Freedom To Follow
Book of Exodus Chapters 13 through 14
What do we know for sure? Before any humans appeared on this planet called earth, the Almighty God was preparing it as a place of life.
God has created a temporary dwelling place for all those who would call Him their Heavenly Father.
Jehovah did not just cause this Pharaoh of Egypt to release His people to the world, but He would travel with them to the Promised Land.
Today when we accept the lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, He will be with us forever!
We should be incredibly careful where we take the Holy Spirit who lives within us!
Just as sheep in this created pasture, we need our God Jehovah, every moment of our life!
Because of sin we were wandering this world in disbelief, but once the "Gospel" became a reality to us, we returned to our true Shepherd.
1Pe 2:25 For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.
We always give far too much importance to our flesh, when it is nothing more than a place our soul
resides.
It is the soul that is the jewel in the eyes of God!
From the day we are born, this flesh we live in begins to die when our soul will never die in the manner of our flesh!
When we were lost, we traveled in the unknown, but once we give our heart to Jesus we repent of our wickedness, we know where we are headed and we know we will never be alone again!
Heb 13:5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
As we witness the travels of the children of Israel, we should keep in mind that we travel with our Heavenly Father who always has His eyes upon us!
Psa 139:1 O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.
Psa 139:2 Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.
Psa 139:3 Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.
Psa 139:4 For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.
Psa 139:5 Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.
Psa 139:6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.
We must understand that our freedom comes through following the Lord Jesus Christ!
How does that song go? "Where He leads me, I will follow".
Joh 12:26 If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.
Much of our future is unknown to us though our ending is known, but nothing about our lives is unknown to our Savior!
We live in a world that is so full of design that many say we live in an accident, but we also should know that there is no such thing as an accident.
All things come about according to the plan of our Heavenly Father!
From that first scratch, bruise, or broken bone, we begin to see that life is precious!
It is life that is God given!
Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
For the children of Israel their journey to the land promised to Abraham has begun.
*****Exo 13:21 And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night:
Exo 13:22 He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.
Israel began their journey in peril.
They were pursued by the Egyptian Army.
They had the Red Sea before them.
They were moving toward an unknown and dangerous wilderness.
We must always realize that God has a plan for us, and God had a plan for these people who had been freed from bondage.
How did God lead these people?
By a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.
The wilderness was hot and dry, but the shade of that cloud provided some comfort if they would just follow it.
This cloud never went too fast nor too slow but at just the right pace.
We never have to live in a panic when Jesus the Messiah is our Savior!
We can understand this cloud to represent a type of the Bible we have today.
The Bible that is written according to those ancient Hebrew and Greek Scriptures will make our way clear into the Kingdom of God.
It is the same for that pillar of fire.
Psa_119:105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
It is the Word of God that will guide us through the wilderness of this world.
It is the Word of God that will show us the path of life.
It is the Word of God that is the armor for our soul to keep us safe from the likes of Satan.
It is also the Word of God that gives us the conditions for a personal relationship with our own Redeemer and Maker!
The Lord Jesus is our "faithful" Guide to the true Promised Land!
Joh 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Joh 14:7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.
Joh 14:21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
We must understand that God will always lead us in the path of righteousness. He will never lead us astray of the Word of God.
Human rights never come before the truth of the Word of God!
We must be willing to die while taking our stand on the Word of God!
That witch Pelosi has this thing backwards, and so do all demoncrats who stand on abortion and the so-called homosexual movement.
She and her cohorts need to actually read about the God they say they believe!
God will never condone disobedience by any human! Just ask Adam.
God will lead those who love Him to their promised destiny, the New Heaven.
We must understand without the Divine guidance of the Word of God, we would remain lost in this dying world that unbelievers now call "climate change".
We do not have to fear anyone or anything if we are truly following the Lord!
Pharaoh had decided he still needed these who were slaves to rebuild Egypt, as if God would allow it.
Government leaders forget the past too quickly, but nothing takes God by surprise as this man was leading his army to its death, just as his arrogance had destroyed his nation.
*****Exo 14:10 And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the LORD.
The children of Israel knew this was the mightiest army on the face of the earth at that time.
The children of Israel knew they did not have it in their own power to stop this enemy.
The children of Israel felt that there was no direction safe for them, but all they needed to do was to follow that pillar of cloud by day and that pillar of fire by night.
It is the same for us today!
When it seems as if every direction is a bad direction, we must simply just follow the Lord Jesus Christ and the Word of God.
They had no weapons of the world, but they had the Living God.
They had no military training, but they had the Almighty God.
They knew nothing about war, but they were on the winning side!
They cried out in a lack of faith.
We should understand there are no words that speak as loud in Heaven as those words "Lord Save Me"!
Satan may be powerful, surely more powerful than we are.
Satan has great resources from the world.
Satan has many followers.
Satan will strive off of corruption.
But Satan is a loser!
Rev 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
We must understand we will not make it to the Promise Land without having much resistance from that same Devil!
When we think we must flee, God simply says to stand still:
Eph 6:10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
Eph 6:11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Eph 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Eph 6:13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
When we are facing a sure death, we must remember through death comes eternal life in the Glory World, if you have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ!
Fear is something we do not need in our lives!
Fear is useless and it is destructive to our character!
*****Exo 14:11 And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?
Exo 14:12 Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.
The biggest reason the strength of the Church is fading today is that same lack of "faith".
We believe that so-called scientist and so-called professionals have gotten so smart that they can prove God to be wrong.
What fools we are to trust in this world!
We may have more comforts than these children of Israel had, but the world has not changed or improved at all!
We know more how to destroy each other!
We allow hatred and foolishness to rule our ways when we need to lean on our Redeemer!
Once we know the Lord Jesus Christ, we must have no fear of death!
If these children of Israel had the faith of Abraham their father, they would have believed the promises that Jehovah made to Abraham.
Those four hundred years were over, it was time to go to the Promised Land.
Gen_15:13 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
Exo_12:41 And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.
This being true, just where was their faith? Most of them had none and they could only think about one day at a time.
Believe me when I say it, it does not really matter where a Christian is located when we die!
2Co_5:8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
We must not fear death!
We just need to stand still and watch the Lord fulfill His promises.
*****Exo 14:13 And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.
We must understand that no matter what problem we face, God has the same response. Fear not!
Sixty-two times God uses this exact phrase.
Luke 12:32 Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
We should also understand that God does not do things He does not want to do.
Sure He may give us some things we do not need to teach us a lesson just as he gave all those riches to Solomon.
We are to learn from our mistakes! We are not to repeat the same mistake over and over again!
"Stand still" is another challenge from the Lord.
We are going to face problems that there will not be a solution for, but we must not just run away from such things.
To know the Lord Jesus Christ is to know the Problem Solver!
This army was no obstacle for Jehovah God.
In fact Jehovah knew what this Pharaoh would do, and Jehovah would just rid the world of this evil and wicked man.
What were those words of Moses? "Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you today".
These same words will work even today!
We do not have to worry at what this world can do to us!
We must just stand still in the salvation of the Lord.
What is wrong with our nation today? Christians cower down in fear of the things of this world.
Many are convinced that they should not go to Church because of Covid, where is their faith.
Many are convinced that God is not in control.
The Word of God has told us these things would happen in the latter days so look around and you will see these things are happening according to the Word of God.
The Lord Jesus Christ is never caught off guard! Just read Matthew 24.
If there was ever a time, we need to take our stand on the Word of God (that pillar of cloud by day) then today is that day.
If we do not stand and stand firm, we will see our freedom to worship erode away.
We are the enemies of the world because the Word of God is against what is happening in our world.
Abortion is pushed down our throats all the way to the day of birth.
We are to cower down to the homosexual movement which to God is an abomination. Sodom and Gomorrah have taken over our societies.
Socialism is becoming a reality. Communism will follow if we do not stop it now.
People once came to America for freedom now they are enticed to come for their vote towards an evil agenda.
If the Church remains on the outside and allows these things to continue without taking a stand and let God do what God does.
If Israel had not stood still, they would have never seen the Red Sea part to allow their escape to freedom and the destruction of this Pharaoh who was in fact a type of the Antichrist.
These lessons in the Old Testament were put there by the Holy Spirit for us to learn from and we had better do just that because God does not ever change.
We preach it, we teach it, we had better believe it!
All that Egyptian army including that Pharaoh died that day and Egypt has never been a great power in this world again.
The Egyptian people suffered because of an arrogant Pharoah and because they put their faith in false gods.
It is the same for China today.
It is the same for North Korea.
It is the same for most all oppressed people.
Another thing we must quit doing is crying out and complaining to God when we are not willing to show the "faith" that is so dear to our relationship with Him.
Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
The Lord Jesus Christ is never pleased with our lack of "Faith" and He is God!
Joh 10:30 I and my Father are one.
*****Exo 14:21 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.
Exo 14:22 And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.
We must forever understand that God is not bound by the laws of nature which He put in place Himself.
God can push aside the laws of nature as He pleases for His own purposes!
The Red Sea became "the gateway" to the Promised Land.
The Red Sea became "an instrument of judgment" upon Pharaoh and his army.
We may understand what is called "climate change" as the beginning of the "judgement" of God on this sinful world!
We understand as Christians that we may see the beginning of these things before the "Rapture" of the Church.
Those waters that were like jello as the Children of Israel passed over the dry sea bed.
Exo 15:8 And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea.
CONGEALED means Converted into ice, or a solid mass, by the loss of heat or other process; concreted.
This was not just a happening but a miracle and could not have happened any other way!
Only God could have done this thing!
Isa 63:11 Then he remembered the days of old, Moses, and his people, saying, Where is he that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of his flock? where is he that put his holy Spirit within him?
Isa 63:12 That led them by the right hand of Moses with his glorious arm, dividing the water before them, to make himself an everlasting name?
Isa 63:13 That led them through the deep, as an horse in the wilderness, that they should not stumble?
It was Jehovah God who delivered the Children of Israel!
It was Jehovah who brought "Judgment" on Pharaoh and his army.
*****Exo 14:23 And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.
No doubt the Pharaoh witnessed something he did not understand but he still commanded his army to follow.
It was blind rage that cause Pharaoh to act. Remember what Jehovah had told Moses.
Exo 6:1 Then the LORD said unto Moses, Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh: for with a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land.
Exo_14:8 And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel: and the children of Israel went out with an high hand.
Psa 77:14 Thou art the God that doest wonders: thou hast declared thy strength among the people.
Psa 77:15 Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah.
Psa 77:16 The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid: the depths also were troubled.
Psa 77:17 The clouds poured out water: the skies sent out a sound: thine arrows also went abroad.
Psa 77:18 The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven: the lightnings lightened the world: the earth trembled and shook.
Psa 77:19 Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known.
Psa 77:20 Thou leddest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
Once this mighty army was within those walls of water the Lord was not about to allow them to escape.
*****Exo 14:24 And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the LORD looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians,
Exo 14:25 And took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the LORD fighteth for them against the Egyptians.
While trying to stop these children of Israel from escaping him, he found that he could not escape the hand of God himself.
God looks down from Heaven for two reasons. Either for "mercy" or for "judgment".
This mighty army became confused.
This mighty army became afraid and wanted to retreat.
This is a similar scene from all those armies of the antichrist that will attack Israel during Armageddon.
God offers "mercy" but when "mercy" is refused then comes the "Judgment" of God!
The Lord never breaks a promise!
The Lord always delivers His people, no matter the problem, no matter how difficult it may seem!
What is God's promise to me and to each Christian?
2Ti 4:18 And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
This army felt so useless they quit on their commander in chief!
This is also a scene that will be seen in the wars of Armageddon!
For these Egyptians they believed that the thunder and lightning and the fire and the hailstones to be Heaven's artillery turned against them and this was true.
God had this army where He wanted them with no means to escape and God then spoke to Moses.
*****Exo 14:26 And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.
Exo 14:27 And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.
Jehovah wanted these children of Israel to understand that it was He behind the arm of Moses and the gods of Egypt were nothing but idols of falseness.
God also wanted these people to follow Moses.
At a signal from Moses those waters that were congealed immediately returned to their place and overwhelmed Pharaohs mighty army and even Pharaoh was a victim of his own anger.
Not one escaped!
It is even said that Pharaoh’s magicians Jannes and Jambres perished with the rest.
2Ti_3:8 Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.
We see a description of all those that oppose the truth of God. They are reprobate concerning the faith in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is no better description of most of those in Washington D C today who are trying to destroy our nation.
Tit_1:16 They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.
God will not claim them unless they repent.
Rom_1:28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
The Children of Israel could now begin their journey to the Promised Land without the fear of this Pharaoh and his mighty army.
But they were still a rebellious bunch.
Amen
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