Exodus. Our reading today begins with the dedication of the firstborn. This act of "redeeming" the firstborn was a powerful symbol that we must bring our best (our first) to God. If your view is that God is a mean, demanding deity who sucks the life out of people, this will seem abusive to you. However, when you understand that God is a loving dad who provides us with everything we need, it's a joy to bring our best to Him.
The portrayal of the Red Sea crossing is breathtaking. I want to interject this one truth: the deliverance from Egypt (which, in Scripture, symbolizes the power of the world) was all the people needed. God had set them free! However, God provided a second event to make them completely aware of their freedom. That second event, crossing the Sea, was used to make them fully aware of what God had done in the first event.
Both events are pictures of something that becomes clear again in the New Testament. Deliverance from Egypt is like what happens to us when we give our hearts to Christ -- we are set free from our slavery to the world and its sin. Jesus was clear in His commands, though, that we participate in a second event -- passing through the waters of baptism -- in order to seal the power of the first event in our hearts and minds. That is why we (at SRC) stand firm on the fact that New Testament baptism always occurred after someone chose to receive Christ and was always by immersion in water.
Notice the celebration of the Hebrews. What does it bring to mind?
Today in Exodus 15:26 we discover another name for God. Remember, He revealed Himself to Moses as Jehovah, or Yahweh -- literally "I am that I am" -- from the burning bush. Now He joins the name Jehovah with the word Jireh, which means healer or healing. Jehovah-Jireh: I am your healer.
This part of Exodus is so exciting.
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking a lot about what Egypt symbolizes lately.
And I found this verse to be really interesting, "God did not lead them along the main road that runs through Philistine territory, even though that was the shortest route to the Promised Land. God said, “If the people are faced with a battle, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.”