The Need of Freedom
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Seeing Jesus in the OT
Seeing Jesus in the OT
With passover/resurrection day less than 30 days away, I want to pivot and study the Old Testament scriptures concerning the types, shadows, and prophecies of Jesus Christ throughout the Old Testament.
Now these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt; every man and his household came with Jacob. Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, Dan, and Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls: for Joseph was in Egypt already. And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation. And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them.
These are children of the promise.
What promise?
What did the Lord promise them? ANS: They were heirs of the promises of God to Abraham!
And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.
And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him. And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.
Then the LORD confirms the covenant with Jacob:
And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.
I want you to grab ahold of verse 15:
And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.
Let’s read this from the NLT
What’s more, I am with you, and I will protect you wherever you go. One day I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have finished giving you everything I have promised you.”
The LORD said, “I will not leave you until I have finished giving you everything I have promised you.”
Now this promise is just not for Jacob, it is for his descendants as well. The LORD made a promise that he would not leave them.
Now we come to Exodus chapter 1, the LORD has been blessing Israel. Remember that Jacob’s name was changed from Jacob (supplanter) to Israel.
We see the promises of God to Abraham are coming to past. What promise? That his descendants would be many......they would become a great nation. His descendants would be like the stars.....many.
It has come to past, God has blessed Israel, God has multiplied Israel, but NOW......they hit a rough spot!
Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we: Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land. Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel. And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour: And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.
The blessed people are in hard times now. A new king comes to power, he knew nothing of Joseph and what Joseph had done. Remember Joseph was one of Israel’s/Jacob’s sons. He was a high ranking officer of Egypt. His family came down to Egypt because there was a severe draught in Canaan.
But watch this, God made a promise to Abraham that he would give Canaan to him and his descendants forever.
But we see that Israel has settled in Egypt and the problem with that is that The LORD never promised Egypt to Abraham, he promised Canaan.
So now, because they are not where they are suppose to be......hard times hit them!!! When you get comfortable in a place which God has not called you to be.....hard times will come!!!
The LORD had to make it extremely difficult for them to get out of the place that they had grown relaxed and accustomed to.
Israel was God’s people, but they didn’t really know God. They became accustomed to the surrounding culture. They probably knew of all of the gods of Egypt, but they didn’t know The LORD.
And sometimes, it is through suffering, through hardship, that we really learn who God is, and the power that God has.
Thinking about all of the people that Jesus healed in his earthly ministry. They were all suffering, hurting, and they would’ve never known that Jesus was a healer, that Jesus is a deliverer, if wasn’t suffering.
You can hear about it, but until you experience it for yourself......you don’t really know!
I had a debate with a family member once, actually two family members come to think of it. And both at one point were practicing Christians. But neither of them had the Holy Ghost and unfortunately, they were introduced to false doctrines and they stop believing in Jesus.
They tried to present all of this information that they called themselves researching. They’ve read books, they got information off of the internet. But the problem with that is that there is all kinds of information on the internet and whatever you’re view point is.....there is always something out there to support it.
If you don’t believe Jesus existed, that’s out there, if you believe he did exist but wasn’t divine, that’s out there, if you believe that Christianity stole parts of Egyptian culture, that is out there, if you believe that Christianity copied Krishna that’s out there.
Some don’t believe Jesus existed, but the Jews believe he did but that he was a false prophet. Muslims believe Jesus who they call Isa was just a prophet, don’t believe he was divine, don’t believe he died on the cross. Even the pagans have their belief system.
I told him......so who’s right. They couldn’t answer me. I told them this.
For no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me, and at the last day I will raise them up.
You’ve got to be drawn by God.
I’m not really big on philosophy but one of the prevailing thoughts in philosophy concerning truth is that truth is experienced, it is a reality.
When you experience God, when God is revealed to you, when God comes into your life, when God saves, delivers, heals, makes a way, it is not a lie......it is truth! And when this truth happens, you experience it!!!
I told them “I don’t care how much information you have......it does not negate the experiences that I have had with God.”
I don’t care how much you debate with me, it doesn’t change my perception of who God is, and the encounters that I have had with Him!
As many times as God has blessed me, as God has kept me, as God has healed me, as God has directed and ordered my steps.....I’d have to be a crazy man to turn around and say God doesn’t exist.
GOD HAS TO BE EXPERIENCED!!!
So far in Israel’s relationship The LORD......The LORD knew who they were.....but they didn’t know who The LORD was.
There are people in the world today you may have heard who Jesus is, you may have heard about The LORD......but you haven’t experienced him yet. Then you really don’t know who God is.
All of this was about to change for Israel, because they were about to have a personal encounter with God.
The bible declares, for 400 years.....they cried to the one they heard so much about from their ancestors. Generation after generation cried to The LORD......but there was no answer.....or so it seemed.
Things were going well for them initially, but now.....they are in hard times.
And like many people do from time to time......when they hit hard times, when they can’t get a prayer through.....they think that God has left them!!!
But I want you to know tonight, that Jesus because you’re in hard times doesn’t mean that the LORD has left you.......HE’S STILL RIGHT THERE!!!
Remember the promise God made to Jacob:
What’s more, I am with you, and I will protect you wherever you go. One day I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have finished giving you everything I have promised you.”
If you are sitting near someone that you believe is saved......just holler over at them and tell them......neighbor......God said......He’s with you!!!
God is with us in the good times and the bad times.
You ought not fall into the trap that the devil has laid. Satan to the LORD, let me take everything he has, let me afflict his body, let me make him suffer and I’ll get him to curse you to your face.
I bet I can make him, make her stop following you, I bet you can get them to give up on you.....as long as you keep blessing them they’ll serve you, but allow them to suffer, block their prayers, and I bet they will give up.
But you ought to make the devil the liar that he really is......and tell that devil......i’m going to hold to God!!! I’m going to believe God!!!
The LORD said “I’ll never leave you nor forsake you.”
And it seems like according to what we have read so far, that it seems like the LORD has left Israel, some kind of a way the LORD has blocked them out, He’s not answering them.
But sometimes looks can be deceiving!
Look at what verses 11-12
Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel.
The more they were afflicted.....the more they grew and multiplied. The Egyptians were trying to break their spirits.....but the more they were afflicted the more they grew.
That’s why the devil is scratching his head at some of you. He thought surely that if he caused family problems it would break your spirit, he thought that if they catch this disease, if I give them a hard time on their job.....it’ll break their spirit.
But thank God......that while I was going through my difficulty......THE HAND OF THE LORD WAS ON ME THE WHOLE TIME......AND INSTEAD OF BEING BROKEN.....I GREW!!!
I GREW STRONGER IN THE LORD.....THE THING THAT SHOULD’VE BROKE ME.....CAUSED MY FAITH TO GROW!!! THE THING THAT SHOULD’VE TAKEN ME OUT.....CAUSED MY FAITH TO INCREASE!
IT BROUGHT ME CLOSER TO GOD......YOU KNOW.....I THOUGHT I KNEW THE LORD.....BUT AFTER HE BROUGHT ME OUT.....I SEE THE LORD IN A DIFFERENT LIGHT NOW.
I USE TO BE ONE OF THOSE ONES THAT SOMEONE HAD TO ENCOURAGE ME TO PRAISE HIM. BUT NOW THAT I KNOW FOR MYSELF THE LORD SAVETH HIS ANOINTED......I DON’T HAVE TO WAIT ON YOU OR NOBODY ELSE TO PRAISE HIM......WHEN I THINK OF THE GOODNESS OF JESUS AND ALL HE’S DONE FOR ME.....MY SOUL CRIES OUT HALLELUJAH.....THANK GOD FOR SAVING ME!!!
Let’s read some more:
And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour: And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.
And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah: And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live. But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive. And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said unto them, Why have ye done this thing, and have saved the men children alive? And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are lively, and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them. Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty. And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses. And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive.
Look at verse 20:
Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty.
The NLT says:
So God was good to the midwives, and the Israelites continued to multiply, growing more and more powerful.
And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.
End
I want to end tonights study with this passage of scripture:
And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.
Let’s break this down:
The Israelites have been suffering for 400 years. It seems as if they can’t get a prayer through. It seems as if God has left them.......nothing is getting better. It appears as if the situation is not getting better but worse.
But some kind of a way......the LORD is blessing them. They just needed to open their eyes and see what the LORD was doing for them.
Now the LORD says to Moses:
Then the Lord told him, “I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries of distress because of their harsh slave drivers. Yes, I am aware of their suffering.
GOD SAYS.....I SEE WHAT YOU ARE GOING THROUGH. I see the tears you cry, when nobody else sees them. I am aware of your suffering!
Now these people don’t have the Holy Ghost, they’ve heard of God but don’t know who God is, matter of fact....they haven’t even been sanctified yet.
And here it is, you are a child of God.....here it is you have the Holy Ghost......and you’ve allowed the devil to sell those wolf-tickets. You think God doesn’t know what you are going through.....all because no one around you understands how you fell, no one understands the pain that you are in.
But I dare you to encourage yourself.....see sometimes when you don’t have anyone to encourage you.....you gotta do like David did and encourage yourself.
Encourage yourself and just say “God sees and God knows what I am going through.”
It ought to make you feel much better to know that someone understands! It ought to lift your spirit to know that you are not in this thing by yourself!
For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
Now God tells them, it is not enough that I hear your cries, it is not enough that I am aware of your suffering, now I’m getting ready to step in!!!
And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
I’m getting ready to come in, I’m getting ready to come down, I’m going to step in the room, I’m going to step in the marriage, I’m going to step in the house, I’m going to come to your job.
And when I come, I’m not just going to sit back and watch.....I’m going to do something about!!!
I just need someone to activate their faith, believe God’s word, and praise Him for what He is about to do!
You been watching everyone else get blessed, you been praying and crying with no results, and this just might be your week to get blessed!
Matter of fact you ought to lift up your voice and cry out like blind Bartemeaus and pray the prayer he prayed and say “Jesus thy son of David, have mercy on me.”
End:
The Israelites were bound, they were slaves and needed to be set free. They stood in need of a savior. They were held captive against their own will. Only God could deliver them.
I can see Jesus in this because at some point or another we too were held captive by sins and by the devil.
And just as the LORD sent Moses to deliver the people from enslavement, The LORD sent Jesus Christ to deliver us from our sins.
And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand. And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go.
The Israelites did not have the ability to deliver themselves. Only God could deliver them and set them free from enslavement to the Egyptians.
We see Jesus in this because only God has the power to set people free from sin.
The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits.
You may ask “well, what does that have to do with me, I’m saved, I’m no longer bound.” Well it has a lot to do with you, because after God has delivered you and showed you the way out, you need to be able to tell someone else that is bound that there is a way out!!! JESUS IS THE WAY OUT!!!
This is discipleship 101, this is the basics of discipleship. When Jesus called his disciples, he didn’t call them, and they didn’t follow him just so they could hear good preaching and teaching. He didn’t call them and allow them to see miracles performed just for their benefit.
They sat under teaching, they observed God doing miraculous things because they were disciples. And disciples make other disciples.
They had to personally experience Jesus, but they had to also see Jesus at work with others.
I remind you once again, The LORD didn’t save you just for you to come Sunday after Sunday, Wednesday after Wednesday hear the word, and then keep it to yourself.
What if the disciples had done what many Christians are doing today? Answer me back?
It is our responsibility as disciples of Christ to be witnesses of Jesus and to show those who are in darkness, those who are bound, a way out!
I spoke with one of my childhood friends father this past Sunday. He asked me “what I was doing....in life” and I told him I was pastoring a church here in Roanoke. He was well pleased. I told him, when the LORD saved us.....he didn’t save us to keep salvation to ourselves. We have to share with others what the LORD has done for us.
He said “you know, that is one area that I believe many Christians today are weak in.” He said “we were talking about the same thing at our church, the need to be witnesses.”
I said last year.....we want to tell everything else. And some of the stuff we telling is not benefitting anyone. It’s damaging them, damaging reputations, it’s hurting people. And the one thing that we can do, that will help, the one thing we can do that would lift someone and bring them out.....we won’t tell it! What are you talking about?
Jesus saves
Jesus heals
Jesus helps
Jesus delivers
Jesus can fix it
Jesus provides
Jesus turns it around