Our background photo for today features a farm gate … it is clear that hard work is done here!
The book of Exodus opens with the people of Israel under the oppression of hard labor!! Their freedom has been taken away. Their life has become one of slavery. They are mistreated and abused! They are forced into hard labor!
When will the promised redeemer come?? Life is so hard!!
The people of Israel cry out to God for deliverance … and in the middle of the suffering and injustice God hears! God hears and God responds!
God providentially protects … prepares … selects … and then sends the man, Moses, to deliver the people out of oppression and slavery.
In a series of mighty acts, God demonstrates His power to the nation of Egypt … with the repeated command: “Let My people go!!”
But the Pharaoh of Egypt hardens his heart to God and refuses to let the people go. In defiance of God, the Pharaoh orders the labor of the Hebrew slaves be intensified! Additionally, no longer would they be given straw with which to make bricks. (you might notice the pile of straw/hay in our background photo for today) (Exodus 5:1-18)
When will the gate to freedom open?? When will the hard labor end??
Freedom came … but it was first predicated by God commanding each home to offer a Passover Lamb sacrifice. The blood of the Passover Lamb was to be sprinkled on the top entryway and side doorposts of each home. (this was a picture representing the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ to provide freedom from sin for all mankind) (Exodus 12:1-30)
God Himself went throughout the land of Egypt, and every home which was not covered by the blood of the Passover Lamb experienced death. But every home which had the blood of the Passover Lamb on its doorposts, God passed over.
Jesus Christ is the Passover Lamb. The sacrificial death of Jesus Christ on the cross covers us from God’s wrath, so that God passes over us and gives us grace.
Through Jesus Christ the gateway to freedom is open!
