The Journey

I’ve always been fascinated with the Old Testament, and how the experiences of God’s people in those ancient pages grant us insight and direction into our own life’s spiritual journey.

The New Testament writer Paul declares in 1 Corinthians 10:11-12 “Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction….,” Speaking about the exodus of the Israelites out of Egypt.

Their journey began after the God of Heaven brought 10 horrible plagues against the Egyptians to show both the Israelites and the Egyptians that the gods they were worshipping were powerless.

The Israelites were in bondage to Pharaoh for 400 years. They were hard pressed on every side. Heavy labor was their daily grind. Towards the end of their captivity they were even required to drown their children.

We, too, must first and foremost come to the realization that there is a God and that we are answerable to him. We also must recognize that we are under bondage to the forces of darkness and the God of this world, reaping destruction and death.

This recognition causes us to long for release from our captivity. For we too are bound with countless forms of addiction. May our yearning for freedom bring us to the next step of redemption.

The Israelites were required to prepare for their freedom by getting ready to celebrate the feast of Passover. They were required to roast a lamb accompanied with bitter herbs, reminding them of their bitter bondage in Egypt. They were required to paint the lintel and the doorposts of their homes with the blood of a lamb. The Lord promised the Israelites, that when He would strike every first born in Egypt with death, that He would not allow the destroyer to come into any home whose doorposts had blood on them.

This Passover Lamb prefigures Jesus the Lamb of God, pointing to the shed blood of Jesus and His defeat over eternal death. We too need to apply the death of Christ to the doorposts of our hearts for us to escape the destroyer of our souls.

By following God’s instructions, the Israelites, after 400 years of slavery, departed from Egypt as a free people. Without a single weapon, this band of slaves defeated the greatest nation on earth. They left Egypt with an untold wealth of articles of silver, gold and clothing.

By following God’s instruction, we too can walk away from our bondage of slavery, addiction, captivity and oppression. But we must do it God’s way. Not through humanistic imaginations and manmade rituals. Similar to the Israelites, we must come to faith in Jesus the Lamb of God and apply His death and resurrection to our lives.

Lord willing, in the next few articles we will discuss the Israelites continuing journey through the wilderness and how it applies to us.

We will see how we can apply the crossing of the Red Sea, the feasting on the Manna, turning bitter water sweet and Sabbath rest along with whatever other experiences the Israelites had as applied to our own spiritual lives.

May God grant us a desire to follow His plan for our redemption.