SPB Sermons | Sunday 23 August 2026
Faithful in Egypt
A new king who did not know Joseph. A people once welcomed, now feared. Once honoured, now enslaved. Exodus 1 opens one of the greatest stories in all of Scripture — and asks what it means to be the people of God when the world is changing around you.
The Story Begins in the Shadow of a Promise
Genesis ends beautifully and peacefully. Joseph forgives his brothers. The family is settled in Egypt. And on his deathbed, Joseph makes a declaration that carries across the entire Exodus narrative: surely the Lord will come to your aid and take you back to the land he promised to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. It is a word of hope spoken into a future nobody can see yet. And Exodus opens right in the shadow of it. The people are prospering. They are fruitful and multiplying. The promises of God to Abraham are being visibly fulfilled. And then a new Pharaoh rises — one to whom Joseph means nothing — and everything changes.
The Blessing That Became a Threat
"The more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread."
Here is one of the great ironies of this passage: it is the very blessing of God on his people that becomes the reason for their persecution. They are fruitful. They are numerous. And to Pharaoh — who considers himself divine, the representative of Horus on earth — this is a military threat that must be contained. So he enslaves them. He works them ruthlessly. He makes their lives bitter. And still they multiply. The blessing of God is not contingent on the circumstances around it. What God says he will do, he does — whether his people are on the mountaintop, in the valley, or under the lash of a taskmaster.
Seasons come and go: the prestige of Joseph's era fades like morning fog. What once was normal becomes memory. But the faithfulness of God does not fade with it.
Pharaoh is not named: the most powerful ruler in the known world goes unnamed in this passage because he is insignificant. God does not name him. The writer ignores him. He is not the point.
Named
Shiprah and Puah
Two midwives. Their names mean beautiful and splendid. They are summoned before the most powerful man in the world, given a direct order to kill every Hebrew boy at birth — and they refuse. Not with heroic speech or grand gesture. They simply go back to their rounds and let the children live. They fear God more than they fear Pharaoh.
Unnamed
Pharaoh
The god-king of Egypt. Absolute ruler of a two-thousand-year empire. He is not named. He schemes, plots, and commands — and none of it works. His plan to break the people of God fails. His plan to reduce their numbers fails. Even his most devious command fails. Because God is not named either — and yet God is the one winning.
The Heart of the Sermon
The Midwives Are a Shadow of What Is to Come
Their faithfulness is bold, beautiful, and — in the grand scheme of things — insufficient. They save some. But Pharaoh simply escalates. Every boy born must be thrown into the Nile. The midwives point us forward as an arrow to something greater, to a rescue that will not be partial or insufficient, a rescue that will deal with the root problem rather than the symptom.
This is our Egypt. We are a people enslaved not to Pharaoh but to sin and to self, dead in our transgressions, unable to rescue ourselves. And God has heard the cries of our hearts. He has walked among us in the person of Jesus Christ. He has dealt with our ultimate problem on the cross. The Exodus story is not just Israel's story. It is ours. And the rescue it points toward is the greatest rescue there has ever been.
How Do We Live in Difficult Days?
The midwives give us a simple and clear example. There is no great speech here, no dramatic confrontation. Just two women who know who they fear more — and who quietly, faithfully, go about their work for God rather than for Pharaoh. The fear of God, the love of God, the reverence of God in our lives leads us to live for him in the good days and the difficult days and everything in between.
It is easy to be a disciple when the culture respects the church. The real question is: what do we do when the ground begins to shift? When what was once honoured is now dismissed? When what was once welcome is now feared? The midwives say: we fear a greater authority. And so do we.
Listen to the Sermon
The full sermon is available to listen to now. We hope it encourages you to be as bold as the midwives — faithful to God in good days and difficult ones, certain that his blessing continues and his rescue is sure.
Join Us
You Would Be Very Welcome
St Paul's & St Barnabas is an Anglican evangelical parish in the heart of North Belfast, seeking to make Christ known and to love our city in his name. We are beginning a new season of Sunday morning services through Exodus, and we would love you to join us.
Join us in person on Sundays at 208 York Street, Belfast.
Surely the Lord Will Come to Your Aid
Joseph said it on his deathbed and it was true. God did come to the aid of his people. He has come to our aid in Christ. And whatever season we find ourselves in — whatever Egypt surrounds us — his blessing continues, his promise holds, and his rescue is sure. May we live for him as faithfully as those two midwives, in good days and difficult days and everything in between.
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