Each day, Band of Survivors will be studying the book of Exodus in gender based small groups (called Cell Groups). They will read at least a chapter together, and then they will read a short devotional (called a RevoDevo) on that chapter. We’d love for you all to follow along with them! Below is today’s RevoDevo, along with the introduction to Exodus.
RevoDevos – Exodus Bible Study
Introduction to Exodus
The Book of Exodus begins more than four hundred years after Joseph (you know, the guy with the coat of many colors) died. In Genesis, when the Israelites came to Egypt they totaled 70 people; now, in Exodus, they total around 3 million. The leadership in Egypt—feeling threatened by their size—oppressed the Israelites by forcing them into slavery and ordering that all newborn Hebrew boys be drowned in the Nile River.
One Hebrew woman resisted the leaders and saved her son by floating him down the river in a papyrus basket. Fortunately, Pharaoh’s daughter discovered the abandoned child and raised him as her son. She named him Moses.
God used Moses to start a Revolution and liberate the Israelites from slavery; the book of Exodus tells this story. God sends ten plagues to Egypt, and, with miraculous signs and wonders, Moses leads the people out of Egypt and through the Red Sea. They go to Mount Sinai, where God appeared in a cloud of thunder over the mountain and confirmed the promises He made with Abraham. God commanded the Israelites to worship only Him, and He gave them various ethical and religious laws to follow.
Moses is the first true Revolutionary we encounter in the Bible. He overcomes personal weakness and doubt. He challenges a powerful Pharaoh and leads Israel to a great victory despite tremendous oppression. All of Moses’ political and military dealings serve to deliver the Israelites to God, physically moving them from Egypt to Mount Sinai and holding them accountable to God when they disobey. As God declares early on, Moses is God’s spokesperson to the people, and Moses makes God’s relationship with Israel a personal one.
The word “exodus” means exit (it comes from the Greek “ex” meaning out; and “hodos” meaning way or journey). Exodus is a model for our liberation from sin, drugs, alcohol, sickness, obesity… and all the other things that keep us in slavery.
Our God is a loving God. Let’s dive in and see how he delivers his people in the book of Exodus, and let’s continue to see how he delivers his people today.
RevoDevos were written by students of The War College (Vancouver, B.C.) and were edited and adapted by Eric Himes, Nancy Valentin and David Shay (Chicago, IL).
Monday, June 27, 2011
Read: Exodus 1
These are the conditions for Revolution. In Egypt, in that day, the people of God were enslaved. God was marginalized (the king didn’t even know Joseph; 1:8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who knew not Joseph.). And there was a culture of death. Pharaoh commanded the people to kill every newborn Hebrew baby boy.
Children of the Revolution are born out of despair. And despair is the language of the margins. The poor live there. Those discriminated against. The different. In Biblical terms, the widow, the orphan, the alien. In our chapter, the Hebrews. But don’t worry, we know as Salvationists that God has a strong love for the outcasts.
And God raises Revolutionary armies from the margins. Just look at David. He was in exile, on the run from a powerful king. And here and there, defectors from various tribes gathered to David until he found himself in charge of a mighty army (1 Chronicles 12:8). As people grow more and more dissatisfied with the status quo, they will look for something better. They will start a Revolution.
As you grow more and more dissatisfied with the status quo, will you look for something better? As you grow more and more dissatisfied with a lack of compelling purpose in life, with a daily, meaningless grind, with video games and slushies, with half-decent grades (or even excellent grades) and a part-time job at the gas station, with re-runs and stupid movies, will you look for something better? The truth is that most people do not look for anything better (even Christians settle for video games and slushies). But God has called us to take part in his mission for the world. We may work at a gas station but our mission is to serve God and therefore serve others and save the world.
God is looking to ignite a Revolution from the margins. So what should you do? Get on the margins, if you aren’t already there. Identify with the outcast. Catch God’s heart against the sin that is killing this world and for the people He created for something much better. It’s time to fight.
God opposes and hates genocide. He wants those who fear Him to fight against it. As believers, we must refuse to go along with any kind of genocide by standing and acting against it! God hates slavery. Not only does He hate slavery but he is on the side of the oppressed and downtrodden, the slave. He identifies with the addicted, the sick, the fatherless, the widow. Isaiah 1:17 says “Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the orphan. Fight for the rights of widows.” Widows had no rights back in the day. It was absurd for someone to side with a widow or fight for the right of the lowest class.
It has been said the human trafficking is our modern form of slavery. Human trafficking is the buying and selling of people, usually women and young children, and forcing them into things such as forced labor (sweatshops, etc) and sexual exploitation (prostitution, brothels, etc). According to the U.S. Department of State’s 2007 Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP Report), estimates anywhere from 4 to 27 million. Many victims are here on our own soil. Pray for those trafficked and those trafficking. This one of The Salvation Army’s biggest social justice ministries. Find out what we are doing worldwide and how you might get involved.
Process:
These are just a few of the many injustices that God has called his people to oppose. We can start opposing these evils today. How? It starts with prayer and bringing are hearts to a place that wants to fight injustice.