“And it came to pass… that the Lord brought the children of Israel out of Egypt.” (Exodus 12:51)
The words “salvation” and “deliverance” are synonyms. The deliverance of the children of Israel as described in the book of Exodus is therefore also an allegory of salvation that demonstrates what we might call “A Principle of Deliverance” when God delivers people from addictions and sin today. Modeled on the dialogue between Moses and Pharaoh, Moses represents Christ and Pharaoh is the evil one.
For example, observe what Pharaoh says after Moses demanded the release of God’s people when God sent the first plagues: “You can go but do not leave Egypt.” (Exodus 8:25)
After a few more plagues, Pharaoh again agrees to release the people but he says: “Well, you can go, but do not go very far.” (Exodus 8:28) More plagues and Pharaoh says: “All right, you can go, but… leave your children in Egypt.” (Exodus 10:8-10) More persuasive plagues and Pharaoh says, “You can go, but leave your flocks and herds in Egypt.” (Exodus 10:24)
When people come to faith today the evil one will tempt them to practice their faith “in Egypt” as a worldly believer practicing the values of the secular culture. Then he will tempt them with, “You have come to faith but don’t go very far with your faith.” Then the temptation is to not let your faith pass on to your children.
A final attempt at keeping a person addicted to the slavery of sin is to “Leave your flocks and herds in Egypt,” or don’t let your faith affect your pocketbook.
The principle of deliverance illustrated in the book of Exodus is: Never, never, never compromise with evil and remain enslaved and addicted in your “Egypt.”
Dick Woodward, 23 November 2013
4SpiritualSecrets 