Multiply: Disciples Making Disciples by Francis Chan & Mark Beuving

Author:Francis Chan & Mark Beuving
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Religion, Discipleship, Multiply is not just a book. It is a movement. Each of the twenty-four sessions in the book corresponds with an online video at www.multiplymovement.com featuring Francis Chan with New York Times bestselling author David Platt. Every copy of Multiply is designed to do what Jesus did: make disciples who make disciples who make disciples…. Until the world knows the truth of Jesus Christ., Christian Ministry
ISBN: 9781434705860
Publisher: David C Cook
Published: 2012-10-31T22:00:00+00:00

Part IV: Understanding the Old Testament

4: Exodus and Redemption

As we turn the last pages of Genesis, we see God working toward the

fulfillment of His promises to Abraham. God’s people had grown

significantly, which was perfectly in line with His promise that

Abraham’s descendants would be “as numerous as the stars in the

sky.” But as soon as we start reading in the book of Exodus, it looks

like something has gone wrong. Exodus begins with a significant

problem: God’s people are slaves in a foreign land.

Israel’s Captivity

Understand that the first two chapters of Exodus cover four hundred

years. We can quickly read over descriptions of the Israelites1 making

1 The “Israelites” are the descendants of Abraham. They are named after

Jacob (Abraham’s grandson), whose name God changed to “Israel.”

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Multiply

Pharaoh’s2 bricks and building Pharaoh’s cities, yet overlook the fact

that this had been going on for a long time! These short stories sum-

marize a huge amount of suffering. Understandably, the Israelites

seem to have given up hope by this point—after all, they were forced

to continue in backbreaking labor day after day, generation after

generation, without any indication that it would end.

This raises an important question: Was God really keeping His

promises to Abraham if his descendants were slaves in Egypt? The

answer is yes. In fact, God specifically told Abraham that this would

happen:

The LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that

your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is

not theirs and will be servants there, and they will

be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring

judgment on the nation that they serve, and after-

ward they shall come out with great possessions.”

(Gen. 15:13–14)

God’s promises to Abraham were exactly on track, and as the

book of Exodus opens, the scene is being set for the greatest act of

redemption that the world has seen to this point. Here we find God’s

people in an impossible situation without any hope of relief. If God

is going to keep His promises to Abraham, then He will have to

accomplish something spectacular. As it turns out, God’s display of

power in Israel’s exodus is frequently mentioned in the rest of the

2 “Pharaoh” was the title of the ruler of Egypt.

4: Exodus and Redemption 175

Bible as clear evidence of God’s commitment to His people and His

power to redeem.

Moses’s Encounter with I AM

Adding to the agony of slavery, Pharaoh commanded that all male

Hebrew babies were to be drowned in the Nile River. It is at this

seemingly hopeless time that we meet Moses. By his mother’s cun-

ning and God’s provision, Moses survived this slaughter. At this

vulnerable moment at the beginning of his life, no one could have

predicted how greatly God would use Moses.

After Moses’s mother saved him by floating him down the Nile

in a basket, Pharaoh’s daughter discovered, raised, and educated him.

Though trained in the house of Pharaoh, it seems that Moses deeply

understood his connection to the nation of Israel. In fact, it was an

early attempt to fight for his people by murdering an Egyptian that

led Moses to flee to the wilderness.

During this period of exile, God was preparing to rescue His

people from slavery:

During those many

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