Bible Red Thread 6: A Liberation from Bondage (Exodus 1-15)

Bible Red Thread 6: A Liberation from Bondage (Exodus 1 -15)

Good resolutions are not enough: Since Abraham, we know that God proposes the restoration of man’s broken relationship with Him. As long as man decides to trust God. Simple, right? But, unlike God – who has been faithful to mankind since the beginning of recorded history – mankind seems to have a serious problem trusting God. Despite God’s repeated warnings, Abraham, then his son Isaac, and his grandson Jacob, systematically seek refuge in the land of Egypt during difficult times in their lives. The family eventually settled there permanently. It prospers there; thanks to God’s blessing and in accordance with His promises, the family grows in a few centuries from 70 individuals to a people of approximately two million individuals. The Pharaoh at the time they were numerous feels his power threatened by this innumerable people,

Independence from God leads to slavery These difficulties do not change the sovereign and perfect plan of God: he has already prepared a promised land for the descendants of Abraham (Genesis 15:16). However, God uses the history of his people as an example: to choose to separate from God is to be doomed to slavery, and its an impasse from which one cannot free oneself! Liberation from the yoke of slavery requires, no more and no less, a miraculous intervention from God. Thus, the bondage of humanity – which seeks to remain independent, separate from God – cannot be broken without miraculous divine intervention.

A miraculous release: The last scourge that God inflicts on Egypt – the death of all the firstborn, human and animal – recalls the inevitable judgment that all men deserve. But like the days of Noah, God offers them a solution so that they have a chance to escape His just judgment (Exodus 12 ):

• Any family that decides to trust God must choose a male lamb, in good health, one year old. After taking his life, the blood is collected to be affixed on the doorposts and lintels of his house. It is a public act of commitment to God.

• The night during which the plague takes place, each family shelters in its house, marked with the blood of the lamb, as a sign of confidence in God’s protection. 

• It is also a time during which the people actively prepare (dressing up) for their liberation.

A message from generation to generation: This rescue plan from God is so fundamental that it establishes a law for his people, stipulating the annual commemoration of this event, from generation to generation. In one day, the little story of the people of God will spill over into the great story of mankind’s rescue plan, in an extraordinarily similar way. Therefore, God asks his people three times to observe this day aside, like a signpost now planted for eternity. This day is a celebration because it serves to remember the liberation from a long servitude, from which two million people could not extract themselves alone. This festival is perpetuated from generation to generation. Thus, we will always tell how God miraculously freed his people, because they chose to trust and obey Him.

Finding a pure man: Through God’s intervention in Egypt, God indicates to his people the way in which he intends to save humanity; by substituting the guilty with the innocent, whose blood must flow… What individual pure and irreproachable enough has God provided, so that, by his perfection, he can save his fellow men?

REFLECTION Do we have any trace in the history of humanity of an innocent, pure, sacrificed in place of the guilty, whose blood flows to save man?

Posted by the evangelical church Action Biblique Renens-Lausanne

Related Links / Notes

Bible Study: Red Thread through the Bible

Study Notes are translated from the original French and available in the online magazine  TaJeunesse (literlly “Your Youth”). The orginal texts are magazine articles. The texts provided here follow that form and include some of the images from the magazine, and help provide a deep understanding of the main themes of the Bible.

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