The last few chapters of Genesis and the opening of Exodus looks to be the climax of the children of Israel. Jacob has become Israel, his sons reconciled,  they escaped famine, the offspring has the fertile land (important?) in Egypt they have integrated and permeated Egypt, they have lived their for a generation and it seems like everything is going fine but…..

Their blessing is their curse. Egypt as beautiful and enticing as it may be, will soon become a constant thorn in the side of God’s people. To be clear we will see Egypt as a picture of sin and we will see the only deliverer who can free God’s people will be God Himself. As we read through Exodus we should view this experience from the lens of the New Testament. The metanarrative (grand-story) of the bible is found in the promise of Genesis 3. God will deliverer His creation through the seed of the woman. Who this seed is, is the unfolding theme of our bible (Romans 4:13-16; Galatians 3:10-29).

So we find the Israelites being “fruitful and multiplying” in a land that does not know their God nor their covenant. To be even more direct, this land is ruled by a god who’s name is Pharaoh,  he will not acknowledge the true God and because of this brings God’s people into slavery. If we see the progression of Israel’s slavery it looks much like the progression of sin. First is starts off as an enjoyment, though you know you shouldn’t be there. Then it moves into a burden (Exodus 1:11), then it moves into ruthless oppression (Exodus 1:12-14) and eventually it moves into death (Exodus 1:15-22). James 1:15, has a similar progression of sin.

So now the Israelites have moved from fertile acceptance to ruthless death (“throw them in the Nile” Pharaoh says). We see this early in Matthew with a king who does not want Israel to have another king and many times Romans leaders were viewed as deities. Pharaoh was threatened by the male children much like Herod was, yet God will call His son “out of Egypt” (Matthew 2:15).

In spite of this God, hears the cries of His elect and provides a deliverer! A male child goes into Egypt (he is accepted as an Egyptian) by a miraculous event, guided by the hands of YAWEH and God now calls this son to deliver his elect. He will go in the power of YAWEH, and will deliever the people out of bondage into the land promised (the promise land is a picture of what will be known as the New Jerusalem where Mt. Zion is and God dwells). 

Jesus says “anyone who sins is a slave to sin”. Every human being is in bondage but God has provided a deliverer. The task master is tough, the burden is hard, yet God’s deliverer is loving and has a light burden and just as the Israelites need rest so do we, God’s deliverer provides rest (Matthew 11:28-30). Lets see how the story unfolds

Deliverance, Motif, Picture, Shadow

 Today’s reading gives us some disturbing details into the life of Jacob and his 12 sons (the deception, killing, Reuben sleeping with his brother’s mother) and then we see three deaths. Yet in spite of that I name this “From Running to Rest”! Why?

Well, Jacob finally finds rest. He can no longer run, his deception, lies, and trickery have finally come to an end, he has been afflicted by YAWEH and now is the time of reconciliation, he must face his past. What a picture of God’s grace.  We see Jacob meeting up with Esau and there is reconciliation, we see him meeting up with Isaac and there is reconciliation and now we see Jacob back in the land of his fathers, the place God has told him to go. We even see a picture of intercession as Jacob buries the false gods of his loved ones and builds an alter to the Most High. Jacob has finally found rest for his feet, his household and his soul!

In our New Testament reading we see another rest. Jesus says “come to me… and I will give you rest”.  What is odd about Jesus’ statement is the paradoxical nature of it. You see He says “take my yoke… for it is easy and light”. Now if you know what a yoke is, niether a picture of rest oreasy and light will ever cross your mind. Seeing a mule or an ox yoked up has never produced a picture of rest in my mind. Not to mention when we think of rest we usually don’t think of  being “controlled” we think of freedom.  A yoke is for the sole purpose of directing and controlling and subduing for the benefit  of the person who has control of the yoke.

However, Jesus says putting on His yoke yields the fruit of rest! Often times we hear “I will come to God when I am ready” (usually that means the commands of Jesus are taxing, hard or laboring) people think they have rest or freedom, yet they have bondage and are constantly running from person to person, thing to thing, drug to drug only to never find “rest”.

Jesus is our rest. In Christ we are even told “we rest from all of our works” (Hebrews 4:10), outside of Christ there is no rest and no freedom once we take on His yoke only then can we rest and we can be assured that wherever He takes us will be for our own good.

But there is one more rest I want to remind us who know Christ about. That is the rest from legalism. Many of us today are busy, we are running, we are working hard to please God, yet we never feel at peace, we never feel secure and we never feel rested. It is always improve, try harder, dig deeper, obey more, and then and only then will God be satisfied, yet we ache with condemnation, a sense of failure, an unworthiness. However, Jesus gives us a different picture. When we come to Christ and yield to Him it produces the fruit of rest (rest embodies, peace, serenity, joy, comfort). We can rest from our effort and trust that God’s wrath has been satisfied and that He loves us because of His Son. To be even more frank apart from resting in Christ, we can’t satisfy the Father, Jesus tells us “unless you become like one of these little ones, you can not enter the Kingdom of God”. So today if you are in Christ find rest in His work, if you are outside of Christ find rest in Christ. Don’t be crippled like Jacob for trying to run. He  walked with a sign of God’s sovereignty until he was buried with his fathers, let experience be the wisdom of fools.

Grace, Rest, Salvation