Verse for the Day, 16 July 2014.

Exodus 13:21-22  And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night.  (22)  The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.

The people of Israel have finally be set free from slavery in Egypt and now commences the long, arduous and dangerous journey to the Promised Land. Furthermore they were not going the direct, conventional route, which would have taken them up the coast line in to the territory of the Philistines. God takes them to the Red Sea and into the desert wilderness. The threat of attack, hunger, thirst, dangerous animals and the harsh elements would have made this a difficult journey. In such circumstances it would be only a matter of time before the people would become discouraged and wonder if they were even headed in the right direction, questioning if God was still leading them.

In these verses we see the grace and goodness of God. He is a God who knows our feeble frame, He knows how easily and quickly we become discouraged, and He is aware that we can become fearful and thus doubt Him. God undertakes so as to continuously encourage and reassure the Israelites. The people at any time could look up to the sky ahead of them and see the pillar of cloud, or the pillar of fire and know that God was still with them and that they were heading in the right direction. The challenge for the Israelites was to trust in God as He led them, and this trust would be put to the test a number of times, especially when they came to the Red Sea. The particular challenge was to not question the wisdom of God and the way in which He was leading them, but to demonstrate that they trusted in Him and His wisdom and therefore follow willingly.

Naturally this is easier said than done! Why? We find this difficult for two reasons, firstly, we like to be in control and secondly, we trust too much in our own wisdom. This desire to call the shots and be in control, trusting more in our own wisdom than in God’s, means that we often call God into question and refuse, object to, or complain about the direction in which He is leading us. In doing this, we are in fact stating that we are wiser and more knowledgeable than God, especially about the future and what is best for us. Sadly, if we continue on this path, we will lead ourselves into danger and maybe even into the discipline of God, something which the Israelites would soon do and have to endure.

We may not have a pillar of cloud or fire, but if we are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ then we have something greater and far more enduring. The pillar of cloud and fire was temporary and distant, whereas the presence of the Holy Spirit is permanent and personal. We have God’s Spirit within us, and one of the works of the Holy Spirit is to be our guide, guiding us in righteousness and to walk obediently in the will of God. The challenge for us is the same as it was for the Israelites, to trust in the wisdom of God and follow willingly. If we believe that God is loving, good, sovereign, all-knowing, wise and all-powerful, then it should not be a difficult thing for us to follow Him, it should in fact be a joy!

Sovereign Father, we thank You that You are a God who leads His people. You lead them into redemption, You lead them through life and You bring them safely into Your promised rest. We thank You that Your guidance is one that is wise and best for us. Forgive us for the times when we have complained against Your leading, or even refused to follow it, trusting in our own foolish wisdom. We pray that You will deepen our understanding of Your wisdom so that we might follow more readily. Amen.

Verse for the Day, 14 July 2014.

Exodus 12:1-51.

This chapter in Exodus is a foundational chapter in Scripture. It sets the scene for the coming of Christ and clearly points us to the work that He will do. These are just some of the truths about the life, ministry and work of Christ that this chapter prepares and points us to:

Christ is the true Passover Lamb.

Exodus 12:5  Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats,

Exodus 12:21  Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, "Go and select lambs for yourselves according to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb.

Not one of Christ’s bones were broken.

Exodus 12:46  It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and you shall not break any of its bones.

Christ’s sacrifice turns aside the wrath and judgement of God from us.

Exodus 12:23  For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you.

Christ’s blood shed for us, sets us free from the consequences of God’s judgement.

Exodus 12:13  The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.

Christ through His work on the cross, leads us out of slavery and the kingdom of evil, into freedom and life in His Promised Kingdom.

Exo 12:41  At the end of 430 years, on that very day, all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.

Christ redeems people from every nation.

Exo 12:38  A mixed multitude also went up with them, and very much livestock, both flocks and herds.

For those who reject and refuse Christ, there will be weeping and wailing as they endure God’s judgement.

Exo 12:30  And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead.

The Exodus event is the great salvation event of the Old Testament, which prepares us for the greater and ultimate salvation work of Christ. Therefore the Exodus event will be a dominant theme in the remainder of the Old Testament, there will be constant reference to it, Psalm and songs will be written about it and there will be the call upon every generation of Israel from that time forward to remember, celebrate and thank God for it. The Exodus event also reminds us of the truth that God’s plan of salvation was not a last minute emergency plan. God carefully, wisely, lovingly and perfectly planned it out before the world even came to be, and He has carried it out in absolute perfection, for His glory and for our eternal good.

For us as believers, the Exodus event helps to teach us that in a similar way the salvation work of Christ should be the dominant theme of our lives, we should constantly be speaking of it, remembering, celebrating and thanking God for it. We should also heed the warning of Israel’s failing, they failed to teach the next generation of God’s great work on their behalf, and they failed to pass their faith on. Exodus 12:25-27  And when you come to the land that the LORD will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this service.  (26)  And when your children say to you, 'What do you mean by this service?'  (27)  you shall say, 'It is the sacrifice of the LORD's Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.'"

 Let us not fail in this regard for we have the greatest message of salvation to pass on to those around us and to the next generation. It is the true message of how God planned and worked out our salvation, before time began and then unfolded, revealed and fulfilled in accordance to His sovereign purposes. It is a salvation that we know the joy, freedom, hope and reality of, and salvation that is available to all who would believe.

Redeeming Father, we thank You for the ways in which You carried out, unfolded and accomplished Your plan of salvation. We thank You that the Exodus event was a key moment in this plan, that prepared and pointed us so clearly to the coming work of Christ. We thank You for these many pictures and signs that You gave to us, and we thank You most of all that all these pictures and signs have been brought to their ultimate fulfilment in Christ. We pray that You would help us to keep Christ as the dominant theme of our lives, passing on the true message of salvation to the next generation. Amen

Verse for the Day, 2 July 2014.

Exodus 11:1-8  The LORD said to Moses, "Yet one plague more I will bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt. Afterward he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will drive you away completely.  (2)  Speak now in the hearing of the people, that they ask, every man of his neighbour and every woman of her neighbour, for silver and gold jewellery."  (3)  And the LORD gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants and in the sight of the people.  (4)  So Moses said, "Thus says the LORD: 'About midnight I will go out in the midst of Egypt,  (5)  and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the hand-mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle.  (6)  There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor ever will be again.  (7)  But not a dog shall growl against any of the people of Israel, either man or beast, that you may know that the LORD makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.'  (8)  And all these your servants shall come down to me and bow down to me, saying, 'Get out, you and all the people who follow you.' And after that I will go out." And he went out from Pharaoh in hot anger.

Chapter 11 of Exodus leads us into the account of the Passover and the Exodus event. It is the great salvation event of the Old Testament and is therefore loaded with pictures, symbols, acts and events that point us to Christ.

Moses proclaims the coming final plague and judgement of God against Egypt, a work so great that it will cause Pharaoh to release the Israelites people. Not only shall Pharaoh implore them to go, all of Egypt will desire for the Israelites to go, they will give their silver and gold to the Israelites, all in the hope that they might be delivered from the hand of the God of Israel.

God doesn’t hide from Pharaoh what He is going to do, Moses clearly warns Pharaoh what this coming plague and act of judgement for God is going to be. Pharaoh will come to learn that the God of Israel is a God who has power over life and death, the He has power over all mankind, from the slave, to royalty. Yet even when Pharaoh is warned of this great plague, of the judgement of God that will take the life of his first born, the heir to his throne, and the lives of all the first-born in Egypt, Pharaoh continues on in pride and arrogance, refusing to submit to God’s command.

Pharaoh not only refuses the command of God, he also threatens Moses’ life, implying that the only one who is going to die, is Moses. We read that Moses leaves the presence of Pharaoh in “hot anger”, what does this mean? Moses is hot with anger for several reasons: Pharaoh has continually deceived Moses, making promises but then revoking them, this deceit has brought much suffering to Pharaoh and his people. Pharaoh has continued to defy God, he has continued to exalt himself, even when God has worked in such a clear and powerful manner. Finally, Moses has come to warn Pharaoh of this great plague in which many will die, sorrow, grief and distress will be brought upon this nation, the like of which had never been seen or known before, and one from which Pharaoh will not be exempt. Yet in spite of this clear warning, Pharaoh has chosen to maintain his pride, arrogance and defiance against God, and threatened the life of the man, Moses, who had been sent by God so as to warn him. Moses is hot with anger for Pharaoh has chosen to bring immense suffering upon the whole nation, rather than bow to God’s command. Pharaoh’s pride and arrogance is going to come at a high cost. Moses is grieved, distressed and angered by Pharaoh’s disregard for God, for his own people, for the nation of Israel and for Moses.

As grieved and distressed as Moses may be, it is nothing in comparison to the righteous indignation that God feels when we defy Him, when we seek to exalt ourselves above Him, when we continue on in pride, arrogance and disobedience. Scripture teaches us that God opposes the humble, that He will cut down and lay low anyone who seeks to exalt themselves above Him, and He will act in terrifying wrath and judgement against those who defy and refuse Him. This wrath and judgement will be all the greater for those who have been warned repeatedly by God, who have seen with their own eyes the clear demonstration of God’s power and truth. God’s dealings with Pharaoh and Egypt in this regard serves as a powerful lesson to all mankind, that no one can take a stand against God and survive, the appropriate response to God is to bow in humble submission and obedience, anything less than this will lead to their eternal misery.

The knowledge of this should cause us who believe in Christ to respond in three ways. Firstly, it should motivate us to evangelise, for many in their ignorance are storing up wrath for themselves, and we have been appointed by God, to make known not just the wonders of salvation in Christ, but also the coming judgement of God against all mankind. We are to warn all those around us that a day judgement is coming, from which they cannot escape. Secondly, it should motivate us to pray for those who have heard the truth of the Gospel on many occasions, who have seen God’s power, truth, love and salvation clearly displayed but continue to refuse Christ. How great shall be the judgement against them who have been graciously warned and yet continue in pride and disobedience! Thirdly, while we seek to evangelise, warn and pray for the salvation of the lost, we should also be filled with thankfulness to God for the grace we have received that has rescued us from the coming judgement and eternal wrath of God. We do not live in fear of the coming day of judgement, we look forward to the revelation of Christ in all His glory, our vindication, the receiving of the fullness of our salvation and being able to enter into the promised and glorious kingdom of God, all because we have received mercy and grace from God through Jesus Christ.

Righteous, merciful God, we pray that You might impress upon our hearts the reality of Your coming judgement, so that we realise how urgent and important the task of praying for the lost and warning them of this day. We pray especially for those who have heard this warning, who have seen the truth of the Gospel so many times and yet still refuse You, we pray that You might open their eyes and hearts to receive Christ. We thank You for the hope, peace and joy that You have given us now and for the future, that we shall be spared from the second death and instead shall receive eternal life, may we remain ever thankful because of this hope. Amen.