Exodus 14: 31
And when Israel saw the great power which the Lord had used against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and they believed in the Lord and in His servant Moses.
God had shown His great power not only against the Egyptians, but also for Israel, in parting the Sea, giving them dry ground to walk on with the water standing as a wall on both sides of them as they passed through. In one night the sea-bed dried out.
But when the Egyptian army came into that path, it got so soggy for them that their chariot wheels were mired in it. Then the Sea came back over them, as it had been before; the walls of water collapsed! What a dramatic picture!
I think it was even grander than Cecil B. DeMille showed it in his old movie. The best stories have always come from God's Word.
And the people gained a great reverential respect (fear) for the Lord and His power and authority, and all their doubts left as their faith grew. And they trusted Moses as God's spokesman.
God did everything He could for His people, and won them over. But how temporary their faith turned out to be.
God has always gone to extraordinary lengths on our behalf. His love for us has to be so far beyond anything we can imagine, to have taken such wonderful care to show Himself to His people over and over again throughout all of human history on this Earth.
From walking with Adam and Eve in the Garden, to all the miracles and prophesies in the past, culminating in sending His only Son to be with us where we are, in order to complete the work necessary to cleanse us and make us fit and suitable and able to be with Him where He is with the Father. And giving us His own Spirit of Truth to live in our spirits, making them alive, to keep us faithful to Him, so we have no excuse for backsliding.
Now all the glory, all the credit for everything that is done, and all the praise and honor and riches belong only to Him, our Lord God Almighty, Creator and Maker and owner of everything that exists. And having purchased for Himself all that is under the curse, to judge and remake it all finally perfect for all eternity.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Monday, December 11, 2017
Sunday, December 10, 2017
The LORD Is No Respecter Of Persons
Exodus 12: 12
... Against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments--I am the LORD.
God is our Almighty God (El Shaddai), and the I AM (Yahweh, Jehovah), and the LORD God, Boss over all other gods, everything else that can be worshiped. Over all of the whole Universe, as its Creator.
He is the only One Who deserves our worship and adoration. And our love.
V. 49
The same Law shall apply to the native as to the stranger who sojourns among you.
God is no respecter of persons when it comes to how we live our lives in relationship with Him. He did choose one Nation, Israel, which began as just one family, to give His Law to. But He wants every Nation, every family, every person to follow His ways. When we know and follow His ways, the ways He designed this World to work, then we can enjoy the benefits this World gives. So it is for our own good to obey His precepts.
The "mystery" that was only revealed in the New Testament times is that all peoples, Nations, and languages will be included in that "one flock under one Shepherd."
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
... Against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments--I am the LORD.
God is our Almighty God (El Shaddai), and the I AM (Yahweh, Jehovah), and the LORD God, Boss over all other gods, everything else that can be worshiped. Over all of the whole Universe, as its Creator.
He is the only One Who deserves our worship and adoration. And our love.
V. 49
The same Law shall apply to the native as to the stranger who sojourns among you.
God is no respecter of persons when it comes to how we live our lives in relationship with Him. He did choose one Nation, Israel, which began as just one family, to give His Law to. But He wants every Nation, every family, every person to follow His ways. When we know and follow His ways, the ways He designed this World to work, then we can enjoy the benefits this World gives. So it is for our own good to obey His precepts.
The "mystery" that was only revealed in the New Testament times is that all peoples, Nations, and languages will be included in that "one flock under one Shepherd."
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Saturday, December 9, 2017
Teach Your Son & Your Grandson
Exodus 10: 12
And that you may tell in the hearing of your son, and of your grandson, how I made a mockery of the Egyptians, and how I performed My signs among them; that you may know that I am the Lord.
God mocked all the deities the Egyptians worshiped by showing Himself to be the Conqueror and Vanquisher of all their gods. God was showing that His power was enormously greater than any other god that was worshiped, He is Lord (Boss) over all. And we are to teach this to our children and grandchildren so they can in turn pass it on, too, how great our God is and how worthy He alone is to be worshiped and adored.
God wants us to know Him. To know Him is to respect His authority and power over all. And to know Him is to realize how much He loves us, then we will love Him back, and we will also love who He loves. This is the basis for all the Law and the Prophets (the Old Testament) as well as the teachings of the New Testament.
At this point in the time we are reading about, God had not yet given the Law to Moses. But this Law will only codify the principles God has been teaching mankind since Adam and Eve--that He loves us, but our sins deserve death, and only a blood sacrifice can atone for our sin; someone must die.
The blood of animals could only cover sins, but even that enabled God to forgive. Animals had to die to give Adam and Eve their coverings (their fig leaves, their own works, wouldn't do, and they knew this, so they hid). So mankind has known from the beginning that we deserve to die.
Soon God will give Moses the Law, and lay out the whole process of what is necessary to make mankind clean and pure to be able to withstand being in God's presence.
Then Jesus would come, and accomplish all the parameters of the Law, fulfilling all the requirements for us.
We must love our children and grandchildren enough to teach them these things, so that they, in turn, will also teach their children and grandchildren, and so on. And maybe some of them will even go out to teach others in the World, too.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
And that you may tell in the hearing of your son, and of your grandson, how I made a mockery of the Egyptians, and how I performed My signs among them; that you may know that I am the Lord.
God mocked all the deities the Egyptians worshiped by showing Himself to be the Conqueror and Vanquisher of all their gods. God was showing that His power was enormously greater than any other god that was worshiped, He is Lord (Boss) over all. And we are to teach this to our children and grandchildren so they can in turn pass it on, too, how great our God is and how worthy He alone is to be worshiped and adored.
God wants us to know Him. To know Him is to respect His authority and power over all. And to know Him is to realize how much He loves us, then we will love Him back, and we will also love who He loves. This is the basis for all the Law and the Prophets (the Old Testament) as well as the teachings of the New Testament.
At this point in the time we are reading about, God had not yet given the Law to Moses. But this Law will only codify the principles God has been teaching mankind since Adam and Eve--that He loves us, but our sins deserve death, and only a blood sacrifice can atone for our sin; someone must die.
The blood of animals could only cover sins, but even that enabled God to forgive. Animals had to die to give Adam and Eve their coverings (their fig leaves, their own works, wouldn't do, and they knew this, so they hid). So mankind has known from the beginning that we deserve to die.
Soon God will give Moses the Law, and lay out the whole process of what is necessary to make mankind clean and pure to be able to withstand being in God's presence.
Then Jesus would come, and accomplish all the parameters of the Law, fulfilling all the requirements for us.
We must love our children and grandchildren enough to teach them these things, so that they, in turn, will also teach their children and grandchildren, and so on. And maybe some of them will even go out to teach others in the World, too.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Friday, December 8, 2017
The Path To Addiction
Exodus 8 & 9
V. 8:15 The Second Plague. When Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his [own] heart...
8:19 The Third Plague. Pharaoh's heart was hardened...
8:32 The Fourth Plague. Pharaoh hardened his heart...
9:7 The Fifth Plague. The heart of Pharaoh was hardened...
9:12 The Sixth Plague. And the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart...
9:34-35 When Pharaoh saw relief, he sinned again and hardened his [own] heart [repeatedly] ... And Pharaoh's heart was hardened ... just as the Lord had spoken through Moses.
So we see Pharaoh's clear path to addiction right here. He is deciding to harden his own heart to the plight of the Hebrews, over and over again, until he's in the habit of hanging on to them; he's not able to release them, he's too dependent on them.
Since they don't seem to be getting any work done during these Plagues, this dependence Pharaoh has on them is now only in his mind; but nonetheless real. This is addiction, as anyone who has ever been addicted can testify.
Addiction is a self-imposed prison from which one cannot release himself. It takes an outside force to break out of those chains.
This Pharaoh never did decide to recognize the Israelites' God, so he was destroyed in the end. All the power he had among the Nations evaporated at that time, and Egypt has never again been a super-power in the World.
God wants to be the "outside power" that can release every addict, break every chain. That's why He sent His Son into the World, to be the Lamb of God, the blood sacrifice that will wash away all our sins.
When God came to me that day, and showed me Jesus on the Cross, I knew that He took my place there, that I deserved death, and He died for me. That's when His precious Blood washed away all my sins, all my foolish choices that left me in "chains." He was that "outside force" that overcame my addiction, and set me free.
And He wants to set you free, too, dear reader. His Blood is God's own Blood, with enough power to cleanse every sin, every stain, every fault, from every person who decides to seek Truth, the Way to God.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
V. 8:15 The Second Plague. When Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his [own] heart...
8:19 The Third Plague. Pharaoh's heart was hardened...
8:32 The Fourth Plague. Pharaoh hardened his heart...
9:7 The Fifth Plague. The heart of Pharaoh was hardened...
9:12 The Sixth Plague. And the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart...
9:34-35 When Pharaoh saw relief, he sinned again and hardened his [own] heart [repeatedly] ... And Pharaoh's heart was hardened ... just as the Lord had spoken through Moses.
So we see Pharaoh's clear path to addiction right here. He is deciding to harden his own heart to the plight of the Hebrews, over and over again, until he's in the habit of hanging on to them; he's not able to release them, he's too dependent on them.
Since they don't seem to be getting any work done during these Plagues, this dependence Pharaoh has on them is now only in his mind; but nonetheless real. This is addiction, as anyone who has ever been addicted can testify.
Addiction is a self-imposed prison from which one cannot release himself. It takes an outside force to break out of those chains.
This Pharaoh never did decide to recognize the Israelites' God, so he was destroyed in the end. All the power he had among the Nations evaporated at that time, and Egypt has never again been a super-power in the World.
God wants to be the "outside power" that can release every addict, break every chain. That's why He sent His Son into the World, to be the Lamb of God, the blood sacrifice that will wash away all our sins.
When God came to me that day, and showed me Jesus on the Cross, I knew that He took my place there, that I deserved death, and He died for me. That's when His precious Blood washed away all my sins, all my foolish choices that left me in "chains." He was that "outside force" that overcame my addiction, and set me free.
And He wants to set you free, too, dear reader. His Blood is God's own Blood, with enough power to cleanse every sin, every stain, every fault, from every person who decides to seek Truth, the Way to God.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Thursday, December 7, 2017
Addiction And Freedom
Exodus 5:2
But Pharaoh said, "Who is the Lord? ... I do not know the Lord ..."
And their labors increased.
7:13 Yet Pharaoh's heart was hardened."
And the Nile and all fresh water became blood--polluted.
Pharaoh is hardening his own heart against letting his labor force go. God said that He would harden his heart (4:23), but He's letting Pharaoh harden his own heart first.
By his own choice against Israel, repeated several times, he is going into what we today call addiction, when its no longer a choice; that's when God will be further hardening his heart.
Whatever we give ourselves to, our own choice, becomes a master over us as its slave; addiction, compulsion. Slaves have no means of freeing themselves--it must be some "third party" entering the picture to break that hold.
Both the addict today and the Israelites in slavery back then need that outside force to break the chains.
God is that outside influence Who reaches in and frees the slave. He freed me from my relationship addiction when He let me know that Jesus took my place in death, and gave me His own Holy Spirit to live in my spirit, making it alive with that New Life. That's why Jesus called it being "born again."
And He freed His people from slavery to the Egyptians.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
But Pharaoh said, "Who is the Lord? ... I do not know the Lord ..."
And their labors increased.
7:13 Yet Pharaoh's heart was hardened."
And the Nile and all fresh water became blood--polluted.
Pharaoh is hardening his own heart against letting his labor force go. God said that He would harden his heart (4:23), but He's letting Pharaoh harden his own heart first.
By his own choice against Israel, repeated several times, he is going into what we today call addiction, when its no longer a choice; that's when God will be further hardening his heart.
Whatever we give ourselves to, our own choice, becomes a master over us as its slave; addiction, compulsion. Slaves have no means of freeing themselves--it must be some "third party" entering the picture to break that hold.
Both the addict today and the Israelites in slavery back then need that outside force to break the chains.
God is that outside influence Who reaches in and frees the slave. He freed me from my relationship addiction when He let me know that Jesus took my place in death, and gave me His own Holy Spirit to live in my spirit, making it alive with that New Life. That's why Jesus called it being "born again."
And He freed His people from slavery to the Egyptians.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Wednesday, December 6, 2017
"Eyes On The Prize"
Exodus 4: 20
Moses also took the staff of God in his hand.
It's not Moses' staff any more, it's the "staff of God" with which he is to perform God's mighty works. He won't need it for shepherding sheep any more!
Exodus 5: 22-23
Why did You ever send me? Ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your Name, he has done harm to this people; You've not delivered Your people at all!
Things have gone from bad to worse. Moses is still in the middle of this drama, and he isn't focused on what God told him would be the end--that He would kill Pharaoh's son.
God didn't explain the whole process; Moses had to deal with all that as it came.
God doesn't tell me about all the bumps in my road, either. So as I am in the midst of things going from bad to worse in my life, instead of looking at the mess, I want to focus on the end, what God has promised me.
I know that God always keeps His promises. I also know that adversity can strengthen my dependence on Him (what doesn't kill me makes me stronger!). I just hope that I am responding (in the Spirit), not reacting (in my flesh), to all the pitfalls and problems I encounter on the road I'm traversing.
I've read "the last chapter" of how everything will end up for me, and I know that I will win, "by the Blood of the Lamb and the word of [my] testimony."
O my Father, help me to keep my "eyes on the prize," the reward You have promised to all who "love His appearing" and have been washed in the Blood.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Moses also took the staff of God in his hand.
It's not Moses' staff any more, it's the "staff of God" with which he is to perform God's mighty works. He won't need it for shepherding sheep any more!
Exodus 5: 22-23
Why did You ever send me? Ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your Name, he has done harm to this people; You've not delivered Your people at all!
Things have gone from bad to worse. Moses is still in the middle of this drama, and he isn't focused on what God told him would be the end--that He would kill Pharaoh's son.
God didn't explain the whole process; Moses had to deal with all that as it came.
God doesn't tell me about all the bumps in my road, either. So as I am in the midst of things going from bad to worse in my life, instead of looking at the mess, I want to focus on the end, what God has promised me.
I know that God always keeps His promises. I also know that adversity can strengthen my dependence on Him (what doesn't kill me makes me stronger!). I just hope that I am responding (in the Spirit), not reacting (in my flesh), to all the pitfalls and problems I encounter on the road I'm traversing.
I've read "the last chapter" of how everything will end up for me, and I know that I will win, "by the Blood of the Lamb and the word of [my] testimony."
O my Father, help me to keep my "eyes on the prize," the reward You have promised to all who "love His appearing" and have been washed in the Blood.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Tuesday, December 5, 2017
Choosing Which Life To Live
Exodus 1
V. 8 Now a new king (Pharaoh) arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph.
This "new king" was not in the lineage of the "old king" whose family were all well acquainted with the stories of how Joseph had saved them all from starvation, their hero.
Now this "new king" came from somewhere else, and he just saw how this one family of foreigners seemed to be spreading out over the whole land. So through fear of their possibly aligning with an enemy, he decided to try to reduce their numbers by killing all the boys. We could call it: selective after-birth abortion.
Exodus 2
During this time when the Egyptians were wanting to kill all the male infants, Moses was born. So his mother hid him to keep him alive. Then when he was three months old, she put him in the papyrus basket among the reeds in the River Nile, with his sister Miriam watching to see what would happen to him.
And Pharaoh's daughter came down to bathe in the river and saw the basket floating there. When she opened it, the baby was crying, and she had pity on him.
When Miriam saw her response, she boldly stepped up and offered to find a nursing mother to feed him for her.
vs. 8b-9 So the girl went and called the child's mother. Then Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this child and nurse him for me, and I shall give you your wages." So the woman took the child and nursed him.
This is incredible. Not only does Jocabed get her son back, but is even being paid to care for him! So she was also able to teach him of his people, who he was, and of God. So by the time he was about 5 years old, he went back to Pharaoh's house to be taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians, to be groomed to be the next Pharaoh.
So Moses had a serious choice to make: would he go with the flow and the high living and be Pharaoh over the most powerful nation of the day; or would he remember what his mother taught him when he was a toddler?
This is a choice that would determine his whole life.
So how did he choose? It looks to me that he wanted the best of both worlds (see vs. 11-12).
Jesus told us that if we want to hold on to our lives, we will lose them (Matthew 10:39, Mark 8:35, Luke 17:33, and John 12:25). So when Moses took action according to his own thinking, he ended up losing both his Egyptian privileges and any place he would have had among his Hebrew people (vs. 13-15).
Now we find Moses out in the desert, living in a foreign land, marrying the daughter of the local priest; a man of no nation.
How often do I choose to do what would hang on to my life and my isolation, when I could just as well choose to do something new, to expand my horizons. When I just think of myself, I end up more isolated than ever. But when I reach out to others, loving others the way I'm commanded to do, putting their needs ahead of my own; that's when I realize more joy and satisfaction, rejoicing in the good in others' lives.
Moses had a lot to learn, and God took His time teaching him. He had been taught all the latest technologies and theories and theologies of the most advanced culture of the day, and he was also taught how the real God chose his biological family. Now he needs to learn that he is not some celebrity or powerful politician, but just an ordinary man, a shepherd, doing ordinary things. And it took about forty years for him to get it down.
O my Father, I do hope You don't need that long to teach me who I really am in You, to where I am ready to go out into this big, wide world, as Your servant, and do the task You will assign to me to accomplish for the furtherance of Your great Kingdom. Here I am, Lord, send me!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
V. 8 Now a new king (Pharaoh) arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph.
This "new king" was not in the lineage of the "old king" whose family were all well acquainted with the stories of how Joseph had saved them all from starvation, their hero.
Now this "new king" came from somewhere else, and he just saw how this one family of foreigners seemed to be spreading out over the whole land. So through fear of their possibly aligning with an enemy, he decided to try to reduce their numbers by killing all the boys. We could call it: selective after-birth abortion.
Exodus 2
During this time when the Egyptians were wanting to kill all the male infants, Moses was born. So his mother hid him to keep him alive. Then when he was three months old, she put him in the papyrus basket among the reeds in the River Nile, with his sister Miriam watching to see what would happen to him.
And Pharaoh's daughter came down to bathe in the river and saw the basket floating there. When she opened it, the baby was crying, and she had pity on him.
When Miriam saw her response, she boldly stepped up and offered to find a nursing mother to feed him for her.
vs. 8b-9 So the girl went and called the child's mother. Then Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this child and nurse him for me, and I shall give you your wages." So the woman took the child and nursed him.
This is incredible. Not only does Jocabed get her son back, but is even being paid to care for him! So she was also able to teach him of his people, who he was, and of God. So by the time he was about 5 years old, he went back to Pharaoh's house to be taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians, to be groomed to be the next Pharaoh.
So Moses had a serious choice to make: would he go with the flow and the high living and be Pharaoh over the most powerful nation of the day; or would he remember what his mother taught him when he was a toddler?
This is a choice that would determine his whole life.
So how did he choose? It looks to me that he wanted the best of both worlds (see vs. 11-12).
Jesus told us that if we want to hold on to our lives, we will lose them (Matthew 10:39, Mark 8:35, Luke 17:33, and John 12:25). So when Moses took action according to his own thinking, he ended up losing both his Egyptian privileges and any place he would have had among his Hebrew people (vs. 13-15).
Now we find Moses out in the desert, living in a foreign land, marrying the daughter of the local priest; a man of no nation.
How often do I choose to do what would hang on to my life and my isolation, when I could just as well choose to do something new, to expand my horizons. When I just think of myself, I end up more isolated than ever. But when I reach out to others, loving others the way I'm commanded to do, putting their needs ahead of my own; that's when I realize more joy and satisfaction, rejoicing in the good in others' lives.
Moses had a lot to learn, and God took His time teaching him. He had been taught all the latest technologies and theories and theologies of the most advanced culture of the day, and he was also taught how the real God chose his biological family. Now he needs to learn that he is not some celebrity or powerful politician, but just an ordinary man, a shepherd, doing ordinary things. And it took about forty years for him to get it down.
O my Father, I do hope You don't need that long to teach me who I really am in You, to where I am ready to go out into this big, wide world, as Your servant, and do the task You will assign to me to accomplish for the furtherance of Your great Kingdom. Here I am, Lord, send me!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
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