Free at Last

When Joseph invited his family to join him in Egypt during the famine, none of them dreamed that they would become enslaved by the Egyptians. It was to save them from sure death as the famine was severe over an extended area for seven years. Joseph did, however, just before he died make the request that when they leave Egypt, they take his bones with them. “But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And Joseph made the sons of Israel swear on oath and said, ‘God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place.’” Genesis 50:24-25

Why would God need to come to their aid? Things were good. They had a place to keep their flocks. They had plenty to eat. What more could they want? But they were not in the Promised Land that God had told Abraham to set out for, that Isaac lived in, and that Jacob had returned to after working for Laban for his daughters Leah and Rachael. I wonder if God intended for them to stay in Egypt so long. Or did they linger there longer than they should have because it was comfortable and moving back to Canaan would be a hassle. As they prospered, the Egyptians began to fear them and enslaved them in order to control them. And now, indeed, God needed to rescue them to get them back on track for the Promised Land.

In the beginning, Moses was a reluctant leader. Who can blame him – 600,000 men plus women and children (probably well over a million all together) to manage on a long journey. How would you begin to manage that many people on a camping trip? There are not too many people who are confident enough to jump into that one and believe they can succeed. Moses tried to talk God out of his choice of him as leader. Finally God agreed to also send his brother Aaron to be his ‘mouthpiece’ and Moses set off to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.

It took quite a few plagues to finally get Pharaoh’s cooperation. I wonder how much of it was for Pharaoh and how much was for the Israelites to gain confidence in Moses as their leader. After a rocky start with Pharaoh making it even harder on the Israelites, Moses did gain the confidence of the people. It was obvious that he had been sent by God and that God was working through him and they began to listen to his leadership. Pharaoh just didn’t know who he was up against. He thought he knew. After all, Moses had grown up in his own household. He was sure he could break Moses down and get him to give up. He ran pretty quickly after killing the Egyptian. But each plague was worse than the one before and eventually, it was obvious that Moses and his God were not going to give up.

The last plague was the death of all the first born children and livestock of the Egyptians. It broke down Pharaoh’s resolve to win and gave the Israelites the Passover Celebration to always remember what God had done for them. Fast forward to a Passover Celebration where Jesus and his disciples shared what we now call ‘The Last Supper’. Jesus became our Passover Lamb to set us free from the slavery of sin. Why then do so many of us continue to act as if we are still in bondage? Why are we so slow to accept and live out our freedom in Christ?

Moses, at God’s instruction, told the Israelites, “This observance will be for you like a sign on your hand and a reminder on your forehead that the law of the Lord is to be on your lips. For the Lord brought you out of Egypt with his mighty hand.” Exodus 13:9 I wonder, what is the sign on your hand and a reminder on your forehead? We see this again in Deuteronomy when the commandments are given to Israel. “These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” Deuteronomy 6:6-9

Another place the hand and forehead appears it in Revelation 13 only here it is the ‘Mark of the Beast’. “He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name.” Revelation 13:16-17

As I ponder these verses, what seems to be present in each of these references to hand and forehead is that the idea or concept is first and foremost in our conscious thought – consuming us completely. Remembering Passover was remembering God’s salvation and remembering to live like a free person. God’s Laws were given to help us live like people free from sin. If they are first and foremost in our thoughts, we will act (hand) and think (forehead) like the free people we are. And even Satan knows that where our focus is, there our behavior will be as well. I wonder if the ‘Mark of the Beast’ is confidence and trust in the money of this world to save us rather than in God. Come to think of it, if we all lived with full confidence in God and followed his ways, money wouldn’t be necessary. Money is simply a tool for accounting what is yours and what is mine. If everything belongs to God and we all share everything we have in common, money wouldn’t be necessary! We could live like the free people God intends for us to be, no longer enslaved by our constant craving for worldly wealth.