One of the great events of the Old Testament, in fact perhaps the greatest event in the history of God’s people was their deliverance from slavery in Egypt. About 400 years earlier, a man called Joseph had been sold by his brothers as a slave to passing traders. They in turn sold him on to Potiphar, captain of the Pharoah’s army. Through a series of events, orchestrated by God, Jospeh ended up set free and in effect the prime minister of Egypt, overseeing a major famine relief project. That famine brought Joseph’s brothers to Egypt where they found themselves bowing down before their brother. He forgave them and they with their families settled in Egypt.
A later Pharoah forgot about God and Joseph. He saw the growing numbers of Israelites as a threat. So, he did two things. First, he made the adults his slaves, forcing them to build his cities for him. Then, he attempted genocide by ordering for the baby boys to be thrown into the red sea and killed. One of those babies was a boy called Moses. His parents tried to hide him but eventually knew he would be found, so they placed him in a little basket and hid him amongst the rushes by the side of the river. God was at work and Moses was found by an Egyptian princess who raised him as her son.
However, Moses one day saw an Egyptian attacking an Israelite. He stepped in to defend his kinsman and killed the Egyptian. He then was forced to flee into hiding. Out in the wilderness he met a man called Jethro, married his daughter and worked for him as shepherd. It was there, that God appeared to him. Exodus 3 tells us that one day, Moses saw a bush on fire but the fire was not harming the plant. Going closer, he heard God speak to him from the bush. God told him to go and tell the Pharoah to let his people go. He was to lead them to safety in their own country, the promised land.
The book of Exodus tells the story as Moses confronts Pharoah who stubbornly refused to let the people go free. Even, when God sends plagues against Egypt, the king digs his heals in. Eventually God tells the people to leave at night. He then delivers them from the Egyptian army by famously parting the waters of the Red Sea so they can go through on dry land. He leads them through the wilderness for 40 years, gives them his Law at Mount Sinai and brings them safely to the land he had promised.
One word is often used to sum up this story, “redemption.” Redemption is about buying something back or redeeming it. We used the word to describe what happens when we pay off a debt or buy back something that used to be ours. It was also used to describe someone obtaining a slave’s freedom. This is what God had done for Israel. He had obtained her freedom.
The same language of redemption is used in the New Testament, we find it in Paul’s letters including Galatians 4:5
4 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship
Paul uses that same imagery. We were slaves, just like the Israelites were slaves in Egypt but God set us free so we could be his children. He redeemed us. Colossians 1:14 talks about it in terms of God transferring us from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light.
Then in Ephesians 1:7, he tells us that
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace
Notice that redemption normally requires a price to be paid and Paul describes that price as being Jesus’ death on the Cross. His blood shed for us. The result is that our freedom is bought. This is the big theme of Galatians.
This is a free gift from God, a gift given to us at the Cross and it is one of the blessings that we inherit in, through and with Jesus.
The challenge for us is
“What will you do with that freedom?” We are set free from slavery but we are set free for something, we are set free to live for Christ. Do you use the freedom you have to love him, worship him and serve him?
Faithroots 