Exodus is an excellent book to learn about the doctrine of sin and salvation. This doctrine, also known as Soteriology, is a great and needful subject of our faith. It teaches us things we need to know about our redemption. In the plagues against Pharaoh, God was essentially judging sin. In calling His people out and made them His set apart people, God was giving a lesson on the doctrine of election. In the sacrifice of the unblemished lamb, we are given a lesson on the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. In the whole act of the Passover, we see the New Testament word “propitiation” being enacted. The sacrificial lamb was offered in our place to atone for our sin, to turn away the anger of God, and to appease the wrath of God. One more thing taught in this whole Passover is “the communion of saints.” This is a phrase taken out of the Apostle’s Creed that says, “I believe in the communion of saints.” God was addressing the need for a communal faith when He instructed that only those within the community and those who were circumcised could partake of the Passover meal. This is one truth we need to embrace that our faith is honed better in the church, the community of God’s people. God did not call us to be hermits, but He called us into a fellowship with like-minded believers. So, the book of Exodus models for us the whole doctrine of salvation and redemption.
In Exodus 13:1-2, we learn of the importance of being God’s people. We are told that every firstborn must be dedicated to God. The firstborn deals with the center and future of the family. To avoid the notion that God plays favorite we need to know that the firstborn actually represent the whole family. Just like when God said, Israel is my firstborn, it means he represents the whole nation. For that matter, every Christian is a firstborn to the Lord. No one can claim to have a relationship with God without being born again. None can rely on the faith of his or her parents or leaders to claim a relationship with the Lord. Neither can a wife rely on the faith of her husband or vice-versa! Everyone must have a born-again experience with God. Hence, every born-again person must dedicate his or her life to the LORD individually and personally. Remember God has no grandson or grand-daughter. Every one of us must live a consecrated life.
In Exodus 13:3-10, we see specific instruction on the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It speaks of the need for the removal of sin from influencing our lives. We know that though the children of Israel were delivered from Egypt, much of Egypt was still in them. God had to take them through the wilderness to deal with the nature that was inherited while they were in slavery. This is the process of sanctification. The Feast of Unleavened bread following the Passover was to be an annual commemoration. God wanted them to conduct this yearly feast even when they had entered the promised land. He knew that in the promised land, they would be susceptible to the ungodly influence of the people there as well. The pagans living there with their ungodly habits were “…the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite….”. God knew how pervasive the ungodly influence could be. So, this annual feast would be a timely reminder to them that God had made them His special people and they must stay set apart for Him. It is the picture of the need for sanctification after our conversion.
In summary, we see that salvation is a process. It begins with faith and conversion before we are initiated into the process of sanctification. The ultimate destination is glorification where we will be delivered from the presence of sin. And that can only happen when we are in heaven. Know this as we journey with God that heaven is not our goal, it’s only our final destination. Christlikeness is our goal. We must strive to become more and more like Him. That's what happens when we live a dedicated life that is consecrated to God.
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