The text for this lesson is Exodus 5–10
Key Point
- Through a series of horrific plagues, God punished the Egyptians for their sinful treatment of God’s people and freed His people from bondage. Through His horrific suffering and death on the cross, Jesus takes the punishment for our sin and frees us from sin’s bondage.
- Law: On my own, I see no need for God in my life or in the world.
- Gospel: Christ suffered and died on the cross to free me from the bondage of sin, enabling me to see that He is the one I need most in this world.
Discussion Points
- In Deuteronomy 32:39, God says, “I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of My hand.” Why would God, the God of life, kill or wound? How may we compare this to a surgeon who must cut a patient’s flesh in order to bring healing?
- In Exodus 5, the battle begins! In 5:1–2, what did Moses and Aaron command Pharaoh to do, and how did Pharaoh respond? In 5:5–14, how did Pharaoh increase the burden on the Israelites? In 5:15–23, how did the Israelites respond to this?
- Exodus 6 has two main parts. In the first part, 6:1–13, how did God encourage Moses and urge him to continue his task? In the second part, 6:14–30, we read the genealogy of Moses and Aaron. Why is this important?
- How did God use the various plagues to defeat the Egyptian false gods? Why does God set His people apart from the plagues, beginning with the fourth plague (Exodus 8:22–23)?
- Exodus 9:12 gives this very startling conclusion to the sixth plague, the plague of boils: “But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not listen to them.” Why would the all-merciful Lord God harden Pharaoh’s heart so that he would not listen to Moses and Aaron? To answer this question, think about the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart through the first nine plagues (Exodus 5:1–2; 7:13–14, 22; 8:15, 19, 32; 9:7, 12, 34–35; 10:1, 20, 27).
- When God separated His people from the plagues, He literally “set a ransom/redemption” between His people and the Egyptians. What “ransom/redemption” does God set between us and our foes of sin and death? See Mark 10:45; 1 Timothy 2:5–6; and Ephesians 1:7. See also Psalm 103:10–12.
