Out of Egypt

7/12/26

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Class Notes

What is the saddest book in the Bible?

Some might say Job. Others might say Ecclesiastes. Perhaps the obvious answer is Lamentations. But I would not choose any of those books. I think the saddest book in the Bible is the book of Hosea. Please open your Bibles to the book of Hosea.

Yes, Job is sad, but Job is sad because of what happened to Job. And Ecclesiastes is sad because of what happened to Solomon. And Lamentations is sad because of what happened to Jerusalem. But Hosea is sad because of what happened to God.

What happened to God, you ask? Well, God answers that question in Hosea, and more than that, God tells us how he felt about what happened to him. Yes, some will tell us that God does not experience emotions, but no one who has read Hosea could ever say that.

In Hosea, God shows what it felt like to be rejected and abandoned by the people he loved, rescued, healed, and cared for. And throughout most of Hosea, God shows us that by picturing his people as his wife - a wife who was rescued and loved by her husband, but who nevertheless was unfaithful to him.

And Hosea did not just teach that lesson - Hosea lived that lesson. In the opening verses of the book, God commands Hosea to marry “a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom.”

And Hosea obeys that command from God. He marries a prostitute, who then has three children - two of whom are named “Not Loved” and “Not Mine.”

As I said, Hosea is a very sad book. No book in the Bible shows us the emotions of God like Hosea does. God reveals his heart to us in Hosea. And what we see is love.

Hosea shows us the love of God. Even though the people had turned their backs on God, listen to what God says about them toward the end of the book:

Hosea 11:8 - How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender.

Hosea is a sad book, but Hosea is also a difficult book. And we can see that just from the strange names in that one verse.

Admah and Zeboiim were cities destroyed with Sodom and Gomorrah, and God does not want his people to end up like they did.

And who was Ephraim? Ephraim was, for the most part, Israel. Yes, Ephraim was just one of the northern tribes, but by the time of Hosea most of Israel had already been taken over by Assyria, and only Ephraim remained intact. And so much of Hosea is focused on just Ephraim, the one remaining tribe of Israel.

And so God asks, “How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel?” God did not want Ephraim to be carried off into bondage like the other northern tribes of Israel.

Let’s now ask another question. If Hosea is the saddest book, then what is the saddest part of the saddest book in the Bible?

Most of Hosea shows us the people of God as the faithless wife of God - but that is not the only image of God’s people that we find in Hosea. We also see the people of God pictured as the faithless child of God.

And I think that image of God’s people as a child gives us the saddest part of the saddest book in the Bible:

Hosea 11:1-3 - When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. The more they were called, the more they went away; they kept sacrificing to the Baals and burning offerings to idols. Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk; I took them up by their arms, but they did not know that I healed them.

That image there is heartbreaking. God is remembering when he taught Ephraim how to walk. God is remembering when he took Ephraim up by his arms - not by God’s arms but by Ephraim’s arms, as one would do when teaching a child how to walk.

And God is remembering healing that child - just like a parent might do with a toddler who, after learning to walk, has fallen down and skinned his knees.

Yes, Ephraim was rebellious, but that had not always been the case. Ephraim had once been a toddler holding out his arms so that he could be picked up by God.

And how does God describe Ephraim now? “The more they were called, the more they went away.” That may be the saddest line in the saddest part of the saddest book in the Bible! God kept calling for his child, but that child kept moving further and further away.

What we see in Hosea 11 is the heartbreak of a parent toward a child who, it seems, has been irretrievably lost. What we see is the heartbreak of a father about a relationship with his child that will seemingly never be the same again.

The author Thomas Lynch wrote a book in which he described the pain he felt while looking at his own son, passed out drunk on the couch after a string of arrests. Here is what he wrote about his son:

“I want to remember him the way he was, that bright and beaming boy with the blue eyes and the freckles in the photos, holding up the fish he caught on his grandfather’s dock, or dressed in his first suit for his sister’s grade-school graduation, or sucking his thumb while drawing at the kitchen counter, or playing his first guitar, or posing with his brothers on the first day of school.”

That is what he wanted to see, but that is not what he saw. It’s heartbreaking. And that is the same heartbreak that we see from God in Hosea 11. God is remembering Ephraim the toddler as he first learned to walk, but God is looking at a very different Ephraim now.

Look again at the first verse: “When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.”

What does that mean? What does it mean when God says, “I called my son out of Egypt?”

At one level, we know that Hosea is talking about the Jews. And, yes, Israel was God’s son. We see that here in Hosea 11, but we also see that at the time of the Exodus.

Exodus 4:22-23 - Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD, Israel is my firstborn son, and I say to you, “Let my son go that he may serve me.”

And so, at one level, we know that this son is Israel, the son whom God through Moses called out of Egypt. That was the first Exodus.

But at another level, we know that Hosea 11:1 is also talking about someone else - God also called Jesus out of Egypt. That event was a second Exodus out of Egypt.

And, finally, I think we will find someone else called out of Egypt - us! We are also called out of Egypt. That is the third Exodus out of Egypt.

Let’s look today at the first Exodus, the second Exodus, and the third Exodus.

First, Hosea 11:1 is about Israel - the first Exodus.

We know that the people of God lived in Egyptian bondage for 400 years. But that is not how it started.

Israel entered Egypt as guests. Egypt started out as a place of refuge. In Genesis 47:6, Pharaoh invited them to settle “in the best of the land.”

But, eventually “there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph” (Exodus 1:8). And what happened to the Jews after that leadership change? Their refuge quickly became a prison, and their food suddenly came with chains attached. And what did God do?

Exodus 2:24-25 - God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel — and God knew.

God heard - God remembered - God saw - God knew. And God delivered them from their terrible bondage.

But was Israel grateful for that deliverance? No. For the most part, they were not.

Israel forgot God and returned to Egypt. And that happened very quickly. Ezekiel 20:8 tells us that they never let go of their Egyptian idols.

And in 1 Kings 12:28, Jeroboam, the first king of the northern tribes, made two calves of gold, and said to the people: “Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”

Stephen in Acts 7:39 tells us how the people responded to God’s deliverance: they “refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt."

And that description by Stephen tells us something very important about Egypt. It tells us that Egypt is not just a place on the map. Egypt is also a place in the heart. We can travel to Egypt without ever leaving home.

And, in fact, that is what repeatedly happened to the Jews. They returned to Egypt in their hearts and rebelled against God, against the law of God, and against the prophets of God.

By Hosea’s day, that rebellion in the northern tribes was all but complete - and the southern tribe of Judah would soon follow their bad example.

And so three times in Hosea, God says that “they shall return to Egypt!” And that is what happened - Assyria became their new Egypt by putting them in bondage. Later the same thing happened to Judah when Babylon put them in bondage.

And how does the Bible describe Babylon and Assyria? Both are called “Egypt” by the prophets. Why? Because, like Egypt, they were also places of bondage. The people found themselves back in Egypt each time they rebelled against God - not Egypt on the map, but Egypt in their hearts.

Yes, Israel was a thankless wife - but Israel was also a thankless child. God called his son out of Egypt - but that son carried Egypt with him in his heart. And that son eventually ended right back where he had started - back in Egypt; back in bondage.

That was the first Exodus in Hosea 11. But there was also a second Exodus.

Hosea 11:1 is also about Jesus.

And how do we know that? We know that because Matthew quotes Hosea 11:1 and tells us that it is a prophecy about Jesus.

Matthew 2:14-15 - And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

And so, yes, Hosea 11:1 is a prophecy about Christ, but it is a very unusual prophecy. Why?

Hosea 11:1 is an unusual prophecy because God used a description of a negative past event as a prophecy of a glorious future event.

And just that fact alone tells us something wonderful about God and about God’s love for his people: even in the depths of their rebellion, God was still promising them a wonderful future if they would only turn back to him. They had forgotten God, but God had not forgotten them.

And so what do we know from Matthew 2? What we know is that this son in Hosea 11:1 is not just the rebellious son who was called out of Egypt but later returned. This son in Hosea 11:1 is also the only begotten Son of God.

Like Israel, Jesus also found himself in Egypt and, like Israel, Jesus was also delivered from Egypt by God.

The parallels are unmistakable.

• Both events began with a murderous king who wanted to kill all of the Hebrew boys - it was Pharaoh in Exodus and it was Herod in Matthew 2.

• Both events included a departure through water - into the Red Sea in Exodus and into the Jordan River in Matthew 3.

• Both events included a wilderness journey - 40 years in Exodus and 40 days in Matthew 4.

And what did Jesus say to Satan in that wilderness? Three times Jesus quoted Deuteronomy, the very book that was given to the people who failed their test in the wilderness.

But not so with Jesus. Jesus passed every test that Israel had failed. Unlike Israel the son, Jesus the Son always did the will of God the Father.

John 8:29 - And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.

That could never have been said about Israel. Israel grumbled over bread, but Jesus fasted 40 days and trusted in God the Father for bread. Israel put God to the test, but Jesus refused to test God the Father. Israel bowed down to the golden calf, but Jesus refused all the kingdoms of this world.

In every respect, Jesus the perfect Son succeeded where Israel the faithless son had failed. And Jesus was obedient even to death.

Philippians 2:8 - And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

God called Jesus his Son out of Egypt to die on a cross. The exodus of Christ included the cross of Christ, and I think we see that fact most clearly at the transfiguration.

Luke 9:30-31 - And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

That Greek word translated “departure” is the Greek word exodos. Yes, Moses spoke to Jesus about the exodus - but not about the first exodus. The exodus that Moses spoke with Jesus about was the second exodus - the exodus of Christ. The exodus that Jesus was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

And we know what Jesus accomplished at Jerusalem.

1 Corinthians 5:7 - …For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

Yes, Jesus left Egypt to die on a cross, but Jesus did not stay in the tomb. Instead, he rose from the dead, and he ascended back to God the Father.

That path of Christ out of Egypt to the cross and then to God the Father is the second Exodus.

But there is also a third.

Yes, Hosea 11:1 is about Israel, and yes, Hosea 11:1 is about Jesus, but Hosea 11:1 is also about us - the third Exodus is our exodus.

We in the church, like Israel, once lived in Egyptian bondage. But our Egypt was sin. Sin is what enslaved us.

John 8:34 - Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin."

And, as with Israel’s Egypt, our own Egypt may not have seemed like a prison at first - but it was a prison.

And, as with Israel’s Egypt, our own harsh task-master did not want to let us go - but God delivered us from his clutches.

Like Israel, God called us out of Egypt. But how? How did God call us out of Egypt? God called us out of Egypt with the gospel of Christ.

2 Thessalonians 2:14 - To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

That is how we were called out of Egypt. We were called by the gospel.

And how did we leave Egypt? We obeyed the gospel. Like Israel, we left Egypt when we passed through water.

Paul refers to the Red Sea crossing as a “baptism” in 1 Corinthians 10:2, and Paul likewise describes our own baptism as a great deliverance by God.

Romans 6:4 - We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

That is how we left Egypt. It was sin that enslaved us (Romans 6:17), and it was from that bondage of sin that we were delivered by God (Colossians 1:13).

And what happens after that deliverance? What happens is that, like Israel and like Jesus, we travel through a wilderness while on this earth.

And we must be faithful to God in that wilderness.

2 Corinthians 6:17 - Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.

Like Jesus, we, too, have been called out of Egypt for a cross.

Luke 9:23 - And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."

Yes, we travel through a wilderness, but we travel through that wilderness on our way to the Promised Land. Like Jesus, our cross is not the end of our journey. Instead, the end of our journey is heaven (Hebrews 11:14-16).

And so what have we found? What we have found is that the gospel of Christ transforms the saddest part of the Bible into the most joyous and hopeful part of the Bible.

But that is what the gospel always does - the gospel turns hopelessness into hope; the gospel turns despair into joy.

And if we want to really see what the gospel does to Hosea 11, all we need to do is look at the prodigal son. The father who taught his son to walk in Hosea 11 is the same father who ran to meet his son as he was walking home in Luke 15.

We end today with a final question: Where are you?

Where are you? Maybe you have never left Egypt.

If you have not obeyed the gospel of Christ, then that is exactly where you are - still in Egypt. You weren’t born there, but sin has put you there. And like the people of Israel in Exodus 1:14, Egypt has made your life “bitter with hard service.”

Today, God is calling you out of Egypt. And we all know that the only way out of Egypt is through water. The only way out of the bondage of sin and death is through the watery grave of baptism (Romans 6:4).

No one who has read the Old Testament could ever be surprised that deliverance in the New Testament involves a passage through water.

Where are you? Maybe you left Egypt, but later you returned.

The real tragedy of Hosea is not that the people remained in Egypt, but the real tragedy of Hosea is that they left Egypt and then returned. They were delivered by God, but later they turned their backs on God.

And the tragedy is the same today when people are added to the Lord’s church by the grace of God, but then later return to the world of sin and death, turning their back on their Savior. Peter describes such people:

2 Peter 2:20 - For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.

Is that your condition today? If so, the good news of the gospel is that there is still time. God is still calling you out of Egypt. God loves you as a father loves his child, and God wants you to return to him. And when you do, God will run to meet you.

That door is open today - but that door will not be open forever.

Where are you? Perhaps you are out of Egypt.

That is where you are today - out of Egypt - if you have obeyed the gospel of Christ and if you are living faithfully unto death. God has rescued you. God has delivered you. God has transferred you to the kingdom of Christ.

And what is the most wonderful thing about Egypt for a faithful child of God? It’s not the pyramids! The most wonderful thing about Egypt for a faithful child of God is that Egypt is in your rear-view mirror. Egypt is far behind you. You have escaped!

But, having left Egypt, we each have a choice. Will we follow the example of Christ? Or will we follow the example of Israel?

Both, like us, were called out of Egypt, but only Jesus always did what was pleasing to the Father. We must follow his example, and not harden our hearts as in the rebellion (Hebrews 3:8). Jesus knows our struggles in the wilderness because Jesus walked that wilderness first (Hebrews 4:15).

We have been called out of Egypt, and if we have obeyed the gospel of Christ then we are out of Egypt. Let’s stay out! And let’s continue our journey toward the great land of promise. Let’s keep our eyes fixed on the prize, and let’s never look longingly back at Egypt.

And for those today who are living in bondage, God’s command in Acts 2:38 is still God’s command today. Repent and be baptized for the remission of your sins. Will you obey God’s command or will you harden your heart as in the rebellion?

That is the choice today. And that has always been the choice. God is calling you out of Egypt! Will you come?