Transcript & Slides: Exodus: From Slavery to Liberty
Exodus: From Slavery to Liberty
By David Feddes
The exodus of Israel from Egypt is one of the most exciting and amazing stories in all the world. It's also one of the most important stories in the entire Bible—the most fundamental story in many ways of the entire Old Testament. This deliverance of Israel from Egypt, and its creation as a people set apart to God, and of a people who are brought over to a Promised Land from that slavery, is fundamental. The Old Testament also forms the pattern for the New Testament revelation of deliverance from Satan's tyranny, from the power and grip of sin, and being set free and on pilgrimage towards the Promised Land. We're going to look at the book of Exodus, and particularly the exodus from Egypt, and some of its meanings still for us today.
The people of Israel served in Egypt for a very long time as slaves. They were among the slaves who helped to build some of the great projects in Egypt that sometimes tourists like to admire. But those who had to build them had a rather different view of them. They were subjected to bitter slave labor. These people had been taught that their ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, had been chosen by the Lord. So they cried out to the Lord in their misery.
God called Moses to be their rescuer. God sent Moses to Pharaoh, and Moses proclaimed, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘Let my people go’” (Exodus 5:1).
What did Pharaoh say? “I do not know the Lord, and I will not let Israel go” (Exodus 5:2). Pharaoh did not know the Lord, but he got a very, very painful introduction as the Lord sent one plague after another after another against Pharaoh. At first, his magicians would duplicate certain aspects of a plague, and Pharaoh would just ignore and write it off. After a while, however, they couldn't get rid of these plagues, and Pharaoh had to ask Moses to remove the plague from him.
Again and again, Pharaoh promised, “If you only get rid of the plague, I'll let you go.” But then he wouldn't. And he would even negotiate. He'd ask, “Just who's going to go?” And Moses would say, “All of us.” Pharaoh would say, “No, no, I’ll let the men go, but not the wives and the children” (Exodus 10:8–11). Satan likes to negotiate and keep your family and make your deliverance a purely individual thing. Then Pharaoh would say, “What are you' going to take with you? You can go yourselves, but leave your cattle and your possessions and property behind.” Moses replied, “We're taking everything along. We're not leaving even a hoof behind” (Exodus 10:24–26). Pharaoh keeps trying to negotiate and finagle and keep from losing as much as possible. But God keeps sending plagues.
Finally God sends the worst plague of all. He instructs his people to slaughter a lamb for each household and put the blood of the lamb around the door of their homes. The blood of the lamb would serve as a sign to protect them from the destroyer (Exodus 12:1–13). Many years later, a Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world would protect his people from the destroyer (John 1:29). At any rate, God sent that destroyer throughout the land of Egypt, and the firstborn sons of the land of Egypt were killed in that tenth plague (Exodus 12:29). Finally, Pharaoh gave the order to allow the people of Israel to leave the land of Egypt. So they left.
But Pharaoh changed his mind. He decided he wanted to bring the people of Israel back after all, or else kill them. So he came after them with his army. The great pillar of fire, the presence of God, would protect the people of Israel at night. And it would be a pillar of cloud by day that stood between them and the Egyptian army (Exodus 13:21–22; 14:19–20).
Eventually the people are trapped at the Red Sea. It seems Pharaoh has got them. They've got nowhere to go. The people panic and cry out against Moses. And Moses says, “Just stand still and see the deliverance of your God” (Exodus 14:13). Moses raises his staff, and God sends a great east wind and a mighty miracle. He splits the Red Sea and parts its waters so that the people are able to walk through on dry ground (Exodus 14:21–22).
Pharaoh is a very slow learner. He sends his army into the sea after the people of Israel. After the people of Israel make it through the sea, God sends the water back over the top of the Egyptian army and destroys that entire army under the water (Exodus 14:26–28).
Maybe you've heard the story of a person who was told a boy, “We've done some research and found that there really wasn't that much water. The sea was probably just a little low at that point, and the people of Israel were able to wade through it—only about six inches of water or so—so that was no great miracle.” The boy replied, “Wow! What an awesome miracle! It's even bigger than I thought. God drowned a whole army in six inches of water.”
Actually, things happened the way the Bible says: "Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side… The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground… The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh… the people feared the LORD and put their trust in him. (Exodus 14) They were set free. What a miracle!
God gives freedom!
There's an amusing moment when Pharaoh and his officials say, “What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services” (Exodus 14:5). Did they let them go? Did they give them their freedom? Hadn't God sent ten terrible plagues, including the final one that destroyed the firstborn? The Egyptians didn't didn't give the Israelites freedom. Their fingers were pried off one at a time until all ten fingers were pried off. The gods of Egypt had been utterly humiliated and defeated.
God brought his people out. God set them free. It was not Pharaoh who gave them freedom. Remember what the magicians said to Pharaoh? They said, “This is the finger of God” (Exodus 8:19). God himself said, “I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am Yahweh; I am the Lord” (Exodus 12:12).
God gave instructions for the Passover, that great feast that the Israelites were to observe every year throughout all the years leading up to the time of Jesus himself. Even Jesus himself kept the Passover (Luke 22:15). God gave this instruction for Passover: “In days to come, when your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ say to him, ‘With a mighty hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery’” (Exodus 13:14). The fundamental feast, the religious feast of the Israelites for thousands of years up to this day, is the Passover, the festival for remembering how God set them free.
What was God's motive in all this? Covenant love. Moses, inspired by God, explained,
The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands. But those who hate him he will repay to their face by destruction. (Deuteronomy 7:7-10)
God rescued the people of Israel because of his love, his promised covenant of love that he made first to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and then with their descendants.
In all these great events of the exodus, God was displaying that there is nobody like him, and there is no privilege so great as to be his people. As King David later put it,
How great you are, O Sovereign LORD! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears. And who is like your people Israel--the one nation on earth that God went out to redeem as a people for himself, and to make a name for himself, and to perform great and awesome wonders by driving out nations and their gods from before your people, whom you redeemed from Egypt? You have established your people Israel as your very own forever, and you, O LORD, have become their God. (2 Samuel 7:22-24).
What a God, and what a privilege to be his people!
Act like you were freed
Not only is the exodus the basis for glorifying God and being his people, but it is the basis for God's Ten Commandments. In Exodus 20:2, God gives this statement as the basis on which he expects obedience from his people. He says, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” That's why you should have no other gods before me—because of all that I've done for you. That's why you should follow my commands—because I rescued you from that bitter land of slavery and brought you out into the freedom of knowing me and living by my good rules.
In the other version of the Ten Commandments, Deuteronomy chapter 5, the rescue from Egypt is given as the grounds for Israel to keep the Sabbath day. God says,
Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. (Deuteronomy 5:13-15)
In Egypt, you were part of an unending rat race. You worked and worked. 24 hours a day, seven days a week, you worked. And now that you've been rescued, why would you go on working 24/7? Why would you lay burdens on those who work for you to work 24/7? You were rescued from Egypt; you need to take some rest and some time to enjoy the freedom you've been given. And you have to give your employees, and even the animals who work for you, some freedom to enjoy not being slaves all the time. And so, the basis for that great Sabbath commandment is the deliverance from Egypt.
It's also the basis for not oppressing other people.
If a fellow Hebrew, a man or a woman, sells himself to you and serves you six years, in the seventh year you must let him go free. And when you release him, do not send him away empty-handed… Give to him as the Lord your God has blessed you. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you. That is why I give you this command today. (Deuteronomy 15:12–15)
You couldn't let your brothers go into perpetual slavery. You could let them work for you for a while to pay off a debt, but then you had to set them free again. Because you were rescued from slavery in Egypt; you had no right to enslave others.
You had no right to exploit people who were disadvantaged, who were not strong or wealthy. “Do not deprive the alien or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you from there. That is why I command you to do this. (Deuteronomy 24:18).
So again, and again, and again, they were reminded: you were slaves in Egypt, and God redeemed you from that. Now act like it. Enjoy the freedom he's given you, and treat others in the way God has treated you.
Freedom through Jesus
In the coming of Jesus himself, we see that this exodus—this release, this freeing from slavery—is why Jesus came. When Jesus announced the purpose of his coming, here's what he said: “God has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed” (Luke 4:18). Jesus said, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36).
Regarding his enemies, Jesus said, “If it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Luke 11:20). There are worse enemies than Pharaoh—the demons themselves. Some of those demons were working behind the false gods of Egypt, and God defeated them back in that day. When Jesus came, he defeated the demons by the finger of God himself, because the finger of Jesus is the finger of God.
Jesus has redeemed us from those hostile spiritual forces, just as God redeemed Israel from Egypt. “We were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world. But when the set time had fully come,” says Paul in Galatians 4, “God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship” (Galatians 4:3–5). God rescued us from slavery and made us his own children. What a gift!
Never agree with the Enemy
But having said all that, don't think the enemy just quits and goes away. What happened when God sent the ten plagues on Egypt and when Pharaoh finally said, “Okay, you can go”? Well, very shortly after God took his people away from Pharaoh, Pharaoh wanted them back. “The Egyptians—all Pharaoh's horses and chariots, horsemen, and troops—pursued the Israelites and overtook them” (Exodus 14:9). And even after Jesus’ victory over Satan, “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Satan doesn't just give up. He still wants to enslave you or destroy you. Don't allow him to do so.
What did the people of Israel do? Well, when they first saw Pharaoh coming after them with his armies, they were terrified. “Didn't we say to you in Egypt,” they said to Moses, “leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians. It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert” (Exodus 14:12). Their hearts are agreeing with their slavery. They've been enslaved to fear, and whenever they're scared, they say, “Oh, we should have just stuck with our slavery.”
In Hebrews chapter 2, we read that “by Jesus’ death, he destroyed him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and freed those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death” (Hebrews 2:14–15). You see, they were afraid of death back at the time of Pharaoh, and they were held in slavery by that fear. And up until the resurrection of Jesus, all of humanity was enslaved to fear of death. Only with Jesus’ victory over death can we look say, “Death is still an enemy, but it is a defeated enemy, thanks to our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Now, when you've been delivered from an enemy, when you've been delivered from the grip of Satan himself, then don't ever agree with him. Satan will try to tell you, “You're still mine. I've still got you. You still need to do what I say.”
Think of it this way. After the American Revolution, the war for independence, when Britain was defeated and the United States became an independent nation, suppose you were an American citizen at that point, and an old sympathizer of the British came up to you and said, “You need to pay your taxes.” This guy had been a tax official of the old regime, and he says, “You need to give me the taxes that you owe to King George.” Now, what are you going to do? You say, “I don't belong to King George anymore. King George is not my king. He's been defeated. He has no claim on me. I'm not giving King George anything.” That would be the right way to respond if you are an independent citizen of a nation that had defeated King George.
When it comes to Satan, you need to learn to do the same thing. When Satan tries to tempt you, to get his hooks back into you, to get his hold on you, you say, “I'm not yours anymore. I don't belong to you. You're not my ruler. You may be the ruler of some, but you're not my ruler anymore, because I belong to Jesus.” In Jesus, you have a new citizenship. You have a new status. As the Scripture says in Colossians 1:13–14, “He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” You have that new citizenship, that new status, so never agree with your defeated enemy.
In The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, the evil sorcerer Saruman gets defeated, but he still tries to do damage. The people are warned, “Do not believe Saruman! He has lost all power, save his voice that can still deceive you, if you let it.” He doesn't actually have the power to get you like he says he does. But if you listen to him, if you agree with him, if you believe him—well, then he can still do a lot of damage.Satan can gain harm you only if you believe his lies. Here are some of Satan's lies: “This life is all there is. Death is the end.” Don't believe it. Don't agree with that. Satan will say, “You can't change. You can't get rid of that sinful habit. That's just who you are. You'll never be any different.” That's a lie. Don't agree with it. If you belong to Jesus, Jesus gives you power to change. He puts the life of God right within you. Don't believe any lie that says otherwise.
Satan will say, “Everybody’s out to get you. You can't trust anybody. You really can't count on anybody.” That's not true. People have many flaws, but especially among the redeemed people of God, where God has made us brothers and sisters, don't agree with Satan and go through your life paranoid and isolated and alone. Join up with God's people.
Satan says, “Sin is so fun. It's so satisfying. You'll really miss out if you don't do it. Goodness is so boring.” Don’t believe it. Don’t agree with him. Because when you agree, then you open yourself up to the damage he can do. Don’t believe him. He’s lost his power, but he’s got his voice that will still deceive you if you let it. First he’ll say, “Sin is satisfying. It’s so much fun. It’s so good for you. You’ll enjoy it. You’re a wonderful person anyway.” And then once you sin, he’ll go to the opposite extreme: “You did it, you worthless no-good rotter. You’re nothing to God. God doesn’t care about you. He wants nothing to do with you.” Don’t believe him. Don’t agree with Satan.
One of the deadliest things that can happen is when, in our own hearts, we agree with some message that Satan has been sending our way. You need to look in your own heart for where you've maybe had agreements with Satan, and say, “I don’t agree with him anymore. I’m going to believe God’s truth.”
Never forget slavery's horrors
Don’t listen to Satan, and don’t forget the horrors of what it’s like to be his, or to be enslaved by him. The Israelites, after they were out of Egypt, would have these relapses where all of a sudden, they would remember Egypt in a really rosy light and think it would be wonderful to be back in Egypt. They were sick of eating manna, so they said, “Oh that we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.” (Numbers 11:4-6) They remember the onions and they’re breathing garlic breath—“Oh, that was so wonderful, oh, fabulous.” And they forget the whips on their backs and the children being murdered and drowned by the forces of Egypt. They forget all that and they’re thinking about watermelon and onions.
Never forget the horrors of slavery! Don't fondly remember one or two little things that you happened to enjoy while you were in enslaved to sin. The apostle Paul says in the New Testament, “What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:21–23). Never forget sin’s wages—death—and never forget God's free gift—eternal life.
No going back
Once you know that you’ve been rescued, once you know the benefits, don't even think of going back. “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:24). “If we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25). “We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin” (Romans 6:6). No more slavery in Egypt. No more slavery to sin. “So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:11). Every morning you wake up, say to yourself, “I’m not a slave anymore. I am a free child of God in Jesus Christ.”
Again and again, there’s this temptation not only to have fond memories of Egypt, but occasionally even to want to go back again. When the Israelites were at the very edge of the Promised Land, they heard that there was a major problem—some really big enemies and some strong cities. And so ten of the twelve spies who had been sent to explore the land said, “We have got to pack it in. We can’t win this thing. The cities are too strong. The people are too big. We’ve got no chance” (Numbers 13:31–33). Joshua and Caleb said, “Oh yes we can. Let’s go in there and take the land” (Numbers 14:6–9). But the people believed the ten unbelieving spies, and they cried out, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this desert! Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt? ” And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt” (Numbers 13:2-4).
That was devastating, because there was no going back. Because of their unbelief, they ended up dying in the wilderness. The next generation after them were the ones who were brought into the Promised Land. Once God delivers you, you need to follow the path through the wilderness of this life. You may be tempted to just go back and join the world, but that’s not an option. You’re on your way to the Promised Land, and you need to keep on going toward that land and take that land by faith. You can’t go back to Egypt.
God gave the command through Moses: “The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the Lord has told you, ‘You are not to go back that way again’” (Deuteronomy 17:16). They can’t go back to Egypt to live. They’re not even allowed to go back just to pick up some horses. You’re not supposed to go back that way, because you’ve been delivered from that.
At the time of Jeremiah, when Jerusalem was devastated and destroyed, and many people were exiled to Babylon, some people from Judah decided, “Let's go to Egypt. It's going to be safer there. It's going to be better there.” They said to Jeremiah the prophet, “What do you say? We'll do whatever you say.” Jeremiah sought the Lord, and the Lord told him, “Now you tell these people, don't go back to Egypt.” But when Jeremiah had given them God’s message, the people said, “No, you're lying. We're not going to listen to you.” They had asked for God's Word, but then they wouldn't believe it when God gave them his Word. They decided to go to Egypt anyway, even though they had the direct Word—not only of Moses from long ago—but a direct word from the prophet Jeremiah not to do it.
God then came to them with this message: “Why provoke me to anger with what your hands have made, burning incense to other gods in Egypt, where you have come to live? … I will take away the remnant of Judah who were determined to go to Egypt to settle there. They will all perish in Egypt… Those who escape the sword and return to the land of Judah from Egypt will be very few. Then the whole remnant of Judah who came to live in Egypt will know whose word will stand—mine or theirs" (Jeremiah 44:8, 12, 28). Whose word will stand—God’s, or those who reject God's Word? It’s fatal to want to go back to Egypt once you've been rescued. Once the exodus has occurred, going back is not allowed.
If you do go back, it means destruction. “We are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed” (Hebrews 10:39). The Bible says in Hebrews again and again not to go back to old ways, but to go with the new way of Jesus Christ.
In the book of Acts, the apostles were faced with a choice: the new way of Jesus Christ, or going back to an old way where they were still under the rituals of the law that had been given long ago. They had been taught that a new way had come in Jesus Christ, and they had been teaching the gospel of Jesus as the fulfillment of all God’s promises. But then there were some who said, “You’ve got to be circumcised in order to be saved. You’ve got to live up to the whole Old Testament law in order to be saved.”
The apostles had been taught by Jesus that he fulfilled that law, and that those rituals were no longer binding. So the apostles made a ruling: “Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will" (Acts 15:10-11). The apostles were not going back. They were not going to force Gentile people to act like Jews. They were going to bring good news of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
The apostle Paul again and again had to remind people, don’t go back. “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1). Do not let people tell you that Jesus and his salvation are not enough, and then lay on you all kinds of slavery and burdens. You’ve been rescued. Don’t go back. You have been set free.
The Lord will fight for you
When the enemy tries to intimidate you, remember what Jesus has done and what God has said, “Whoever attacks you will surrender to you... No weapon forged against you will prevail” (Isaiah 54:15, 17).
Remember what Jesus himself said after a successful mission by people he had sent out: “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:18–20). As great as it is that God accomplishes this exodus and deals with the enemies of God, it's a greater thing that you belong to him, that you're part of his family, that your name is written in heaven, that you have eternal life through Jesus our Lord.
What did God say through Moses? “Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today... The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still” (Exodus 14:13–14).
In the great song of celebration after the Red Sea rescue, Miriam and the rest of Israel sang, “The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is his name” (Exodus 15:3). The Lord will fight for you.
As you live under the new covenant of Jesus Christ, God says, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).
Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you are set free—there is no going back. Don’t wish for the old times, for the onions, for the watermelons... for the crack of the whip on your back and the destruction of your children. Because that’s what you’re really wishing for if you wish you could just go back into slavery to sin and Satan.
Instead, keep on moving toward that Promised Land. God has set you free and has pointed you in that direction and is bringing you there. The pillar of cloud by day, the pillar of fire by night, guiding you as God's Holy Spirit not only goes ahead of you, but lives within you and directs you on the path to eternal life.
Exodus: From Slavery to Liberty
By David Feddes
Slide Contents
Set free!
Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side… The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground… The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived. … the people feared the LORD and put their trust in him. (Exodus 14)
Did Pharoah give freedom?
Pharaoh and his officials … said, “What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services!” (14:5)
God gives freedom!
The magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” (Exodus 8:19)
“I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD.” (Exodus 12:12)
“In days to come, when your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ say to him, ‘With a mighty hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.’” (13:14)
God's motive: covenant love
The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands. But those who hate him he will repay to their face by destruction. (Deuteronomy 7:7-10)
No one like God or His people
How great you are, O Sovereign LORD! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears. And who is like your people Israel--the one nation on earth that God went out to redeem as a people for himself, and to make a name for himself, and to perform great and awesome wonders by driving out nations and their gods from before your people, whom you redeemed from Egypt? You have established your people Israel as your very own forever, and you, O LORD, have become their God. (2 Sam. 7:22-24).
Basis for Ten Commandments
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”(Exodus 20:2)
Rescued for rest and rejoicing
Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. (Deuteronomy 5:13-15)
Don't act like oppressors
If a fellow Hebrew, a man or a woman, sells himself to you and serves you six years, in the seventh year you must let him go free. And when you release him, do not send him away empty-handed… Give to him as the Lord your God has blessed you. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you. That is why I give you this command today. (Deut. 15:12-15)
Don't act like oppressors
Do not deprive the alien or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you from there. That is why I command you to do this. (Deuteronomy 24:18).
Freedom through Jesus
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed. (Luke 4:18)
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8:36)
If it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. (Luke 11:20)
Jesus has redeemed us from spiritual forces
We were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world. But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. (Galatians 4:3-5)
The enemy won't quit
God took his people away from Pharaoh, and Pharaoh wanted them back.
The Egyptians—all Pharaoh's horses and chariots, horsemen and troops—pursued the Israelites and overtook them. (Exodus 14:9)
Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8)
Enslaved by fear
They were terrified... “Didn't we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!” (14:11-12) [hearts agree to slavery]
By his death he destroyed him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and freed those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. (Heb 2:14-15)
Never agree with the Enemy
After Britain was defeated, Americans were free of British rule. What if a tax official of the old regime came to you and told you to pay money to King George?
New citizenship, new status: For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:13-14)
Don't believe Satan's lies
“Do not believe Saruman! He has lost all power, save his voice that can still deceive you, if you let it.”
- This life is all there is; death is the end.
- You can’t change; that’s just who you are.
- You can’t trust anybody.
- Sin is satisfying. Goodness is boring.
- You are worthless. You are nothing to God.
Never forget slavery's horrors
“Oh that we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.” (Numbers 11:4-6)
What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! (Romans 6:21)
Sin's wages vs. God's gift
But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:22-23)
Dead to sin, alive to God
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. (Galatians 5:24-25)
We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin… So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:6,11)
Back to Egypt?
“If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this desert! Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt? ” And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt. ” (Numbers 13:2-4)
No going back
The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the Lord has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.” (Deuteronomy 17:16)
Choosing Egypt is fatal
Why provoke me to anger with what your hands have made, burning incense to other gods in Egypt, where you have come to live? … I will take away the remnant of Judah who were determined to go to Egypt to settle there. They will all perish in Egypt… Those who escape the sword and return to the land of Judah from Egypt will be very few. Then the whole remnant of Judah who came to live in Egypt will know whose word will stand—mine or theirs. (Jeremiah 44)
No going back
Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will. (Acts 15:10-11)
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1)
Authority to win
Whoever attacks you will surrender to you… no weapon forged against you will prevail. (Isaiah 54:15,17)
“I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority… to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10:18-20)
The Lord will fight for you
Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today… The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still. (14:13-14)
The LORD is a warrior. (15:3)
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:7)