Freedom from Bondage - Part 2

The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are;
and when I see the blood, I will pass over you.
No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt
(Exodus 12:13).

Those of us who are looking for freedom from oppression in our lives may be interested to see how the Israelites found freedom in their situation under Pharaoh.

As the story goes, Moses and his brother Aaron were sent by God to tell Pharaoh, King of Egypt to let the people of Israel go and worship God. When Pharaoh refused, God sent terrible plagues against Egypt. Several times Pharaoh said that if the plague would stop, the people could go, but each time he changed his mind.

Prior to the tenth and last plague, God said that this would be the one through which Israel would go free. Up until this time the Israelites didn't have to do much, except a couple of times they were told to take refuge. The last plague  was different. The people were given careful instructions to follow in order to participate in their inevitable release.

Those of us that want to be free from our bondages, whatever they may be, would do well to learn whatever we can from what God told the Israelites to do.

In this last plague God was going to send the Angel of Death to slay every firstborn human and animal. The Israelites would escape this judgement, if they would do exactly what God told them.

God told them to have a roast dinner. God's prescription for freedom from bondage is lamb roast. Yes, there were some other specifics, like eating bitter herbs and unleavened bread. They were also to take some of the lamb's blood and put it on the doorposts and lintels of their houses. But basically, they were commanded to have dinner.

Death and destruction came all over Egypt, while the Israelites ate roast. Strange as this may seem, this whole thing is very instructive for us. Through what they did we gain insight on how we ourselves can find true, abundant life.

What the Israelites had to do is so contrary to what religious leaders have often burdened people with. Finding freedom from bondage is not something we attain through our own self efforts, intellect, or religious activities. Just like the Israelites' freedom was accomplished by God through no great human accomplishment, so it is the same for us in our own day.

Freedom from oppression had been accomplished by the sacrificial death of the Messiah on a Passover night almost two thousand years ago. Just like the people of Israel had to put the lamb's blood on the doors of their houses,  so we too by trusting in what Yeshua has done on our behalf, accept his shed blood to cover our lives and save us from death and destruction. And just like the people of Israel ate the roasted lamb, we need to invite him into every part of our lives and let him give us the kind of life that we so desperately need and want.

There is freedom from bondage.