant with Abraham and have faith that he would uphold His word. And in that confidence, they were to be what Adam failed to be.
The Pentateuch, then, answers the questions of a people half way to the destination, a people wandering in the wilderness. "How do we know we will inherit the promises?" "How do we praise God?" "What is a faithful member of the community?" "What is a kingdom of priests?" And most importantly, "Who is Yahweh?"
Today, there has been yet another great redemptive act of God. God Himself has come to earth to be what Adam could not, and what Israel could not. God, through Christ, was reconciling us to Himself. Jesus fulfilled the promises made to Abraham. He is the "seed" of the promise. He has reconciled us to God and has made us, His church, a nation of priests, a holy nation. And so we, like the Exodus community, are to be about our Father's business. Out of love for God we are to live lives of service to Him. We should live as a thankful people. That thankfulness should cause us to live a life that is pleasing to Him. As Calvin said in his Institutes, “Here indeed is pure and real religion: faith so joined with an earnest fear of God that this fear also embraces willing reverence, and carries with it such legitimate worship as is prescribed in the law." (1,2,2)
As Paul says in Romans 12.1, "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship."
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