Author: words and signs

49 “eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,”

 Exodus 21:24

 Thus says the Lord in all justice that we should pay recompense for the hurt we do to another person. The law is completely fair and holy and God commands that we follow it and obey its precepts.

 However, there is a greater covenant in force, through the death of Christ, that all who come to Him shall be saved. It is the majesty of grace that all who repent and believe are set free from the requirements of the law for Christ has died and set us free from it. Jesus has paid the greatest of prices for us that we might never have to suffer the just consequences of that law.

 The just requirements of the law of God were met in Christ as He gave His life for us on the cross. He took on Himself all our sin and uncleanness and purged it away so that we could be counted clean because of Him. He is the great sacrifice and the great High Priest who ever lives to intercede for us. He is our Saviour and is the only Saviour of the human heart. Only He can justify us as we come to Him in repentance and faith. There is no other way for He is the lamb of God slain before the foundation of the world. He is the instigator and price for that holy compact that was made in eternity that He should save a people for Himself.

“but he, when he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God,”

Hebrews 10:12

 Jesus is the only way to God for He is our great Saviour.

 

48 “You shall have no other gods before me.”

 Exodus 20:3

 This is a very clear and concise command and yet we stumble over it very easily. Our flesh and our spirit contend with each other for the preeminence in our life and cause us conflict. It is so easy for us to give in to the flesh because that is what we are by nature, and yet for the Christian who has the Holy Spirit within, there is inner and sometimes outer conflict. We find it easy to relate to the flesh and find it challenging to obey and serve the invisible God who relates to us through His Spirit.

 No matter how dearly loved or how precious something or someone is to us, they do not come before our regard and reverence for the Lord. We can easily fall into idolatry and find ourselves serving others and not the Lord. How easy it is for us to hold someone in our life dear to us and close to our heart, when that place belongs to our dear Lord Jesus. It is so easy to let the temporal into first place and all spiritual ways and feelings to over-ridden by the here and now.

 God knows what is best for us and He alone can tell us that He alone is to be our first and best. He can do this because He is the perfect God and knows that we are made for Him. We find our highest delight in Him and He will lead us into all right relationships with other people. We must trust in Him and give Him the top place in all our thinking and mediation.

“But seek first God’s Kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things will be added to you.”

 Matthew 6:33

 

47 “You have seen… how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to myself.”

Exodus 19:4

 How great is the salvation of our God. He does not leave any of the arrangements to us but has compacted a covenant with himself to save a host of people for His own glory and the glory of His Son Jesus. When He comes to us He comes as a mighty eagle, the noblest of birds with strong wings and with a place of safety under them. The eagle can lift and rescue its young on its mighty wings and take them to a place of safety. God bears us up with His wings and takes us to the ultimate place of protection in His eternal home. It is for all who desire it and will humble themselves before Him and take His promise at its face value.

 God rescued His people from the wickedness of Pharaoh and can therefore be trusted to rescue us also. The deliverance was complete and God took His people to the safety of the desert where He provided for them and loved them. So also for us who live in a wicked land and must be lifted out of our state of sin and brought to repentance and faith. It is eagle’s wings that will bear us safely to the refuge in our God.

 Surely the majesty of the Lord is over all His ways and He will see us safely through this life and to heaven and home. Let us trust in Him daily for all our needs and allow Him to bear us up on His wings of provision and protection.

 

 

46 “His hands were steady until sunset.”

 Exodus 17:12

 When Moses’ hands were raised to God in heaven the people of God prevailed against the enemy, the Amalekites. When his hands sank down due to fatigue, the Amalekites took the upper hand. The blessing of God was subject to the supplication of His servant Moses, and Moses could not sustain the prayer on his own. Aaron and Hur had to hold his hands up in support of the supplication and so fellowship in the service of the Lord was successful.

 O how much we as Christian people need each other! We cannot, dare not go it alone, for we will become weary and the enemy will prevail. When we meet together for fellowship we are holding each other up before the Lord and enjoining ourselves to each other in prayers and petitions. When we support each other we will gain the victory over our own evil desires, the temptations of the enemy and the pull of this fallen world. This is the way to life, peace and victory and we must not listen to the enemy who says we don’t need other people. Jesus asked his disciples to pray with Him and for Him in the garden of Gethsemane, but they could not for they were weak. If the Lord of heaven and earth needed faithful company how much more we who are so naturally weak and without protection.

 Let us lift up our hands in holy prayer for each other so that the victory over Satan is complete and he has no traction in our life.

“Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The insistent prayer of a righteous person is powerfully effective.”

James 5:16

45 “Your murmurings are not against us, but against the Lord.”

 Exodus 16:8

 O how the people of God could grumble! And we also find a likewise frame of mind that overlooks the provision of the Lord and we listen to our covetous hearts always wanting more. They directed their murmurings towards Moses but in reality it was against the Lord that Moses served. They wanted bread and God gave them manna. They wanted meat and God gave them quail. They wanted water and God gave them water from the rock! What a litany of wants and carnal desires! So often we also ask from God what we want and wish to enjoy in our bodies and minds. We want satisfaction in terms of this world and with no consideration of our soul’s great need of God. We carp and complain and want the satisfaction of the flesh and give in to all sorts of sins. We want food, so we eat too much and grow fat. We want drink and imbibe the wine that makes us its slave. We want bodily sexual satisfaction and so we succumb to all sorts of sexual sins.

 This is the way of this fallen world and not the way of God. God requires that we subjugate our flesh and seek the things of the Spirit. The flesh wars against the Spirit and we must put it to death.

“For if you live after the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”

Romans 8:13

As we fight the flesh, God will not leave us on our own but will give us the power to be overcomers for His sake. He will not leave us to fight and perish, but has given us His Word that we might have weapons of war against it.

44 “We wish that we had died by the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots…”

 Exodus 16:3

How foolish we are when we desire the things of this life, rather than the freedom we experience in Christ. We are yet earthbound and full of desire that takes us away from the Lord our God and binds us in chains to the desires of this life. O that we could break free from the bonds of sin and enjoy the life of liberty in our Lord Jesus Christ!

 The people of God had their eyes on the luxuries of this life and not on the liberty they had so graciously received from the hand of God. They were wholly earthbound and full of the desire for the flesh and not for the presence of the Lord who had brought them out of slavery. So we also may desire the paltry things of this life and not the blessings we receive at the hand of our Saviour.

 We can become clouded with the desires of the flesh and not on the desires of the Spirit. We see our need as wholly earthbound and not linked with the glory of our God. We seek bodily peace and not the peace of God that passes all understanding. We trade the ways of this life for the ways of God. Let us take up the call to holiness and to put away the desires of the flesh and come to God. Let us not insult our God by thinking that He will not provide for us and give us wholly of His mercy and grace. We deserve neither grace nor mercy and yet it is offered to us. May we be wise in accepting it and putting to death the things that we crave.

“My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus”

Philippians 4:19

43 “The Lord is my strength and song. He has become my salvation.”

 Exodus 15:2

 There are few things better than a grateful heart. It will save us from all kinds of complaints and doubts. If we are walking in the light of thankfulness we will not be overtaken with doubts and fears, for we will be in constant communion with Christ and know His abounding power in our mind and heart. There will be no room for doubt for we will feel and know the presence of God and His conquering power in our behaviour and thinking. The Lord will get the victory for us and give us rest even as we do our work for His sake. All the glory will belong to Him and we will know it in our daily walk in holiness and joy.

 The Lord Himself will lead us and free us from all fears. We will not be afraid to live and do our activities for His name’s sake.

 Christ has died and that will be our portion all the day. We will glory in the victory that was accomplished for us on Calvary and we will not doubt. The Lord has done it and our salvation depend on Him and not our own performances. Salvation is by grace alone and we will know the outworking of that truth in our everyday lives as we live for Him. We will not look to family or friends but only to the Lord and His abundant power and precious promises.

“Don’t you be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. Yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.”

Isaiah 41:10 

42 “I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously. He has thrown the horse and his rider into the sea.”

 Exodus 15:1

 This is the beginning of the song of Moses which he sang to remind the children of Israel that the Lord has worked all things out for them and will continue to be faithful to them. Surely we must also rehearse the blessings of the Lord in our own life and practice the art of gratitude and humility.

 What a blessing it is to be able to go to the supermarket and get our food and have enough money to pay! We also get to choose what we would like! This is one of the many “ordinary” blessing we experience every day. Let us pray for hearts that recognize the love of God and His daily provision. Let us ever magnify His glorious name for all that He does for us.

“Oh magnify the Lord with me. Let’s exalt his name together.”

 Psalm 34:3

 The Lord has given us the victory over self and sin and has procured a great salvation for us through the death of Christ on the cross. What a victory that was for Satan is defeated and self is denied and crucified with Christ. We may know the victory every day and live lives that are pleasing to the Lord. We do not have to succumb to temptations but are conquerors of it in Jesus’ name. Every day we can claim the victory in our Saviour’s name and know the freedom from sin and the carping of sinful self.

 

41 “The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the children of Israel; for the children of Israel went out with a high hand.”

 Exodus 14:8

 Here we see the polarized state of those who reject the Lord and refuse to listen and those who are willingly subject to Him. Pharaoh refused the Lord and even though he had suffered at God’s hand great plagues including the death of his firstborn son, yet He continues to disobey. He will not relinquish his hold over the people of God and God has dealt with him severely and yet he continues to rebel. Such is the state of those who reject God and harden their heart. God will eventually harden the heart and there is no way back from that position. Pharaoh pursued the disobedience of his heart right into death.

 On the other hand the people of God followed and were led by God into great blessing in the promised land. They followed with great boldness and confidence in the leading of the Lord their God. So with all of us who follow obediently and seek to do what God requires of us and have confidence in His leadership. The children of Israel, though slaves, left Egypt with the treasures of Egypt for the Egyptians gave them whatever they wanted, such was the provision of the Lord. The Lord will provide for His people even in persecution that His holy name is seen and known. He will provide for His people so that the enemy does not gain the upper hand.

 Even though we be slaves in this world, we are queens and kings in heaven, and the Lord will exonerate us and bring us out of our slavery with rejoicing. This is the power of God in the lives of His people.

 

40 “the pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night, didn’t depart from before the people.”

 Exodus 13:22

 When the Lord released His people from slavery He went with them and led them safely along the desert way. They were released from their slavery in Egypt and were now headed for the promised land. So with every soul that has been rescued from the grip of sin and has been saved from all its effects and punishments. The Lord is with us every step of the way and never deserts us day or night. It is especially difficult in the night for the darkness surrounds us and makes us afraid. The Lord knows all our weaknesses and yet sustains us in the shadows of life.

“…even the darkness doesn’t hide from you, but the night shines as the day. The darkness is like light to you.”

Psalm 139:12

 The darkness may seek to overtake us but our Lord and God is always there. He is with us in the day and in the night and nothing can separate us from Him. This is a truth for all our life and we can depend on the promises of God to be true and never change or fail.

 God relates to us in a way that we can understand and it is up close and personal. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ and we are perpetually safe from all ills.

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Could oppression, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?”

Romans 8:35