A quick ahh-ha moment from Another Red Letter Day.

“Say, therefore, to the sons of Israel, ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the labors of the Egyptians, and I will rescue you from their bondage. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm, and with great judgments. – Exodus 6:6 NASB20

I’ve long known that Israel’s extraction from Egypt stands as a type and shadow of our redeemption from the power of the enemy, but this verse in Exodus 6 struck me this morning.

Israel was in slavery!

If you had a slave and valued that slave, but I wanted to free that slave. I could not just come to you and tell you to free him. 

First I would have to offer a price and pay it.

But let’s say your answer was still no. You did not want to part with that slave. What then?

Our nation was torn apart when some wanted to let slaves go free, and some wanted to keep what they considered their own.

This verse tells us that God planned to redeem Israel from their masters with an outstretched arm and great judgment.

And it clicked for me. For our redemption from slavery to sin, there needed to be a civil war. It required the outstretched arm of the Lord and great judgment. 

And that judgment was met out against Jesus! Israel’s millions could not be set free from Egyptian bondage without the ten plagues.

Our freedom needed to be paid for, and judgment executed.

It took the outstretched arm of the Lord to free Israel, and when Isaiah looks at Jesus on the cross, in Isaiah 53 he begins with that same picture. 

Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? – Isaiah 53:1 NASB20

The final judgment Egypt faced before Pharoh finally relented was the judgment God Himself bore for our redeemption – the death of the firstborn.

Like Egypt, sin follows after us as we walk out of our place of bondage and into the freedom of serving the Lord. But as we trust in Him and follow Him through the Red Sea of redemption, God crushes the power of temptation to rule over us.

It’s such a powerful picture, and I’m just scratching the surface here today.

Jesus paid an unfathomable price and bore great judgment to redeem us from slavery to sin and the curse of the law. Hallelujah!

Walk in blessing today.

See you soon,

Ben