“Free At Last!”
Exodus 1:8-2:10
It didn’t matter how diligently he worked – the slave driver would still crack the whip on his back. Under the pain, his muscles always stiffened, ready to rebel. But he never did – because he cherished life more than death, even harsh life, he always kept on making the bricks.
It was with a mixture of fear, hatred, sorrow, and utter agony that Ruel carried the tender body of his precious, innocent, newborn son to the bank of the Nile River. With a prayer for forgiveness and strength, with every fiber of his being screaming, “No!” he obediently tossed his son and heir into the water to drown.
Ruby’s head was pounding again. It always did after a fight with her mother. It’s not that she wanted to fight – they just did. It had become part of the family routine. And sick though it made her, she couldn’t seem to change anything. Somehow her family had changed and Ruby was now too tired, hurt, frustrated, and defeated to try any more. Yet she didn’t know what else to do.
John didn’t know why he had done it. He knew it was wrong – he didn’t want to do it. It was like a voice from inside told him to, or some inner power overcame him. And his friends were taunting him…Maybe he was just afraid not to do it. But now the arrest was so embarrassing.
People in bondage, trapped under some despotic authority; people enslaved by powers greater than themselves; people defeated by life, with no apparent way out; people who long to be free. The century does not matter, nor does age or race or pedigree or creed. People of all stripes – including us – long to be able to shout, “Free at Last! Free at Last!”
As an example of just such a people, we have read from the book of Exodus. In Chapter 1, beginning in verse 8, we see a nation suffering in A PERIOD OF SEVERE DEPRIVATION. Let’s frame the picture. Israel had moved into Egypt under the influence and leadership of Joseph, who had won the favor of the King and all of Egypt. Because of Joseph the nation of Israel experienced abundant blessings and growth and Egypt prospered. They were secure in this foreign land. But then Joseph died and now years had passed – a new King had come to power. He did not know Joseph or Joseph’s God. He was filled with A SENSE OF FEAR. He was fearful of the rapid growth of the Israelite community, so he initiated some drastic measures. First, he imposed even harsher slavery and working conditions upon the men. But the number of Israelites kept increasing. So next the King commanded the midwives to kill all newborn Hebrew boys. The midwives quietly and secretly refused. Finally, in a move of shear fear and desperation, the King ordered all male babies be thrown into the Nile to drown. The Israelites had no control over their lives – they were, indeed, in severe deprivation. They longed to be free – but how could it ever happen? Who could ever turn things around? In I Corinthians 10:11 Paul wrote, “These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us…”
So fast forward to today, where many people in our world still long to be free – from despotic governments and leaders, from evil rulers, from appalling poverty, from anti-Christian soldiers, from deathly hunger – and the list goes on. Yet it’s not just ‘out there’ in ‘that’ world – many worshiping here today LONG TO BE FREE. What are the clay and bricks that hold you in bondage? For what freedom are you longing? Perhaps you want to be free from your sin, from your starvation for acceptance, your thirst for approval, your bitterness towards your boss, your anger towards your parents, your hatred towards someone who’s hurt you, your coldness to your spouse, your penchant for perfection, your incessant drive to work and please, your tendency to follow the crowd no matter what, your broken relationships, your regret over things said or done or left unsaid or undone, your unwillingness to forgive someone who has sinned against you. We are slaves, in bondage to anyone or anything that controls our lives or claims our top priority. Anything or anyone that masters us enslaves us. And we long to be free at last. But we are trapped. We become convinced, like Israel, that there is no way out.
This only sets the stage for God to act. As we return to the Exodus account we learn that God made the PROVISION OF A STRONG DELIVERER. God knew that the longing of the Israelites could only be met through a strong deliverer. And GOD ALWAYS HAS ONE IN MIND! Moses was born and divinely protected so he could lead his people out of slavery into a new beginning in God’s Promised Land. God, in fact, has a habit of miraculously birthing deliverers! Consider: Isaac was born divinely to a 99 year-old Abraham and a 90 year-old Sarah – so God could continue the divine line of Abraham; Samson was divinely birthed to a sterile mother so he could be the deliverer who brought ruin upon Israel’s enemies; Samuel the prophet was divinely born to a permanently barren Hannah so he could become the priest through whom God would establish his spiritual kingdom.
All of these are but merely the forerunners of another deliverer – our deliverer! JESUS CAME TO SET US FREE! Jesus, too, was divinely born – of a virgin – so He could, as priest, uniquely pay the price of sin and set us free at last. Romans 5:6: “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.” As Hebrews encourages us (7:25): “Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.” (John 8:36): “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” God’s whole purpose is to move people from slavery to freedom. FROM WHAT DO YOU NEED TO BE FREE? To what are you in bondage? Whatever the chains that bind you, they can be broken; whatever the power that enslaves you, it can be defeated. You can be freed from your sin, your starvation for acceptance, your thirst for approval, your bitterness towards your boss, your anger towards your parents, your hatred towards someone who’s hurt you, your coldness to your spouse, your penchant for perfection, your incessant drive to work and please, your tendency to follow the crowd no matter what, your broken relationships, your regret over things said or done or left unsaid or undone, your unwillingness to forgive someone who has sinned against you. Jesus wants to set you free. He alone can set you free. He will set you free at last.
Free – at last. It may not happen right away. It certainly did not for Israel. Sometimes God frees us through a PROCESS OF STEADY DELIVERANCE. God had His reasons for allowing His people to be in such bondage. First, GOD WAS PREPARING THEM FOR THE BATTLES AHEAD. In order to survive in the Promised Land to which they were headed, they would need to be strong and united. Suffering and trial and perseverance mold such strength and unity magnificently. Their bondage was a time of learning. Every time God made a move on their behalf, the new King countered with a deathblow of his own. It was a pattern God’s people would live with forever. So you’re feeling trapped and bound? You know that Jesus will set you free – but GOD MAY JUST BE PREPARING YOU for something yet to come, something greater than you can even imagine. When the prophet Habakkuk complained to God about the injustice of life, God promised (1:5): “I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe.” Similarly Paul wrote (Eph. 1:18-20 & 3:20-21): ”I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms… Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us…” The power by which Jesus was raised from the dead is within us. Jesus will set us free beyond all limits! Jesus alone knows what lies ahead and He wants us to be prepared.
Secondly, GOD WAS PREPARING THEIR FUTURE. In Genesis 15:16 God predicted that Israel would be in slavery for four hundred years, “For the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.” The Amorites inhabited the land God had promised to Israel – but they were such a wicked, rebellious people that God wanted to mete out to them a full measure of punishment. Only then would the time be right for a young, prepared Israelite nation to move in and take over. So God works on and in us; SO GOD PREPARES OUR FUTURE BY PREPARING US. James 1:2-4: “Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything.”Rom. 8:28-30: “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son…and he promised them his glory.” (5:2-5) “Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of highest privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God's glory. We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us--they help us learn to endure. And endurance develops strength of character in us, and character strengthens our confident expectation of salvation. And this expectation will not disappoint us. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.” God often does not rescue until He can transform us; He most often delivers us not from but through our circumstances. God wants to shape and reshape us, form and reform us – He longs to set us free in His image! Whatever it is you are enduring today, believe God is at work. Trust Him. If even the cross of death could not defeat His Son, if out of the tomb of death God could bring life, then surely out of our bondage God can bring freedom.
Thirdly, GOD WAS PREPARING THEIR HEARTS. It took 40 years but finally, according to Exodus 2:23: “The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.” It took the experience of suffering in bondage to bring Israel to the point of crying out for help. THE EXODUS DID NOT CONSTITUTE A DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, BUT A DECLARATION OF DEPENDENCE UPON GOD. Isn’t that true for most of us? When things move merrily along, when life is grand, we tend to move away from God. Then we reestablish our self-satisfied demeanor and our misguided state of independence. That’s why God would later remind Israel, on the eve of her entrance into the Promised Land, “When you have eaten and are satisfied…be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God.” (Dt. 8:10) Think about it – at what times have you most completely depended upon God? Seldom in the heights of success – most often in the depths of despair. We can never manufacture freedom on our own or find it within ourselves; we are free at last only when we become dependent upon Jesus Christ. This is a message we need as individuals and as a nation.
I read once of Dianne Odell of Jackson, Tennessee. She was quite a lady. Her life story received nation-wide attention. Dianne graduated from high school and college, she was involved with her church, and wrote her autobiography. Nothing remarkable it seems – except that Dianne, at that time, had spent 51 of her 54 years in an iron lung where she laid 24 hours day. Her autobiography was written to encourage children with disabilities. Dianne not only gave praise to her parents, she thanked God for them and her many friends. Her assessment of her life was, “I have a good life.” She lay in an iron lung, 24 hours a day – but she was free! “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” Let freedom ring! Jesus Christ can make us free at last!
This morning I invite you to claim your freedom. It begins with a relationship with Jesus Christ. “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” Artist August Rodin has created a famous sculpture named, “The Hand of God.” Out of a rough piece of stone there arises a strong right hand, and lying in that hand are some figures of human beings beginning to take shape. It stands for the fact that God is at work in each and every one of our lives. God wants to set us free so He can mold us into His image. God wants to share His glory with us. But He will not force us – He waits for us to take His hand. I invite you, I urge you, to take His hand and let him set you free at last – because “… if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
