At the beginning of the book of Exodus it might appear that God’s covenant promises to Abraham have amounted to nothing.  However it is on the basis of these promises that God brings his people out of Egypt (2:23-25; 6:1-6).  In doing this he reveals his character as being one who is absolutely faithful to his covenant commitment.  He is the LORD, the covenant keeping God.

When I was a child I was fascinated by the film, “Escape from Alcatraz,” the story of one man’s bid for freedom from the famous island prison. More recently was the “Shawshank Redemption,” a film that is well worth watching. Perhaps the most loved film in this genre is “The Great Escape,” staring Steve McQueen, and based on a 1943 breakout from a Nazi prisoner-of-war camp.
In each of these films the escape depends on the ingenuity of the escapees and a certain amount of luck. The escape that we are looking at in this chapter is entirely different, it doesn’t depend on the escapees or on luck—God orchestrates the whole thing! As for the size of this escape, this is not about the freedom of just one individual or a small group but of a whole nation.
Introduction (Chapters 1-2)
In the last sermon we looked at the promise/covenant that God made with Abraham. There we claimed that this promise forms the backbone of the whole of the Old Testament. But as we read the opening chapters of Exodus we might think that God has forgotten this promise. Abraham’s descendants have not become a great nation (although they are multiplying in number) and they have not yet taken possession of the promised land, indeed they are not even in the promised land. As their stay in Egypt turned into slavery it must have seemed that fulfilment of God’s promises is becoming less and less likely.
Yet, as we noted in the last chapter, the circumstances that stand in opposition to God’s promises merely serve to underline that their fulfilment can only be achieved by the supernatural power of God. In the Exodus we will see the LORD free his helpless people with “an outstretched arm and mighty acts of judgement” (6:6).
The situation for the slaves goes from bad to worse when the Pharaoh orders the killing of all the Hebrew baby boys that are born. It is against this background that we read of someone who will have a special place in this story. Through the ministry of Moses God will redeem his people. In this sense the role he plays reveals and foreshadows the nature and work of Christ. When we read of how Moses was placed among the reeds, found by Pharaoh’s daughter, given to his mother to nurse, and later adopted by the princess we are witnessing the “overruling of the powers opposed to his kingdom so that they cannot hurt the one chosen to mediate God’s plan of salvation.”
Moses is given a Hebrew and an Egyptian upbringing in preparation for his ministry. The next stage of his preparation will be in Midian, where he takes refuge after killing an Egyptian. However, the end of chapter 2 brings us back to Egypt. Verse 23-25:
During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.
Of course, this does not mean that God ever forgot the covenant, “but rather that he is about to act on the basis of these promises.” What we are about to witness in the book of Exodus is God’s covenant in action.
I AM WHO I AM (Chapters 3-6)
God begins the rescue operation by appearing to Moses in a burning bush at Horeb (another name for Sinai). He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (verse 6)—who in grace made his covenant with them. He is about to act upon that covenant by freeing his people from Egypt.
He commissions Moses: “So now, go, I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt” (verse 10).
But what if the Israelites do not believe Moses when he returns to Egypt and claims to be God’s chosen for this task? God reassures him on two grounds. Firstly, Moses will identify the God who has spoken to him as “I AM” and as the God of their fathers (3:14-16). Secondly, Moses is given some miraculous signs which he will be able to repeat to persuade the Israelites of his mission (4:1-9).
Let’s think about this divine name for a moment. “I AM WHO I AM.” This is what you are to say to the Israelites: “I AM has sent you” (verse 14). While this affirms his existence, much more it means his active presence. But with what sort of action does God affirm his active presence? Verses 16-20—he is the God, who delivers his people, who keeps his promises and who overthrows his enemies.
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The Bible gives the true diagnosis and solution for any gender-related sin and/or suffering: heart transformation through Christ’s forgiveness and resurrection power in His Spirit, which enables our minds and beliefs to be renewed by truth, our broken hearts and distress to be healed, our gender struggles to be brought under God’s care, and ultimately completely eradicated in the life to come. Christ alone bore our shame and sin in His body on the cross.

One of the ways we disciple kids so that in everything, God may be glorified through Jesus Christ (1 Pet. 4:10-12) is by speaking God’s truth about gender issues with clarity. Discipling your kids to have biblical words and concepts planted in their hearts and minds is a foundational way to equip them to think and discern wisely as they face personal struggles and false teaching.[1]
Two Types of Conversations to Have
As you seek to make deposits in your kids’ hearts and minds slowly yet steadily, there are two conversational pathways to keep in mind.
First, pray about being ready to engage in “As You Go” talks about gender. Just like it sounds, these conversations can spring up in the normal flow of daily life. Basically, take notice of what you (and they) see and hear online, what is happening with their friends, gender-neutral clothes, words and phrases they hear like genderqueer, non-binary, etc.
These brief, in-the-moment interactions are a way to follow the exhortation of God’s Word, “You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise” (Deut. 11:18-19).
The other category is “Intentional Topical Conversations.” These age-appropriate conversations are planned, brief, and focused on specific gender-related issues—not a deep dive into the entirety of what it means to be male and female image bearers, the differences between men and women, or all the nuances of transgenderism.
The following five ideas provide an outline for you to study personally and then work through steadily over time with your child. Remember, there is a battle raging, and you are girding them with God’s truth so that they can, “in all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which [they] can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one” (Eph. 6:16).
Five Key Biblical Topics about Gender
1. God created the world and us; we are either male or female by His design.
In Genesis 1:26-27, we learn that He created us, and we are born either of two possible genders: male or female. God’s creation of us gives us an unchangeable identity, value, and purpose.
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The greatest act of love ever displayed in all of human history is found in Jesus Christ. If you are looking for the proof of God’s love for sinners, even for you, then look to Christ. As those who have received Christ’s love, may we crown him with many crowns and devote our lives to living out his command, “Love one another as I have loved you.”

On the night before his crucifixion, Jesus gave a parting command to his disciples, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” But love is not an abstract, sentimental idea. Jesus makes it clear that love is shown most powerfully in the act of self-sacrifice, even to the point of death. “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” But Jesus wasn’t only talking about what we must do. He was also pointing to his death for us, the greatest of all acts of love.
Preaching on this text in 1873, Spurgeon gives seven reasons for why Christ’s laying down his life was infinitely greater and more glorious than any act of sacrifice that has ever been performed. For each one of these, Spurgeon calls for crowns of glory and worship to be placed upon Christ’s head.
Crown #1: Jesus was immortal and never needed to die
Christ’s death was utterly unique because it was an entirely voluntary act of love.
When a man lays down his life for his friend, he does not lay down what he could keep altogether; he could only have kept it for a while, even if he had lived as long as mortals can, till grey hairs are on their head, he must at last have yielded to the arrows of death. A substitutionary death for love’s sake in ordinary cases would be but a slightly premature payment of that debt of nature which must be paid by all. But such is not the case with Jesus. Jesus needed not die at all; there was no ground or reason why he should die apart from his laying down his life in the room and place and stead of his friends.
Crown #2: Jesus sacrificed himself knowing he had no chance of escape
Some people may volunteer to die for another and yet may still have hope that they will escape death. This was not the case for Jesus.
He knew that if he was to give a ransom for our souls he had no loophole for escape, he must surely die. Die he or his people must, there was no other alternative. If we were to escape from the pit through him, he must perish in the pit himself; there was no hope for him, there was no way by which the cup could pass from him. Men have risked their lives for their friends bravely; perhaps had they been certain that the risk would have ended in death they would have hesitated; Jesus was certain that our salvation involved death to him, the cup must be drained to the bottom, he must endure the mortal agony, and in all the sufferings of death extreme he must not be spared one jot or little; yet deliberately, for our sakes, he espoused death that he might espouse us.
Crown #3: Jesus’ sacrifice was motivated by pure, unmingled love
One person might die for another out of a sense of duty or gratitude or debt. But Jesus had no such motivation. His death was an act of pure love.
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