Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Matthew 2:13-15 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, "Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him." When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, "Out of Egypt I called My Son."
OUT OF EGYPT -- OUT FROM SLAVERY
God has called us out of Egypt, from a life of slavery to the things of this world. Israel, during the better part of the 430 years they lived in Egypt, were made to be slaves to the Egyptians. They had no choice. They had no power to deliver themselves from it until God by His own mighty hand and works delivered them from that slavery.
True, we work and earn money and we buy the things which the world offers us. We have land. We have houses. We have clothes and such things. I suspect that the majority of us have fairly decent things. But these things -- are they our masters? Is it for them that we slavishly work? That our only, and all consuming desire is to get more and better and bigger and fancier? Have we not been delivered from having them as our masters?
We would ask also, "By whose hand have we been delivered from serving the useless things of this world?" By our own hands? By our own strength? With mighty words and works of our devising?
Out of Egypt God has called you into the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, that we give thanks to God for all earthly blessings, yet at the same time understand that we came into this world with nothing and we shall leave with nothing. Once again, the things of the world perish with the world. We are not slaves, for God in Christ has called us out of that slavery.
