The exodus marked a new beginning for the people of Israel. Their emancipation would foster a deeper relationship with God, they would be given the 10 commandments and cause for rejoicing.
Likewise, we too share in this rejoicing because in having been given these commandments the Lord teaches us with love how to harness our lives in the manner in which we should live to spare us from the grievous and sinful paths.
Redemption and forgiveness: Our new beginning derives from the deliverance from our death in Egypt and from the world. The Lord’s love finds us from among the far away places and brings us back to him. His perfect love offers us the opportunity to redeem ourselves from sin and disobedience. He sees us through the difficulties of this world to bring us to our promised land.
Hosea 11
“When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
2. As they called them, so they went from them; they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burdened incense to graven images.
3. I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms; but they knew not that I healed them.
4. I drew them with cords of a man, with hands of love;and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them.
5. He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to return.”
In Remembrance: We must honor the Lord throughout the generations with remembrance of his mercy for us. When we were captives of our bondage he loved us and mercifully has come to deliver us from spiritual death. Let his greatness never be forgotten. We should teach our children to embrace him and his goodness so that they too will live in peace all the days of their lives.
Moses’ appointing by God was instrumental to the Exodus, he was hand selected by God to lead his people out of Egypt.
The enemy has in the past and probably will continue to do so until the Lord’s return , try to eliminate and silence God’s church. Like a wild fire, with every sweeping movement of the enemy, we will spread out and continue to burn with his spirit inside us. We will burn bright in the darkness and we will be recognized as his by the things that we do.
This was certainly the circumstances at the time of Moses’ birth and throughout his life in Egypt.
During the time of persecution in Egypt, the murder of male infants was ordered to eliminate a political threat. The threat was only in the mind of the Pharaoh, but even so, many innocent children were slain.
This would not be the only time infants were to be murdered, many years later around the birth of our Lord Yeshua, Herod would order the death of many children from the age of two and under.
For the very same reason, he too was afraid of the kingdom that was to be established through the messiah. Nevertheless, God spared Moses’ life in the heart of Egypt through the daughter of pharaoh who took mercy on the infant found in the river in a basket. She raised him as his own and Moses was afforded the best education, upbringing and all the fine things in life.
God made sure that no harm came to Moses so that he would be strong and knowledgeable and able to handle the challenges that were ahead of him because he had received the training to lead and to make good decisions. That however , was based on Moses’ own merit and not necessarily on the wisdom that God would later bestow on him.
**God prepares us for the things he has preordained and the calling on our life through experiences and events in our life. Not to punish us, but to teach us and shape us , ultimately for what it is he wants us to
accomplish for his glory.
God’s legacy began with the en-parting of his commandments, but only came to full fruition at the crucification and resurrection. God selected Moses to be his instrument through which he would free his people. He placed him in the lap of Egypt’s luxury to be groomed and prepared for the task that beheld him.
Even though Moses would later commit murder in slaying an Egyptian for the maltreatment of his brethren, he would still find favor with God and bring about the execution of God’s judgment upon pharaoh for imprisoning the Israelites, lead the exodus and establish a covenant between Israel and God.
That particular act Moses committed however remains with him, it changes him, it takes something from him. The enemy of Christ will stop at nothing to derail his chosen from the path that they should take. He was no longer bold as he had been prior to that moment, he feared and was withdrawn.
But God used that sin and turned his humility into a building stone onto which to cultivate a relationship with Moses that would yield an unprecedented amount of faith. The faith required to do extraordinary things.
When the enemy tried to destroy Moses’ path to righteousness in God; God understood and was able to draw Moses from his bondage.
Lamentably, Moses himself created a weakness within himself that would later cause him to doubt. Although he loved the Lord he doubted himself on more than one occasion, something that angered God. We have nothing to fear in God;he blesses us with gift and ability, strength and character, destroyed for his purpose. Yet God brought him and the Israelites out of Egypt.
It was clear that even though Moses had been redeemed in his relationship with the Lord, and Israel with him; the absolution and declaration for freedom from the wages of their sin would not be washed away but for the blood of the lamb.
Yet in moses’ humility and faithfulness much was done by God to accomplish his will in bringing Israel back to his side.
The sinfulness of man requires forgiveness and renewal, we are born into this world that because of the disobedience in the garden causes us to have to confront our sinful nature that we cannot overcome on our own strength. A salvation that is only found through faith and the fulfillment of the will of God.
In fact this becomes evident that although the Israelites were witness to the manifestation of God’s power through the faith and obedience of moses, still faltered in the wilderness because they did not know God.
They had not yet developed the deep intimate knowledge of God as moses had, they were unaware of the significance of their deliverance from Egypt because during the time that moses was on top of mount Sinai they in their emptiness and disparity committed idolatry because there was no faith.
However, instead of abandoning his people God empowers them through the commandments and while there was still no redemption through absolution , their salvation would be determined by grace.
We ourselves much like Moses have also been redeemed and bought from our bondsmen with the price of the lamb of God, yet like the Israelites we fail to realize we have been set free from the captivity of sin and death, we remain bruised.
He brings his people out of Egypt, and still they worship other gods. He has delivered them from their bondage and brought them to their land, only to be forgotten. They continued several times to disobey him and found themselves in the bondage of their sin and disobedience at the hands of their enemies and their tormentors. Each time Israel has fallen away from their “first love” they put themselves under bondage yet again. When salvation has found you, it is like finding your soul-mate, you don’t need to keep looking; you have already found your mainstay. Israel fought against God and it is not until our personal encounter with him that we begin to see and experience our deliverance. While we may grow up in the faith and understand it, until we walk with him, we will never change our path. We will continue in the errors of our past and continue to commit them and even hand them down to the next generations. Like Israel, who was filled with tradition and with ceremony, their deeds were empty because the faith behind the things that they were doing was not to be found in their hearts. They separated themselves from God in that they were no longer kept his commandments, defiling themselves with the pagan world around them. The importance that we should be imparting to the next generations is a deep love and obedience for God. Not simply commemorating these days of the spring feast as obligation and symbol of our faith, but the truth about our deliverance of sin. That while we live in a sinful world we are to remain strong in him and undergo a renewal of mind and spirit, doing away with our sinful nature acquired here and allowing him to transform us.
We must remember to keep his commandments and honor him through the commemoration of the passover.
Proverbs 6:20/21
“My son, keep thy father’s commandment , and forsake not the law of thy mother: Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck.”
The applicability and importance of God’s wisdom though his commandments and through the gospels is denoted here in this passage. We should never stray for the statues the Lord has presented us with. We are called to fulfill his commandments, not as an obligation, the Lord gives us free will and it is in our choosing him that he delights that we should be drawn to him because of our faith rather than traditional empty works void of faith.
His commandments were created to aide in our salvation, for the benefit of man and for the honor of God’s name; a component critical to understanding that lights our path. To fear and love the Lord with all your might; with every fiber of your being so that faith at the time of judgment either at our death or at the final judgment will not be void of his righteousness. Honor the Lord because it is good, living our lives in full submission to the Lord and to teach his commandments to the new generations that they may not be lost or forgotten.
Deuteronomy 11, specifically Deuteronomy 11:19 places value on the exultation of the Lord and directs that we should educate the younger generations, least they forget what he has done adopting the customs of the pagan.
Deuteronomy 11:19
“ And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down and when thou risest up.”
Exodus 13:14
“And it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What is this? That thou shalt say unto him, By strength of hand the LORD brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage.”
One of the many of the determining factors that will contribute to the way your child sees the reason for abiding by God’s statutes and in having a relationship with God comes from the kind of leadership with which you teach him or her. The significance of an intimate relationship in which you worship and give thanks for the blessings in your life. Demonstrated in the moments when you are unsure and afraid and you sustain yourself through your reliance in God. When you turn to God in faith and speak honestly with him about the troubles in your life, so that when his magnificence is materialized after he brings you to victory over the moments of tribulation in your life.
Just as importantly is the times when you honor the Lord through prayer, through keeping his commandments and how you lead your life and treat others; but perhaps the most important of all these is when you lead them to Christ through his word. We must have and demonstrate blind faith in our lives, but we must also witness to them. Faith comes through hearing the word of God, read it to them, talk to them about it, question their understanding and never be ashamed to wear your faith proudly. Cultivate a love, a passion for understanding and for pleasing the Lord; so that when they do leave your presence and enter into the world that is awaiting them with both good and wonderment as well as sin and pain, they are not bewildered or deceived.
Children are a reflection of their parents and if we say we love the Lord we should live as if we do, so that they may see in us the reflection of Christ. We are not perfect, we will make mistakes, but we are not alone. There will be times of difficulty, times when we worry about them, times when we question our own abilities; but remember that they belong to him. That is why it is critical that in their formative years, we assist them in learning about God. Their personal relationship with Yeshua will shape who they become, his love is all encompassing and buts them at the advantage that adults don’t have. The difficult obstacles that he or she will be faced with will be different than ours sometimes. The instruction that we give our children pertaining the keeping of his commandments will lead them through them. Giving them a strong foundation rooted in faith will make them unmovable in face of the world’s devices. That however, does not exclude us from the responsibility we have to God in the way we should live. We only have them for a short time, use it wisely to raise them with love and admonition of the Lord and we must trust in him. Thread a strong belief and trust of the Lord in their hearts.
Children learn to love from their parents, the relationship they garner form them will dictate how they will react to other relationships they will encounter throughout their lives. Our relationship with the Lord is no different and often times God has had to undo the many problems his children bring to him. We are disobedient, we often disregard the warnings that are given to us and when we get in trouble for doing so; we quickly run to him looking for the answer. He is always waiting for us to ask for help. The enemy of Christ will often try to place hardship up against God’s children to get them to fall away, but we must remain faithful. He has limited ability in our lives and absolutely no authority, but so many times we all have faltered and abandoned him in order to fulfill our own selfish desires. You don’t have to teach a child to be selfish, the sinful nature of the world makes it easy for him or her to do. We are no different. No one has to instruct us how to be disobedient, in the natural we already are.
Many times in the bible his children Israel has forgotten him and became unfaithful and disobedient. Despite having been given instruction, they refused time and time again to abandon sin and separate themselves from the influence of this world. It is in this disobedience that their castigation comes as the protection from God is lifted and they are left to their own devices. We are no different, individually and as a whole; both spiritual and physical Israel. Ignoring the lessons we have been taught by our father we continue to fall prey to the world at her behest.
Lord’s word and his commandments will endure the test of time, and they apply today as they did when Moses presented them to the Israelites.
Deuteronomy 10:12
“And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all they soul.”
Deuteronomy 9 ( refer and read this chapter)
Much of the hardships that Israel suffered was do to the disobedience of God’s people; but the Lord uses those situations, much like in our own lives to bring us closer to him and remind us of what he has done.
Our Call To Obedience
Exodus 20:1-6, 20:7-17
1. “And God spake all these words, saying,
2. I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee our of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
4. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven images, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
5. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
6. And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.”
The respect and love we have for the Lord is the driving force to not only keep his commandments but to honor the Lord in keeping with our duty to love one an other and to fulfill his purpose. To give importance to the respective calling on our lives by the Lord.
Exodus 13: 3,8- 10
3.” And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the LORD brought you out from this place: there shall no leavened bread be eaten.”
8. And thou shalt show thy son in that day, saying, This is done because of which the LORD did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt.
9. And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the LORD’s law may be in they mouth: for with a strong hand hath the LORD brought thee out of Egypt.
10. Thou shalt therefore keep this ordinance in his season form year to year.”
Moses like most of God’s chosen, was given a task, which he completed in Egypt but left undone in other areas because he disobeyed the Lord’s direction. When Moses rendered his calling, the Lord appointed someone else in his place who perhaps was greater in trust.
That’s not to say that Moses failed the Lord but he was overcome by his limitations. The enemy of Christ is very resourceful in this area, he would love nothing more for us to not to heed our calling and will stop at nothing to rob our spirit of hope and faith. God overcomes all that is in the way because he is all knowing and his knowledge is beyond anything the prince of this world creates. To hinder those who are appointed.
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