Principles, Power and Praise

Rob Salvato works through Exodus 13-15 in this Wednesday night study under three movements — Principle, Power, and Praise — opening in chapter 13 with God's command to consecrate the firstborn, which he unpacks as a theological anchor with a pointed application: "What God redeems, He claims; what He claims, He sets apart; what He sets apart, He uses for His purposes," with Jesus as the ultimate Firstborn over all creation and from the dead (Colossians 1:15, 18) who establishes the pattern — you were bought at a price and are no longer your own (1 Corinthians 6:19-20), so God wants your first and best, not your leftovers. Chapter 14's Red Sea crossing is treated as a picture of baptism (1 Corinthians 10:1-2) before the study lands in chapter 15's Song of Moses, where five things the song declares about God provide a framework for further meditation: He is our Deliverer, the one who fights for us, the Transcendent God with no equal, the great Promise Keeper, and the Eternal One who shall reign forever. The study closes with a question the song itself raises — wouldn't it have been amazing if Israel had worshipped on the trapped side of the sea rather than complaining? — answered by Paul and Silas singing in a midnight prison in Acts 16: that kind of praise belongs to people who know their God and know they belong to him.