Getting The Egypt Out Of The People

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Exodus 16:1-3

16 They set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. 2 And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, 3 and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

 
 

Remember, the theme of Exodus is the formation of God’s people into God’s nation, Israel.

The people are now out of Egypt.

But the Egypt is not out of the people!

Here, because of their hunger, they say that they would prefer to remain as slaves rather than have to face the challenges of the wilderness!

The people are out of Egypt but still living in bondage. The Lord’s task is to set them truly free.

Are there places in your life—between your ears—in which you are still living enslaved?

What would it mean for the Lord to truly set you free?

 

The Purpose Of Freedom Is Worship

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Exodus 15:1-18

15 Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying,
“I will sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously;
    the horse and His rider He has thrown into the sea.
2 The Lord is my strength and my song,
    and He has become my salvation;
this is my God, and I will praise him,
    my father's God, and I will exalt him.
3 The Lord is a man of war;
    the Lord is his name.
4 “Pharaoh's chariots and his host He cast into the sea,
    and His chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea.
5 The floods covered them;
    they went down into the depths like a stone.
6 Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power,
    your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy.
7 In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries;
    you send out your fury; it consumes them like stubble.
8 At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up;
    the floods stood up in a heap;
    the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.
9 The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake,
    I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them.
    I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them.’
10 You blew with your wind; the sea covered them;
    they sank like lead in the mighty waters.
11 “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?
    Who is like you, majestic in holiness,
    awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?
12 You stretched out your right hand;
    the earth swallowed them.
13 “You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed;
    you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode.
14 The peoples have heard; they tremble;
    pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia.
15 Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed;
    trembling seizes the leaders of Moab;
    all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.
16 Terror and dread fall upon them;
    because of the greatness of your arm, they are still as a stone,
till your people, O Lord, pass by,
    till the people pass by whom you have purchased.
17 You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain,
    the place, O Lord, which you have made for your abode,
the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established.
18 The Lord will reign forever and ever.

 
 

What is freedom for?

This is one of the questions the Book of Exodus is answering. From the very beginning, we see that the purpose of the exodus is to allow the people of God to freely worship:

Afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.’” [5:1]

And now, after their deliverance and the Red Sea crossing, the first act of the newly-freed people is to worship.

Most people around the world do not enjoy the civil freedoms that we enjoy as Americans. We are remarkably free.

So, what are you doing with the freedoms the Lord has given you?