See God's New Thing! (Isaiah 43:16-21) Series

I'd like to start today by setting you up, so to speak, and reminding you about your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

God proved his love for the world, and his affection, and his faithfulness, by sending Jesus to earth. Jesus, as King, ushered in God's kingdom onto earth. Jesus came to free people from their captivity to sin, and satan, and sickness, and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor (Luke 4:18-19). He came to invite people to become part of God's kingdom. Sometimes, all of this is explained in a way that makes it sound like how Jesus lived doesn't really matter. Sometimes, the only thing focused on is the cross, and resurrection. But the good news about Jesus, is about the entirety of Jesus' mission-- his birth, his life, his death, his resurrection, and his ascension to God's right hand. When we think about God's great act of salvation, we think about Jesus. When someone asks us, "How good is God?," our immediate answer usually starts with the name Jesus.

Now, if you were an OT saint, your great act of salvation was the exodus from Egypt. God freed you from slavery to Egypt. He proved his power over Pharaoh-- and over the superpower of the day. He led you safely through the wilderness. He protected you from every enemy along the way. And He brought into the land He promised to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This land was to be the place where you and God would walk together in faithfulness, and loyalty. It was to be a sort of Garden of Eden, where all of you would live in peace and prosperity with each other, and with God. An OT saint thinks about the exodus like we think about Jesus. It was God's great saving event. And this event was to be remembered, and celebrated, through great festivals.

The Passover celebrates when the destroying angel passed over your doorway, and moved on to the next house, sparing your valuable firstborns.

The Festival of Tabernacles/Booths/Sukkot remembers and celebrates God's care for you during the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness (Leviticus 23:37-43).

And the Festival of the Weeks (Shavuot) celebrates not just the end of the barley harvest and the beginning of the wheat harvest, but also the giving of the laws to Moses at Mt. Sinai.

So if you were a faithful OT saint, life was to be lived in constant gratitude and thankfulness and remembrance of God's great act of salvation. And if you became forgetful because life was busy, and your attention wandered from God to God's gifts instead, the festivals would pull you back spiritually to a higher place of focus and praise. God built his saving acts into your calendar, so you wouldn't forget.

Now, we are not OT saints, and we maybe struggle to get into the exodus like we should. So let me read from Exodus 15 (NRSV updated no reason). This chapter is a song of praise, a celebration, of what God did for his people:

15 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD:

“I will sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously;

horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.

2 The LORD is my strength and my might,[a]

and he has become my salvation;

this is my God, and I will praise him;

my father’s God, and I will exalt him.

3 The LORD is a warrior;

the LORD is his name.

4 Pharaoh’s chariots and his army he cast into the sea;

his elite officers were sunk in the Red Sea.[b]

5 The floods covered them;

they went down into the depths like a stone.

6 Your right hand, O LORD, glorious in power—

your right hand, O LORD, shattered the enemy.

7 In the greatness of your majesty you overthrew your adversaries;

you sent out your fury; it consumed them like stubble.

8 At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up;

the floods stood up in a heap;

the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.

9 The enemy said, ‘I will pursue; I will overtake;

I will divide the spoil; my desire shall have its fill of them.

I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them.’

10 You blew with your wind; the sea covered them;

they sank like lead in the mighty waters.

11 Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods?

Who is like you, majestic in holiness,

awesome in splendor, doing wonders?

12 You stretched out your right hand;

the earth swallowed them.

13 In your steadfast love you led the people whom you redeemed;

you guided them by your strength to your holy abode.

14 The peoples heard; they trembled;

pangs seized the inhabitants of Philistia.