 Yeah, I think now the recording has started. Okay, fine. So the book of Exodus is what we are going to be looking at. Now when does the events which are mentioned in the book of Exodus, when do they begin? If we look at the end of book of Genesis, we see that Joseph dies and the people are well settled in the land of Goshen, that's the area in which they are all living. So the people have settled down over there, finally Joseph dies and then around 400 years go by. After about 400 years is when the events of the book of Exodus begin. Okay, so in the beginning, after the death of Joseph, the people would have stayed loyal to the Lord, they would have continued following the things which have been taught to them by Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and Joseph. But slowly as the years went by, the people stopped placing their faith in Yahweh and following him. They began to follow the Egyptian gods. So we actually see that we will look at the verse which talks about that a little later. But this is basically the situation at the very beginning of the book of Exodus. The people are no longer faithful to the Lord. They have now gone after the Egyptian gods and a lot of negative things have happened to them and now they have become slaves in that land and they are crying out for relief. Now it makes me wonder to which God they were crying out for relief because they do not even remember Yahweh. In fact, when Moses goes to them, Moses is worried that they will ask, who is he? What is his name? So that is the situation in which things are and these people are crying out in their misery. So irrespective of whether they know Yahweh or not, the Lord reaches out to them. It's such an interesting thought. These people are not even aware of who their God is anymore. They have forgotten the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. They are no longer faithful to him but still when they are crying out in their pain and misery, God reaches out to them. It's always God who takes the first step. He is the one who takes the initiative. Even when we are far away from him, even when there are people who do not even know who he is, who the living God is, it is God who reaches out and then when God reaches out to us, he expects us to reciprocate. He expects us to reach back to him with gratitude and say, yes, Lord, I want to know you. Yes, I want to have a relationship with you. So here in Exodus, we see that God takes the first step. Even though the people may not even know his name anymore, he reaches out to them. He hears their cry of pain and he comes to them and now he's hoping that the people will reciprocate and they will be willing to form a relationship with him. So God will take the first step but what about us? Are we willing to respond? Are we willing to put in our effort to reach out and connect with him? That is something that we have to do from our side. So we will go on to see how the Israelites respond, the relationship which they develop with the Lord and all of those details even as we go through the rest of the five books of the Torah. So here we see that Exodus mainly focuses on God delivering them. He has heard their cry for help and he has come to them and so this particular book mainly talks about the events which are involved in delivering the people of Israel. And of course, we also see that after they come out of Egypt, they become a nation. They start being known as an independent people. As long as they were as slaves in Egypt, they are just a bunch of slaves but once they step out as an independent group of people, now they actually have an identity. From now on, they will be known as that group of Israel, that nation of Israel. Now they have their own identity. So here in Exodus, we not only see them being delivered, we also see them getting a new identity and it's the same with us. When the Lord reaches out to us and we respond to him and say, yes, Lord, I'm willing to enter into a relationship with you, two things happen. First, he sets us free from our slavery to sin. We are set free from the old life which was holding us down, not allowing us to enjoy our freedom. He sets us free from those things and he also gives us a new identity. So from now on, when people look at us, they would see us as followers of Jesus Christ. So just like the Israelites, we too go through a process of being delivered and we too receive a new identity. So we see this nation now becoming an independent nation and now they are heading towards the promised land which God has promised to give them where they can enjoy their nationhood. They can have their own administration. They can have their own economic setup. So now they are moving towards something completely new. But then as we see the rest of the five books of the Torah, even as we look at the details, we see that they go off track. So it's the same with us. We have now entered into a new relationship with the Lord. He is now giving us a new identity. Now we are known as children of the living God and there is a promised land. There is an inheritance which is awaiting us. Some of the inheritance we will only receive once we go to heaven. But then there are so many things that we receive while we are still here. We can enjoy that fellowship with Him. We can have a time of knowing Him. Like as if he is a friend, the way Moses knew God face to face, we can have that relationship. It's part of our inheritance. As part of our inheritance, we have the right to fight against the evil forces of darkness. We can use the name of Jesus and claim what belongs to us. So these are all the things that God has destined for His people once He brings them out of slavery, once He starts leading them towards their promised land. But just like these Israelites, we can go off track. So that is something to keep in mind. So we can learn a lot of very practical living tips from this book of Exodus and the remaining three books. These first five books have a lot to teach us about our own relationship with God and how we can either enter into our promised land, gain what God has for us, or actually lose out on it. So even as we look at this book of Exodus, let us keep in mind that this is not just a story of some ancient people that we are looking at. We are actively looking at this story to see what lessons we can learn for our own life journey, even as we are going through this particular book. So moving into the promise that God initially made to Abraham, as a result of that now finally these people are going to be going into the, they're going to be released, they're going to be delivered out of Egypt and they're going to go towards the promised land. Let's look at the promise that God makes regarding this matter to Abraham in the book of Genesis. So if someone can read out for us, Genesis chapter 15 verse 16, Genesis 15 verse 16. Would somebody read out for us please? Genesis 15, 16. In the fourth generation, your descendants will come back here for the sin of Amorites has not yet reached its full measure. So at that time Abraham was living in the land of Canaan. So God says to him, you will all have to leave this place, there will be a famine, you will go away from here. But in the fourth generation, you will come back to this land is what God says to Abraham. So approximately 400 years after they leave the land of Canaan, God says you will come back to this place. So there's another thing that the Lord says over here in this verse. He says in the fourth generation, your descendants will come back here and he explains something that will happen at that time. He says for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure. So the Lord is saying when you come back, you'll not just simply come back, you'll come back as my instruments. I will be using you to bring judgment upon these Amorites. Up to now, I'm still waiting to see whether they will repent, whether they will change, whether they will come back to me. But after waiting for 400 years, if they have not yet repented, if they are not yet willing to come back and repent and accept me as the living God, at that time when you're entering the land, you will become my instruments to bring judgment upon these nations. Now the term that is used over there, the word Amorites, over here it basically is referring to all the Canaanite nations. Among the many people groups that were living in Canaan, the Amorites were the largest group. So sometimes the term Amorites is used to refer to all the different Canaanite nations. So here it's not talking about judgment coming only upon the Amorites. It's talking about the judgment of God, which will come upon the different nations which are over there and God will be using the Israelite people to bring that judgment. In fact later, if you were to look at Deuteronomy chapter 7 verses 1 and 2, you will see the names of all those seven nations, the seven people groups upon whom the Lord will be bringing judgment. It gives the names of all the seven nations and it says that they will be completely defeated. So the Lord will use the Israelites as his weapon to bring judgment and now again we see a parallel between these people and us regarding this. So now that God has given us a new identity, now that he's leading us towards our promised land where we will inherit the things which God has waiting for us, even as we start doing that, we will begin to engage with the forces of darkness and in Jesus' name we will begin our battle against them. To the extent that we are able to defeat them, to that extent we will receive the inheritance which Jesus has awaiting us. To the extent that we fail to overcome these evil forces, we will continue to wait, keep waiting for our inheritance and not see it. So you see there's a lot of importance attached to this. We can't just say yes, it's so wonderful. Jesus has promised me an inheritance but am I going to ever get that inheritance and to what extent am I going to get that inheritance? I need to start getting ready for battle. So it's not just enough to say now I have a new identity, now I am a child of Christ. Yes, you're not only a child of Christ, you are also a warrior who is being prepared for battle. So even as you start engaging with the forces of darkness and claiming what is rightly yours in Jesus' name, you will begin to get all of that inheritance which God has awaiting you. So this is something that we would actively have to work towards. Regarding the authorship of the book of Exodus, of course we again have proof that it is Moses who wrote it because in Exodus 17-14 it talks about how God is asking Moses to record different things in a scroll. For instance, in Exodus 17 verse 14, the Lord says to him, write this on a scroll as something to be remembered. So God was from time to time telling Moses to write down certain things in different scrolls so that people will continue to read them and remember what has been told and so in this way, the book of Exodus would have started being formed. As God began to reveal new things and asked Moses to write down different details, the book of Exodus would have started coming into shape. Let's look at the structure of Exodus. Maybe we can divide this book into five main sections. So chapters 1-7 will be the first portion of Exodus, the first section where you basically see how the people are suffering, the people are in bondage, God responds, God comes to them, God sends Moses to go and deliver them. All those things are covered in your first seven chapters. We could say that the next important section would be chapters 7-13. So here in this section we see the 10 plagues which God brings upon the Egyptians. We also see the Passover happening, the people they apply the blood on their front doors and so the angel of death passes over their homes, does not enter inside and harm their families. So we see that happening. All those details are in chapters 7-13. The third section of Exodus would be chapters 14-18. So in 14-18 we see them actually leaving the land of Egypt and going out. So now they become a free people and of course we also have an account of how the enemy comes chasing after them but God destroys the army at the Red Sea in a very miraculous manner. So all those details are there in the third section, chapters 14-18. The next section would be chapters 19-24 where you have a lot of instructions and laws which are given to the people. So the people have now arrived at the Mount Sinai and now God is giving them instructions on how they must live because God has chosen to reach out to them. They were living as slaves in a foreign land but now God has reached out to them. He has brought them out. He has given them a new identity and now they have to live according to this new identity. So all these laws are given to them to show them how they must live. What should be their conduct? How should they relate with one another? What should be their attitude towards the other religions of the other nations? All those things are given in those laws which are given in great detail in chapters 19-24. And finally you come to the last section which would be chapters 25-40. In this last section it mainly talks about the instructions God gives on how to make the tabernacle. So God has said, I will live among you. I will dwell with you but at the same time he cannot come and live inside their spirit because they have not yet been renewed through the sacrifice of Jesus. So which means he has to live in a separate building or at least a separate tent and so he starts giving instructions to them on how to make the tabernacle, what should be its measurements and the layout of the entire structure. He also gives instructions on what the priests should do, how they should conduct the worship for him. Lot of details. So we think so casually, oh God came to live with people but we don't realize what it cost him. He is so holy, he is so perfect and he is choosing to come and live among the people who had even forgotten his name. They didn't even remember what his name is and he has chosen to come and live among such people and so now he's giving details, detailed instructions on how these people can prepare themselves so that he can treat them with favor and bless them rather than bringing judgment upon them. Because when you are living in the presence of a very holy God there is always danger. If you don't meet up to those standards there is a danger of judgment coming upon you and God is doing his best to shield these people from bringing judgment upon their heads and so he gives all these detailed instructions to the priests on how to conduct the ceremonies of worship, how they should do those sacrifices, what the people should do when they come to the temple to do the sacrifices. So many details to protect these people from judgment, to keep them alive so that he can bless them. Look at the heart of God, God recognizes our sinfulness, he sees our weaknesses but he is always in favor of us, he only wants to build us up and that is why he's giving these instructions not to bore us, he's not giving these instructions just to make life tough for us, he's giving us these instructions to protect and shield us so that we can continue to live with this very holy God and be able to have an intimate relationship with him and be able to be a warrior and a success in all the things that life throws at us. He has only good in his heart even as he's doing all of this. So we have more instructions being given in chapters 25 to 40, God explains how the tabernacle should be constructed, he explains how the priests are to conduct the ceremonies, all of those details are given in this portion. Just touch upon your pdf, the notes which are there in your pdf, I know in that last section which talks about comparing the book of Exodus with the other books of the Old Testament. This one nice thing that is written about the comparison between Exodus and Leviticus, so maybe we could just look at that small portion. It explains over there that in the book of Exodus, we are introduced to this whole idea of Passover lamb, so in the book of Exodus we get to know who is this Passover lamb, what is this Passover lamb, some of the details are given regarding that and then when we go to the book of Leviticus, we have much more details given about the different sacrifices. So we are introduced to the idea of a sacrifice that will cover for our sins, that idea is first introduced in the book of Exodus but to get more details on this, we move into the book of Leviticus where we begin to understand the significance of the Passover lamb, how only a sacrifice can cover our sins and all of those details. So another thing that is mentioned in your pdf notes regarding the comparison between these two books, it says in Exodus, it was God who approached the people but in Leviticus, he looks to them and waits for them to approach him, so he has made the first move, he has reached out to them. Now in the book of Leviticus, it explains to them what they are supposed to do to reach out to him and now he's waiting to see will they do that, will they follow those things, will they value what he's offering them and be willing to start following all those instructions to live in relationship with him. So in Exodus, it is God who approaches them but in Leviticus, they are the ones who are supposed to approach God and another point which is made in your notes, it says over there in Exodus, God is the savior of the Israelites but in Leviticus, he becomes their sanctifier. It is not enough for us to just simply have a savior who has saved us and delivered us from judgment. Next, the process of purification starts because God has saved us so that we can lead a new life. If we continue living in the same way we lived before salvation, then we would still be slaves. The whole idea of setting somebody free is that they should no longer be a slave. They should now be a free person. So earlier when they were in Egypt, the people were slaves. Now God has brought them out and in the book of Leviticus, he starts explaining to them, if you live in this way, you will no longer be slaves. You will be free. The evil forces will no longer be able to continue you. So again, we see a parallel between the people of Israel and us today. So there is an inheritance waiting for us. There is a promised land and there are evil forces which we have to overcome and how do we overcome one main step that we will take in overcoming these evil forces and claiming our property, claiming our inheritance, one main step that would be sanctification, purification. There can be no victory in battle if you still have sin in your heart. You cannot have victory if you are continuing to stay far away from God and the things of God. So God is willing to become our sanctifier and start purifying us. Then we will start walking in victory. We will be able to claim all that God has promised to us as our inheritance. So first, God is our savior. But the next step, he starts becoming our sanctifier and we have to cooperate with him. Without our cooperation, sanctification and purification would not happen. Let's look at a little bit about Pharaoh and the plagues and all those initial things which are mentioned in the first few chapters. In Exodus chapter 1, if we were to maybe we can have one person read out verses 7 to 10. Exodus chapter 1 verses 7 to 10, if we can have one person read out. In future, if you can keep your Bibles open, it would help. So if we can have someone read out, please. Exodus chapter 1 verses 7 to 10. I will read it faster. But the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied and grew exceedingly mighty. So here it's explained to us why this Pharaoh takes a hostile stand against them. The previous Pharaoh was very favorable towards Joseph and his people. But now this new Pharaoh, it says over here in verse 8, it says, this new Pharaoh does not know Joseph, does not care about the descendants of Joseph and he is in fact very concerned. It explains why he is concerned. The people of Israel have been blessed by the Lord and they are multiplying and increasing in numbers. So the number of people is growing. The land belongs to the Egyptians. The Egyptians have owned that land for centuries. But these people who have come from outside, their numbers are increasing to such an extent that maybe they can overtake the population of the locals. So the locals are now concerned. And what's the main concern they have? It says in verse 10, it explains, if somebody comes to fight against Egypt, maybe these people will join the enemy and they will fight against Egypt and they will become free and they will leave. So Pharaoh says, we need to do something. We can't allow these outsiders to continue increasing in number because who knows, they may partner with our enemies and fight against us because in those days war basically, a war can be won if you have a large army because it was all hand-to-hand combat. Now you just use missiles and things which don't involve people literally being present over there. But at that time if you want to win a war, you literally have to go there in person and fight with the enemy and then enter into their fortress. So if you have a large number of people on your side, greater chances that you will actually win the war. So the numbers was very important. So the larger the population, greater chances of victory in a battle. And so Pharaoh is looking at these Israelites, having lots of children and all the children are alive and well and the population is increasing and he gets worried and he says, we need to do something, otherwise these people can become too powerful for us to control. So he had a concern why he starts taking steps against them. This concern leads him to do that. But why does it make this decision that these babies should be thrown, the babies of the Israelite people should be thrown into the Nile? There are many different ways that a child can be killed. That's a very horrid thought. But yeah, there are so many different ways that a child can be finished off. Why did he say that these children should be thrown into the Nile? There is a religious significance attached. These children are being offered as sacrifices to the Nile God. That's the reason why the babies, he gives the command that the Israelite babies should be thrown into the Nile river. We also see another thing. There were two or three gods who were supposed to be in charge of the Nile. They would worship the Nile in the sense they are honoring those particular gods who are supposed to be guardians of the Nile river or something like that. But the river itself, the water which is flowing in the Nile, in their mythology, they believed that the water, the little water which is flowing in the Nile river is supposed to be the blood of the God Osiris. So the Nile water was very, very sacred to them because they believed that these Nile waters are literally the blood of their mythical God Osiris. And so when the plagues come, what does God do? It's very ironic. God could have brought any kind of judgment and plague upon them, but he chooses this particular plague where he turns the waters of that Nile literally into blood. It's like, as if he's saying, oh, you people are considering the Nile waters as the blood of Osiris, fine, I'll make your waters red and see what happens. So when those waters actually turn into blood, the people can't use that water anymore. They were worshiping it. They considered it very, very sacred. Oh, this is the blood of our God Osiris. But now they cannot even use it. They can't drink from it. They will not be able to use it for their crops. Now that water is useless. So it's like, as if God is saying, why don't you acknowledge who the creator God is who actually made this Nile river and the waters in it? Why don't you acknowledge the living God because he's powerful enough to turn the transparent water into blood? So if someone is able to do that, then why don't you acknowledge that he is the living God and not this Osiris and all the other gods that you have dedicated this river to? So God actually makes a statement through that particular plague. In fact, we see the Lord doing that with many of the other plagues as well. Because one of the important deities of these Egyptians was a lady goddess named Heka. And she was basically a goddess with a head of a frog. So she was a frog-headed goddess. And so if you look at the plague which God brings of the frogs and the land is filled with frogs, they should be very happy, right? I mean now their entire land is filled with their goddess Heka. But no, what does the Pharaoh say? Please get rid of them. Imagine they considered the frog a very, very sacred creature. But now they have too many frogs and the frogs are even inside their houses and they don't know what to do. And the Pharaoh is basically, if you look at it, the Pharaoh is saying, please, if you can get rid of this God for us, there's too much supply of this God, we don't want it. So God deliberately brings each plague to prove to these people, you know, what I am the living God. Why are you worshipping the frog which I created? Why don't you worship me, the one who made the frog? So he uses the plagues like a lesson to show these people, to show the Pharaoh and the Egyptians, you know what? I am the living God. Why don't you, when the Israelite people are leaving the land and going to the promised land, why don't you come along? Why don't you also join them and start following the living God? And so in fact, we see this later when the people actually leave the land, it says a mixed population went with them. That's the wording that is used over there. So not only do the Israelites leave, a lot of the others who have been watching and seeing this living God in action, they also choose to accompany the Israelites and they say to themselves, it's better for us to go to this promised land where the living God is going to be ruling rather than continuing to live over here in Egypt, where you have, you know, useless gods who are of no help to us. So a lot of people choose to in fact go along with the Israelites and the Israelites leave the land. Just to touch upon a few of the other plagues, the plague of Boiles was probably an attack on the priestly community because according to the Egyptian ceremonies and rituals, the priests who go in to perform the ceremonies to their Egyptian gods and goddesses, they would have to be very clean in their physical being. They should not be having any kind of bruises or defects or boils. And so when this plague of Boiles comes upon them, no priest would have been able to enter into any temple, anywhere to perform any ritual, you know. So it's like God just brings all their rituals to a close, to a standstill simply by making Boiles appear on there, you know, on the skin of the people. So again, God proves to them, I am the living God to use to touch upon another plague, the plague of Hale. Now, you know, Hale as we know is those little pieces of ice, you know, which in Bangalore, we are more familiar with that because once in a while we managed to have some hail over here, though of course very tiny in size. So the thing about Egypt is that geographically, it is situated in such a place that it attracts less rain. So even today, even today in Egypt, you have only about one inch of, you know, rain, they measure the rain in inches, right? So Egypt basically only has one inch of rain, but it has excellent, you know, irrigation facilities, especially because of the Nile, because of the Nile River. So these people were very dependent on the river, they didn't have much of rainfall. And now what does God do? He says, I'm going to give you hail. And it's not just those tiny little pellets, you know, which fall in Bangalore. These were huge, massive stones which began to fall, you know, on the livestock and the animals begin to die. So these are very, these are these are huge hail stones which fall down. Just another plague, you know, the plague of darkness which comes upon the land, that probably would have been a direct attack against their Egyptian Sun God, you know, they, the Sun God named Ra, Ra was the name of that Sun God. And so that Sun God is helpless, you know, the entire land goes into darkness and there's nothing that that God can do. God is showing, you know, the living God is showing that this Ra whom you worship, this Sun God that you worship does not even exist. Because if he was, if he was existing, he would have at least tried to put up a fight. But these gods that you have made, they're not even real. On the other hand, I am the living God who has control over every feature of nature. So you should be worshiping me rather than worshiping these created things. So that's the point that the Lord makes through all of these, I know, different plagues. And in the same way, we also should be aware today that the God that we worship, he has control over everything. He has control over nature. He has control over the weather. He has control over people in the sense, God will only permit those things to happen to us that he or so even when bad things happen to us, when people maybe ill treat us or, you know, we get cheated or something or evil happens, it's only because God allowed it. And he has allowed it because he has a purpose. He knows how to bring us out victorious from that situation. So we can have the assurance that we are following the living God who has control over everything. Yes, absolute total sovereign control over everything. Nothing can ever happen to us outside of his will. It's only when we, you know, when we choose to live in sin and we go away from his covering that yes, something evil could happen. But as long as we choose to stay under his covering, every negative thing that has happened to you, it has happened with a purpose. He permitted it for a temporary season to bring some good out of it for you, you know, to help you in your spiritual life or to help you in other ways. So we can have trust in this God who has sovereign control over everything that happens to us. Let's briefly look at this name of God, which he reveals to the people. You know, Moses says in Exodus chapter 3, verses 13 to 16, Moses says to the Lord, he says, Lord, the people may not even know, you know, he doesn't say the people won't remember you, but then he basically says over here, they will, if they ask me what is his name, then what shall I tell them? And this is what the Lord replies. So maybe if we could have someone read out, verses 13 and 14, Exodus chapter 3, verses 13 and 14. Then Moses said to God, Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you. And they say to me, what is his name? What shall I say to them? And God said to Moses, I am who I am. And he said, thus you shall say to the children of Israel, I am, has sent you, has sent me to you. Yeah. So the Lord chooses to describe himself, you know, with a very unique name. Of course, in the next verse he explains, you know, he says, you know, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. He says that, but he also gives himself an other name to describe himself. He says, I am who I am. Here it's talking about how he is, you know, timeless. It's not that he was past tense. It's not that he will be, you know, in the future. He always is. He's outside of time. And so he always exists. He's timeless. So it, this description that God gives about himself, it talks about his timelessness. But it also talks about another aspect. I am who I am, which means he can just basically be whoever he wants to be. There are no limitations. You see the Egyptian gods, the gods which the people had created for themselves, they all had departments. You would have the God of agriculture. If you go and make offerings to that God, the people believed he will be able to bless your crops. But that God will not be able to help you if you want healing. You would need to go to a different department for that. So in their minds, when these people created their Egyptian gods, they put them into separate categories. But here the living God, he says, I'm not all those things. I am who I am. If you need me to bless the crops, when the time comes, I will do it. If you require healing, I'll be there for you as your healer. You know, he is all the aspects that make up actual genuine divinity. So it's not that he is a human created God with limitations, but he is, he can be whoever he wants to be. In that sense, he is not only timeless, even when it comes to power and abilities, he is limitless. So those are some of the things that we see about him in this book of Exodus. So we will now go for our break. And then when we come back, maybe we can look into Leviticus.