God has the power to deliver His will, and He has done this for us in the grand exchange of a firstborn son on our behalf.
Exodus 13 is a chapter where God deals with His people after having saved them from Egypt. There are three parts to chapter 13. The first, which is the basis for our text, is God’s claim on the firstborn of Israel. It is a surprising development for the Israelites that is rarely taught about or preached on. The second part of the chapter deals with a remembrance of their deliverance from slavery. Finally, the third part is the beginning of their travels through the desert to the Promised Land. The Feast of Unleavened Bread and the consecration of the firstborn where signposts that God put in their midst to remind the people of His saving acts. This was done so future generations might know God and His mighty acts to save His people. So, before they pass through the waters (Exodus 14), God’s people are set apart and given a commemoration of the Feast of Unleavened Bread to draw them back and anchor their identity, security, and meaning in His mighty acts of salvation.
You can imagine how it must have been quite a scene. God delivers His people after having done ten mighty signs and wonders over Egypt. The final sign is when God took the firstborn of Egypt. This leaves a lasting impression on the Israelites, who are now freed and head down to the waters of the Red Sea, and eventually to Sinai, and all seems so good.
Well, it did until God decides to settle up with Israel for the balancing of the scale of the firstborn owed to Him in Egypt. Wait what? God asks for His firstborn from Israel? Yes, and that must have shocked Moses to His core? If you want to know the math on just how many firstborn it would be, you could look about two years after Egypt in Numbers 1-3. There we have the census which was taken of all who would be eligible for this cut. It is quite a bit of people. Is God really going to go through with this?
Eventually, God settles for a tribe, just one tribe out of all of Israel. He picks the tribe that would not return to worshipping the gods of Egypt at the golden calf incident some chapters after our reading. Only Levi would remain faithful. Well, all except for one, Aaron the idol maker. God takes all the firstborn here in our text (verses 12-13) and eventually only the tribe of Levi as His first born (Numbers 3:41). Yikes! Will they die now like those others who fell in Egypt? No. God decides to take their “life/living” as a sacrifice. Instead of killing them, He makes their whole life and living a sacrifice to Himself. As they wander through the desert, He will take only Levi as a living sacrifice. That one tribe will have no inheritance but the Lord. They would not make their living off of themselves. They are tied to the Lord and their whole life will be dependent on the Lord. Their whole life is an act of worship, and their service will be a living reminder to everyone of what God did in Egypt when He took the firstborn and delivered them. He takes their life and lets them live. Or rather, some other firstborn dies and now they get to live.
He takes their life and lets them live. Or rather, some other firstborn dies and now they get to live.
This brings a whole new meaning to Romans 12:1: “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” Typically, people think this verse has to do with the “praise and worship” that “I” bring to God as “my” sacrifice to Him. In light of Exodus 13 and Numbers 3, that interpretation just will not do. The Christian does not bring anything to God. Instead, it is by His mercy alone that we live. He has made us a priesthood of all believers (Revelation 1:5b-6; 1 Peter 2:9). Everything is about His mighty acts to save us, and it has nothing to do with my mighty songs I sang.
God has done this mighty saving, and our life stands as a witness to what He has done for us. We are thoroughly and completely dependent upon Him for our life and our living and now we live by His great mercy. He could have settled up for our life. He could have taken it away. But there was another firstborn son who was taken in our place. We see that firstborn Son taken into the Temple in Luke 2:22-40. Mary and Joseph could not afford a lamb for the sacrifice; pigeons would have to do. But in the wonderful irony of God, they were carrying the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world (John 1:29), Jesus the Christ. Soon, He would be in Egypt and then out of Egypt He would call His Son (Matthew 2:15). Jesus would be presented as a sacrifice for our freedom at Calvary, and He would rise again to remain alive forever and in Him, the Lamb who was slain and now reigns, gives us His life to live even now in worship and praise to God.
In light of those mighty acts of God for our salvation, our lives are now a living sacrifice, a living witness of His resurrection life in us eternally. He has brought you through the water of Baptism. He has sustained you in His supper with unleavened bread and a little sip of wine. Now, you are a living reminder to the world of what the saving acts of God in Jesus looks like. God has the power to deliver His will, and He has done this for us in the grand exchange of a firstborn son on our behalf. One dies so many can live. That same One rises again, and we have eternal life from Him. That is the surprising story of your salvation.
Because this text has such a surprising turn of events, we will use a Lowry Loop Structure for this sermon:
“Eugene Lowry, in his work The Homiletical Plot and his revision of such work in The Sermon, suggests that the sermon create a sequence of experiences on the part of the hearers which mirrors the experiences of a typical plot form. The sermon, therefore, moves from conflict through complication to crisis and finally to resolution. Lowry’s The Homiletical Plot depicts this design as having the following five sections: (1) upsetting the equilibrium (“oops”); (2) analyzing the discrepancy (“ugh!”); (3) disclosing the clue to the resolution (“aha!”); (4) experiencing the Gospel (“whee!”); and (5) anticipating the consequences (“yeah!”). Just as in a narrative, the climax of the story often arises from a surprising discovery of a new way of looking at things, so too in this sermon the reversal is something unforeseen by the hearers and, therefore, a surprise or, as Lowry calls it, an “aha!” experience. If the preacher simply moves from trouble to grace without that element of a surprising turn (an unanticipated viewpoint that is nevertheless coherent to the story), the sermon structure is probably a law/gospel/application structure rather than a Lowry Loop.”[1]
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Additional Resources:
Craft of Preaching-Check out out 1517’s resources on Exodus 13:1-3a, 11-15.
Concordia Theology-Various helps from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, MO to assist you in preaching Exodus 13:1-3a, 11-15.
Lectionary Kick-Start-Check out this fantastic podcast from Craft of Preaching authors Peter Nafzger and David Schmitt as they dig into the texts for this Sunday!
Lectionary Podcast- Dr. Walter A. Maier III of Concordia Theological Seminary in Ft. Wayne, IN walks us through Exodus 13:1-3a, 11-15.
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[1] https://concordiatheology.org/sermon-structs/dynamic/narrative-structures/lowry-loop/
