God sent Moses to Pharaoh to release his people under slavery in Egypt. God asked Aaron the brother of Moses to go with him. Before Pharaoh, Moses said to him in Exodus 5: 1 “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.”
Who was Pharaoh?
He was the king of Egypt called Seti I and continued during the exodus by Ramses II. They enslaved the Israelites for economic benefits through hard labour, and to depopulate them so they could not be a threat to the Egyptians. Exodus 1: 8-19 says now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war befalls us, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land. Although Egypt felt justified to secure its comfort zone by law and practical wisdom, not all our justifications by law and wisdom are justified as right before God.
God was not happy about the enslavement of his people. Today, God is calling us as Pharaohs of our time in spite of law and worldly wisdom to stop enslaving, exploiting, abusing or inflicting injustice on others but to release them on God’s demand to let his people go. Leviticus 19:15 says you shall do no injustice in judgment Jesus like Moses said in Luke 4: 18-19, He (God) has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. Romans 5: 1 says for freedom Christ has set us free; stand fast therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. God says, Let my people go.
The basis of God intervention
God’s purposes were set out in Exodus 3: 7: “I have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters; I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. These could be categorized into three:
God’s first reason was that he had seen Israel’s affliction. God sees every activity in his creation. Jeremiah 23: 24 says can a man hide himself in secret places so that I (God) cannot see him? Matthew 10: 26; Luke 12: 2 say… nothing is covered that will not be revealed; or hidden that will not be known. God sees all things.
God’s second reason was that he had heard Israel’s cry. God hears the cry of his people. Psalms 50: 15 says call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me. Paul said in Philippians 4: 6-7 have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God. He is always ready to listen to his people.
God’s third reason was that he knew Israel’s sufferings. God’s knowledge about his creation is perfect. He said in Acts 7: 49-50: Heaven is my throne, and the earth my footstool. What house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? Did not my hand make all these things? Job 21: 22 says will any teach God knowledge, seeing that he judges those that are on high? God knows all about the happenings in his creation. He has not relinquished power and will intervene in our situation.
How were the Israelites identified?
As a condition for their final departure, God required the Israelites to prepare to avoid the physical deaths which would occur at night in Egypt when the angel of death passes over. They were to identify their dwellings using the blood of unblemished lamb. Exodus 12: 7 says then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat them. God gave the Israelites the opportunity to save their households and all and everything which they had.
Exodus 12: 13 says the blood shall be a sign for you, upon the houses where you are,; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall fall upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. Those who obeyed God’s instructions were saved together with their household and what they had but those who refused it suffered death and calamities upon their households and families. This exercise was repeated against Israel’s spiritual deaths.
1 Corinthians 5: 7 says for Christ, our paschal lamb, has been sacrificed. 1 Peter 1: 19 says but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. Jesus became the sacrificial lamb when he shed his blood for Israel and the whole world on the cross for the salvation of Jews or none Jews to save our souls from eternal death. Romans 5: 9 says since, therefore, we are now justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 1 Peter 1: 18-19 say you know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your fathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of the lamb without blemish or spot.
Can we make it without the blood?
Without the blood mark of God, we cannot be saved from the impending death which is surely coming and so soon. Revelation 7: 13-14 says then one of the elders addressed me, saying, who are these, clothed in white robes, and whence have they come? I said to him, Sir, you know. And he said to me, these are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
We need the blood of the last and final lamb, Jesus Christ before we can be saved from God’s wrath to come and his final judgment. 1 Thessalonians 1: 10 says… wait for his Son from heaven, whom he has raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. Do we want to escape from God’s wrath? How will God identify us on his second coming without the ordained blood? Revelation 7: 10 says salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.
Paul said in Galatians 6: 17 henceforth let no man trouble me; for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. What marks do we bear or will we bear when we face eternity? We cannot identify with Christ Jesus without the mark of his blood. Revelation 5: 9-10 say of Jesus, worthy are thou to take the scroll and to open its seals, for thou was slain and thy blood didst ransom men for God from every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and hast made them a kingdom and priests to God, and they shall reign on earth.
Prayer
Dear Lord Jesus, like Pharaoh, we also oppress your people in many forms. We have heard your request for you have heard the cry of your helpless people and seen our wickedness. Identify your children by the marks of your blood for release to worship you in spirit and in truth. In your release, please do not pass us by. We thank you Lord for your saving grace, Amen!!
