Like the book of Acts is really volume two of Luke’s larger work of Luke-Acts, Exodus is also a volume two of the five-volume Pentateuch. It seamlessly picks up right where Genesis ends, with a coffin and a promise.

And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.” So Joseph died, being 110 years old. They embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt. (Genesis 50:24–26)

When the author of Hebrews was compiling his “hall of faith” in Hebrews 11, he had a lot of great stories he could have drawn from as evidence that Joseph walked by faith and not by sight, but he chose this one. “Don’t bury me here in Egypt. Bury my bones in the Promised Land when our God brings our people there. And He surely will.”

In the first two chapters of Exodus, we fast forward 400 years and see how the many promises and purposes and prophesies God made in Genesis are moving forward toward their fulfillment. The thing is, the people of Israel couldn’t see it yet. From their vantage point, God would have seemed silent as they suffered. But we have the advantage of seeing what God was up to all along and these things were “written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope (Romans 15:4).”

Kenny Clark will be preaching from Exodus 1:1-2:25 and Caleb Bilti will be leading our sung worship. We would love your prayer as we each prepare.

See you Sunday, Grace. Come hungry!

How Long, O Lord by Jordan Kauflin

How Long, O Lord, till you make things right?
How Long, O Lord, till our faith is sight?
How Long, O Lord, till your kingdom comes?
Lord Jesus, come