Getting the World Out of Christians

(Returning to Egypt)

As one reads through the book of Exodus and learns how God used His great power to free the Israelites from the Egyptians, he cannot help but to be impressed.  The God of the Egyptians was just no match for the God of the Hebrews. One by one He brushed them aside until Egypt's economy was wrecked.  But it wasn't until after Egypt lost all of her firstborn that she finally let Israel go.  After the death of his own firstborn, Pharaoh told the Israelites to leave the land; to go and serve their God.  But after they left, Pharaoh had a change of heart; he decided he wanted them back and so he sent his great army after them and overtook them at the Red Sea. But once again God proved that the might of Egypt was no match for Him.  For there, in the Red Sea He destroyed the Egyptian army. In recording this the scriptures say…

(Exo 14:31)  And when Israel saw the great power which the LORD had used against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in His servant Moses.

And the people rejoiced in their salvation (Ex. 15).

As one gives some sober thought to these historic events, it becomes evident that it was no problem for God to rescue Israel from the clutches of Egypt.  Though we are amazed at the demonstration of His power, we know that it was nothing to Him.  For the God of the Hebrews is an omnipotent God. He is the One who, with only a word, created all things.

(Psa 33:6-9)  By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, And by the breath of His mouth all their host. He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; He lays up the deeps in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the LORD; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.

So to do what He did in Egypt was no big deal.  God could have done much more, had it been His wish. Getting Israel out of Egypt was not the problem.  But how was God going to remove Egypt from the hearts and minds of Israel?

Israel moved to Egypt during the days of Joseph, about 200 years before the birth of Moses.  At the beginning, God, through His providence, separated them from the Egyptians, giving them the good land - the land of Goshen. There they were able to live apart from the Egyptians and remain a distinct people.  However, at the end of 200 years things had changed. Israel was now in slavery to the Egyptians and had managed to embrace many of the customs of that nation. Thus, when they left that place they took many Egyptian customs with them.  Though physically they were no longer in Egypt, Egypt was still very much in them.  Let me explain.

After seeing God's power demonstrated in Egypt and the Red Sea, the people came to Mt. Sinai.  There God caused "thunder and lightning" to flash and He enveloped the mountain with a thick cloud.  Then He spoke the Ten Commandments.  Upon seeing this great demonstration of His power and upon hearing the sound of His voice, the people were so afraid of what they saw and heard that they pleaded with Moses to stand between them and God. They were afraid for their lives.  So Moses, at the invitation of God, goes up the mountain where he stays for 40 days.  During that time God wrote the Ten Commandments on tablets of stone.  But when Moses comes down from the mountain a noise was heard in the camp. Joshua thought that was the noise of war.  But it was not that; it was not the cries of people struggling for their lives. Instead, it was the noise of people playing; not simple games but the immoral rejoicing of people who had built a golden calf. Moses had only been gone 40 days and the people were already forgetting the 2nd commandment.

(Exo 20:4)  "You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.

But where did the idea come from, to worship Jehovah through the form of a calf? (cf., Ex. 32:4-5)  It came from Egypt.  For you see, in that country the gods were personified through animals.  (This was a reason why it would have been an abomination to the Egyptians for the Israelites to worship their God in Egypt.  (Ex. 8:25-26)  The Egyptians would have been enraged to see the Hebrews offer their gods to their God). But Israel had lived for 200 years in Egypt; and when they came out they brought this Egyptian custom with them - worshipping Jehovah through the form of a calf. (Ex. 32:4-5)  This was a relic of Egypt.

But there were other things they were unwilling to leave behind.  In fact, the first generation brought so much Egyptian baggage with them, that they even forgot how bad it had been for them there.  They even complained that it would have been better for them to have remained in Egypt.

(Num 11:4-6)  And the rabble who were among them had greedy desires; and also the sons of Israel wept again and said, “Who will give us meat to eat? We remember the fish which we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic, but now our appetite is gone. There is nothing at all to look at except this manna” (cf., Num 11:11-20)

God delivered over 600,000 men, over the age of 20 out of Egypt (Num.1:45-46), but out of this number only 2 entered in to the land of promise; all because they refused to let Egypt go. The final straw was when the spies came back with the report of how good the land of Canaan was, but then discouraged the people from entering it, less they be devoured by its inhabitants.  When they heard this the people cried and immediately sought for someone to return them to Egypt.

(Num 14:1-4)  Then all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. All the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron; and the whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! Why is the LORD bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become plunder; would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” So they said to one another, “Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt.”

At that time God said to Moses:

(Num 14:28-35)  "Say to them, 'As I live,' says the LORD, 'just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will surely do to you; your corpses will fall in this wilderness, even all your numbered men, according to your complete number from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against Me. Surely you shall not come into the land in which I swore to settle you, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. Your children, however, whom you said would become a prey--I will bring them in, and they will know the land which you have rejected. But as for you, your corpses will fall in this wilderness. Your sons shall be shepherds for forty years in the wilderness, and they will suffer for your unfaithfulness, until your corpses lie in the wilderness. According to the number of days which you spied out the land, forty days, for every day you shall bear your guilt a year, even forty years, and you will know My opposition. I, the LORD, have spoken, surely this I will do to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against Me. In this wilderness they shall be destroyed, and there they will die.'"

As I said in the beginning of the lesson, God had no problem getting His people out of Egypt.  But to get Egypt out of His people was another matter altogether.  They simply would not let it go; they just would not submit their hearts and minds fully to the to the Lord and all but 2 perished in the wilderness because it!  As it is written in Heb. 3:16-19

For who provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.

Paul speaks about this also in 1 Cor. 10:1-11

For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness. Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written, "THE PEOPLE SAT DOWN TO EAT AND DRINK, AND STOOD UP TO PLAY." Nor let us act immorally, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day. Nor let us try the Lord, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents. Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.

Brethren, what happened to them serves as examples to us and it was written to admonish us not to do what they did.

Sometimes we forget how much alike we are to the Israelites. There are many similarities to their physical salvation from Egypt and our spiritual salvation from sin.  For example:

1.        It was through the death of a lamb that the Israelites were saved from the death angel on the night of the Passover. Likewise, it is through the death of Jesus, "the Lamb of God," that we are saved from spiritual death.

2.       The Israelites finally escaped from the Egyptians and began their new life of freedom after crossing the Red Sea. Likewise, Christians receive the forgiveness of sins and begin their new life of freedom after their baptism in water.

Having been rescued from sin, Christians sometimes act as the Israelites acted in the wilderness.  They glory in their salvation, but often complain about how much better things were for them before they were saved.  They try to live in the light while walking in darkness.  But this is an impossibility.

(1 John 1:6-7 NNAS)  If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

Secondly, whether we like it our not, we become the slaves of the one whom we obey.

(Rom 6:12-18)  Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

So what must we do to rid ourselves of the baggage which will cause us to fall like the Israelites fell?  At all times we must seek to be like our God instead of like our companions in the world.

(1 Pet 1:13-16)  Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.”

Eph. 4:17-5:21 (Go through these verses and notice what is    involved in putting off old self and putting on the new.)