Deliverance Not the movie
Genesis 1:6-2:10
Moses
Have you ever been invited to a friends house for a visit or special occasion only to end up feeling like you are a prisoner to the events surrounding you?
Hey I know lets watch the video of the trip we took last summer. Or You dont mind giving me a hand moving the contents of my home into that truck outside do you?
Suddenly you realize there is no escape and you will have to endure this forced confinement. Maybe you sat there hoping that someone would come to your rescue so you could escape?
Well in a manner of speaking this is what happened to the nation of Israel as it grew larger and larger in the land of Egypt after Joseph brought his family there.
In all there were 70 family members of Josephs who settled in Egypt in a place called Goshen.
After Joseph died and more and more generations were born to Israel and they became about 2 million people. But through the change in political power over the years the Pharaohs of Egypt forgot why the Israelites were a blessing and turned them into slaves.
They built those ancient cities of Rameses and Pithom. They spent more than 400 years as slaves building the monuments of Egypt.
Most of you have seen the movie The Ten Commandments by Cecil B DeMille. It is a dramatization of the Biblical account. In the movie we see the great oppression that the Israelites were subject to.
People were crying out to God because of their oppression and suffering. Keep in mind these were Gods people His chosen people who were to inherit His promise of becoming a great nation.
God always hears the cries of His people.
Exodus 2:24
24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
Psalm 18:6
6 In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.
So God once again sent them a deliverer. So far we have met several men used in this capacity.
Noah delivered his family from the flood with the Ark.
Abraham delivers his family out of idolatry to a relationship with the living God
Joseph delivers his family and the entire land of Egypt out of a seven year famine
Now Moses will be the reluctant deliverer to free Israel from slavery
Time and time again we see our Heavenly Father delivering us from one calamity after another through His messenger and deliverer.
What calamity do you face today? Could you use a little deliverance in your life?
Have you been taken prisoner in some way by some oppressive power or influence?
Do you feel burdened by chains that tie you down to a life of mindless toil? What can the Lord free you from today?
Our God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. The Bible says
Malachi 3:6
6 I the LORD do not change
In this biblical account of rescue and freedom we see our God challenged by the society of the day and the gods of the times. Neither the human powers nor the spiritual powers of the time are able to overcome our Gods plan.
Friend if you are a Christian today then this truth is something you can hold on to and trust.
Romans 8:35-38
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Isaiah 44:6
6 This is what the LORD says-- Israels King and Redeemer, the LORD Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God.
Society is still trying to enslave us with the gods of our present age. Greed, lust, selfishness call them what you will our enemy is still trying to enslave us. The unseen spiritual enemy of Gods people is trying hard to enslave our spirits as well as our bodies.
But know this our God wants His people to be free. Free in mind, body and spirit to follow Him.
Have you ever had God get a hold of you for a spiritual spanking? Man that can hurt but it can also save your eternal soul. Sometimes God will use the rod on a spoiled child in order to bring him back into fellowship with him.
Revelation 3:19
19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
God tried to get Pharaohs attention and tried to lovingly chasten him to repentance in order to let the children of Israel go.
But when that did not work God took off the gloves. There is no wrath as great as that which God directs toward sinners who make God angry by their heard hearts and refusal to repent Sinners in the hands of an angry God as Jonathan Edwards put it in his sermon from 1739.
Such an attitude toward God brought about the most horrible of miracles. The angel of Death was unleashed upon Egypt and the first born son of every household was killed by the wrath of God. Only those who had the lambs blood on their door posts and lintels were spared the tragedy.
This event became known as The Passover when the Angel of Death passed over the children of Israel.
Friends if you are in Christ you have passed over from death to life.
John 5:24
24 I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.
Jesus is our deliverer in our time. His blood covers over the sins of those who put their trust in Him.
Such a cry went up from the land of Egypt that has never since been equaled. Pharaoh pleaded for Moses to leave and gave the children of Israel gold and all manner of precious things. Egypt had lost its most precious possessions it had lost its sons who would have been her future. What a great price to pay.
Into the desert they went into the unknown trusting in God and the one whom God had given them as a leader.
But all too soon they would turn on Moses. Where was this Promised Land and how far away did they have to travel? The sun was hot their throats dry their limbs weary and their faith tested.
Friends we are called to a spiritual journey each one of us follows God. Together let us trust God to provide for our needs along this journey and let us be patient and encourage one another and all the more as we see the day approaching. Hebrews 10:25
