Thursday, December 30, 2010
Sixth Christmas Day
Exodus 3:7-8 Then the LORD said, "I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey ..."
THE SAVIOR IMPRINTED IN HISTORY
God used more than prophecies to reveal the Messiah to the world. Amazingly, God also wove images of the great "Messianic Rescue" right into the events of history.
Each time God followed a simple formula. The people were oppressed or enslaved. They cried out for help. He sent a hero to rescue them. The people were freed to enjoy peace in their own land.
The first time God stamped this rescue on the pages of history is when the people of Israel were slaves in Egypt. Moses was their hero that time. At the end of their journey through the desert, they were a liberated people. An abundant land now belonged to them. (See Exodus).
Later, during the period of Jewish history called the "period of the judges," this cycle was repeated over and over. Heroes like Othniel, Ehud, Deborah, Gideon, Jephthah and Samson each took a turn rescuing the people from their own stupidity (idol worship) and foreign oppression that God sent on them because of it. (See Judges).
And with each deliverance the future "Messianic Rescue" was foreshadowed. Jesus would finally arrive in the manger, the little Hero who would grow up to rescue all sinners from sin and establish a peace between God and man that would last for eternity.
