Editor's note:
With the release of The Prince of Egypt, myriad opportunities are available to use the film to share your faith. This special Bible study, written by Henry Blackaby exclusively for readers of On Mission magazine, can be used in tandem with the movie. The study focuses on the subject of the film, Moses, and is based on the book the movie is based on, the Bible, specifically, Exodus.

Use it as a basis for a home-based Bible study with non-Christian friends either before or after viewing the film. Of course, it can be used individually and without seeing the film, but the study can help you find things to look for in the film and give you questions to ask yourself and others.

The Study

The Bible is God-centered. It is given so we can know God personally, His purposes, and His ways. This is so that when God makes Himself known to us we will know:

• He is God.
• His purpose in our lives.
• how to respond to Him.

The book of Exodus is not just for us to see how Moses, Aaron and God's people walked with God (although you can see this). It is primarily the record of God's fulfillment of His eternal purpose through Moses and His people. See Him earnestly as you read the scriptures and watch the movie. Realize, especially, that the God you observe in the scriptures and in the movie is the same God who encounters your life as well.

Look for God's: (1) nature, (2) ways, (3) presence and (4) care (for "His own"). Know that He is just the same in and through your life! When you seek Him and He encounters your life, you will never be the same again.

Observations and Questions

History unfolding is really His story unfolding! Notice how God moves and acts sovereignly over all circumstances and leaders, including Pharaoh.

1. When did God choose to intervene in the lives of His people?
   [When Pharaoh "crossed the line" in persecuting God's people--Exodus 1:8-10; 2:23-24; 3:7]
   
2. How did God preserve Moses and accomplish His purpose for Moses?
   [He moved in the lives of the midwives, on Moses' mother and sister and on Pharaoh's own daughter--Exodus 2:1-8.]
   
   Notice how God can use even Pharaoh's own family and household members to protect Moses and give him the finest training in the land. Notice how God even made Moses' own mother one of his caregivers and teachers, so he would know who he was and why. God was fulfilling His purpose even in the most difficult times.
   
   It is significant to realize that when the world does its worst (killing the babies --Exodus 1:22), God's purposes can never be thwarted. God often does not prevent man's evil, but holds man accountable and restrains the extent of his evil. Tragedy does not mean God is not sovereign. It means that even at man's worst, God will accomplish His will.
   
   Notice how God takes time to develop Moses as a deliverer of His people. God even uses Moses' "hot- headedness" in killing an Egyptian to take him aside for 40 years so Moses could know Him. But in God's fullness of time, He encounters Moses thoroughly and decisively. Moses had a huge assignment, and God knew the key was for Moses to have a deep and real encounter with Him.
   
3. Why did God meet Moses as He did, at a burning bush, with signs and wonders?
   
   [To thoroughly convince him. There could be no doubts in Moses about God if Moses were to obey Him and deliver His people].
   
   God is God and He does not permit anyone to defy Him, even Moses. Notice how God dealt with Moses' excuses. Notice, also, how important Aaron is to God and His people.
   
   God chose to make Himself known both to His people and to Pharaoh and the Egyptians. The way He chose to deliver His people out of bondage (with 10 severe plagues) was to accomplish several purposes:
   
   • to deal a severe blow to the accepted gods of Egypt.
   • to let all know that He alone is God.
   • to let everyone know that His people are special to Him.
   
   The "hardening" of Pharaoh's heart is of special interest. His heart was already hardened by pride (Exodus 8:15,32; 9:43)--to the degree that he declared himself "god." So, God also "hardened his heart further" by signs and wonders, and then acted as Sovereign and Only God before all.
   
   The longer God produced plagues, the more the Egyptians were convinced that God was indeed the only God! First the magicians, then Pharaoh's servants, and finally all the people knew God was indeed God! Notice how long the process takes. First ridicule, then cynicism, then fear, then belief.
   
4. How did God's people react to God's activity?
   [With growing confidence in God, but it took time.]
   
5. What effect did God's presence and activity have?
   [The whole land was filled with His presence.]
   
   Notice that when God's people were finally delivered, God had done everything He had said to Moses and also to Abraham 420 years earlier. When pursued by Pharaoh, God made Himself even more significantly real to His people by a pillar of cloud and fire (Exodus 13:21-22). God chose to significantly reveal Himself to His people for they had to know the God who had chosen them for Himself. With each passing incident, they knew more and more of the nature of God.
   
   The Passover, when God took the lives of the firstborn, was traumatic to God's people. The Egyptian firstborn died, but God also required the firstborn of His people to be consecrated to Him as a sign that they, too, knew He was God, and was their God!
   
   As you proceed through the viewing of this movie, keep asking sincere questions about your own relationship with God. Ask key questions such as:
   
   • Am I, too, resisting God?
   • Is resisting God and His activity a serious matter today?
   • Do I see God's sovereignty working in my world?
   • What is God purposing today (the final return of His Son and eternity)?
   • Could God be judging our nation for its sin, as He did Egypt?
   • Should I be responding more personally to God today?
   
   God's great intervention to save His people by opening the Red Sea demonstrates that He is sovereign even over nature, as well as nations. The God who created the sea can certainly use it for His purposes. Each revelation of God, in what He does, brings people to a more personal opportunity to respond to Him as Lord in their lives.
   
6. What impact did the events of the Red Sea have on God's people? How has God saved you?
   
   The ways of God reveal the nature of God. Note how many times it is said, That they may know [by experience] that I am the Lord ... ! (Exodus 6:7,29; 7:5; 8:10,22; 9:14,16,29; 10:2; 11:8; 14:4,18,21; 16:2; 18:11).
   
   God reveals Himself in what He does! Notice how God reveals Himself during crises such as Israel encountering bitter waters, the enemy Amalek, the manna and the water from a rock. He also will reveal Himself to you in times of crisis.
   
   When Israel comes to Mt. Sinai, they encounter God as never before. He makes a covenant with them to be to Him a special treasure above all people, and to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Exodus 19:5-6). God had planned that, through a people of His choosing, He would bring a Savior for the whole world. Through this Savior would come salvation for sin. Again, notice the way he met them (Exodus 19:16-25), and its purpose (Exodus 20:20-21).
   
7. How important was it that His people "fear" Him? How important is it today for us to fear Him?
   
   Then God gave what we know as the Ten Commandments. These were the foundation of law for a people belonging to God. This is how they were to (1) love God; (2) love one another.
   
   The sovereign God of the universe was now moving a special people to be His so that, through them, salvation could come to a lost world. He did it:
   
   • on schedule.
   • despite opposition.
   • through a chosen person.
   • through a special people.
   

Ask yourself ...

What have you learned about God?

Have you understood how God wants us to respond to Him?

Are you ready to recognize God's activity in your life?

Will you take your relationship with God more seriously than ever before?
Will you help others encounter God?