Victory in Jesus | Exodus 23:20-33
Introduction
What do you believe about what is good, true, and beautiful? What’s your opinion on the upcoming primary elections? What’s your stance on the 2nd amendment? What about economics—is “Biden-omics” working? What about gender? What do you believe about identity? Or abortion—when would you say life begins?
Just to pose those questions to anyone, let alone a group this size, causes the temperature in the room to rise. Immediately, convictions and opinions are formed and defended, sides are determined, and battle commences. Such is our fracturious age.
I think it may be an understatement, but one that needs to be said, that we do live in a fractured society. It seems like there are ever-appearing and ever-widening fault lines that divide our country, our cities, our families, even our churches. One could spend many hours seeking to find the various sources and reasons for these fault lines, but suffice it to say that there seems to be no end to the “DIVERSITY” of opinions all around us.
From COVID to sexuality to politics to theology—to you-name-it—I think we have to agree to some extent with the pluralist’s observation: there is an endless plurality of beliefs and opinions about what is good, true, and beautiful. However, we don’t need to agree with their conclusion: that truth, goodness, and beauty are completely subjective and up to each individual to decide for themselves.
In his book 2005 Soul-Searching, sociologist Christian Smith published his findings from a study he performed seeking to identify the de facto religion of American teenagers. What do American teenagers believe about God, truth, goodness, and beauty? In his findings, he concluded that by default, American teenagers hold not to some traditional confessional religion or denomination, but to what he named Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.
This unexamined but consistent religion consists of doctrines such as:
"A god exists who created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth."
"God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions." (hence, moralistic)
"The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself." (hence, therapeutic)
"God does not need to be particularly involved in one's life except when God is needed to resolve a problem." (hence, deism)
"Good people go to heaven when they die."
That study is almost 20 years old—can you imagine what the results would be today? Do you think the past 20 years have resulted in more unity around orthodox Christian doctrine, or have beliefs only multiplied? I would argue the latter.
So what are we to do? What hope is there for us? Are we to be left in the fog of pluralism—is there any revelation from above? And what about my sin? Is there anyone who will save me from the bondage and terror of my own soul? Is there anyone who will address me directly—to tell me that he is there, that he promises to lead me and go with me in all of life, and to secure my soul?
In Exodus 23:20–33, we have an answer to these questions. The Lord God, the maker of heaven and of earth, has spoken. Not only has he spoken to the Israeilites and Moses at Mt. Sinai, but he speaks to us now through his precious, necessary, sufficient, clear, and authoritative word.
Exodus 23:20–33 serves as an epilogue to the Book of the Covenant Ryan so faithfully preached last week. If Exodus 20–23 answered the question, “how are the people of God to operate as a people”, this section answers the question, “where are they going”, “how will they get there”, and “how will the people of God relate to the nations around them.”
The tone of this section is noticeably different from the laws in the previous section. Here, God gets personal—through the frequent use of the singular pronouns “I” and “you” throughout. And it is in this personal relationship that Moses makes clear is the distinguishing feature of this people.
Do you ever feel far from the Lord? Does he ever feel distant? Does it ever feel like he is so far off that he has completely lost touch of the trials and suffering you’re going through? Remember, the book of Exodus was written to the second generation of Isrealites wandering the desert. And as they wander in the desert, likely asking the same questions about feeling abandoned and forgotten by God, Moses gives them this history to remind them of who God is and what he has promised and what our response should be.
So my aim this morning is to persuade you of this: The Lord is near to bless his people and demands our unwavering allegiance.
As we walk through this inspired text this morning, we will encounter 3 comforting realities to being the people of God: 1) the nearness of the Lord, 2) the promises of the Lord, 3) the victory of the Lord.
The Nearness of the Lord
The opening words of this section confront us with a startling and confusing statement. We are introduced to this mysterious character—an angel. Later, in v. 23, the Lord calls this angel “my angel”. In fact, we are being reintroduced to this character who has been in the background throughout all of the book of Exodus—often called the angel of the Lord.
17 times in the book of Genesis, 6 times in Exodus, and a total of 39 times in the Pentateuch, this angel is mentioned by Moses. Now, when we hear the word “angel”, I’m sure countless images spring to mind. Winged beings, humanoid and dressed in white robes, maybe with trumpets or harps or something, flying around in the unseen world. And there’s some biblical data informing the images that we have seen popularized in movies or shows or paintings. But the english word “angel” is derived from the greek word αγγελος, which is the greek version of the hebrew word ma’lak (used here)—and both the hebrew and greek word simply mean “messenger”, “envoy”, or “one who is sent”.
The term used to describe this being is in its function—angels are messengers who carry the message of God to the intended recipients: whether prophets, priests, kings, or even teenage girls about to bear the son of God—angels carry the message of God.
And we read here in Exodus 23 about God promising to send his angel (hear “messenger”)—but it becomes confusing pretty quickly about who this being is. Naturally, angels are seen and understood to be distinct from God—they come bearing the messenger of God. As in the phrase “don’t shoot the messenger!”, we mean to communicate that the messenger is separate from the message and the message-sender. But Moses describes this angel, this messenger as the angel of the Lord (i.e. “my angel”). This angel seems to be functioning almost as the very presence of God himself. This being we have seen before. Back in Exodus 3, Moses describes the burning bush experience this way…
Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
—Exodus 3:1–6
Who appeared to Moses on the mountain of God in the burning bush? The angel of the LORD. Who was it that saw Moses drawing near and called to him? The LORD. Who did this voice identify himself as? The God of Moses’ fathers. And who was it Moses sought to hide his face from? God himself.
Back up in Exodus 23:20–21, the Lord promises to send his angel before the people, but the main role of this angel isn’t to bear a message—to communicate with the people—but rather to lead, guard, protect, to be obeyed, able to forgive sins, and—most pointedly—bears the very name of the Lord. Just like in Exodus 3, this “angel” bears a lot of the characteristics of God himself. So who is this being? Commentators throughout the ages have debated endlessly on whether or not this is just your standard, run of the mill angelic being, or a higher angelic being, or maybe in some form of the pre-incarnate Christ…those debates, while interesting, can run the temptation of missing the point.
Moses’ point: God has promised that wherever his people go, he goes too. The nearness of God and his divine presence to bless is pervasive throughout the book of Exodus.
Just after giving the 10 commandments to the people, God makes this incredible promise in Exodus 20:24:
In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you.
—Exodus 20:24
When God first appeared to Moses and commanded him to go and speak to Pharaoh, he did not comfort or assure Moses with the signs and the plagues (Exodus 3:11–12).
“Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”
—Exodus 3:11–12
It is the nearness of God, presence of God that God himself gives to comfort Moses and assure him that when God goes before you, the outcome is certain. And this was the goal of the entire exodus. Freeing Israel was just one part of the exodus—bringing them to himself was always the goal.
You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.
—Exodus 19:4
Remember the context of this passage: the Israelites have been brought out of Egypt, crossed the Red Sea, went through some wilderness grumblings, and have arrived at the mountain of the Lord, where God spoke directly to them from the mountain in the 10 commandments. In chapter 20–23, the Lord (through Moses) gives the people a functioning case law, showing the moral principles of the 10 commandments applied in everyday life. And that law is an expression of the very character of God. His character, his presence, expressed to his people in everyday life.
And now, the Lord is promising that he will not leave them. They are not yet in the Promised Land, but as they go, he goes with them. What a comforting thought that would be for these weary, terrified, displaced people. And even better news is that our Lord Jesus made a similar promise to you in John 14.
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”
—John 14:15–18
So God’s blessed presence will not remain on the mountain, but will go with his people. Just like Christ could not remain on earth, but it was in fact better for us that he went so that we would receive his Spirit. What an unspeakable comfort it is that our God is not distant, he is not far off—he is not the detached, disengaged, impersonal god of Moralistic Therapeutic Deism—but is near.
But there’s an inescapable reality of being in the presence of a holy God—it is dangerous. Like the Israelites at the foot of the mountain, terrified of the fire and cloud, so are all who come near such a holy God.
It’s certainly safer to picture God as more of a butler in the sky—far away unless I want or need him. But that is not the God we serve. Our God is near and it is his very nearness to us that makes us and distinguishes us as the very people of God. This is not just any gathering—but this morning we experience the gathering of the people of God, and where the people of God are, there is God’s word. And where God’s word is—God is. And he has made incredible promises to us.
The Promises of the Lord
Serving as the epilogue to the Book of the Covenant means that we see covenantal language throughout. And in any covenant between God and man there are promises and obligations, blessings and curses. The Lord has promised that he will go before the people—but he expects and requires the people to do 2 things: trust and obey.
Every covenant—including the new covenant made in Christ—requires trust that God will do all that he says he will do and obedience to all that he commands. Now, one would be tempted, especially here in the OT, to understand this as purely transactional—like an employee and employer. Do this and you will receive this. If you obey, then I will love you and fight for you. But that would be misunderstanding the point entirely. This is not that type of relationship. We do not obey God in order to put him in our debt. None of the promises of God are wages to be paid to those whom he owes. We can never and could never put God in our debt.
Rather, the covenantal promises are like a loving father promising to catch his son as he’s about to jump into a pool. The boy is nervous, likely scared, unsure—and the father, whom he loves and trusts and has who has caught him every single time before—puts out his hands, once again promising to catch him when he jumps. That is how we are to read all of the promises and obligations in the Bible—being by remembering what God has done for you in the past:
For the Israelites here in Exodus 23, they have seen the wonders of God on display in overpowering Pharaoh in the plagues, culminating in the provision of atonement for the passover lamb and protection from the angel of death, and the miraculously delivery from Pharaoh’s army by the crossing of the Red Sea, and his miraculous provision of their basic needs of food and water and shelter in their wilderness wanderings on the way to Mt. Sinai, and now the gracious giving of the law and how to live.
For you, remember all that God has done for you in the person and work of Christ Jesus. In Christ you have had all your sins paid for, you have been set free from the bondage of sin, you have been reconciled to the Father, with whom you now have peace because of the cross of Christ. Your sins have been cast away and you now experience forgiveness and newness of life.
And because of all that he has done in the past (like a father having caught his son every time), we can trust that he will do what he says in the future. And look what is promised to the Isrealites here in Exodus 23:
He will guard and lead the people from Mt. Sinai to the land he promised 400 years earlier to their father Abraham (v. 20).
He will fight for them as the enemy of their enemies, and will blot them out (v. 22–23).
He will bless their bread and their water (v. 25).
There will be no sickness—none can miscarry or be barren in this land where the Lord is dwelling with his people (v. 26).
He will send his terror, and hornets, and confusion against the Canaanites (v. 27).
He will not clear out the land for them in one big push, but will do it incrementally in order to allow the people to grow into the land (v. 30). What kindness and wisdom from God!
He will make their borders secure and stretch from the very Red Sea they just crossed to the Great Euphrates (v. 31).
It’s reminiscent of Eden! A beautiful, fruitful, abundant place where God dwells with and cares for his people.
All of these promises the Lord makes to his people simply on the condition that they trust and obey him. Do they trust that he will do these things? Or will they rely on their own strength to accomplish this? Will they trust that his ways are best—that the law that he had prescribed to them in the Book of the Covenant was not restrictive or archaic, but actually for their good and flourishing in the land that he promises to give them. Will they trust and obey?
As members of the new covenant, we are presented with the same question: will we trust and obey? In Christ, God has not dealt with us as our sins deserve—like the Amorites and the Hittites and Jebusites. He has not blotted us out. But rather what has he blotted out? Our sin. He has removed it as far as the east is from the west and remembers it no more. After the glorious reality of the salvation secured for us in Christ Jesus, we have now received the incredible gift of the Spirit. If the Israelites thought God on the mountain or in the tent in their midst was terrifying, imagine their shock to learn that we have received the very Spirit of God who dwells within us. And now the Lord makes incredible promises to you:
He promises to strengthen you, to supply for you in every need, to illuminate the word to you so that the message of the cross is not foolishness but the very power of God—he promises to hear and answer your prayers, to work all things for your good, to forgive your sins so that you may never be separated from the Father’s love, and he promises to bring you to himself in the fullest sense—to raise you from the dead, make a new glorious, resurrection body to dwell with him forever.
Do you believe that? Do you trust that? Do you trust that in such a way that you will obey him? We don’t trust and obey God in order to belong to him. No. Because we belong to God, we trust and obey him. That is the biblical logic—that is gospel logic. As the Heidelberg Catechism says so beautifully:
Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.
—Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 1
Because of what God has done in the past, we can trust him in the future, and live according to his ways to flourish in this life. And ultimately, what is it that God promises to the Israelites and ultimately to you? Victory.
The Victory of the Lord
Recall the promise made to Abraham which serves as a backdrop to the events in Exodus. The Lord promised to make Abraham the father of many, many descendents—to multiply them greatly—and to bring them to the land he had promised to them.
And at the beginning of Exodus, we see that the descendents of Abraham are in fact numerous, but they are in the wrong land. But, as we have said and seen, God keeps his promises—so Exodus so far has been the story of God fulfilling that promise to Abraham by getting them out of Egypt and on the road to the Promised Land. But the land they are headed to is not empty, but filled with people who are in rebellion to God. And the Lord will act to fulfill his promise to Abraham and to bring judgment on the people who reject him.
You shall make no covenant with them and their gods. They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me; for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.
—Exodus 23:33
The Lord understands the temptations of our world. He knows that if allowed to coexist, the Israelites will be led away from God and serve the pagan Canaanite gods. So in order to protect the Israelites, he commits to defeating their enemies. It is God who fights for his people. This is a progression from Exodus 15–17, where God simply protected the people on the way in the wilderness. Now, God will fight for them to secure the land he promised their forefathers.
But a reason for his fighting and the result of his fighting are the same: the Lord requires from his people unwavering allegiance. This God is a jealous God, as he said in the 2nd commandment. He will have no other rival. You can only serve one god, and YAHWEH, the Lord demands exclusivity.
We are tempted day after day to turn our eyes away from the sovereign Lord and to any and all idols. Like the Moralistic Therapeutic Deists describe at the beginning—A god created the world. Could be any God—the God of the Bible, Allah, Marduk, Baal…they’re all the same anyway. This can not be. The Bible won’t allow us to make such relative and pluralistic claims, for the Bible makes exclusive claims.
If Caesar is Lord, worship him. If Pharaoh is Lord, worship him. But if God is Lord, he is worthy to be praised alone. And which God has won the day? The Israelites heard Moses sing in full voice after the Red Sea crossing:
I will sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea!
—Exodus 15:1
His is the victory! The Lord has conquered in the past, and he is declaring to his people, “I will continue to conquer according to my promises and for your good—so trust me! Obey me!”
And now, you and I bear witness to an even greater victory. Caesar is not Lord. The Federal Government is not Lord. Your boss is not the Lord. I am not the Lord. There is only one who has conquered fully. There is only one who has defeated the greatest enemy of all—sin and death. There is only one who brings the presence of God so close to us that he dwells within us. There is only one who secures such breathtaking promises that are yes and amen now for us because of his victory—so, Christians, our cry is now and forever this: CHRIST IS LORD!
Christ Jesus has redeemed you from the pit. He has defeated our enemy, paid for your sin, reconciled us to the Father—how could we not now trust him who works all things for our good? Turn to him. Trust in him. Rest in him and his victory, rely on him, put your faith in him that he will bring you home to Promised Land, and you will find that he is and always will be faithful to all of his promises.