Posts Tagged ‘Egypt’
Dear Friends,
Greetings on another day of rest in Jesus Christ! What a blessing to know that He has delivered us from sin, slavery and death and given us righteousness, freedom, and life everlasting! All of this is due to His grace and the obedience of Jesus Christ to follow His Father’s plan to save lives! We are included in these plans by His grace and by the drawing of the Holy Spirit.
In our reading this past week we saw God’s people being invited to stay in Egypt. They were forced by a famine to seek out food there because God Himself had sent Joseph there with the express purpose of saving lives. God used the world system of Pharaoh’s Egypt to store up grain to feed a multitude during the famine. God controls the governments of the world and uses the leaders to fulfill His purposes!
Egypt is a type of the world without a true knowledge of God. It is a system of humanistic government, business and religious idolatry. It is a system based on power, wealth, and man’s inner need to worship. Without God, humanity values what can only satisfy the flesh. Idols come in as a means to satisfy the inner need to worship. Idols are a form of god crafted by man to try to fill this desire to worship. By making an idol, man can design a convenient god that allows him to do whatever he wants and at the same time controls others or even shuts them out. In the end, this system of Egypt is pure slavery, results in what God calls “sin”, and ends in death.
All men must be born again to escape the power of this system. God must deliver them and help them to choose to worship Him alone! People must be willing to escape this system and enter the freedom of knowing the one True God! God places His people in this system to show a way of escape to those who are trapped by the system! The blessing of God on our lives should be so evident that the lost ask us for help!
May your life be marked by willing submission to our loving King, Jesus Christ! May His provision make you smile with joy every day! May every trace of Egypt be removed from your soul!
In His Love, Pastor John
Scripture reading for July 22nd: Isaiah 17-20
“Those who trusted in Cush and boasted in Egypt will be afraid and put to shame. In that day the people who live on this coast will say, ‘See what has happened to those we relied on, those we fled to for help and deliverance from the king of Assyria! How then can we escape?” (Isaiah 20:5-6)
The fear of man is a snare that many men and women fall into. They look to a man or a nation of people for help or protection. They rely on military power, political influence, money, or knowledge to provide them a measure of safety and security. We are taught that ‘might makes right’ and that the ‘fittest will survive’. In the natural, this appears to be the smart way to live and get along in this world.
We in the United States of America have had a lot to boast about in this regard. We are a nation that boasts of the most powerful and feared military capabilities in the world. We have vast resources and technology that enables us to use our resources to protect us and even to free oppressed peoples in other parts of the world. We have sought to use our power and resources to protect freedom and fight against oppression and wickedness. But in spite of our great resources and technology, can these give us true safety and security? The Bible says that God alone is our source of safety!
In today’s reading, Isaiah was speaking an oracle against Egypt. Egypt was a powerful nation even during this period of time. They were a nation of idolaters who consulted sorcerers and mediums instead of God. God’s prophet Isaiah warned them that they would find these leaders very unreliable and unstable and His judgment would expose them as false! (Isaiah 19:1-4) God would cause drought and famine to reduce the people to despair. He would expose their politicians and officials as senseless and fools! (Isaiah 19:11-14) God would pour on them a spirit of dizziness causing them to stagger in their own vomit! Trusting in men is futile! There is no security there!
God’s mercy is extended to these in Egypt in this passage. As they are going through this judgment, if they will turn to the Lord, He will have mercy on them! (Isaiah 19:19-22) He will raise up a deliverer for them and make Himself known to them. They will worship and acknowledge the Lord, and He will heal them! This passage ends with God declaring a blessing over Egypt and Assyria: “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance.” (Isaiah 19:25)
God’s amazing mercy and love for all nations cause us to worship Him and willingly serve Him! Take time today and repent of any ‘trust in man’ and thank God that He is trustworthy! He alone is our source of protection and our way of escape!
Scripture Reading for February 24: Deuteronomy 8-11
In 1995, my son and I went to Israel and Egypt on a three week study tour of the Holy Land plus the route of the Exodus and Egypt. In Egypt we visited the Great Pyramid, the Sphinx and several museums. The land of Egypt was primarily desert and dry rocky mountains until we got to the Nile River where the water and irrigation made some green areas and lush groves of tropical plants. The land was fairly flat and sandy. Israel, on the other hand was varied in topography and had many different areas of climate and vegetation. The Jezreel valley was a rich agricultural region with big farms. The vineyard country was terraced and had trees and vines. The area around the Sea of Galilee was lush and had banana and pineapples growing. There were herds of cattle and sheep in the Golan Heights. Shepherds drove their flocks of goats and sheep and camped in tents in the Negev desert. It was a varied land full of milk (goats and cattle) and honey (bees pollinating vines and flowers).
In our reading today, God describes through Moses in his sermon the land that they are going to. I thought it was interesting to read Deuteronomy 11:8-12 in light of my own journey to both places. It is a land flowing with milk and honey! (vs.9) It’s a land of hills and valleys! (vs. 10) God sends the rain of heaven on Israel where in Egypt, by hand and foot, the land had to be irrigated! (vs. 11) In Canaan, God cares for the land and His eyes are upon it to bless His people! (vs.12)
As Marshal and I walked and rode through that land, God’s presence was evident to us. It is a special land, although it is not remarkable or extraordinary. God’s presence and His people make it special! God’s promises to Israel and His love for His people and our forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob stand as a testimony of God’s faithfulness. Four thousand years after Abraham, his descendants are still in that land and are taking possession of it yet! They have defeated armies more numerous and stronger, because God is with them and His Word is still true. (Deuteronomy 11:23,25) They are still being gathered from the nations and settling in that land after years of being scattered! It is a land that God cares for and His eyes are upon it continually! Pray for the peace of Jerusalem and support God’s land and people! A blessing is on those who bless Israel! (Genesis 12:3)