Their Example For Our Instruction

“Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction.” (1 Cor. 10:11)

July 28, 2010

We are just getting into a new sermon series on Sunday mornings entitled "To Live Is Christ." The past two weeks primarily have involved laying the foundation for the basis of our life in Christ.

In Part 1, we saw the Wisdom of God - planning His ultimate purpose for us, "before the foundation of the world" - that we would live with Him as His children in uninterrupted fellowship and eternal relationship.

In Part 2, we learned of the nature of Redemption. We discussed the two major Redemption Events in Scripture:

The Exodus Event in the Old Testament (Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt)
The Christ Event in the New Testament (the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ)

We discovered that much can be learned about the nature of our new covenant redemption in Christ, by studying the old covenant redemption of God's people in their:

Deliverance from bondage in Egypt and
Release into the freedom of their new relationship with God.

Twice in 1 Corinthians 10, God says that the events surrounding the Exodus "happened as examples for us." They were recorded as illustrations for our instruction (to teach, admonish, exhort, warn us) as we walk in the new covenant redemption God has made available to us in Christ. Moving forward in our study, we will be drawing many lessons and parallels between the Exodus Event and the Christ Event.

It may prove helpful for you to read the historical background of the Exodus Event for yourself, so you can be freshly familiar with the events already, before we unpack them on Sunday morning.

Here is a brief outline, for your personal reading and study, of the specific passages that we will be cross-referencing to help us understand better our new covenant relationship with God (N.B. the dates are very approximate):

Genesis 12:1-3 - (~2100 B.C.) God’s call upon Abram's (Abraham) life and the declaration of Divine destiny and blessing over him and his descendants.
Genesis 15:1-7, 12-16 - God's promise and prophecy to Abram predicting a future, temporary period of bondage and slavery for Abraham's descendants lasting 400 years.
Genesis 17:1-8 - God's promise to Abraham of the ultimate outcome: God's personal relationship with Abraham's descendants for all eternity.
Exodus 6:1-8 -(~1450 B.C.) God's declaration to Moses of the imminent redemption of His people, as He had promised to Abraham.
Exodus 19:1-6 -God's declaration to Israel, finally having left Egypt, of their new relationship with Him.

Our study will not take us into the specifics of the actual Exodus event, but if interest and time permit, you also may read: