Video Transcript: From Slavery to Liberty

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 Egypt, 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. It is fundamental. The Old Testament, it 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. 

So, we're going to look today 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. And these people had been taught that their ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had been chosen by the Lord, and they cried out to the Lord, in their misery; and God called Moses to be their rescuer. And God sent Moses to Pharaoh. And as God sent Moses, Moses proclaimed, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel says, “Let my people go”.

What did Pharaoh say? “I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go.” Well, Pharaoh did not know the Lord. But he got a very, very painful introduction, as the Lord rained one plague after another after another on Pharaoh. At first, his magicians would duplicate certain aspects of a plague, and Pharaoh would just ignore and write it off. After a while, they couldn't get rid of these plagues and he'd have to ask Moses to remove the plague from him and he promised, “Oh, if you only do that, I’ll let you go”. But then he wouldn't. And he would even negotiate. He'd say, “Well, just who's going to go?” And Moses would say, “Well, all of us”. And Pharaoh says, “No, no, I'll let the men go, but not the wives and the children.” Satan likes to negotiate and keep your family and make your deliverance, a purely individual thing. And then Pharaoh says, “Well, what you're going to take with you, and you can go yourselves, but leave your cattle and your possessions and property behind.” Moses says, “We're taking everything along with every hoof.” And so, Pharaoh keeps trying to negotiate and finagle and, and keep from losing as much as possible, but God sends these plagues. And finally, He sends the worst plague of all, the Passover. 

He instructs His people to slaughter a lamb and put the blood of the lamb around the door of their homes, and the blood of the lamb will serve as a sign to protect them from the destroyer, just as many years later, a Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, would protect His people from the destroyer. 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 10th plague. And finally, Pharaoh gave the orders to allow the people of Israel to leave the land of Egypt and so, they left. 

But Pharaoh changed his mind. And he decided he wanted to bring the people of Israel back after all, or else kill them. And so, he came after them in 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. They're trapped at the Red Sea, and Pharaoh has got them, they've got nowhere to go. And then the people panic and cry out against Moses. And Moses says, “Just stand still and see the deliverance of your God.” And he raises his staff, and God sends a great east wind and a mighty miracle and He splits the Red Sea and parts its waters so that the people are able to walk through on dry ground. 

Well, Pharaoh is a very slow learner and sends his army right into the sea, after the people of Israel. And after the people of Israel made it through the sea, God sends the water back over top the Egyptian army and destroys that entire army under the water. Maybe you've heard the story of a person who was told, well you know, we've done some research and we found that there really wasn't that much water. And so, 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 snow] so, that was no great miracle. And the young person being told, that's it, “Oh, wow, what an awesome miracle. It's even bigger than I thought. God drowned a whole army in six inches of water.” 

Well, actually, things happen the way the Bible says, “He opened the sea, and it was a great wall of water, the people escaped through it. But their enemies were wiped out when the waters returned, at God's command.” And so that was the Exodus. The people had made it out of Egypt, and the pursuing army was destroyed. Throughout the night, there was the cloud and then there was the light and the pillar, the waters were divided. The waters flowed back; the entire army was wiped out. And the people feared the Lord and put their trust in Him. They were set free. What a miracle!

Now, there's an amusing part right at the beginning of Exodus 14, where Pharaoh says to his officials, they say, “What have we done? We've left the Israelites go and have lost their services.” Did they let them go? Did they give them their freedom? Hadn't God sent 10 terrible plagues, including the final one that destroyed the firstborn? They didn't let them go. Their fingers were pried off one at a time till all 10 fingers were pried off. The gods of Egypt had been utterly humiliated and defeated. And God had brought His people out; it was not Pharaoh who gave them freedom. Remember what the magician said to Pharaoh, they said, “This is the finger of God.” And God Himself said, “I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am Yahweh; I am the Lord. “

And 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. And Jesus Himself even kept the Passover. And God gave this instruction, “In days to come at the Passover, 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.” So, the fundamental feast, the religious feast of the Israelites for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years, even 1000s of years up to this day, for people who are Jewish is the Passover, remembering this festival of freedom. 

What was God's motive in all this? Well, Moses explained as inspired by God, “The Lord did not set His affection on you people of Israel 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, the Lord your God is God. He is the faithful God, keeping His covenant of love to a 1000 generations of those who love Him and keep His commandments. But those who hate Him, He will repay to their face by destruction.” We saw that in the destruction of the Egyptian army, and God's covenant of love in rescuing the people of Israel. And He did it simply because of His love, His promised covenant love that He made first to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and then with their descendants. And in all of this, 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. This was echoed in the writings of Samuel when David said, 

“How great you are, oh, 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 Oh, Lord, have become their God.” What a God and what a privilege to be His people!

Not only is the Exodus the basis for glorifying God and being His people, but it is the basis for God's commandments that He's given. In the 10 Commandments in Exodus 20, verse two 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 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.”

And in the other version of the 10, commandments, Deuteronomy, chapter five, this is especially given as the grounds for keeping the Sabbath day. God says, “Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is the 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 do.” So, you need to rest and everybody who works for you needs to rest and why? Well, 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. In Egypt, you were part of an unending rat race, you worked, worked, worked, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, it seemed like you just worked and 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 commandment is the deliverance from Egypt. It's also based on that we're taught not to be oppressors to other people. If a fellow Hebrew a man or woman sells himself to you and serves you six years, that's to pay off a debt, 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. 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 have no right to enslave others. Do not deprive the alien or the fatherless of justice or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge. So don't exploit people who are not that strong or who don't have that much. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there. That's why I command you to do this. So again, and again and again. They're reminded you were slaves in Egypt. 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. 

And in the coming of Jesus Himself, we see that this exodus, this release from [free] for freedom 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.” Jesus said, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” And 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.” There are worse enemies than Pharaoh – the demons themselves. And some of those demons were working behind the false gods of Egypt, and God defeated them back in that day. And when Jesus came, He defeated the demons by the finger of God Himself, because the finger of Jesus is the finger of God. And 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 and Galatians four, 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. God rescued us from slavery and made us His own children. What a gift!

But having said all that, don't think the enemy just quits and goes away. What happened when God sent those 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 of Pharaoh's horses and chariots, horsemen, and troops, pursued the Israelites, and overtook them. And even after Jesus’ victory over Satan, your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. He doesn't just give up, he still wants to enslave you, or destroy you and you can't allow him to do so. What did the people of Israel do? Well, when they first saw Pharaoh coming after the with his armies, they were terrified. “Didn't we say to you in Egypt,” they said to Moses, “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.” And so, 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.” 

The book of Hebrews chapter two, we read 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. 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. And only with Jesus’ victory over death, can we look down and say, well, 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 still got you, you still need to do what I say. Well, think of it this way. After the American Revolution, the war for independence, when Britain was defeated, and America, the United States became an independent nation. Suppose you were an American citizen at that point, and an old sympathizer, 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 you're gonna 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. Now, 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, one four, “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 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. And 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. 

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, “Oh, 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 and don't believe any lie that says otherwise. Satan will say, “Oh, 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, “O sin. It's 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. Or you'll come with this one. First, he'll say, “Oh, 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 extremes. “Oh, 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”. 

Another thing, don't listen to Satan, but also don't forget the horrors of what it's like to be his or to be enslaved by him. The Israelites, after they're out of Egypt would have these relapses were all of a sudden, they would remember Egypt in a really rosy light and think it'd be wonderful to be back in Egypt. “Oh, that we had meat to eat.” They were kind of sick of eating manna. And 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, the garlic. But now our strength is dried up and there's nothing at all, but this manna to look at.” So, 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 trampled on, 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 and remember only one or two little things that you happen to enjoy while you were in it. 

The apostle Paul says in the New Testament, don't forget the horrors of slavery under Satan. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you're now ashamed of? Those things result in death, they were wrecking your life, and they were moving you down the path towards hell. That's what they were. They were wrecking you and bringing you towards hell. Never forget the horrors of slavery. But now that you've been set free from sin, and 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. Never forget sin’s wages - death, and never forget God's free gift - eternal life. 

And once you know that you've been rescued, once you know the benefits. well then, those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let's walk by the Spirit. 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, no more slavery in Egypt, no more slavery to sin. You must consider yourselves dead to sin, and alive to God, in Christ Jesus. Every morning, you wake up, you say I'm not a slave anymore. I am a free child of God in Jesus Christ. 

But 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, 10 of the 12 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. Joshua and Caleb said, Oh, yes, we can. Let's go in there and take the land. But the people believed the 10 unbelieving spies and they cried out, “Oh, 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.” Now that was devastating because there was no going back. And they wound up dying in the wilderness and the next generation after them were the ones who were brought into the Promised Land. Once God delivers you, you, you need to make 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 towards 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.” He's talking about when Israel gets a king later on. “He shouldn't get great numbers of horses or make the people returned to Egypt to get more of those horses. For the Lord has told you, you're not to go back that way again.” They can't go back to eat 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.” And they said to Jeremiah, the prophet, “What do you say? We'll do whatever you say.” And Jeremiah sought the Lord and the Lord told him, “Now you tell these people don't go back to Egypt.” And the people, once Jeremiah given them God's message said, “No, you're lying, we're not gonna listen to you.” So, they asked for God's word, and then they wouldn't believe it when God gave it to them. And they decided to go to Egypt anyway, even though they have the direct word, not only of Moses from long ago, but a direct word from the prophet Jeremiah not to do it. 

And 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 escaped 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.” Wow, 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. And if you do go back, it means destruction. We are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed. 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. 

The people in the book of Acts, the apostles were faced with the choice, the new way of Jesus Christ, or going back to an old way where they were still under the rituals [of the lawn] of the law that had given long ago. They've been taught that a new way had come in Jesus Christ. And they've been teaching the gospel of Jesus as this fulfillment of all God's promises. And then there were some who said, “Well, you got to be circumcised in order to be saved, you got to live up to the whole Old Testament law in order to be saved.” And the apostles have been taught by Jesus, that He fulfilled that law, and that those rituals were no longer binding. And so, the apostles made a ruling, they said, “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.” And so, 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. 

And 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. 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 and when the enemy tries to intimidate you, remember what Jesus has done, and what God has said. God says, “Whoever attacks you will surrender to you. No weapon forged against you will prevail.” Remember what Jesus Himself said, after a successful mission by people He had sent out. He said, “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.” So 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? He said, “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.” And then in the great song of celebration, after the Red Sea, Miriam and the rest of Israel sang, “The Lord is a warrior, the Lord His name.” The Lord will fight for you. And 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.” 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 towards that Promised Land, as 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.