I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered My Covenant...Therefore, say to the Israelites, "I am the Lord and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm."
Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listem to him because of their discouragement and cruel bondage.
(Exodus 6:6, 9)
Amazing promises of rescue and redemption from God to His people who were so bitterly enslaved in Egypt! Yet when Moses carried this message to the people, we are told they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and cruel bondage. The original language says they could not hear because of their 'shortness of breath'. The bondage they were experiencing under Pharoah was so great it felt like it was crushing them physically. They could not hear; so God sent Moses into His great redemption story to take them by the hand, to lead them out of bondage, to show them the way to freedom.
Sometimes life is like that.
Look around and you will see people bitterly enslaved to sin and circumstances, experiencing crushing hopelessness; people living under such discouragement, such 'shortness of breath', they are unable to hear God's promise of rescue and redemption. People, perhaps, who are waiting for someone to take them by the hand, to lead them out of bondage, to show them the way to freedom.
Someone like you.
Consider the shortest verse in the Bible, "Jesus wept." (John 11:35) The occasion for His tears was at the tomb of His dear friend Lazarus. He looked around, saw the weeping and mourning of family and friends gathered there, and He wept. Was it sorrow for those who had lost their loved one? Was it the pain of death itself that moved Jesus? All we know is what scripture tells us: when Jesus saw the suffering of the people He was deeply moved and He wept.
There is more to this story.
Jesus told those gathered there to roll away the tombstone. He prayed to His Father and called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" (John 11:43) Lazarus came out - alive -but his hands and feet were bound with strips of linen and a burial cloth was around his face. Jesus told those standing by, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go."
Jesus called Lazarus from death to life. Then He called those near to enter into His story of rescue and redemption, to take Lazarus by the hand, to lead him out, set him free from the grave clothes.
Do you know someone like Lazarus?
Someone so discouraged, so bound, that they need you to
take them by the hand,
lead them out of bondage,
show them the way to freedom,
help remove the grave clothes?
Someone alive in Christ perhaps,
but still walking around in grave clothes?
God told Moses to say to the Israelites,
"I will redeem you with an outstretched arm."
He did just that, delivering His people from the bondage of Pharoah with mighty acts of judgement. Then He called Moses to lead them out of Egypt, to show them the way.
God still redeems with an outstretched arm.
Only this time He stretched out His arm on a cross at Calvary, shedding His blood, so that we can be free from the bondage of sin, hopelessness and finally, death.
He still is calling people from death to life. It happens at the Cross.
He still is inviting people into His great story of rescue and redemption.
Perhaps He is calling to you:
"Take off the grave clothes and let him go."
Consider the shortest verse in the Bible, "Jesus wept." (John 11:35) The occasion for His tears was at the tomb of His dear friend Lazarus. He looked around, saw the weeping and mourning of family and friends gathered there, and He wept. Was it sorrow for those who had lost their loved one? Was it the pain of death itself that moved Jesus? All we know is what scripture tells us: when Jesus saw the suffering of the people He was deeply moved and He wept.
There is more to this story.
Jesus told those gathered there to roll away the tombstone. He prayed to His Father and called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" (John 11:43) Lazarus came out - alive -but his hands and feet were bound with strips of linen and a burial cloth was around his face. Jesus told those standing by, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go."
Jesus called Lazarus from death to life. Then He called those near to enter into His story of rescue and redemption, to take Lazarus by the hand, to lead him out, set him free from the grave clothes.
Do you know someone like Lazarus?
Someone so discouraged, so bound, that they need you to
take them by the hand,
lead them out of bondage,
show them the way to freedom,
help remove the grave clothes?
Someone alive in Christ perhaps,
but still walking around in grave clothes?
God told Moses to say to the Israelites,
"I will redeem you with an outstretched arm."
He did just that, delivering His people from the bondage of Pharoah with mighty acts of judgement. Then He called Moses to lead them out of Egypt, to show them the way.
God still redeems with an outstretched arm.
Only this time He stretched out His arm on a cross at Calvary, shedding His blood, so that we can be free from the bondage of sin, hopelessness and finally, death.
He still is calling people from death to life. It happens at the Cross.
He still is inviting people into His great story of rescue and redemption.
Perhaps He is calling to you:
"Take off the grave clothes and let him go."
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