Title The Gospel Changes Society
The Gospel of Exodus (30) also changes society (Exodus 12:29-39)
<Do not envy the abundance of the wicked>
At the time of the tenth and last plague on Egypt, the king of Egypt was Amenhotep II (1448-1424 B.C.), and all of his firstborn sons and daughters died, and all the firstborn of livestock died (verse 29). Eventually, Pharaoh could not bear it and allowed the Israelites to come out of Egypt (verses 31-32). When they left, the Israelites took the Egyptians' goods as needed (verse 36). Watch as the conquerors take the loot. If you look at that scene, you realize the providence and grace of God who overcame 400 years of slavery to achieve victory.
If life sometimes seems to make the wicked more prosperous, don't envy it. To envy the abundance of the wicked is to admit that the believer's condition is worse than the unbelievers'. How bad would God be? To envy the abundance of the wicked is to turn evil into good, and furthermore, to show that one's heart is not good. After all, to envy the abundance of the wicked is to envy Satan. How big of a mistake is it?
Proverbs 13:22 says this: “A good man passes on his inheritance to his children and grandchildren, but the wealth of sinners is stored up for the righteous.” When we look at the abundance of the wicked, we sometimes find complaints like this. "God! Why are the wicked so rich? Is God really a God of justice?” Because we do not understand all of God's wonderful plan, such complaints may arise from time to time, but please do not complain anymore. Because the Bible clearly says, “The riches of sinners are laid up for the righteous.”
The righteous and the wicked do different things. What is the work of the wicked? He earns a lot of money and gives it to the righteous in the end. If the righteous live according to God's will, there is no time to save money, so someone will collect money instead. And in time, the wealth accumulated by the wicked will be returned to the righteous. The story of the Israelites taking the Egyptians' wealth as they wished in the text also supports that fact.
< The gospel also changes society >
Also, when the Israelites arrived at Succoth when they left Egypt, there were about 600,000 men walking besides infants (verse 37). If the number of men walking is about 600,000, including women and children, the total number of exodus from Egypt is estimated to be about 2 million. The 70 descendants of Jacob who left Canaan and emigrated to Egypt became a huge number after 430 years. How was such a flourishing possible? The number was not impossible because they were blessed with prosperity in the fertile land of Egypt and at the same time, many different tribes came along with them at the time of the Exodus.
The reason that one family (70 people) grew into a huge nation in about 430 years is because God made Israel to become one nation by using Egypt as a fence at that time. If the people of Israel had just been in Canaan, it would have been quite difficult to form a nation-state through continuous shouting. After all, life in Egypt was a life that was allowed as a temporary refuge for Israel to form a nation-state, and when the population grew enough to become a nation-state, he finally came out of Egypt and allowed them to enter the land of Canaan.
At that time, the people of Israel and various tribes escaped from Egypt together with sheep, cattle, and very large livestock (verse 38). Why did the mongrels get along? It must have been because of God's amazing power shown in Egypt. Even some Egyptians are believed to have left Egypt with the Israelites. They later offered a great test by complaining about eating meat in Egypt in the wilderness (Numbers 11:4).
After all, the nation of Israel is not a nation of pure blood, but rather a nation formed by a community of faith. In fact, even Gentiles can become Jews even now if they do two things, namely, if they make a Jewish profession of faith and practice circumcision. It shows that Israel is an open community, not a closed one. God was very wary of the secularization of Israel, but was tolerant of Gentiles converting to Judaism. The scene challenges diversity and abandons prejudice and discrimination.
The gospel is more than salvation. The gospel changes people as well as society. At any time, there are fights and conflicts in human society, and there are many prejudices, discrimination and injustices. To such people, Jesus made them think of others and threw the bomb of a revolution called the Gospel of Love that Gentiles also embrace. So wherever the gospel went, people changed, but society changed and countless blessings followed. In that sense, the darkness of our society right now is proof that the gospel is not working properly, and in times like these, we need to be more diligent in nurturing upright people.