Title: Salvation from Egypt/Exodus 13:17-22
Contents Salvation from Egypt/Exodus 13:17-22, Romans 8:1-2
When a king who did not know Joseph appeared, the people of Israel suffered extreme oppression and forced labor. Hearing the people's grieving and groaning, God had mercy on the people of Israel and made a plan to save them. God appointed Moses as a leader to save the Israelites and sent him to Pharaoh in Egypt to lead the Israelites to the land of Canaan flowing with milk and honey. However, God led the Israelites out of Egypt to the wilderness, not directly to the promised land flowing with milk and honey. Herein lies the mystery of God's salvation. This is because, if liberation from slavery in Egypt is the beginning of salvation, the completion of salvation consists in living a right life as a child of God.
So what is true salvation?
1. True salvation is breaking with the past life and starting a new life.
In the text Exodus 13:17, God did not lead the Israelites out of Egypt by a shortcut to the Promised Land of Canaan. The closest shortcut requires you to take a journey through Philistine-inhabited lands. However, God does not lead us on the path that must pass through the Philistines, which is a shortcut, but leads us on the way back to the wilderness. The text introduces the reason for this, saying, “When the people of Israel, who had been saved, saw the war, they would repent and return to Egypt” (verse 17). This shows that the Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt and were freed, but their minds and hearts were still not freed from the bondage of their masters.
They still have not realized the preciousness and value of freedom. There is a price you are willing to pay for a life of freedom. Freedom does not come naturally, but it is given to those who deserve it. When the people of Israel faced difficulties because of their freedom, they did not try to protect that freedom, but rather to return to their former slavery. The life of a free man is accompanied by the pain of responsibility, but the life of a slave is painless because there is no responsibility.
The same is true of our lives today. We, who lived a life of slavery to sin in the world, became children of God by God's grace. They became the people of salvation. Now he decides to give up all his past life and start a new life. But it takes great will and determination to get rid of our sinful habits and wrongdoings. Sometimes we have to endure great persecution. Pain and suffering follow. When this happens, I feel tempted to go back to my past life because I can't cope with the great stress. The Israelites longed to abandon their freedom when they had no food and return to the life of slavery. God did not lead the Israelites to a shortcut or an easy path to teach them that true salvation is to break off from their past sinful lives and live a new life.
Salvation is breaking away from all the sins of the past and living a life of righteousness and truth. What is required of those who have been saved by God's grace is to clean up the ugly and dirty old life when they were outside Christ. After meeting Jesus, Zacchaeus offered the wealth he was so obsessed with as a tool of love to help and share. Matthew got up from his position as a tax collector and followed Jesus. Indeed, just as you cannot participate in the king's banquet with a beggar's clothes (Matthew 22:1113), you cannot participate in the glorious and holy heavenly banquet with your sinful old life intact. I pray that we will completely clean up our old life and become a true new person who is created as a new creation in Jesus Christ.
2. True salvation is trusting completely in God's guidance.
The text Exodus 13:21-22 records a mysterious incident that the Israelites met while they were traveling in the wilderness after they escaped from Egypt. The nature of the wilderness is that during the day it is too hot to travel, and at night it is too cold to bear. However, God raises a pillar of cloud during the day to create a shadow and guide the people of Israel. At night, he lights up the darkness with a pillar of fire and blocks the cold. It is entirely God's guidance and responsibility. So, the psalmist sings about God who protected and took responsibility for the people of Israel during their 40 years in the wilderness. “The Lord is your keeper. The LORD is your shade at your right hand; the sun by day will not harm you, nor the moon by night (Psalm 121:56).
The pillars of cloud and fire in the text refer to the image of God who always accompanies and guides the Israelites whom God has chosen as the people of salvation. The Israelites followed the pillar of cloud and fire as they moved, and when the pillar of cloud and fire stopped, they rested together. The pillars of cloud and fire are the milestones and guide maps that God made on the journey in the wilderness where the direction cannot be determined. Also, these pillars of cloud and fire are God's promises, "He will save and take responsibility for all who believe and follow." It is God's promise, "If you just believe and follow, I will let you enter the promised land of Canaan."
That's right. Salvation is completely trusting and following God's leading. The same God who led the Israelites through a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire is also leading us today. Today, God wants us to accompany us on our journey and in every situation of life and lead us for good. Those who have not chosen and decided the course of their life, but who have left it to God Himself to operate and completely obey God's guidance are truly saved children of God.
Are you at a critical crossroads in your life? Look to God for guidance. Observe and practice where God's pillars of cloud and fire that guide you move and stop. I believe that God's good guidance and guidance will be with you. So, what are the pillars of cloud and fire that guide us today? It is the Word of God. “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105).
I hope that all the saints will go on the right path every day by being illuminated by the light of God's word at the critical turning point in life and at the crossroads of choice.
3. True salvation is living according to the law of the Holy Spirit in Christ.
Among believers, there are often those who fail to get rid of their old sinful life and go back to the wrong path of depravity. This sad reality is happening because he is not under the control of the Holy Spirit and has not been filled with the Holy Spirit. Because a life filled with the Holy Spirit, who completely surrenders himself to the Holy Spirit and submits himself completely to the will of the Holy Spirit, hates and shuns the old life. In Romans 8:1~2, it is said that those who are saved live a life that is governed by the law of the Spirit of life in Jesus Christ.
When the Holy Spirit reigns over us and controls our hearts and minds, we can cut off our old sinful nature and live a life of righteousness and truth, only according to the holy will of God. “Put off the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, which after God was created in righteousness and holiness of truth” (Ephesians 4:2224).
Dear saints, Are you still struggling because you are not free from your old life? Are the lusts of the flesh controlling your heart and mind? Then live according to the law of the Holy Spirit. Completely obey the rule of the Holy Spirit. You will enjoy the true joy of salvation, free from all the chains of sin and old practices. Dear saints, Break with your past sinful life and start a new life in Jesus Christ. I completely entrust the course of my life to God and follow His guidance. Do not follow the lusts of the flesh, but live according to the lusts of the Spirit. Then, the fruits of the full and beautiful life of those who have been saved will come to fruition.
Pastor Im Young-young