Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Modern Redemption

We have been working through the book of Exodus in our Sunday School class this semester and just last week began to examine the "plagues" of Egypt. These plagues are variously described as "signs", "wonders", and "acts of judgment" executed by God himself through the prophet Moses so that Egypt may know his power and so that God can claim for himself a people.

In the first chapter of Exodus we see that Pharaoh has become frightened of the growing population of the Israelites and hence embarks on a genocidal plot as reported in verse 22: "Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: "Every boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live." Pharaoh fills the Nile with the blood of Israelite male children and so in the first plague, God returns the favor and turns the waters of the Nile into blood. With this act of judgment God begins a series of increasingly severe punishments that eventually yield the complete freedom of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery.

Of course, the story has a modern side since it is a magnificent and full-orbed portrayal of the nature of sin and the nature of redemption. The unbeliever is oppressed and enslaved by the power of sin but God has come to the aid of those who believe and has called them into freedom so that he can "be their God and they will be his people". God commands all people to believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ so that they might be saved. How foolish to remain in bondage to sin when perfect freedom can be found in Christ!