Now we will continue our journey through God’s history with the second book of the Bible: Exodus.

In the opening of Exodus, four hundred years have passed since the time of Joseph and Jacob. In that time, Abraham’s descendants have grown into a nation of about 2.5 million.

We will see that though Joseph and his family were well regarded by the Pharaoh of their time, four hundred years later, the current Pharaoh views Jacob’s descendants as a threat and he has made them his slaves. He puts them to harsh labour and the people are suffering.

The descendants of Jacob, now called Hebrews or the Israelites, are wondering if God has forgotten them. But He has not. Rather, He has been waiting for the right moment to move His plan forward. And now that right circumstances are in place, God makes His move. He calls one Hebrew into service—Moses.

Initially saved from an order to be killed, Moses ends up being brought up by Pharaoh’s daughter. Then in a dramatic series of events, Moses is directed by God to become the leader of Israel, to lead them out of Egypt and into the land God had promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Moses begins as a reluctant leader and God has to work with him to become the leader God wants him to be.

We will see God use a series of judgment plagues to judge Pharaoh and the Egyptians. This series of supernatural judgments not only move His plan forward, but also teach Israel, Egypt and the surrounding nations that He is the one and only, true Creator-God of the universe.