Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

I’m Jemima L. Yeggs, a.k.a. Stinker.  Pink Lady Apple Yeggs, my landlady and my auntie, wants to read about how younger people, especially couples respond to what the Bible says.  And she wants to know how God is at work at Lily the Pink.

B.B. and I were in our “green room.”

B.B. said, “Can I simply make an exodus?”

I mused, “B.B., why ask such a silly question, and an exodus from what?”

“Don’t you get it, Stinker?  Mary wants to leave.  But leave what?  Do you have another boyfriend?” came a familiar voice from the center stall.

B.B. growled, “Arabella, if you don’t do your business quickly and leave, just keep your mouth shut.”

Arabella groaned, ”You know me, B.B.  I can’t quit talking.  I’ve tried. Sarah says I talk in my sleep.  And the only time I have done my business with people in the restroom was last week when you two talked dirty.  Do it again, and I can be done and then leave.”

B.B. said, “We just said we would open the door and watch you do your business.  From what I remember, we were sick, not dirty.”

I nodded, “I have it.  Fireball, look around you.  See those chrome hinges on the door and those bits of framing and the wainscot at the bottom of the wall sections.  All that chrome is like a hundred mirrors.  We’ve been watching you for months now, Arabella.”

Belle shrieked, but then we heard the appropriate noises. The door flew open and she washed her hands.  She then turned to face us, arms akimbo, “Stinker, that worked, but it was uncalled for.  I’m going to get to school tomorrow and see a thousand eyes looking at me.  You are definitely not Aunt Jemima today.  You are Stinker all the way!”

B.B. snickered, “Does she always rhyme when she gets this angry?”

I shrugged, “I have no idea.”

Arabella just stamped her foot and ran out of the room.

B.B. scratched her head, “She asked all kinds of questions and then didn’t stick around for the answers.”

I asked, “What questions?  I already forgot what we were talking about.”

B.B. replied.  “I mentioned that I feel like I could use an exodus, but I am in too deep.  I have to work my way through it.  I am a Christian of about two years.  I am married to an ordained pastor.  And we are about to have a baby in four months, give or take.  Have you ever awakened and thought, ‘How did all this happen?’”

I groaned, “Come on, girlfriend.  The lesson today is on the exodus from slavery into a promised land.  Second guessing God is why it took so long.”

B.B. smiled.  “Yeah, I know.  I had my eyes open the entire time, except for some of the praying.  I thought every decision was a great one at the time, but now the reality is taking hold.”

I moaned, “Beebs, just grab onto one positive thing.  Don’t let go.”

B.B. smiled, “I love Joseph’s bottom.  If I stood next to Joseph when he gives his first sermon, and my hand is full of his gluteus maximus, do you think the church members will be okay with that?”

I shook my head, “You know, girlfriend, I am teaching weather classes at Moon Maid Middle School tomorrow.  I might have Sarah and Clay in the class, and I am going to be picturing Joseph as he paces back and forth, and there you are pacing with him, one hand firmly attached to his buttocks.  Now I know how Arabella feels about mental images, but I would still rather be haunted by you following Joseph around than to think of hundreds of eyes looking at you from the all the chrome fixtures in the restroom.”

B.B. snickered, “Stinker, I think I need to try out this buttocks thing.  Maybe I can hold yours for a while to see if it calms me down.  Just for the next hour.  I wouldn’t hold your butt all the way to church.”

I squealed, “Don’t you even think it!”  She opened the door, and we went to the den, laughing.

Joseph led us in prayer.

Emmett had all the band members and singers.  They sang and played Exodus, the theme music for the movie.

I asked, “Emmett, do you realize that the book in the Bible and the movie were two different things?  Sure, the Israelites escape slavery in Egypt, and they go toward the Promised Land, but their lack of faith kept an entire generation, except two people, out of the Promised Land.  We do not get to the promise of the land until the book of Joshua.”

Emmett smiled, “Yes, Aunt Jemima, but my parents still have this silly goal for me to stay on the honor role, but it has the line about God giving us the strength.  I doubt if you would hear that in a movie done by Hollywood these days.”

Samuel asked, “And where will we find Jesus today, Aunt Jemima?”

I nodded, “All around us, Samuel.  But for the class, we are looking at the book of Exodus.  And we will bring up another concept, foreshadowing.  It is not a prophecy as much as events happen that we can look back upon to say that was just like Jesus.  But let’s start with a quote.”

Rosie (Exodus 1:8) “Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.”

Rosie said, ”I want to make an announcement.  Johnny Jacks and I came by Mommie Pinkie’s office this past week.  Once Johnny Jacks understood my point of view, he was remorseful, showering me with attention and gifts, and the best of the gifts came last night.”  She showed everyone her modest engagement ring.  “It was his maternal grandmother’s.  But this verse is where a new king rises up in Egypt.  The help that Joseph was to the nation is forgotten.  I guess it’s like it is now.  What have you done for me lately?  So, Pharoah made the Israelites slaves.”

Tammie (Acts 7:18) “Then ‘a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.’”

Tammie said, “This is the same exact words, but it is from Stephen’s speech to the Sanhedrin.  It isn’t Jesus quoting, but Stephen is using this story as part of his testimony that Jesus was the One to whom the Scriptures pointed.  And saying Scriptures, it is what we call the Old Testament.”

I said, “Thank you, Tammie, for the connection to Jesus there.  Since that is the focus of this series of lessons, the quotes that Jesus makes are obvious, but we should try to connect the New Testament quotes from other people to some aspect of Jesus.  This was a direct connection as part of Stephen’s testimony, which basically starts out as a history lesson.  Stephen goes on to quote Exodus 2 and 3.  But while we are on Exodus 3, let’s look at more than Stephen’s quote.”

Sally Mae (Exodus 3:2-7) “There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”
When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
And Moses said, “Here I am.”
“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering.”

Sally Mae smiled, “This sure sounds like a Christophany, but Moses only sees a burning bush.”

I asked, “Yes, this is not in human form, but it is a miraculous sight, in that the bush is not consumed.  But what makes you think it is a Christophany, or a Theophany, meaning God appearing?”

Sally Mae nodded, “It says the Angel of the Lord, but then it says Lord, like when Abraham argued with God about how many righteous people could save Sodom.  Then it says ‘God’ said to take off his sandals because he was on holy ground.  That has an element of worship.  Can an angel declare something to be holy ground?”

I smiled, “That is kind of a slippery slope.  If we say that only God can declare something holy ground, then an angel could announce that you are on holy ground, since an angel is a messenger.  But God’s presence makes something holy ground.  The holy of holies was considered holy ground because God’s presence was assured on the Ark of the Covenant.  But let’s relate these verses to a quote”

Irusya (Mark 12:26) “Now about the dead rising—have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the account of the burning bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?”

Irusya said, “This is Jesus speaking.  He says that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are alive.  God is the God of the living and not the dead.  And Jesus uses the story of the burning bush to make that point.”

Elroy (Exodus 12:17-20) “’Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. In the first month you are to eat bread made without yeast, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day. For seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses. And anyone, whether foreigner or native-born, who eats anything with yeast in it must be cut off from the community of Israel. Eat nothing made with yeast. Wherever you live, you must eat unleavened bread.’”

Elroy said, “You could really read the entire chapter of Exodus 12.  I guess this is one of those foreshadowing things.  Before the tenth plague, the Israelites had to sacrifice a lamb and use its blood around the door so that the angel of death would pass over their house and Exodus 12 is talking about how they were to perform this ceremony to remember how God had delivered them from slavery.  But it also shows how Jesus will make a sacrifice, during the Passover celebration, to be the Lamb that was Slain.  This does not prophesy Christ’s sacrifice directly, but it foreshadows what is to come.  Right?”

I nodded, “Very good.”

Hannah (Exodus 13:21-22- Luther Bible) “Und der HERR zog vor ihnen her, des Tages in einer Wolkensäule, daß er den rechten Weg führte, und des Nachts in einer Feuersäule, daß er ihnen leuchtete, zu reisen Tag und Nacht.
Die Wolkensäule wich nimmer von dem Volk des Tages noch die Feuersäule des Nachts.”

Hannah giggled, “and now in English.”

Hannah (Exodus 13:21-22) “By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.

Hannah said, “This is some kind of Theophany in that God protects them physically with a sign of His presence.  The pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire physically fight off Pharoah’s army at one point.  So, like the burning bush.  This points to God’s presence.”

Paddy (Exodus 16:4-5) “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days.’”

Paddy smiled, “In John 6, Jesus calls Himself the bread of life.  And the manna was the bread that kept the Israelites going for forty years.”

Cassie (Exodus 17:1-7) “The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. So they quarreled with Moses and said, ‘Give us water to drink.’
Moses replied, ‘Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test?’
But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, ‘Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?’
Then Moses cried out to the Lord, ‘What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.’
The Lord answered Moses, ‘Go out in front of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.’ So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying, ‘Is the Lord among us or not?’”

Cassie smiled, “In John 7:38, Jesus says that whoever believes in Him, living water will flow from them.”

I said, “There are a lot of things that we could mention, but this is a good sampling. But one foreshadowing that we must mention is the tabernacle. Exodus 24-40 all talk about the details of God’s dwelling place. Then Jesus, who is God, dwelled among us. Exodus 26 describes the Tabernacle itself. All of it is symbolic of Jesus Christ and the sacrifice that He would make for us. And in everything, the symbol is God among us, Immanuel.”

Grannie Fannie (Galatians 6:18) “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen.”

Lauren ran up to Grannie Fannie and hugged her.  “Are you ready to drive us?”

Brooke picked up Stormie as usual.  She talked to Stormie all the way.  Stormie laughed.

Credits

I start with a study guide by Marilyn Hickey called Seeing Jesus.  But she does not discuss Christophanies.  And I also did a search for prophecies and got a slightly different list.

Here is Pat Boone singing Exodus (the movie theme song).

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.