Recently had a student approach this teacher and ask a few questions…
Deuteronomy 31:8 says: “He is the LORD that goes before you, He will be with you, He will not fail you, He will not forsake you; fear not, and do not be dismayed.”
From a student…. “could I get some help about the bible? 🙂 how can we expressed the meaning of the sentence “I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.” ? How can we apply it to our daily life? If you have time, kindly reply my email. Thank you God bless you…
~ (Student’s Name)
The teacher’s answer… Excellent question… Here is a very important rule to remember when reading the Bible. Always ask the Holy Spirit to help you understand what you are reading. He will always help you understand, or find the people that can help you understand.
Also, realize something. The whole Old Testament is really all about Jesus. It is historically accurate – but the spiritual interpretation is about Jesus and us. Look at it from this perspective and the Old Testament starts to light up and become really exciting!
Now, Exodus 6 (where the verse: “I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians” is) starts out by talking about the covenant (unbreakable promise) that God made to Moses’ forefathers (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) – that HE (God) would give these people a land of their own one day, and that He (God) would pour out His blessing on the people. The people simply had to TRUST and OBEY Him.
God promised that he would give them victory over their enemies in the new land.
This whole story is true – BUT it is also a picture of our lives right now.
1) The LORD brings us out from under our slavery to sin (The Egyptians were a picture of how we were in bondage to sin). The Israelites escaped from this bondage after the Passover – when the lamb was slain, and the blood put on the doorposts, so the angel of death would pass over them… Notice that Jesus is called our Passover lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7 “Christ our Passover Lamb was sacrificed for us.”), and that His blood is what saves us from death. Read Romans chapter 6-8 and see that we are no longer slaves to sin and laws, but free to run in His Love and Grace and Spirit.
2) The Israelites were freed, but ran around in the desert for many years (40 years)! This happened because they were afraid, and would not believe that God would give them victory over their enemies, and take them into a beautiful land of their own. This is just like what happens to most Christians… We accept Jesus as our Savior, but we stop there and don’t rest in Him and simply trust that He can and WILL do amazing things in our lives… So, we run around and look just like everyone else – sad, angry, lustful, loving money and stuff.
3) Then, when you read the whole story of the Israelites leaving the slavery of Egypt (by God’s mighty hand and power alone!), and then see the wandering they do because they stop trusting their Deliverer (Jesus) – we get to a really cool part of the story. God STILL brings the Israelites to victory. He finally gets them to understand that all they have to do is TRUST and OBEY. They go over the Jordan river into the promised land and instantly start defeating all the enemies they were afraid of in the past. Read all of Exodus and Deuteronomy and Joshua to get the story. This part of the story shows us that – no matter what – we can have victory over all the problems of sin and pain in our lives today. Deuteronomy 31:8 says: “He is the LORD that goes before you, He will be with you, He will not fail you, He will not forsake you; fear not, and do not be dismayed.”
Have fun with this!
Mr. Makala
