Part 3 · Deep dive
The story of rescue
From the ark and the Exodus to the cross: the patterns of salvation across Scripture.
God taught His people what salvation means through events long before the cross. These patterns help us read the New Testament with Old Testament eyes.
Noah: saved through judgment
Judgment fell on a corrupt world, but those in the ark were carried safely through the water. Peter sees baptism prefigured here.
The Exodus: the great pattern
Israel was enslaved and helpless. God heard, judged Egypt, spared those under the blood of the Passover lamb, opened the sea, and brought His people to Sinai to be His own. Every element points forward.
The Passover lamb
Jesus died at Passover; Paul calls Him 'our Passover Lamb' (1 Corinthians 5:7).
Through the sea
To God's mountain
The prophets: a new exodus
After exile, the prophets promised a greater rescue: God would make a road through the wilderness, give a new heart and Spirit, forgive sin completely, and bring the nations too.
Jesus: the exodus accomplished
On the mountain of transfiguration, Moses and Elijah spoke with Jesus about His 'departure' (in Greek, exodos) that He would accomplish at Jerusalem (Luke 9:31). At the cross and empty tomb He led His people out of slavery to sin and death.
The early church read it this way
The early church
Melito of Sardis · c. 170 · On Pascha
Preached that the lamb in Egypt was a model and Christ the reality: 'This is the one who delivered us from slavery to freedom, from darkness to light, from death to life.'
Gregory of Nyssa · c. 390 · Life of Moses
Read the crossing of the sea as a figure of baptism, in which the enemy is drowned and the believer passes into new life.
The song of the redeemed
Israel sang the song of Moses after the sea. Revelation pictures the saved singing 'the song of Moses… and the song of the Lamb' (15:3), the final exodus complete.
Key takeaways
- The Exodus is Scripture's great picture of salvation.
- The prophets promised a new exodus with new hearts.
- Jesus accomplished that exodus by His death and resurrection.