20. Remembrance

Lessons from Israel: No.20 : Remembrance

Ex 13:3-6 Then Moses said to the people, “Commemorate this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery, because the LORD brought you out of it with a mighty hand. Eat nothing containing yeast. 4Today, in the month of Abib, you are leaving. 5When the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites and Jebusites–the land he swore to your forefathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey–you are to observe this ceremony in this month: 6For seven days eat bread made without yeast and on the seventh day hold a festival to the LORD.

At first sight you may be tempted to think we are covering the same ground as we have covered in a previous meditation, for we have previously considered Israel’s instructions to pass on the memory of what has happened to their future generations. Here, however, we focus much more on the need to remember.  A much missed truth about Christianity is that it is a faith that is built on history and that is true of the Jews and Judaism as well. Thus we find the Lord, and later the prophets, continually speaking about the past. We have already seen the Lord at the burning bush describing Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, i.e. the One who had had dealings with those men, dealings which had been passed down through the generations. It was vital therefore to remember those things.

One of my favourite sayings, and I don’t know who said it originally, is “the one thing history teaches us is that history teaches us nothing”, i.e. we are notoriously bad at learning from the past. History was never a favourite subject of mine at school, although I have came to appreciate it much more in latter years, especially so as I have come to realise its importance as far as the Christian faith is concerned. The truth is that God has revealed Himself to us through history and that history is recorded in the Bible, and it is very important therefore that we read it and remind ourselves of what is in there, again and again. That, really, is the purpose of these meditations.

Speaking of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Moses is instructing the people to “commemorate this day,” i.e. remember it and celebrate it in the future. At the moment they are just on their way out of Egypt, but he is looking forward to the time when, “the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites,” i.e. when they eventually enter the Promised Land. In the verses above he spells out what they are to do – hold a seven day feast when they don’t eat any bread containing yeast: “Eat unleavened bread during those seven days; nothing with yeast in it is to be seen among you, nor shall any yeast be seen anywhere within your borders,” (v.7). Then he explains why they are to do it: “On that day tell your son, ‘I do this because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.” (v.8) That is the essence of why they are to do it, so that it will act as a reminder to them and to future generations that, on that day in the year, they left Egypt so hastily that they had not had time to properly prepare bread, letting the yeast rise in it.

Thus ‘unleavened’ bread or bread without yeast became the symbol or reminder of the haste of that exodus. He continues, “This observance will be for you like a sign ….For the LORD brought you out of Egypt with his mighty hand.” (v.9)  Israel existed as a nation because the Lord had delivered them out of slavery in Egypt and made them into a special nation. When He gave them the Ten Commandments, they were prefaced by, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” (Ex 20:2)  Yes, there had been dealings with the Lord with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but the big issue as far as them being a nation, was the fact that the Lord had come down and delivered them from being slaves and made them into a unique nation through whom He could reveal Himself to the rest of the world.

Without any doubt, the history of mankind has been one of gradual development and we have had to go through each previous stage to get where we are today. If you stop and think about it, the world could not have suddenly had nuclear energy two thousand years ago, say, because to create such energy requires an incredible amount of knowledge and technology, and both have been developed gradually in the human race. Now the same has been true in a large measure, in respect of the revelation of the Lord. He has revealed Himself to us through history but that has been a gradual process. At certain points in history there have been specific things that gave a great leap forward in our knowledge of Him. His encounters with Abraham brought some knowledge, but this period of history with the bringing into being of the nation of Israel is a major leap forward. The coming of Jesus, the Son of God from heaven, was the biggest revelation, but our understanding of Him has continued to grow as the centuries pass, as we come to take hold of His word and see more and more how it applies to our lives and to this world. We are STILL learning what it means to be to be the children of God, the church, and that is evidenced by the many weird and wonderful expressions of church that there are around the world. The counter to these are to go back to His word and check out what we find there. We don’t add man’s traditions or our own bright ideas!

Again and again we must go back to our history as recorded in the Bible and, even, check it against how the church over the past two thousand years has sought to apply it. Only thus do we learn what it means to be the people of God. We need continual reminders, we need to be continually provoked by the past that we may learn how better to live in the present. No wonder Moses went on, “You must keep this ordinance at the appointed time year after year.” (v.10) No wonder, again and again, he says, “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.” (v.14) It is all about remembering what God has done and learning what it means for us today, for He is the same today as He was yesterday (Do you remember the sixth meditation, ‘The Eternal One’?) Don’t despise history; we need it. Don’t mutter when your preacher brings the same teaching again and again; we need it! Let’s learn from history!

23. Strategy Again

Lessons from Israel: No.23 : God of Strategy – Again

Ex 14:1-3 Then the LORD said to Moses, 2″Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. They are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal Zephon. 3Pharaoh will think, ‘The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.’

As we have been considering what we can learn from the revelation of the Lord with His activity with Moses as he prepares to make Israel into a nation, we have seen a number of things about the Lord which overlap. For instance we have seen that the Lord knows all about us, and He knows how we will act. He also has plans, things that He wants to achieve to reveal Himself to the inhabitants of the earth. Knowing how we will respond, He works through those plans to take account of that. He has seen His people being enslaved by this idol-worshipping despot in Egypt and determines to bring judgment upon him, but it is not as simple as that because He wants the world to see and know and understand.

As we’ve noted before,  the Lord could have killed Pharaoh outright at the beginning but instead He chose to give Pharaoh the choice – again and again – to submit to Him and avoid each of the ‘plagues’, but Pharaoh revealed his pride and stupidity and allowed his nation to suffer. Yet at the end of the last plague, Pharaoh is still alive! Why? Because God is yet going to show once more his folly, and this time it will be folly that will destroy him. In the annals of history you can never say Pharaoh wasn’t given every chance. At the end of the day his death was his own fault, as it is for every person who refuses the Lord again and again throughout their lives today, and thus fail to enter heaven. It is entirely their own folly!

Now, to return to the account of Israel leaving Egypt: so far we have seen them leaving and everything looks well but, as we’ve just noted, the Lord knows us and know how we will react and so sees that Pharaoh has never come to a place of repentance and so is still a candidate for judgment, but it will be a judgment he will bring on himself. How is that going to happen? The Lord is simply going to make Israel look vulnerable so instead of escaping directly out of the land by the easy route to the north east, He has Moses lead them down the ‘coast’ so it looks like they are hemmed in by the shore, and appear to not know where they are going. Surely they have made a mistake, surely they are wandering aimlessly, surely they are vulnerable and weak.

See what the Lord says about Pharaoh. “Pharaoh will think, ‘The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.” Yes, Pharaoh will see and Pharaoh will reason – wrongly! Why? “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them.” (v.4a) All it needs is for the Lord to whisper in Pharaoh ear, ‘Why don’t you go after them,’ and the pride in his heart will rise up and he will steel himself against all that he knows has happened recently and will go after them.

If we have never put to death the old self-centred sinful nature in us when we came to Christ, we will always be vulnerable to the temptations that the Lord allows to come through the enemy. The path is quite clear: we surrender our lives to the Lord – and that means totally – and so we crucify and put to death the old sin nature (Rom 6:11,12) because it has already been crucified and put to death; we’ve just go to believe it and act accordingly and make that an act of will that brings our experience in line with God’s will. Until we do we will be vulnerable to the attacks of temptation.

The Lord knows Pharaoh is still full of pride and so He is going to deal with him: “I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD.” (v.4b) God is going to create a miracle to enable Israel to leave Egypt but that miracle is not there for Pharaoh and so it will be the means of his death, but that is of his own choosing.  So the Lord has laid out his strategy to Moses and so we read quite simply, “So the Israelites did this.” (v.4c) At the moment they don’t realise the significance of what they are doing. We’ll see in the next meditation their agitation when they realise what is happening but for the moment they are at peace – which is more than can be said for Pharaoh: “When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, “What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services!” So he had his chariot made ready and took his army with him.” (v.5,6)

Here they go!  It’s just as the Lord said it would be – not because He made them do it, but simply because He knew that that’s what their sinful, foolish hearts would do.  Pharaoh, you really don’t want to do this! Oh yes, I do, I’ve had it up to here with these Israelites; now I’m going to sort them once and for all! You really don’t want to do this! Oh yes I do! Here in today’s world is the man who starts letting his eyes stray from his wife to other women. You really don’t want to do that! Oh yes I do. Oh you foolish man! Have you never read, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction.” (Gal 6:7,8) Be warned!  Whatever the sin, the same is true. You won’t get away with it. Step back, step away from it while you can and before it’s too late!

22. Guidance

Lessons from Israel: No.22 : God of Guidance

Ex 13:21,22 By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. 22Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people

I suspect a thought that might run through anyone’s mind, when considering responding to the Lord’s call, might be, “How will I know how to do this? How will I find the way?” or something akin to those questions. The answer will always be the same: “I will be with you.” (Ex 3:12) and “I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.” (Ex 4:12) The former answer indicates that the Lord’s presence will always be with us and the latter answer declares that He will be with us to help us.  After Sinai Moses was again worrying about how to lead this people and again the Lord tells him, “My Presence will go with you.” (Ex 33:14).

A great deal is written about divine guidance but ultimately it all boils down to the truth that the Lord is with us and it is His presence that will guide us. Yes, we may consider how He speaks to us – e.g. through His word, during prayer, through prophecy, through preaching, through a gentle prompting, through other people etc. – but each of these is simply a way that the Lord who is WITH US will communicate.

Perhaps we take for granted the Christmas story and hardly note when Matthew notes after the angel in a dream has spoken to Joseph about Jesus, “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”–which means, “God with us.” (Mt 1:22,23) which of course was a reference to that original prophecy in Isaiah 7:14 where the Lord again declared He would be with them. In each of these cases we are stating something that most of us who are Christians take for granted and give little thought to – that God is with us.

Now whenever the Bible tells us that, it does not mean that the Lord is with us passively; it means He is here to do stuff! Thus above we’ve already noted that He has told Moses that He will “help you speak and will teach you what to say.” But that wasn’t the only thing He had said He would do. He also said, “I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them,” (Ex 3:20) and so His presence with Moses meant far more than Him simply speaking to Moses. Oh no, He was going to do some serious stuff that would wreck Egypt when Pharaoh rejected Him.

Thus when we come to today’s verses, we find a very simple thing almost, by comparison: “By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way.” i.e. God would be there to guide them. He would go ahead of them and His presence would be visible in the form of a pillar of cloud, and all they had to do was follow it. Thus every day, there was this obvious column of cloud that slowly moved ahead of them, leading them, showing them the way to go. The responsibility for where they went was the Lord’s. All Israel had to do was follow Him.

Does this have echoes in your mind in respect of the Gospels? “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him.” (Mt 4:19,20). Being a disciple meant following the person. That was Jesus’ call to each one of them who we read about. But for Moses it wasn’t just the cloud for we find, “and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night.”“Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.” i.e. this guidance never left them as is then recorded: That was the assurance they had – that God was visibly there with them by the signs of the column of cloud or the column of fire. They must have been awesome sights, but they were very clear and very obvious.

In the New Testament we find, “God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” (Heb 13:5) which refers back to Deuteronomy: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Deut 31:6). Thus the promise to Israel stands today, for all of God’s people. It is the promise of His presence which will never leave us. Of course that presence today is His own Holy Spirit who now indwells every believer (see 1 Cor 3:16, 1 Cor 6:19, 2 Cor 6:16). Yes, we have His written word, the Bible, but He Himself lives within us and prompts and guides us. Perhaps one of the most important things we can learn to do is to learn to be sensitive to His guiding presence – the prompting to move ahead, or the disquiet when we are going the wrong way. In a variety of ways the Spirit within will guide is. It is His very own presence and so guidance flows out of the relationship we have with Him. Isn’t that wonderful!

21. Understanding

Lessons from Israel: No.21 : God of Understanding

Ex 13:17,18 When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt armed for battle.

Having just finished with the explanations for holding the annual Feast of Unleavened Bread, as a reminder to future generations, the text takes us aside to a small piece of godly strategy which is clearly stated here, but which also has some further repercussions which will become obvious in a future meditation. The strategy that is stated is simply the way God led Israel and why. There was a direct route up to Canaan from Egypt but that would have taken Israel through the country of the Philistines, to the south west of Canaan, and this was guarded by a number of heavily guarded fortresses. Now what is interesting about this is the Lord’s understanding of His new people: “For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” The Lord knew that this people who had been sheep farmers were not yet ready to be turned into an army. The Lord understood His people.

Now, this may seem so simple and so obvious that you may be wondering why we are taking time to even consider it. Well the truth is that often in life when things seem to be going wrong for us, or we are confronted with difficulties that seem to be beyond us, we grumble within ourselves, wondering why it is that the Lord is either leading us this way or why He is allowing this to happen, with the inference that the Lord hasn’t a clue about how we’re feeling and about our inadequacies. No, we need to readjust our thinking because the Lord does understand everything there is to know about us.

In Psalm 139 David reveals incredible insight when he writes, “O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.” (Psa 139:1-4) He knew that the Lord knew him, knew everything he did, knew every thought he had, knew how he reasoned and acted and spoke. Oh yes, the Lord knew him through and through – and He knows us similarly.

Oh yes, the Lord knew this people and He knew they were not yet ready for battle. He knew that He had to build their faith and their trust in Him, and that would mean that He would have to take them through a number of circumstances that would deepen their understanding of Him. Yes they would have to cross the Sea of Reeds, they would have to journey through the inhospitable desert and they would have to meet with Him at Mount Sinai to be constituted a nation. All these things would be part of a long learning process that the Lord would take them through. By the time they come to the end of their time at Mount Sinai they should have learnt sufficient of the Lord to be able to step out in faith and take the Promised Land.

If you study the moaning, groaning and rebellions of Israel in their time in the desert between Egypt and the Promised Land, you will see that the Lord tolerates those ones before Sinai, but not the ones after Sinai. It is as if He says, “I understand before Sinai you were still learning, but by the time you left Sinai, you had received so much revelation of me, you should now know better than to grumble and rebel.” The lesson that should perhaps come out here, is that although the Lord understands us and understands our weaknesses and vulnerabilities, that doesn’t give us an excuse to be disobedient. Have you noticed that the Lord in His grace allows His new children to get away with a lot it seems, but as they go on in their walk with Him, His requirements for a holy life become more stringent. Part of maturing is coming into greater understanding of who we are and what we should be. The Lord understands us and so as we mature His discipline seems to become more obvious (though many of us don’t realise it.)

The writer to the Hebrews understood this when he wrote, “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account,” (Heb 4:13) having just warned his readers to persevere in the faith. Shortly afterwards he added, “He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness,” (Heb 5:2) and then added at the end of that chapter, “We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” (Heb 5:12-14) Yes, God understands us, but He also expects us to mature. While we are ignorant (v.2 above) He deals gently with us, but then He expects us to learn as the days pass and with that learning comes responsibility. We need to learn the significance of two words: ‘understanding’ and ‘accountability’. God understands us, but He does hold us accountable as we grow (or should be growing). Let’s remember that.

19. Ownership?

Lessons from Israel: No.19 : Ownership?

Ex 13:1,2 The LORD said to Moses, “Consecrate to me every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether man or animal.”

When we come to this next chapter, there appears this particular claim by God on the lives of certain children. Let’s examine it and see why and what are the implications. This, of course, follows the last of the ten plagues whereby every firstborn male in every family across Egypt died in God’s judgment on this land. “So Moses said, “This is what the LORD says: ‘About midnight I will go throughout Egypt. Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the slave girl, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well.“ (Ex 11:4,5) This death toll had thus been entirely inclusive – no family escaped – except those who followed the Lord’s instructions and who killed a lamb and put its blood on the doorposts of their homes. That night of the Passover saw a dead body in every home; either a first born son or a lamb.

Now why the first born son? We aren’t told specifically so we must speculate. First the question, why not every single Egyptian? There were other times in Israel’s history when the command was going to come to slaughter every person and as one theologian has commented, the big question is not why God judges but why He doesn’t wipe us all off this planet. If we were master beings and were growing creatures in a laboratory and we saw that they started turning on each other and killing each other, we would cull them and quite happily destroy the aberrant ones, but God doesn’t seem to do that much of the time; He seems to give second chance after second chance as we’ve noted in a previous meditation. It is a sign of His mercy and His desire to bring Egypt to their senses that He only takes the first born.

But why the first born? Well, as we said, we can only speculate, but is it because all the hopes and dreams and pride of a family are wrapped up in the first born? Why males only and not firstborn girls? Perhaps it is because in that period men were clearly dominant and were seen as the name bearers of the next generation. Even today the woman usually takes the man’s surname at marriage. So in taking the first born from every family, the Lord was taking their hopes, their dreams and their pride. For the rest of their years the survivors would remember that they had been a humbled generation.

Now when we come to the Israelites they still have their first born, but it is only by the grace and mercy of God and so the Lord lays claim to their lives. Does He really want them? Probably no more than He wants the hearts of all His people, but He wants them to remember this, that they still have their hopes and dreams for the future and their pride and family name, purely by the mercy of God. The killing of a lamb was not magical and had no power in itself, but it was an act of faith by the Israelites. That was all they contributed to the salvation of their children. Their children were alive because God, in His mercy, had given them a way to avoid premature death.

Verses 3 to 10 that immediately follow refer back to the Feast of Unleavened Bread which in turn refers back to the exodus after the Passover. The consecrating of the first born comes immediately before that and immediately after it in verses 11 to 13. It is to be seen as all linked together, and then the following verses again were instructions on how to tell the future generations about it when they asked what this meant. The ‘consecrating’ or setting aside as holy to God of the first born son was a reminder or acknowledgement that their lives had been spared by the mercy of God and they owed their hopes, dreams and family name to Him. They were what they were; they were still families, because God in His mercy had made it so.

Do we, I wonder, view ourselves similarly? Do we who are Christians see that our lives belong to God because it is only the grace and mercy of God that allows us a future? All our hopes and dreams are wrapped in our salvation that has come because The Lamb of God was slain in our place. There is a very practical outworking of all this, as the apostle Paul was to see: “Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.” (Rom 6:13) We too, he was saying, have been saved from eternal death and given eternal life and so we belong to God. Later in the same book he reiterated it even more clearly: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship.” (Rom 12:1). Did you see that? “In view of God’s mercy.” That is the key!  God’s mercy means that now we have been saved we belong to Him. Is that how we see our bodies?

18. Inclusive God

Lessons from Israel: No.18 : Inclusive God

Ex 12:48,49 “An alien living among you who wants to celebrate the LORD’s Passover must have all the males in his household circumcised; then he may take part like one born in the land. No uncircumcised male may eat of it. The same law applies to the native-born and to the alien living among you.”

I find again and again as I read the Bible, I come across verses that I have surely seen before but have never really taken in.  Our two verses above are a little like that. They appear quite inconsequential until you start thinking about them. Indeed these verses might give the unthinking unbeliever grounds for shouting, “See, a contradiction!” because a few verses earlier we find, “The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “These are the regulations for the Passover: “No foreigner is to eat of it.” (Ex 12:43) which appears to convey the oft believed statement that everyone less than a Jew is excluded by God, which is, in reality, as far from the truth as you can get!

So how do we reconcile these verses? Well verse 43 clearly indicates that the Passover is only for God’s people to remember; it would be meaningless for anyone else. But then, when we come to our verses today, we see the Lord making an allowance for, “An alien living among you who wants to celebrate the LORD’S Passover.” i.e. if there are foreigners who want to become part of the community of God, then they may join that community, but it will be on the terms of the community. So, a sign of community membership, if we may put it in this way, was for all males to be circumcised (Gen 17:10) and so if the foreigner wanted to join Israel, then they would need to show their commitment by doing this. All this is somewhat painful for adult males, so it was not something they would do lightly. They wouldn’t do it for superstitious reasons; they would only do it if they really did want to join the people of God and really become part of them.

Now when we go through the Old Testament for the first time, we may be tempted to think that God is just concerned with the nation of Israel and that the rest of the world don’t matter, but that is very far from the truth. Going right back to Israel’s origins, right back with grandfather Abraham, we find God’s first recorded words to Abraham declaring, “all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (Gen 12:3). That was God stating His intention that through this family He was going to bless the whole world, or at least the part of it that would respond to Him. What is interesting, when we refer back to the Passover is that we find, “Many other people went up with them.” (Ex 12:38). We have already commented in a previous meditation that the nature of the plagues meant that there were already two groups of people in Egypt: those who believed the Lord and those who didn’t: “Those officials of Pharaoh who feared the word of the LORD hurried to bring their slaves and their livestock inside. But those who ignored the word of the LORD left their slaves and livestock in the field.” (Ex 9:20,21). Thus we find that along the way the Lord was attracting many people by what was happening already.

Later on through Israel’s history we find lots of interaction with non-Israelites (see the lives of David and Solomon in particular)  During the time of Elijah the  widow of Zaraphath in Sidon (1 Kings 17:9 – see also Lk 4:25,26) was an example of God and a Gentile, as was the instance of Elisha and Naaman (2 Kings 5 – see also Lk 4:27). Later Isaiah was to prophesy in the ’servant songs’, “I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles.” (Isa 42:6) and “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.” (Isa 49:6) i.e. not merely the Jews but to all the earth.

In the beginning of the New Testament, we find Jesus’ family tree including: “Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth.” (Mt 1:5) Rahab and Ruth were both Gentiles who joined the family of God. In Jesus’ ministry we see him interacting with a Canaanite woman (Mt 15:22) and a Roman Centurion (Lk 7:1) among others. As the church began to grow, it soon included more Gentiles than Jews and the word spread around the whole world.

The simple lesson that is here in Exodus, and seen throughout the Bible, is that God uses His people as a light to the rest of the world, for it is His intention for the rest of the world to hear about Him and people from all nations to come to know Him. His intent is not that just one small group should know Him, but the whole world. No one is excluded, no one is substandard, no one is beyond God’s love; all can come as He calls them.

17. Generations

Lessons from Israel: No.17 : Teaching the Generations

Ex 12:25-27 When you enter the land that the LORD will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony. 26And when your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ 27then tell them, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.’

While explaining the Passover, the Lord declared, “This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD–a lasting ordinance.” (v.14) He explained the Feast of Unleavened Bread which would commemorate the week following the Passover when they all ate unleavened bread, because they had no time to properly prepare bread with yeast. Indeed He reiterated it: “This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD–a lasting ordinance.” (v.17) Having created such a graphic thing to remember, the Lord’s instructions were now that they were to remember it every year. He foresees their children questioning them as to what it means (v.26) and thus He instructs them in our verses today what to say.

Passing on the truth to children, i.e. from one generation to the next, became an important part of their lives and Moses instructed them before they entered the Promised Land, “Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.” (Deut 4:9) When he spoke about all the commands the Lord had given them he told them, “These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” (Deut 6:6,7)

Indeed, later in his instructions to them, he reiterated this: “Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” (Deut 11:18,19) and speaking later of future generations, “Their children, who do not know this law, must hear it and learn to fear the LORD your God as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.” (Deut 31:13).Truth had to be imparted from one generation to the next. It was a vital part of their culture. Again and again these same instructions were given in the books of the Law.

Asaph even wrote in the psalms: “He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our forefathers to teach their children, so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands.“ (Psa 78:5-7). In the New Testament, Paul notes how this had worked in the life of Timothy: “I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.” (2 Tim 1:5). How beautiful! The Gospel had been received by Timothy’s grandmother who conveyed it to her daughter, his mother, and then she to him, from one generation to another.

Very often this came in the form of some graphic memorial, as we saw in the previous meditation. After Israel passed through the Jordan to enter the Promised Land, we find, “Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.” (Josh 4:5-7). Thus the future generations would be reminded of how God had brought them into the Land. The Passover reminded them how they were brought out of Egypt and these stones would act as reminders of how they went in to their inheritance.

In the New Testament we find Jesus at the Last Supper: “And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” (Lk 22:19). Thus Communion or ‘the Breaking of Bread’ is a reminder for the modern church. Paul expanded on this when he wrote about it: “when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” (1 Cor 11:24-26) This is to be something done regularly until Jesus comes back. It is a constant reminder from one generation to the next. We need such reminders. Do it!

16. Picture Teaching

Lessons from Israel: No.16 : God of Picture Teaching

Ex 12:1-3 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, 2″This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. 3Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household.

We are about to see something take place which becomes very common in following chapters and books – the Lord painting pictures to convey great truths for future generations. First of all in this chapter we are going to see historical events but these events involve very graphic teaching. This chapter is all about the Passover which involved the last of the ten plagues. Pharaoh has refused to listen to Moses and indeed after the previous one, the ninth plague, we find, “Pharaoh said to Moses, “Get out of my sight! Make sure you do not appear before me again! The day you see my face you will die.” (Ex 10:27,28). In other words he shut the door on Moses and would hear nothing more from him. He himself stopped the Lord giving him any more chances.

So before Moses finally leaves Pharaoh’s presence he brings one last word to him: “So Moses said, “This is what the LORD says: ‘About midnight I will go throughout Egypt. Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the slave girl, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well.” (Ex 11:4,5) That is the final judgment on this people. That has been spoken and it will come to pass, but the way it comes to pass conveys a great truth through a very graphic means.

The picture starts with a lamb as our verses today show us: “on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household.” (v.3) which is then described, i.e. its quality is laid down: “The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats.” (v.5) i.e. young and in good condition; no getting rid of your old or scrawny ones! Next comes the instructions of what they are to do with these lambs or kids: “Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs.” (v.6,7)

That part is very significant in the light of what follows:  “On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn–both men and animals–and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.” (v.12,13) In other words the blood would only be there as the result of an act of faith on the part of the Israelites, but from God’s side it would be a recognizable sign for the Lord’s angel that these homes were indeed part of the faith community and should be left untouched.

Observe the picture: a lamb is slain as a means of averting the judgment of God. The killing of the lamb is an act of faith by those who want to be part of the people of God, who want God to deliver them out of a bad place into a good place. And then we come to the New Testament and find, “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (Jn 1:29). Note the description of Jesus – the Lamb of God. Then at the Last Supper: “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Mt 26:28). Finally observe the description of Jesus before the throne in heaven in the book of Revelation: “Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain.” (Rev 5:6) and the song that was sung to him: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.” (Rev 5:9). This is the work of Jesus, the Lamb of God, the One provided by God to act as the redeeming sacrifice so that the judgment of God would be averted.

How do we become those who escape the judgment of God that comes on all sin? We put to death the Lamb, God’s prescribed means of us being forgiven and cleansed of our sin. We declare, Jesus died for me; I believe in him as my redeemer, my lamb, who takes away my sin and averts the judgment of God for me. That is the power of the picture here in Exodus – the Passover – it saved them from the angel of judgment and so now today THE Lamb saves me from the angel of judgment!  In many places in Scripture we come across many such pictures which we sometimes refer to as ‘types’. The Passover was a type, or picture, of the salvation that comes through Jesus. We will no doubt see many more of these ‘types’ before we finish these studies in the lesson learnt from observing Israel with God.

15. Second Chances

(We pick up again the series we started several weeks back)
Lessons from Israel: No.15 : God of Second Chances

Ex 7:16,17 Then say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the desert. But until now you have not listened. This is what the LORD says: By this you will know that I am the LORD: With the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood.

This narrative that goes on for a number of chapters in Exodus, covering the ten plagues that came upon Egypt, is unique in the Bible and it highlights something here perhaps better than anywhere else in the Bible. It is so obvious that mostly we take it for granted. We have, in fact, referred to it already in a previous meditation. It is the fact that God could have destroyed the Egyptians in one go, without any further warning – but He didn’t. He gave them a second chance, and then a third and so on. It is so remarkable that, as I said, we take it for granted.

Now this goes right to the heart of the argument that we so often hear from atheists that God is a hard, capricious, unforgiving God. What we witness as we read through chapter 7 to 11 of Exodus is the God of second chances, the God who holds back His hand of judgment, the God who gradually increases the pressure and who, every time, allows the Egyptians to learn and to turn – but they don’t. I have commented many times in these meditations in the years of writing them, that I first noticed this many years ago when I did a series of verse by verse studies going through Jeremiah and noted the number of times that God’s word came to Israel and Jerusalem before eventually the captivity and exile came. There was nothing hasty about it at all, just as there is nothing hasty about God’s activity here in Egypt. In fact it is frighteningly methodical and specific, one thing flowing on from another, almost like a giant steamroller ploughing on over the land so slowly, unstoppable by the puny individuals standing before it. It’s almost like the tide coming in, inch by inch, again unstoppable.

But it is only the sin of Pharaoh and his people that cannot see this. Referring to Satan, the apostle Paul said, “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” (2 Cor 4:4) Referring to the darkness of sin, the apostle John wrote, “whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.” (1 Jn 2:11)  Both of them understood that submitting to Sin and to Satan blinds men, and Pharaoh is blind! In his case it is clearly pride that had hardened his heart and it is that which makes him blind so he cannot see that he has no chance of winning this contest. How easy it would have been to have let this foreign people go and just carry on ruling his own people, but the trouble is that pride doesn’t like being told what to do and so we hear people saying, “Don’t you tell me what to do; I’m just as good as you!” Pride blinds!

The reality in Egypt may have been that there were ordinary people who did take notice of what Moses was saying and thus were saved when the plagues got worse, because you will see that although initially, everyone was affected by the plagues, as they went on, the nature of some of the plagues meant that individuals could respond and avoid the impact of the plague (e.g. the hail). The incredible truth is that God gives us human beings as many chances as possible so we can never say, when we face Him in eternity, that we hadn’t been given a chance. This is why Peter wrote, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Pet 3:9) If God seems to allow unbelievers to get away with mocking Him or bad men simply to carry on doing evil, it is because He is giving them opportunities to come to their senses before they face Him in eternity. Jesus also conveyed this in his parable of the fishes (Mt 13:47-50) showing that good and evil will live side by side until the end – but there will be an accounting. In such ways the Lord gives opportunity after opportunity to people to turn to Him. Never, when they face Him in eternity, will they be able to say they weren’t given a chance – they were, again and again!

Now if this seems to just apply to unbelievers, perhaps we who know the Lord should ask ourselves how many times does the Lord need to speak to us before we get what He is saying? It is all very well to point fingers at unbelievers but, in reality, do we hear what the Lord is saying to us? The seven churches of Asia Minor in the book of Revelation testify to the fact that we can carry on blissfully in our Christian lives thinking all is well, while the head of the church has issues with us. It should not be. May we have ears that are open to Him, that hear Him and respond to Him!

53. Reassurance

Ephesians Meditations No.53

Eph  6:21-24 Tychicus, the dear brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will tell you everything, so that you also may know how I am and what I am doing. I am sending him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage you. Peace to the brothers, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love

And so we come to the closing verses of this wonderful little book. We hope you have been blessed by it. Unlike many of Paul’s other letters, he doesn’t send  lots of personal greetings at the end, but if this was supposed to be a letter sent to Ephesus and then circulated among all the other churches of the area, that is understandable.

Only one person gets a mention here, the man who presumably was entrusted with actually taking the letter to them: “Tychicus, the dear brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will tell you everything.” We find Paul referring to him when he wrote to Timothy: “I sent Tychicus to Ephesus.” (2 Tim 4:12). He also mentioned him when he wrote to Titus, “As soon as I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me.” (Titus 3:12) and also when he wrote to the Colossians: “Tychicus will tell you all the news about me. He is a dear brother, a faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord.” (Col 4:7) Look at these descriptions of this man - dear brother and faithful servant in the Lord and dear brother, a faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. Wow! There is a clear sign of affection there. This man means a lot to Paul. His faithfulness or ’stickability’ is mentioned twice as is his servant-heartedness. He’s a good man! Could those descriptions be applied to us?

What is intriguing is Paul saying he “will tell you everything,” implying there is a lot to be told, and as soon as he says that you realise that this letter (or book, as we have referred to it) is largely devoid of any ‘news’. If we were writing a letter to friends we would probably fill it with things that have happened to us, but this isn’t that sort of letter. It is virtually all teaching. Paul has been imparting understanding of doctrine for the church. If you want the ‘local news’ you’ll have to ask the messenger, which is why he adds, “so that you also may know how I am and what I am doing.”

Now Paul doesn’t just leave it there, he adds something that makes us think about the obvious depth of relationship that he has with the Christians in Ephesus: “I am sending him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage you.” He anticipates the concern of the Christians at Ephesus for him. When he was with them he wasn’t some ‘distant’ or aloof preacher;  he got involved with them. Thus there was a mutual concern, and so he takes pains to acknowledge that concern and says that Tychicus will bring them up to date with all that has been happening to Paul so that they will not worry about him. That is pastoral concern. Tychicus will thus encourage them. Even more pastoral concern.

He closes his letter with a blessing: “Peace to the brothers, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.” See the things he wants for them: peace, love with faith and grace. Peace is the thing he almost invariably asks for whenever he writes to anyone, because he is aware that living in a hostile world means that there is often an absence of peace. Peace is an absence of worry or concerns. The causes may still be there, but peace means that we have come to a place of leaving them with the Lord (see Phil 4:6,7). But then there is love linked with faith that Paul says comes from heaven. Faith, we often say, is responding to that God says, and so here it is the recognition that true love comes through God’s revelation to us. Surely, reading this book, there must come that awareness, of God’s incredible love to us that has brought about all the wonderful things spoken about in the book. Our love comes through the knowledge of Him and all He has done for us!

Finally he asks for grace for all who love the Lord. Grace is simply the supernatural ability to cope in life, to live as Jesus. Note the little prod at the very end: this grace comes to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love. That love will imply a closeness, and grace is actually the expression of the Lord himself in us. The love we have for him came because of what he did for us, is experienced and expressed daily through the empowering and prompting of his Spirit, and will continue into eternity. It is simply part of who we are, united with him.

Well, there we are, at the end. May you be blessed by this book. To conclude, may we recommend that, if you’ve never done it before, you make some time and read it out loud in one go. Be blessed.