For
Israel, from Exodus Chapter 1 - “Here: was Egypt and
bondage. They were slaves: forced labor, oppressed, worked ruthlessly and
bitter with hard labor. (vv. 11-14) In V 22 every male born was to be thrown
into the Nile.
How did they find
themselves in such dire circumstances? - from
their choices in disobedience!
We see their response in
Chapter 2: 23 – “groaned and cried out”.
Sin is a place. It’s a
place you can go. It’s not just an action or an occurrence, it is a conscious
journey you make and it doesn’t take long to arrive at the place of sin. It
often becomes a place of slavery. Thank goodness the lockdown can be lifted,
the chains can be broken, and thank God that the place of sin is also a place
that you can leave!
Jesus told the story of
the prodigal son went off to a far country. For him, sin was a place. He lost
all his friends and wallowed in the mud at a pig farm before he came to himself
and decided to leave that place. - Egypt in the Bible is a picture of the
world...the place of sin. The Bible talks about people ‘sojourning’ into Egypt.
This is just a temporary visit. Abraham left God’s Promised Land and sojourned
into Egypt when famine came. He didn’t plan on staying, but while in the place
of sin he lied about his wife and got into trouble. He had to repent and obey
God's call on his life.
So should we - Amen?
