Lord’s Day, Vol. 12 No. 10
Opening the Book of Exodus (1)
The plan of God was to raise Israel as His witness to all the nations of the world. A nation consists of her people, a constitution and a land. By the providence of God, Israel became a great multitude, in the fertile land of Goshen in Egypt by the auspices of Joseph, Jacob’s son. Just fighting men alone, the Book of Numbers recorded 600,000, excluding children and women.
God separated Israel by His mighty hand from Egyptian bondage. They were persecuted slaves under Pharaoh’s taskmasters. This separation is a picture of God’s redemption plan, the saving grace of God in the life of His people. The Book of Exodus gives a picture of the human soul in bondage to idolatry and their deliverance. The people of God cried out to Him for deliverance, in His mercy, He raised a deliverer in the person of Moses, to bring them out of Egypt. The situation was so precarious because all the male babies who were born, the Pharaoh ordered to be drowned in the river Nile. The extermination of the next generation of Israelites. Moses was one male child whom God saved to be brought up ironically in the palace of Pharaoh as an adopted son of Pharaoh’s daughter.
God was the one who did that work of redemption, that work of salvation that only God can do. God Himself has to do so to save the Israelites from their bondage. It is a picture of what God is doing to save men from their sins. The Lord Jesus Christ came into this world to do something for us that we cannot do for ourselves. What did He do? He saved us from the bondage of sin.
Looking at Pharaoh’s hostility towards the children of Israel, notice, though not once throughout the book, personified the work of Satan, the devil, to destroy God’s people.
God delivered Israel from their bondage by ten plagues that came upon Egypt. The plagues gradually devastated and destroyed the economy, the livelihood, the way of life and finally all the first born of Egyptian man and cattle. Pharaoh opposed God. He cannot get at God, but he could torment God’s people. The Lord in His wrath came and caused the bondage of evil to be broken.
How was Israel saved from their bondage? By the blood of the Passover lamb that was killed.
The blood of the Lamb to be spilled, collected and to be spread on the doorposts of the Israelites’ homes. It was a picture of God’s way of redemption against evil, by the blood of Christ.
In the Chinese New Year period, the Chinese would place on their doorposts, in the side and on top, well-wishing words written on red paper. The story has it that they were chasing away evil. As you think of it, does it remind you of the Exodus, of the redemption at the Passover? How did that knowledge come to the Chinese people? It was God’s way of redemption.
吉祥
Ji Xiang
These well-wishing words of blessing and prosperity, safety and security are summed up in the Chinese phrase that means “prosperity”. And the word “祥” has the left radical “神“ God, and “羊” Lamb.
Pointing to Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world (John 1:16). The saving of the soul by the blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God that will be shed for the remission of sins.
1 Corinthians 5:7 (KJV) Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
The Passover marked the beginning of the calendar of the new nation. As slaves in Egypt, under the bondage of Pharaoh, the Israelites would labour to their death. A picture of the bondage of sin. God enabled Israel to be saved by His redemption plan. Israel could not do to save themselves. It is God who came to show men how they can be saved from the misery of their own sins.
Ephesians 2:8-9 (KJV) For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
The Israelites believed God, the blood of the Passover lamb as placed on the doorpost of their houses. At midnight, when the death angel struck, all the first born of Egypt from Pharaoh to all his officials even the cattle in Egypt were suddenly dead. How frightening is the wrath of God.
Dear reader, our lives are in the hands of the living God, the Creator of heaven and earth. We do not have life in ourselves. Life is given by God. And it was by the power of God that Israel escaped the power of Pharaoh or the power of evil.
What did God do to save them? They were in a precarious state. Pharaoh was very angry. The Israelites were running out of Egypt. And Pharaoh had all his chariots ready, chasing after them. The LORD opened the Red Sea – Hebrews 11:29 (KJV) By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned.
God make dry land. to enable the Israelites to escape the clutches of evil and bondage. The Lord wants us to see the redemption in perspective (Exodus 1-18.) The Lord delivered Israel by a mighty hand to cause them to escape the clutches of evil, the bondage of sin, freeing them by the blood of the Lamb. A picture of the redemption work of Christ that is to come.
From Exodus chapter 19 to chapter 40, God would provide two ways for His people to renew themselves – The Word (Exodus 19-24) and Worship (Exodus 25-40). From Exodus 19-24, God gives Israel His law. God would give to the nation of Israel her constitution. For a nation to exist, they not only must have a people, but they must also have a constitution – The way by which the nation is to function, the laws which govern the land … [To be continued]
Yours livingly,
Pastor Lek Aik Wee