AP

Exodus 6:6-7  Therefore, say to the Israelites: “I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.  I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgement.  I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God.  Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.”

What great encouragement we get from the Book of Exodus, as we see the Sovereign LORD carrying out his Plan of Salvation that he had had in his mind even when he created everything that is!  The whole rescue mission from Egypt is pivotal to God’s revelation of this Plan of Salvation.  It lays out the blueprint in the clearest possible way for the coming of Jesus to be the sacrificial ‘Passover Lamb’ to deliver us from the bondage of sin, something we could never do for ourselves, just as the Israelites had no possible means of getting themselves out of of their bondage.

So God’s word here through Moses should be a great comfort and encouragement to us, his Church, today.  We belong to him; we are his very own.  He is our God; more than that, his name is ‘the LORD’, the loving and faithful, covenant-making and covenant-keeping God.  Does your world-view embrace the marvel of this?  When the going is tough, and you wonder why God is making you collect your own straw without reducing your quota of bricks, are you able to rest in the security of his saving grace and stand firm on his promises?  Are you able to say with Paul: “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39)?

Do you agree with the following statements Paul makes: “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins … But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved. … For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no-one can boast.  For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:1, 4-5,8-10)? (Get the emphases right!)
– Bruce Christian