The “Exodus.”

If their was the first Exodus, then when was the second Exodus? At just the right time, God sent his Son into the world…. It began with the birth of Christ and was completed in and through Christ’s work on the cross and resurrection from the dead. We see the “exodus” nature of Christ’s ministry on earth most profoundly on the cross. It is through Christ work on the cross that he led the people of God out of slavery to sin and the power of death. One indicator of the exodus nature of Jesus’ ministry can be seen at the transfiguration when Jesus was talking with Moses and Elijah they were discussing his soon coming which was to be completed in Jerusalem (cf. Luke 9:31). We can also bring in the fact that Joseph had to take Mary and Jesus into Egypt for a time and bring him out again (Matt 2:13-14; 19-23) as help to establish the exodus nature of Jesus’ ministry.

There are also several passages in Isaiah that foretell of the coming deliverance the Messiah would bring (see esp the prophecies of the Servant of the Lord beginning at Isa 42 running through at least Isa 53).

What is the nature of the second exodus? Whereas the first Exodus was a physical deliverance of the people of Israel from slavery to the Egyptians, the second Exodus was a spiritual deliverance of the people of God from slavery to sin and the power of death. Through the cross and resurrection every believer has been set free from slavery to sin because “It was for freedom the Christ has set us free” (Gal 5:1) (see also Romans 6). In completing the second Exodus, Jesus Christ was able to complete the work Moses was unable to do: bring God’s people into true and lasting freedom. Thus our promised land is one of true and lasting freedom from sin and hence the ability to truly live as God has called us to live. There are tremendous implications to this idea of the second Exodus. With this spiritual freedom we can now live out more fully his purposes for our lives as the people of God and in extending the Kingdom of God.

The question remains will we follow Jesus into the new promised land of freedom that he has guaranteed us or will we hold back and grumble like the Israelites did to Moses and thus extend the fulfillment of God’s intents and purpose for our lives and delay accomplishing his mission in the world?

Well, it is a motif. I’ll have to go back through it to give it better support from the Bible itself. I was mainly getting the idea of how I see it posted. Some see the second Exodus as God bringing the Jews back to Israel from out exile citing Isa 40 and its exodus and shepherding (v11) and wilderness imagery. Guys like John Haggee think the second exodus relates to God bringing the people of Israel out of the nations and back to Israel (citing similar verses in Isaiah, esp 56: 6-11). I see these points but I think it is more on spiritual terms than on physical ones.

But I think with verses like John 6:36 where Jesus is the true bread come down from Heaven, as compared to Moses, Luke 4:18-19 where Jesus comes to bring healing and freedom, Mark 6:34 where Jesus has compassion on the people as sheep without a shepherd, hint at Exodus language and a leading through the wilderness imagery that Jesus came to bring true and lasting freedom to Israel. Freedom of a spiritual kind.

His role as the suffering lamb reflects this as well since the paschal lamb protected the people from their own sins as God brought judgment on Egypt – Jesus protects us from our own sins from the coming wrath of God against, evil, wickedness and injustice in the world, etc. And I think Luke use of exodus in his account of the transfiguration since that it reflects the exodus as Jesus’s role as the paschal lamb on the cross.

Perhaps this motif can even be reflected in the final part of Luke (24:50) where Jesus “led the people out..”}He came to set us free from our captivity to sin and the power of death.