April 29, 2014 (Tuesday)
John Denver sang about leavin’ on a jet plane. He packed his bags and left, with the hope that something better awaited him elsewhere.
The descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were in much the same situation, but of course they were not leaving Egypt on a jet plane. They were walking. They were leaving Egypt with the hope that something better was at the end of their journey: The Promised Land.
Here’s what the Book of Exodus, the second book of our Bible, includes:
The birth of Moses
Moses and the burning bush
The Ten Plagues
The Passover
Crossing the Red Sea
Manna and quail provided
Water from the rock
The Ten Commandments
Preparation of the tabernacle
The golden calf incident
Setting up the tabernacle
What can we learn from this book that can be applied to our own daily lives?
1. We have a choice. We can stay where we are, in the “land of bondage,” slaves to our sin, or we can leave it behind by repenting of our sins and choosing to serve Christ instead.
2. We walk with Christ, we honor the Covenant He makes with us as His children–the New Covenant, by which God’s law of love is written on our hearts. This New Covenant is sealed by the Lord’s precious blood, and by our agreement to be saved by Him, we also agree to walk in His ways.
3. Like the Israelites of old, we are devoted to worship. They worshiped in the Tabernacle, and later in the Temple, but the true center of worship is Christ Himself, who lives in our very own hearts.
Do you know people who are wandering in the land of sinful bondage? As Moses of old showed the Israelites the way to “a land flowing with milk and honey, you can show present day slaves to sin the way to Heaven through faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the Savior of the world.