Monday Morning Munch No. 77 – Walk Like An Egyptian…

…even though you’re an Israelite and get on up out of yo’ slavery.

That’s the Sophie translation of Exodus 3. 

Okay, so that’s not actually what it says. At all.

The Israelites are never told that they’re the ones who will free themselves. No, the responsibility was always put on someone else.

A supreme, awesome, strike-fear-in-your-heart-when-He-speaks-through-a-burning-bush kind of Person.

And listen to what He says to His people via Moses in chapter six:

“I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. I will take you to be My people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.’” (Exodus 6:6-8, ESV)

Whoa.

Can we just take a look at those promises?

I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians…
I will deliver you from slavery…
I will redeem you…
I will take you to be My people…
I will be your God…
I will bring you into the land that I swore to give…
I will give it to you…

And then how does He prove He will do it?

By declaring four words that validate and confirm His authority, glory and perfect ways:

I am the Lord.

This takes on a whole new meaning when we remember that as Christians we are present day Israelites, who were at one time in slavery to sin, crushed under the pressure applied by our evil taskmaster and utterly hopeless.

But God.

The exact same God who created the rolling hills, fierce mountains, dainty snowflakes and the intricacies of your personality is the same One who wrestled with Jacob, flooded the earth, secured the rainbow and spoke through a bush completely on fire yet not consumed.

This powerful, holy, awesome God offers us the exact redemption that He offered the Israelites.

Look at this new set of promises fulfilled through Jesus’ perfect atonement:

I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes and be careful to obey My rules. (Ezekiel 36:24-27, ESV)

Those promises… they never get old. Check them out again:

I will take you from the nations and gather you … and bring you into your own land.
I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean…
From all your idols I will cleanse you…
I will give you a new heart…
A new spirit I will put within you…
I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh….
I will put My Spirit within you…
I will cause you to walk in My statutes…
I will cause you to be careful to obey My rules…

It’s interesting, once again, that there is not one single thing we do.

God does it all.

But there has to be something we do?

Yep. Jesus said it in His first sermon:

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand;
repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15, ESV)

Repent and believe.

Just like the Israelites, who finally experienced in the mass exodus from Egypt and their slavery, you can experience true freedom through the continual redemption of the One True God.

And for you, Christians, remember what this beautiful, just and righteous God has done on your behalf and may it lead you to worship, exalt and magnify Him today.

We have been redeemed from sin’s slavery!