Have you ever watched a young child attempt to accomplish some task, perhaps even tying their shoes, yet were growing increasingly frustrated over their multiple failed attempts? So you step in with the sincerest intentions of assisting them and they push you away, insisting they do it “all by myself!”

 

 One of three scenarios usually follows...there are those who surrender in tears and come back to you for help. Others, you see later walking around with untied shoelaces flopping about everywhere; and then of course, there are those few who shuck the shoes and will just walk about without wearing those silly things. 

 Has it ever dawned on us that maybe that is what God did when He sent Jesus in to this world to set us free...and save us? But we just pushed Him away...and were unwilling to receive His help? (Matt. 23:37; John 5:40)

 He did not come to make us feel worse about ourselves, nor did He come to condemn us and tell us what vile, worthless people we were. 

 He came to rescue us. 

 And for those who are often confused trying to connect the ‘God of the Old Testament’ with 'God of the New Testament’, perhaps the first two chapters in Exodus might help you see God’s heart enabling us to 'connect some more dots’. 

 Hopefully, you are familiar with the story of Joseph who ended up in a position of power and influence down in Egypt after his imprisonment. (Gen. 37-50). Long story-short...all of his family come to Egypt and were preserved during a great famine as they settle in the land there and multiply greatly. 

 We are told in Ex. 1:8 that a new king came into power who did not know Joseph and was not a fan of these people, so he acted shrewdly with them and set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens.” (8-11). They in effect, became slaves as their lives were ‘made bitter with hard bondage’. (14) (You might just jot down John 8:34 next to that passage.) 

 Exodus: chapter 2- Enter Moses where God condenses the birth and next 40 years of Moses’s life in those first 22 verses. Now, if you would please, go mark or highlight vs. 23-25 as we are told how the people began to cry out in their groanings and sufferings. And guess what we learn here? God heard their groanings and He remembered His covenant with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. And God was moved. 

Exodus: chapter 3- Moses is out on the backside of the desert minding his own business and God appears, or speaks to him, from a burning bush. God then cuts to the chase with a brief introduction (4-6) and then in vs. 7 He reveals His heart to Moses: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.” 

 He continues on: I have come down (you might want to underline that)...to deliver them out of the hands of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey...” (8) 

 You can almost hear Moses thinking to himself...’and how does this involve me?’. This is a great chapter to finish reading on your own. But God does instruct Moses to go down and meet with the elders of Israel and tell them that He has heard their cry and has come to ‘bring them up out of their affliction to a better place...’ (16-17) 

 Friends...this...is the heart of the ‘God of the OT’. As I state frequently...God never changes. (Mal. 3:6). And then as you continue on reading this saga, a fascinating drama unfolds that would eventually become the ‘blueprint’ of God’s ultimate plan for deliverance of His creation as He would once again...’come down to deliver us’ in the form of Jesus at a much later time. 

 Shall we flip forward to our NT where we once again, discover the heart of God as expressed through His Son. The opening chapter in Luke records a prophesy given through Zacharias that proclaims how God, once again, is about to ‘visit and redeem His people’ (1:68) and ‘save us from our enemies’ (71) and ‘through His tender mercy...will give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” (78-79) 

 God brings Mary into His plan as she ‘receives the Word’ of the Lord and conceives and then brings forth a Son and names Him Jesus. Then, the next 30 years we hear nothing of Jesus, other than one brief appearance as a 12 year old (Lu. 2:39-52) before He drops off the grid for another 18 years. 

 And then it’s time. 

 Jesus shows up one day at the Jordan River, of all places...to be baptized by His cousin, John. (John 1:29-34). (Do you recall what river all the folks were near back in Numbers 13-14 before they all imploded in fear and dismay?- same Jordan river they would cross over some forty years later) 

 We will come back to His baptism and wilderness journey later; but now Jesus has begun His ministry and His message remains consistent: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matt. 4:17) 

 For some odd reason, people take exception to that word, ‘repent’. All it means is to ‘turn from’ or have a ‘change of direction’ in the way you think and walk and act. His invitation begins to go out...”Follow Me”. (Matt. 4:19). 

 It is very important now for you to understand God’s heart here, once again. He did not send Jesus into this world to condemn us, rather through Him...we might be ‘saved’. (John 3:17). Then, the very next verse there in John’s gospel quotes Jesus again saying: “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (3:18) 

 So why were we all condemned? Because God had established his law long ago and made it clear, the soul that sins shall die, for the wages of sin is death. And since all sinned, all stood condemned. You might make note of John 3:36 that clues us in to this fact...the ‘wrath of God was on us’ already. That is why Jesus came...to ‘save us from the wrath of God’. (Rom. 5:9). But in order for this to happen...we have...to turn, or ‘repent’...and then ‘follow Him’. (This is not to be confused with joining some church and then showing up weekly and becoming a good church member) 

 We read of an interesting exchange of dialogue in Luke 13:1-5 where Jesus was asked about some people who had suffered some tragic deaths. He put forth this question and then answers it immediately: “Do you think these people who suffered this way were any worse sinners than the rest? I tell you, No!...but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.” 

 Yes, I admit to using many analogies when I write/teach. Allow me to again, paint two brief pictures of what this ‘salvation’ is all about that may help you understand with more clarity. Suppose you were locked up in a closet in some cabin down below the deck on the Titanic...or maybe imprisoned in some bamboo cage deep in the jungles of some foreign country. Just being ‘released’ from that cage or closet...is a great start. But you are not ‘saved’ yet...until you get off that ship or out of that jungle and are back home. 

 Following the one who releases you from captivity...is Not an option if you hope to ‘stay saved’. Jesus became the author or source of our salvation to ‘all who obey Him’. (Heb. 5:9). You believe He’s your Savior? Great...then put some legs and obedience to that faith and follow Him with all your heart....as if your soul depends on it. Because it does. 

 We are told in Acts 10:38 what the mission and ministry of Jesus was all about: God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power...and He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.” Would you please now write down John 20:21 next to that verse before you go read it yourself. (No, really....go read it now and let that sink in.) 

 So after Jesus was initially baptized, and then ‘tested’, we read over and over again through the four gospels how He went out...and did...what we just read there in Acts 10:38. The same God we read about back in Exodus who sees and hears our sufferings and groanings...has not changed. Once again, we are given insight to God’s heart as we read there in Matt. 9:35-36 where Jesus went about all the cities and villages...teaching...and preaching the gospel of the kingdom. And He did not ‘just teach/preach’. Read on: “....and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.” 

 You might also go read Mark 1:32-34 as another of many examples of this ministry that Jesus came to perform. A ministry, I might add...that He handed off to His followers...His church. Sadly, the ‘church’ seems to have come up short in displaying this same power to heal all who are oppressed of the devil. And there is a pretty good reason as to why that is. We sure have the ‘form of godliness’ part down, but something that went hand in hand with what Jesus did is terribly missing. Perhaps tomorrow...we can examine what that just might be.