Remembering Our Deliverance


(Image courtesy of http://www.abc.net.au.)
"Then the LORD said to Moses, 'Go in to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may show these signs of mine among them, and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and of your grandson how I have dealt harshly with the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them, that you may know that I am the LORD'" (Exodus 10:1-2).
Just before the eighth plague, God tells Moses the purpose of Pharaoh's hardened heart, the plagues, Israel's captivity, and their future deliverance: "that you may know that I am the LORD."  God's purpose in delivering His people was so that they would know He is the LORD.


The Lord God is a jealous God (Exodus 34:14), and He does not share His glory with any other (Isaiah 42:8).  This is good news.  If God was not jealous for His glory, others could rise above Him in power and take His place.  This would be a problem because only God is perfect and incapable of sin, whereas all other created beings are beneath Him, for they were created by Him and for Him.  It is a great joy that God alone owns all majesty, all glory, all power, and all authority (Jude 25).

Furthermore, God tells Moses - in the presence of his son and grandson - that He will deliver Israel from slavery.  He tells Moses to tell of God's power to future generations.  Since Moses and Israel were types of what was to come - namely, Jesus Christ and the deliverance of God's people once and for all out of slavery to sin -  so we, today, are to recount our deliverance to our future generations as well.  Why?  For the purpose that all may know that the LORD is God!

The first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism is, "What is the chief end of man?"  The answer is, "The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever."  We were made to glorify and honor God.  In Christ and because of Christ, our chief end is fulfilled.  We are mortal; He is immortal.  We are finite; He is infinite.  We are born in slavery; He delivers us by His grace alone.  We die; He gives life.  Everything in life is to the glory of God!  The reason we were delivered from sin and given His Spirit was not to have our best life now or be happy in this life only, but that God would receive glory and honor for what He has done; that His glory would inhabit our praises for what He has done (Psalm 22:3)!

Moreover, the Israelites remembered God's deliverance every Sabbath, especially during Passover.  Fathers recounted, weekly, the deliverance from Egypt, by the strong arm and outstretched hand of God, their Deliverer (Deuteronomy 26:8).  As a result, sons and daughters grew up in the knowledge of the power of God; as a result, God was glorified and His people were satisfied.

Likewise, Christian homes ought to remember God's deliverance through Christ, recounting the power and glory of God to future generations.  To do this well, parents must enjoy Christ themselves.  Naturally, humans praise what they enjoy.  If we, as parents, enjoy the Lord for ourselves, we will talk about Him often, praise Him frequently, and glorify Him in our words, deeds, and thoughts.  When our children see and hear this, the glory of God will be known to them as well.  Once again, God will be glorified and His people will be satisfied.  Amen!

Of course, parents cannot recount the glory of God to their children when their family is divided due to busy schedules including school, sports, youth group, and various other "fillers".  It is the primary goal of parents to train their children in the way they should go (Psalm 22:6) and to remember what God has done for us in Christ (Exodus 10:1-2).  If families are too busy to recount God's glory in consistent and frequent family worship (devotions), then they are too busy; they ought to cut things out of their busy schedules.  It is the parents primary responsibility to train their children and to recount with them the glory and power of God.

Let us, therefore, conform our lives to the Word of God, not our society and culture, which are anti-God, since the spirit of the anti-Christ is in the world (1 John 4:3).  Let us, also, recount the power and glory of God's great and mighty deliverance of His people through the precious blood of Christ Jesus!  Finally, let us encourage one another in the faith, for the one who endures to the end will be saved (Matthew 24:13).


Lord, please give Your people grace to know You more, to love You more, to enjoy You more, and to speak of Your power and glory often.  Amen.

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