Seminaries teach it. Students read about it. Ministers work at it. Parishioners at times endure it. The world does not understand it. Sadly the church is trying to get rid of it. God’s Word commands it. What is it that is causing all this commotion? Preaching.

What exactly is preaching? How would you explain to an unbeliev­ing neighbour what you or your pastor do in worship, if asked? As Reformed believers we can look to what is arguably the single great­est paragraph ever written on preaching. Heinrich Bullinger began to write the Second Helvetic Confession (Confessio Helvetica posterior) in 1561 as a summary of his faith and a public defence of the true catholic faith of the Reformed churches. It was later published in 1566.¹ It also became the single most influential Reformed confession of the sixteenth century, being translated into fifteen languages and published in one hundred and fifty editions.² In the context of his confession concerning Holy Scripture Bullinger wrote:

Wherefore when this Word of God is now preached in the church by preachers lawfully called, we believe that the very Word of God is preached, and received of the faithful; and that neither any other Word of God is to be feigned, nor to be expected from heaven: and that now the Word itself which is preached is to be regarded, not the minister that preaches; who, although he be evil and a sinner, nevertheless the Word of God abides true and good (1.4).³

In the preaching of the written Word of God we hear, receive, and need to expect the living Word of God himself through the means of sin­ful men. This is what the Heidelberg Catechism meant in its exposition of the second Commandment:

But may not pictures be tolerated in churches as books for the laity?

No; for we should not be wiser than God, who will not have his people taught by dumb idols, but by the lively preaching of his Word.⁴

When we begin to grasp with our heads that preaching is the ‘very Word of God’ (ipsum Dei verbum) and the ‘lively preaching of his Word’ (viva praedicatione Verbi sui), we begin to grasp with our hearts why preaching is so vital to the faith and worship of the Reformed churches.⁵

It was the same way in the days of Moses and the Israelites in Exodus 13:1-16. This text was spoken right after the Exodus from Egypt. And after this long-hoped-for event of liberation ‘out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage’ (Exod. 20:2, KJV) what does the narra­tive say was the first thing that happened? The congregation of Israel listened to Moses’ inaugural sermon as pastor of the newly-freed people of God! The newborn church now needed to be fed ‘by every word that Comes from the mouth of the LORD’ (Deut. 8:3, ESV).

If you have an NIV or NASB Bible, you see that the entire section has the heading, ‘Consecration of the Firstborn’. But there is more to this passage than that issue. If you have an ESV Bible you see verses 1-2 headed by ‘Consecration of the Firstborn’ but then verses 3-16 headed by ‘The Feast of Unleavened Bread,’ which seems to make the text dis­jointed and disorganized on first reading. What is the preacher to do? Be assured that there is a literary structure that does lead to the three homiletical points below. Notice that in verses 1-2 the LORD speaks to Moses. These verses serve as a superscription over the entire section, giving authorization to Moses’ preaching. Then in verses 3-16 we have Moses’ actual sermon, which addresses two laws – those for the feast of Passover and those for the consecration of the firstborn.

In reading this passage we come away impressed that the overall theme of Moses’ inaugural sermon is the centrality and vitality of preaching the Word to the people of God. In his inaugural sermon, therefore, Moses called the church to respond to the gospel of the Exo­dus in three ways, and the Holy Spirit calls us today to respond to our redemption in Christ in the same ways: Hear the Word, Obey the Word, and Teach the Word.

Hear the Word⤒🔗

In the preaching of the Word the Holy Spirit calls the church to hear the Word. Notice that our text begins, ‘The LORD said to Moses’ (verse 1). This is clearly contrasted with verse 3, which begins, ‘Then Moses said to the people’. As previously stated the reason for this is that verses 1-2 act as a superscription over this section of chapter 13. This means that it is the true heading of this text in which Moses is given his authority to preach to the Israelites.

The reason this is so important is that before Moses began to preach to his congregation he first had to hear the Word of God from God. Sound familiar? Of course: this is the same as it is with ministers of the Word today. I recently served our mission work on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. While there I took a snorkeling trip with my wife. In conversation with the captain of the boat I mentioned that I was a min­ister of the Word. I was then asked a question I had never been asked before: ‘So how do you do it? Does God give you a message to speak?’ I answered, ‘Yes, God first speaks to me and then I seek to deliver his message.’ The captain was captive to my words then. But he was sorely disappointed when I went on to explain that God speaks to me through his written Word. When a minister reads the Word prayerfully during the week he enters the presence of God; when he emerges, so to speak, to preach that Word, he should come out like Moses did when his face shone (Exod. 34:29-35). He should then preach with conviction, pas­sion, and urgency, because God has preached his message to him first.

As the great twentieth-century Dutch Reformed homiletician, Samuel Volbeda, said:

Before one can preach in the true sense of the term, he must have taken up in his heart the message that he must bring and not mere­ly have lodged it in his mind and laid it upon his tongue. He must not merely transmit God’s written Word; he must reproduce it in the pregnant sense of that term.⁶

Our text teaches us that ministers, like Moses, must hear the Word themselves in order to be authorized to preach the Word to their people. Further, since verses 1-2 were ‘written down for our instruction’ (1 Cor. 10: 11), they applied to Israel and still apply to all those who gather to hear the Word. How can you hear the Word? Let me give you three practical ways.

First, you have to hear it expectantly. Do you attend divine services week after week expecting to hear the voice of your God? Remember, this is what is happening when the Word is faithfully preached: ‘When this Word of God is now preached in the church by preachers lawfully called, we believe that the very Word of God is preached.’ Let me say this even more personally. Do not go to church expecting to hear God speak generally, but go expecting to hear his particular word for your soul.

Second, you have to hear it faithfully. Remember, while you hear the voice of an evil and sinful man – your very own pastor – you hear in truth the very Word of God. You must embrace his word in faith as the Word of God! Because this is so difficult for us to do, listen and learn from the words of the Second Helvetic Confession once again: ‘The Word itself which is preached is to be regarded, not the minister that preaches; who, although he be evil and a sinner, nevertheless the Word of God abides true and good.’ As Paul said to the Thessalonians,

And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers1 Thessalonians 2:13

Third, you have to hear it prayerfully. Not only must you pray Mon­day through Saturday for your minister to preach the Word and that you will be enabled to hear it, but since the act of listening to the ser­mon is an act of worship you must be in a prayerful attitude of worship right then and there. When you hear the law in the sermon you must humble your heart and confess your sins to God, and when you hear the gospel you must rejoice and be glad in his salvation!

Obey the Word←⤒🔗

What we hear in the preaching of the Word must be followed. Preach­ing should not only transform your mind in understanding and your heart in rejoicing, but it should transform your hands and feet in obey­ing. Look again at the text before us. As mentioned earlier, verses 3-16 are Moses’ sermon. Verses 3-10 deal with the laws for the Passover and verses 11-16 deal with the laws for the consecration of the first­born. Israel was to obey the LORD in these two particular and practical ways. These verses teach us two things about obedience to the Word of God.

First, the context of obedience is deliverance. The reason for obey­ing the law of God is the gospel! Look at how each section of Moses’ sermon begins with gospel and then moves to law. The reason for obe­dience to the Passover laws is stated in verse 3: ‘Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery, for by a strong hand the LORD brought you out from this place.’ Again the rea­son for obedience to the consecration laws is stated in verse 11: ‘When the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as he swore to your fathers, and shall give it to you.’

Second, the content of obedience was worshipping the LORD in the Passover as he commanded and consecrating their firstborn as he com­manded. As the LORD had done in chapter 12, so he reiterates his com­mandment about the Passover in chapter 13; but this time the focus is on their obedience for when they enter the Promised Land. Think about this more deeply. In chapter 12, before the tenth and final plague, the LORD gave a command about the Passover; then after the Exodus the LORD reiterated to Moses and Aaron his word about the Passover at the end of chapter 12; now in chapter 13 he commands the people about Passover again. Do you think this was a little bit important for the peo­ple to hear? This was the first feast of Israel’s church calendar because it commemorated their salvation and their new beginning as a people.

They were also to obey the Word of God by consecrating their first­born, their animals but especially their sons. Why? Remember back in chapter 4 the LORD called Israel his ‘son’. In response to his redeeming work the Israelites were to offer the firstborn to God as a declaration that they all belonged to him. This obedience is what God calls us to offer him. We set aside one day in seven as a way of saying all our time belongs to God. We offer the first part of our labour to him as a way of saying all our money belongs to him.

Teach the Word←⤒🔗

The third point we see in Moses’ inaugural sermon is that it calls Israel to teach the Word to their children. The LORD did not only say that the preaching of his Word had central place among the people of God when they gathered for worship, but also that his Word had to be central in their daily lives. In the context of both the commands about the Pass­over and the consecration, we read of catechism. What is proclaimed in preaching must be disseminated in the home. In Exodus 12:26-27 and Exodus 13:8 and 13:14-15 God calls us to teach the Word in the home by catechizing our children. This simple command has four practical aspects to it in these verses.

First, it is the duty of parents to instruct their children. As our texts say, ‘You shall say’ (Exod. 12:27), ‘You shall tell your son’ (Exod. 13:8), and, ‘And when in time to come your son asks you ... you shall say’ (Exod. 13:14).

Second, catechism is not only for the object, but also for the subject; that is, it is not only for the child being catechized but also for the par­ent doing the catechizing. Notice that in these texts it is the child who asks the questions. This means that the parents have to be equipped with the answer! The LORD gave his ready-made answer to these par­ents: ‘You shall say, “It is the sacrifice of the LORD’S Passover”’ (Exod. 12:27); ‘You shall tell your son on that day, “It is because of what the LORD did for me”’ (Exod. 13:8); ‘You shall say to him, “By a strong hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt”’ (Exod. 13:14).

Third, catechism has as its focus the objective redemptive work of the LORD: ‘It is the sacrifice of the LORD’S Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt’ (Exod. 12:27); ‘It is because of what the LORD did’ (Exod. 13:8); ‘By a strong hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery’ (Exod. 13:14).

Fourth, the goal of catechism is a personal appropriation of the redemptive work of the LORD. What is so fascinating is how we may overlook this in these texts. The text speaks of this when it says, ‘When he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses’ (Exod. 12:27), and, ‘It is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt ... the LORD brought us out’ (Exod. 13:8, 14). These were the words that were used by those who experienced the Exodus, but even more, these are the words that would be used throughout the generations of the Israelites. Even those who would eventually be of a generation that had never been in Egypt catechized their children using first person pronouns: ‘our houses’; ‘for me when I came out’; ‘brought us out’.

And it is because the LORD, who became our Lord and Saviour in Jesus Christ, brought us out of bondage to the world, our flesh, and the Devil that we assemble as in the wilderness to hear the Word, obey the Word, and teach the Word.