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John 8:36
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. Our fathers were slaves in Egypt. Pharaoh ordered their lives. He told them what to work, where to work, and how to work. He told them to serve him and no one else. Pharaoh was to be obeyed and worshipped under pain of death. When they cried under the cruel oppression, the Almighty El-Shaddai heard them and by His mighty Right Hand delivered them. He delivered them, brought them to a mountain and bound them to Him and to His Laws. Hashem’s Law then ordered our father’s lives. It told them what to work, where to work, and how to work; to serve Adonai and no-one else. Adonai was to be obeyed and worshipped under pain of death. For those who have a tendency to think that living under the Torah is a form of bondage, it could be concluded that the Children of Israel went from one bondage to another; from slavery under Pharaoh to slavery under God. Indeed, judging by the way living under the commandments of Torah is viewed by many people today, these conclusions are inevitable. Let me indulge in a mariner’s analogy. A sailor is at sea. He is in charge of an expensive vessel. He is also responsible for the life of a crew and he has a mission to accomplish. He is at the helm. He has a serious look on his face and does not make a move. He does not take one decision without checking his compass. This reliance on the compass determines the success or failure of his mission, the safety of his vessel; the life and death of his crew. I heard it said that if a sailor wants to enjoy the high seas, he must become 'slave' to the compass. My friend, thus it is with life. To keep our traveling vessel worthy, to preserve the life of those entrusted in our care, and to accomplish the goal for which we were sent on the high-seas of life, we also must become slave to the ‘Compass’, and in this case, the ‘Compass’ is the Torah. A famous American folk singer used to sing the words, "You’re gonna have to serve somebody; whether it may the devil or whether it may be the Lord, you’re gonna have to serve somebody!" This is so true. In the end, we truly always have to serve somebody. We either serve the idolatrous King of the land or we serve Hashem. And even if our lives are not regulated by external forces, we eventually become slaves to the worse bondage of all: the bondage to our own passions. Serving God under His Torah is the most wonderful freedom of all. It means freedom from human slavery, self-imposed or otherwise. It is the wings that free us from even the bondage of gravity to take us to higher ground. It is the very substance that delivers us from the fear of death to bring us to eternal life. If that is bondage, may I live under it all the days of my life.
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1 Thessalonians 4:17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Adonai …. After over two hundred years in Egypt, the people of Jacob who had come in for refuge from the famine were very influenced by Egyptian ways and culture. Through the plagues, in plain sight of the Egyptians and of Israel God took on each one of the main gods of Egypt to show the world His ultimate superiority over all that is called 'god'. This was a shock to Pharaoh, and a reminder to the people of Israel of the story they had heard about El-Shaddai, the God of their ancestors. A parallel lesson unfolds for God’s people in the fifth century B.C.E. Israel had already been invaded by Babylonian Emperor Nebuchadnezzar and the poor that were left in the Land were governed by Gedaliah’s provisional government. A plot from Amon caused Gedalliah to be killed so the people feared Babylon’s reprisals. Against Jeremiah’s strong counsel from God, the people decided to flee to Egypt for refuge. Once there, they sought Pharaoh’s protection and prayed to Egyptian gods. Nebuchadnezzar was now coming after them in Egypt, which he was going to also destroy. In the forty-sixth chapter of the Book of Jeremiah, God shows that through Nebuchadnezzar, His Mighty Hand was again going to destroy the Egypt in which His children had trusted. He takes aim and mocks the futility of the gods of Egypt who are unable to do stand up and protect. He says, 'Stand ready and be prepared, for the sword shall devour around you.' Why are your mighty ones (Egypt’s idols) face down? They do not stand because Adonai thrust them down. He made many stumble, and they fell, and they said one to another, 'Arise, and let us go back to our own people and to the land of our birth, because of the sword of the oppressor.' Call the name of Pharaoh, king of Egypt (and self-proclaimed god), 'Noisy one' (he is noisy but is powerless) who lets the hour go by (he is not there in time of need)' (Jeremiah 46:13-17) . And what shall we learn from these? It seems that the Father is on a constant crusade against our hankering for the false gods of this world. No matter what He seems to do to show us His great power, we always seem to fall to the lure of the sensual and indulging gods of this world. As it was then, so it is today. Today again He is calling us to leave ‘Egypt’ and to never return. He is calling us away from the gods of this world, but how can we enter the ‘Land’ with an unregenerate heart? At a future time, the mighty El-Shaddai will return. This time He will destroy ‘Babylon’ (Revelation 17-18). He will also show His great power not only to His children but to the whole world. He will expose the vanity of mankind and bring His people from all over the world unto Him. May we be ready at that time. Let us take off from our ears the ear buds that fill us with the sounds of this generation that we may hear His call. May we then be clean from our idols, a bride without blemish consecrated unto Messiah. 1 Corinthians 10:11
Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. After God delivered the Children of Israel from Egypt with His Mighty Arm He commanded that any future king of Israel should, not … cause the people to return to Egypt … (Deuteronomy 17:16). Because of this commandment, some in Jewish religious circles conclude that once a Jew returns to Israel, to the Land of his ancestors, it is a sin to leave it again, even temporarily. But was the commandment to be applied solely within a geographical understanding? Eight centuries after the Exodus, the Children of Israel had gone full circle. Subject to a coup within their own royal house they fear the fury of Nebuchadnezzar, so the remnant from the Babylonian deportation decides to seek refuge in Egypt. They seek the advice (or demand the approval) of Jeremiah the prophet who by the Word of Hashem tells them to stay put in Israel. They reject the counsel and go anyways, taking Jeremiah with them as a prisoner (Jeremiah 46). Hashem must have foreseen this event for He warned them of this before they even entered the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 17:16). It is easy to judge and criticize the Children of Israel for this blatant bout of disobedience. Children are known to love to judge their parents, especially teenagers! Yes; we can look at them and say, “Why? Why didn’t they trust God and obey the commandment, especially when Jeremiah told them? Can’t they remember all the bounty and power God showed them in the past …etc …” Yes it is easy to react that way, but the only way to have mercy and compassion on others is to have a good hard and honest look at ourselves. A rule for Jewish judges was that if a judge could not see within himself the fault of the person he was to judge, he would be self-righteous and therefore not fit to judge that person. Seeing the fault of others in ourselves provides us with the Spirit of the Judge of the earth who took on sin upon Himself so He could judge us righteously (Isaiah 11:1-4). He still asks us, Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye (Matthew 7:3)?. We must remember that, these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come (1 Corinthians 10:11). A good honest look at ourselves easily reveals the spirit of fear and compromise which stifles our effectiveness for Him as well as eats at our trust in obeying His word of personal revelation to us. It is usually at the end of our lives when we realize how we have missed the boat. We see then how we have allowed fear and personal interest to provoke us to compromise and choose a life of seeming safety instead of launching out like Abraham into a bright future that could not be altered no matter what. May we learn from the Children who tried to find safety in returning to their old lives. May we learn that we are safer in a desert surrounded by enemies if God is with us that in that within a shaded walled garden with supplies yet without Hashem. We need this lesson to help us face the days to come. We need to live it today so we can teach it to our children for their days to come … and that of their children’s! Matthew 6: 24 (KJV) No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. About 3,400 years ago the people of Israel learned that Egypt was an unreliable staff. Not only did they learn that Egypt was no match for God, but that the fish, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic didn’t really cost nothing; it came at the price of servitude to Pharaoh, the god of the land (Exodus 11:5). Ultimately Hashem Himself challenges Pharaoh’s pride, destroys his army, and takes his country down several notches. The only option at freedom for Israel was to throw itself at God’s mercy in total devoted obedience to His will. About eight centuries later, both Israel and Egypt are found to learn the same lesson. Pharaoh Hophra thinks himself to be god and Israel seeks refuge under his provisions. Judea had been told to submit to Babylon and live (Jeremiah 27:12), but stubbornly refused, which eventually caused its destruction and seventy years captivity. Those left from the captivity see themselves again under Babylonian attacks and seek refuge under Ophra of Egypt, thus absolutely rejecting Jeremiah’s advice to stay put in Israel (Jeremiah 42). In the end, Israel finds itself between the Babylonian army coming as locusts to destroy Pharaoh and Egypt (or ‘between ‘Iraq' and a hard place’’) (Jeremiah 46:23; Exodus 10:4, 12-14). The only option for Israel again will be to throw itself at God’s mercy in total devoted obedience to His will. Today Israel faces the same dilemma. Having a divine destiny to re-conquer and re-populate the Promised Land, Israel is discovering that the political credit and financial support it receives from the international community may come at the price of heavy compromises including the giving up of Jerusalem. Again, Israel has to make hard choices, and throw itself at God’s mercy in total devoted obedience to His will. On an homiletical level, this lesson may apply to us all. In the global economy in which we live, when someone sneezes in Asia or the Middle East, our whole economy gets sick with a cold. Suddenly, that far away ‘sneeze’ echoes and sends shivers into our very pocket books and ability to provide for our families here at home. The good news is that as believers and followers of God, we have the admonition from Yeshua to not rely on the shaky uncertainty of an international economy already so sick that it is actually dead, only made to look alive by the life support of political lies and pretences (Matthew 6; 19-34; Philippians 4:19). Most of the time also, successful business in a capitalistic society comes at the price of aggressive financial maneuvers that go against the principles of Torah and of God’s commandment to not practice usury, but to give in love preferring the welfare of others before that of our own. We all therefore have hard choices to make!, and ultimately need to throw ourselves at God’s mercy in total devoted obedience to His will! 1 Corinthians 13:12
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. Measure for measure is so real. So much of what happens to us is the returning of our own actions. The dish life serves us often proceeds from the kitchen of our own cooking. The harvest we reap is surely the result our own sowing. By this standard a man’s life is easily assessed and his character revealed. If someone has many friends, he must have been friendly. If others are generous with him, he must have been sharing. By the same token, if someone finds the heart of others like desert sand or a sky of brass, closed to his needs and pleas, maybe he lived his life as selfishly as a closed book. We are all too often to blame for the hell we create with our own two hands. Jacob deceived his father Isaac by concealing his identity, several years later Jacob becomes victim of the same as Laban conceals Leah’s identity in the nuptial chamber. This would result in a family’s sibling rivalry that would cause Leah’s children to later try to kill Joseph. Joseph would later trick them by concealing his identity, appearing to them as an Egyptian viceroy (Genesis 40-45). When Leah’s children headed by Judah returned from pasture with the news about Joseph, Judah showed Jacob the ‘hard evidence’ of Joseph’s bloody coat to prove their case. Judah used the Hebrew words, ‘haker-nah’, meaning ‘Please, recognize these’. Many years later, Judah would be tricked and exposed by his own daughter-in-law using the very same words, ‘Haker-nah’. These must have pieced his heart as he remembered the treachery of lying to his own father (Genesis 37:32; 38:25)! The concealing identity theme is a common one throughout the Hebrew Scriptures. Kings, queens and prophets used it, sometimes even under God’s own purpose. It could even be said that today Messiah hides His Jewish identity from both Israel/Jacob, and the Gentiles. To the Western world He conceals His Jewish identity appears and appears to them as a Westerner, thinking and dressing, eating and living as they do. This in turn makes Him unrecognizable to His people. But as with Joseph with His brethren, the day will come when Yeshua will throw off His ‘Egyptian garb’ and say to them, “I am Yeshua, your brother” (Genesis 45:3). At that time Yeshua will show the whole world who He really is: the King of the Jews. He will also reap the harvest of His own labor and doing. At that time He will reunite Rachel and Leah’s family (the whole twelve tribes) under one banner (Ezekiel 37), and rule over the whole world from His throne in Jerusalem (Revelations 19 and 20). In this day and in the World to Come we will each reap the harvest of the actions of our lives. What will it be for you? Hebrews 11:24-26
By faith Moses, … considered the reproach of Messiah greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. One of the concerns with the Children of Israel appointing a king over themselves was that he may cause the people to return to Egypt (Deuteronomy 17:16). Because Egypt's agriculture did not depend on rain falls but on the yearly over flowing of the Nile, the country was rich and comfortable. That is why every conqueror wanted Egypt, including, Rome whose economy heavily relied on Egyptian goods. From the Exodus, Egypt had been a snare for the Children of Israel. The journey from Goshen to the Promised Land by way of the Mediterranean Sea is actually very short, but God took them in a way they could not return to Egypt even if they wanted to (Exodus 13:17-18). Time and again when the children of Israel grew dissatisfied, they wanted toreturn to Egypt. When they hungered they thought about the food of Egypt (Numbers 11:5); when they were scared to conquer the giants in the Land of Canaan, they wanted a leader to take them back (Numbers 14:4). But from the beginning The Mighty El-Shaddai forbade it. Some interpret this command as a forbiddance to make the journey from Israel to Egypt, but God Himself sent Yeshua and His family there to find protection from Herod. The idea of returning to 'Egypt' was much deeper than that. Several times when faced with wars and conquest, to God's great displeasure, Israel looked to Egypt instead of Him for strength and protection, trusting horses and chariots that they could see instead of the God they couldn't see; Israel may be facing the same lesson today (Isaiah 31:1-3; Jeremiah 42:15-16). Returning to Egypt has to do with trusting the world for survival instead of God. It also has to do with being dissatisfied, greedy, and desiring more than what the Father has wisely given us. It has to do with despising the prospects of the Promised Land for temporal personal comforts. 'Egypt' provided for the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. It was the 'world', so it has to do with 'love of the world' which is not of the Father (1 John 2:15-16). In the movie 'The Matrix', a man quits the mission on the Nebuchadnezzar and returns to the Matrix just because of food, even though he knows it is not even real; that is returning to Egypt. So when God says that Israel should not return to Egypt, he says, "just because you presently feel a little bit uncomfortable and you want to 'stuff your face' with better food, don’t return to the ways of the world". May we take sample from Moses who considered the reproach of Messiah greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. May we not look on a world with failing morals and economies for support and strength, neither compromise in order to benefit from their strong armies who can't protect us if God has not decreed it. It is our God who owns the cattle on a thousand hills who will fight for us (Psalms 50:10; Nehemiah 4:20)! Revelations 15:3
And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, "Great and amazing are your deeds. 3,400 years ago the Children of Israel celebrated a great victory on the Eastern bank of the Gulf of Aqaba. Miraculously supplied with ‘bread from heaven (John 6:31)’ they crossed the Sinai Desert Pharaoh’s armies at their heels. Later they saw more of the majestic power of God as the waters of the Red Sea stood as walls at their sides to give them passage. Then they witnessed the same receding waters swallow the army of their enemy whole dealing a deathly blow to the power that once was Egypt. The Biblical records tell us that of, “all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained (Exodus 14:28).” On the other side, in the Land called today Saudi Arabia but then Midian, under the leadership of Moses and Miriam the Children of Israel erupted into a song of praise that will echo through the centuries (Exodus 15). The song of Miriam finds an echo over a hundred years after the initial conquest of the Land. After Joshua’s death, Israel was left without central leadership. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes (Judges 17:6), so, the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor (Judges 4:2). Eventually, when Israel is ready to amend his ways, God allows Judge/prophetess Deborah and military leader Barak to muster an army to challenge Jabin. As Sisera, Jabin’s general, positions his army to intercept Israel, God again works in Israel’s favor. He shows His great glory and power while unleashing from the sky a torrential storm thus flooding the Kishon waterway (Judges 4). The flood waters and muddy ground rendered Sisera’s chariots helpless and vulnerable to Israel’s army. The Biblical records again tell us that ‘all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; not a man was left (Judges 4:16). Again, an army trying to trap Israel was rendered helpless through a flood of waters. Like with Moses and Miriam, Barak and Deborah celebrated with a song (Judges 5). Is there another echo? Zechariah tells us of another war against Israel; a war where all nations will rise against Jerusalem (Zechariah 14). At that time it is a flood of blood that will render the armies of the enemy useless (Revelations 14:20). By the Mountain of Megiddo, at the same place where Sisera’s army fell, the armies of the Anti-Messiah will gather against Jerusalem and fall. Again, none will be left (Revelations 16:16; Revelations 19). At that time, Miriam’s song will echo, this time in the mouth of the Children of God of all ages, through a spontaneous eruption of praise and adoration to our mighty God (Revelations 5:9; 14:3; 15:3). May it be soon Abba, even in our days! Matthew 24:24
For false Messiahs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. As time and again Pharaoh hardened his heart against God, the worried Israelite must have wondered how come he could not see the light, change, and repent. God knew that in this event He was making His grand entrance on the scene of World History. Until today God is marveled at through their remembrance. The narrative of a king or nation standing against Israel trying to destroy it was going to be repeated several times in History. It even has its place today. Egypt therefore needed to be a test-case for God’s children of all generations to remember and use as a precedent. I am reminded of Herod Antipas who lived a double life. While in Jerusalem he acted as an observant Jew in order to please Israel, but when he was in his palace of Caesarea he would live a totally ungodly Roman lifestyle. Only the believers, the true followers of God from the Nazarene Sect, the disciples of Yeshua knew the difference, so to top it all, Herod Antipas is also guilty of initiating a persecution against the followers of Yeshua. In the end He is recorded as having been eaten by worms for not giving glory to God (Acts 12). Such is the fate of the hypocrite who pretends to be godly in order to attract people to himself, when he is actually a fake and a farce. He is soon revealed as he does not give glory to God but takes it to himself. As the world gets darker and darker, we see many nations, even those who profess to believe in the God of Yeshua, becoming spiritually darker and darker. These nations will give rise to the one who, while professing and promising messianic expectancies of peace and plenty, will be in direct challenge to God, changing times and seasons and taking glory to himself (Daniel 7:25; 2 Thessalonians 2:4). In those days only those who know their God will know the difference (Daniel 11:32). For this reason, this Pharaoh-like/Herod Antipas-like king will also try to exterminate them. Like Pharaoh who thought he was God and could challenge Him, like Herod Antipas who thought he could deceive the people and who did not give glory to God but took it for himself (Acts 12:23), one will rise to deceive the people. Many will be deceived in those days (Matthew 24:5,11, 24) except for those who know their God (Daniel 11:32), except for the true followers of God, those from the Nazarene sect, the disciples of Yeshua. We will recognize him as he will not give glory to God but take it to himself. May we in those days remember the mighty victory of the God Hosts against Egypt. Luke 1:54
He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy. Through Moses God instituted that His people should remember the Passover, the great Exodus from Egypt to the Promised Land. In those days the Creator of the universe revealed Himself to His people in the form of a burning but non-consuming bush to show them His great love, care and power to redeem them from their Egyptian oppressor. At that time God wrought great miracles, miracles we still talk about today and are even documented with evidence from land and sea. One of those great miracles was that as God redeemed His people, a great multitude of Gentile eventually followed them and found refuge from tyrannical doomed and destroyed Egypt in the God of Israel. During His last Seder, the Master enjoined His disciples to also remember Him at the time of the Passover. For in those His days the Creator of the universe revealed Himself to His people to show them His great love, care and power to redeem them not only from Rome, but from the ‘world’, from the ungodliness that is in them since the Fall.. At that time God wrought great miracles, miracles we still talk about today and are even documented with evidence from land and sea. One of those great miracles was that as God redeemed His people, a great multitude of Gentile eventually followed them and found refuge from tyrannical doomed and eventually destroyed Rome in the God of Israel. Since the time when Rome expulsed Israel from the country God had given them, Israel sought refuge in those nations that came to the Messiah of Israel. These nations for the most important part oppressed them. But even before the days of the Master the prophet Jeremiah uttered the following words, "Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when it shall no longer be said, 'As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,' but 'As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.' For I will bring them back to their own land that I gave to their fathers (Jeremiah 16:14-15). This will be the third Passover. In those days the Creator of the universe will reveal Himself to His people in the form of to show them His great love, care and power to redeem them from the nations that will surround them in an attempt to annihilate them. In those days, God will perform again great miracles, miracles that will be documented and spoken about forever and ever over land and sea. One of those great miracles will be that as God redeems His people, a great multitude of Gentile will also be redeemed joining Israel in finding refuge n the great Kingdom of God to come. May it be soon Abba, even in our days! 1 Corinthians 10:11
Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. After God delivered the Children of Israel from Egypt with His mighty Arm He commanded them, Only he, (any given future Jewish king) must not … cause the people to return to Egypt … '(Deuteronomy 17:16). Because of this commandment, some in Jewish religious circles conclude that once someone returns to Israel, to the Land of their ancestors, it is a sin to leave it again. But was the commandment to be applied solely within a geographical understanding? Eight centuries later, the Children of Israel had gone full circle. Subject to a coup within the royal house they fear the fury of Nebuchadnezzar. The remnant from Babylonian deportation decides to seek refuge in Egypt. They seek the advice (or approval) of Jeremiah the prophet who tells them to stay put in Israel and trust God. They reject the counsel and go anyways taking Jeremiah with them as a prisoner (Jeremiah 46). God must have foreseen this event for having warned the children of Israel before they even entered the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 17:16). It is easy to judge and criticize the Children of Israel for this blatant disobedience. “Oh, how children love to judge their parents, especially teenagers!” Yes; we can look at them and say, “Why? Why didn’t they trust God and obey the commandment, especially when Jeremiah told them? Can’t they remember all the bounty and power God showed them in the past …etc …” Yes it is easy to react that way, but the only way to have mercy and compassion on others is to have a good hard and honest look at ourselves. A rule for Jewish judges was that if a judge could not see within himself the fault of the person he was to judge, he would be self-righteous and therefore not fit to judge him. Seeing the fault of others in ourselves provides us with the Spirit of the Judge of the earth who took on sin upon Himself so he could judge us righteously (Isaiah 11:1-4). He asks us, Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye(Matthew 7:3)?. We must remember that, these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come (1 Corinthians 10:11). A good honest look at ourselves easily reveals the spirit of fear and compromise which stifles our effectiveness for Him as well as eats at our trust in obeying His word of personal revelation to us. It is at the end of our lives that we realize how we have missed the boat. We see then how we have allowed fear and personal interest to provoke us to compromise and choose a life of seeming safety instead of launching out like Abraham into the bright future that could not be altered no matter what. May we learn from the Children who tried to find safety returning to their old lives. May we learn that we are safer in a desert surrounded by enemies if God is with us that in that within a shaded walled garden with supplies yet without God. We need this lesson to help us face the days to come. We need to live it today so we can teach it to our children for their days to come … and their children’s! |
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