E X ODUS 2018

1. EXODUS 2018 (How the Greek Aorist Tense Changed My Life)

2. OR: “IN TIME AND THROUGH TIME, Part Two”

3. GOD IS BOTH “IN TIME” AND “THROUGH TIME”: II Corinthians 1:10 He has delivered us from such a great death and will deliver us, in whom we have hope that also He will deliver us still.

4. Time flies like an arrow.… Fruit flies like a banana. —Oettinger (1966)

7. God’s purpose was ALSO showing His exceeding greatness to HIS OWN PEOPLE—a people who had lived in the Egypt long enough to have been intimidated or influenced by the culture there! Through the plagues of the EXODUS, God was not only introducing Himself to Egypt (one victory at a time), but also RE-introducing Himself into Israel’s thinking! HE WAS NOT ONLY RESTORING THEIR FREEDOM, BUT ALSO TRANSFORMING THEIR AWARENESS OF HIM!

8. GOD KNOWS HOW TO ENGINEER A DELIVERANCE THAT MAXIMIZES THE TERRITORY TAKEN!!!

9. Hebrews 11:27 By faith Moses left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw Him who is invisible. An EXODUS takes FAITH! Shifting your season is not instant! You must persevere! (Because it’s bigger than you thought and there are layers to dismantle!) “Persevered” is the Greek word kartereo—only place used in N.T.—root word is kratos—might, strength, dominion, “power that completes”!

10. Hebrew Greek

11. The Hebrew culture was perfectly suited by God to produce the Messiah! The Greek language was perfectly suited to capture the the Gospel’s universal application to the Uni-verse! It’s as if Hebrew specialized in handling “IN TIME”; and Greek “THROUGH TIME”!

12. The AORIST tense for Greek verbs is a great example. There is no direct way to translate it in English and it is even hard to “explain” because it conveys a sense of TIMELESSNESS and gives shades of meaning that we can only use “helper words” to convey with English verbs! It’s like it is ENCODED WITH ETERNITY!

13. John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believing in Him should not perish but have eternal life. Both “loved” and “gave” are in the Greek AORIST tense! The AORIST tense is for viewing the action as a whole from the outside without regard for the internal make-up of the occurrence, even its relationship to time! A verb in the aorist tense describes an action without analyzing it further.  (It refuses to deconstruct!)

14. We are accustomed to the tenses of past, present, and future—simple relationships to TIME! The aorist tense adds a further dimension: tells us something happened, but CONCEALS the duration and structure of its “rollout”! We could say that the aorist tense is like a past action that can be viewed both IN TIME and THROUGH TIME!

15. Some places the aorist tense would be used: “I hit the ball well yesterday.” “I attended college.” “I studied Physics.” “I raised three children.” (In English, we use the simple past tense, but not in the Greek!) .

16. The word AORIST means undefined! It is a tense that declares, “we are not going to further analyze this action at this moment”! The FACT of the action is what is emphasized, rather than its duration! (Or we could say the ABSOLUTE TRUTH of the action, rather than the “facts” surrounding its manifestation!!!!) Etymology of AORIST: a or “not” + horizeinor “limit”; hence, undefined or unlimited

17. The aorist tense is PUNCTILIAR: refers to an action as a snapshot of reality at a particular POINT in time. IF WE CONCEIVE OF SOMETHING AS PUNCTILIAR, THAT DOESN’T MEAN THAT’S HOW IT ARRIVED! IT SIMPLY MEANS THAT IT DID ARRIVE! Consider these statements: “I got a breakthrough!” “God delivered me!” “I was born again!” Or, most importantly, “Jesus redeemed mankind at the cross!”

18. Hebrews 11:27 By faith Moses left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw Him who is invisible. “Left” is in the AORIST tense! “Not fearing” is literally, “not having feared” and is also AORIST! “Persevered” is AORIST!

19. JUST LIKE OUR DELIVERANCES FROM OUR PERSONAL “EGYPTS”, THE EXODUS DID HAPPEN OVER A PERIOD OF TIME! Looking backward THROUGH TIME, that’s all you need to declare! But if you are IN TIME experiencing the deliverance, it’s helpful to know the event had an internal structure! (Bondage is being dismantled!)

20. NEVER TAKE YOURSELF OUT OF THE GAME BECAUSE YOUR EXODUS HAD LAYERS AND WAS MORE INVOLVED THAN A ONE-TIME EXIT! GOD SPEAKS IN TIME AND THROUGH TIME AT THE SAME TIME!!!! (NO RESTORATION WITHOUT TRANSFORMATION!) IT IS BOTH PUNCTILIAR AND A PROCESS!!!

21. We tend to get disoriented during the plagues….!!!! But, His work in our lives is NOT HORIZONED!!! BECAUSE it is already finished THROUGH TIME, it frees Him to roll in out in a multitude of possible ways IN TIME!!! HE IS UNLIMITED IN HIS DELIVERY SYSTEMS!!!!

24. GOD SPOKE THE WORLDS INTO EXISTANCE! BUT ALSO HE UPHOLDS ALL THINGS BY THE WORD OF HIS POWER! God’s actions always are in time (DONE) and through time (REVERBERATING)!!!

25. It’s not “either/or” but rather “both/and” when it comes to in time and through time! WHERE DO “IN TIME” AND “THROUGH TIME” MEET? IN GOD’S PURPOSES!!! (Plans change but PURPOSES are constant!)

26. Aorist is the tense of the big picture of GOD’S PURPOSE that temporarily conceals all the details of how and when it will manifest! In a way, it makes room for a FINISHED WORK to be spread out over time, by refusing to pin it down!

27. We need to be reminded that it was a process (even though it is completed)! IN TIME we can lose perspective! But we always need to stay ready to ZOOM OUT and rejoice over the THROUGH TIME nature of our deliverance, NEVER GETTING STUCK in the process, refusing to assess our progress as “incomplete” in Him!

28. God never began a work that He did not complete. The work for us is finished; the work in us is going on. Salvation does not depend on our feelings or doings, but on His faithfulness. Philippians 1:6, Carr’s paraphrase

29. GOD IS BOTH “IN TIME” AND “THROUGH TIME”: II Corinthians 1:10 He has delivered us from such a great death and will deliver us, in whom we have hope that also He will deliver us still.

30. YOUR “EXODUS 2018”: YOU ARE COMING OUT, BUT YOU WON’T COME OUT EMPTY HANDED! AND THAT’S NOT JUST IN WEALTH AND GOODS! AS WE EXIT 2018: LOG YOUR LESSONSFROM YOUR PERSONAL EGYPT! THERE HAVE BEEN SHOWDOWNS THAT GOD WON! AND THERE WERE MORE TO THOSE THAN YOU MAY HAVE REALIZED WHEN YOU WERE IN THEM!!!

31. Many died out in that desert— They wouldn’t let Jesus take them in The Father brought them out of Egypt— But He never got Egypt out of them! BUT THAT IS NOT US!