Egypt Babylon Egypt: Passover, the setting at liberty the captives. Study 9
Egypt Babylon Egypt: Passover, the setting at liberty the
captives. Study 9
“There is a science of Christianity to be mastered; a science as much deeper, broader, higher than any human science as the heavens are higher than the earth. The mind is to be disciplined, educated, trained; for we are to do service for God in ways that are not in harmony with inborn inclination. Hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil must be overcome. Often the education and training of a lifetime must be discarded, that one may become a learner in the school of Christ. Our hearts must be educated to become steadfast in God. We are to form habits of thought that will enable us to resist temptation. We must learn to look upward. The principles of the word of God—principles that are as high as heaven, and that compass eternity—we are to understand in their bearing upon our daily life. Every act, every word, every thought, is to be in accord with these principles. All must be brought into harmony with, and subject to, Christ”. - MH 453.4
Our scripture reading today is taken from Isaiah 61:1-3 "The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified".
The Lord Jesus came to our world to save men and women of
all nationalities, languages and tribes. He died just as much for the African
people as for the White race. Jesus came to shed light over the whole world and
whosoever believes in Him should not perish but would be passed over to inherit
everlasting freedom. “The observance of
the Passover began with the birth of the Hebrew nation. On the last night of
their bondage in Egypt, when there appeared no token of deliverance, God
commanded them to prepare for an immediate release. He had warned Pharaoh of
the final judgment on the Egyptians, and He directed the Hebrews to gather
their families within their own dwellings. Having sprinkled the doorposts with
the blood of the slain lamb, they were to eat the lamb, roasted, with
unleavened bread and bitter herbs. “And thus shall ye eat it,” He said, “with
your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye
shall eat it in haste: it is the Lord’s passover.” Exodus 12:11. At midnight
all the first-born of the Egyptians were slain. Then the king sent to Israel
the message, “Rise up, and get you forth from among my people; ... and go,
serve the Lord, as ye have said.” Exodus 12:31. The Hebrews went out from Egypt
an independent nation. The Lord had commanded that the Passover should be
yearly kept. “It shall come to pass,” He said, “when your children shall say
unto you, What mean ye by this service? that ye shall say, It is the sacrifice
of the Lord’s passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in
Egypt, when He smote the Egyptians.” Thus from generation to generation the
story of this wonderful deliverance was to be repeated”. - DA 76.2
Whoever of the human family give themselves to Christ,
whoever hear the truth and obey it, become children of one family. The ignorant
and the wise, the rich and the poor, the heathen and the slave, white or
black—Jesus paid the purchase money for their souls. If they believe on Him,
His cleansing blood is applied to them. The black man’s name is written in the
book of life beside the white man’s. All are one in Christ. Birth, station,
nationality, or color cannot elevate or degrade men. The character makes the
man. If a red man, a Chinaman, or an African gives his heart to God, in
obedience and faith, Jesus loves him none the less for his color. He calls him
his well-beloved brother. The day is coming when the Kings and the Lordly men
of the earth would be glad to exchange places with the humblest African who has
laid hold on the hope of the gospel. To all who are overcomers through the
blood of the Lamb, the invitation will be given, “Come, ye blessed of my
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”
Arranged on the right and left of the throne of God are the long columns of the
heavenly host, who touch the golden harps, and the songs of welcome and of
praise to God and the Lamb ring through the heavenly courts. “He that hath an
ear, let him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches; to him that
overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the
paradise of God.” - SW 12.2
I call upon every church in our land to look well to your
own souls. “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own
selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye
be reprobates?” God makes no distinction between the North and the South.
Whatever may be your prejudices, your wonderful prudence, do not lose sight of
this fact, that unless you put on Christ, and His Spirit dwells in you, you are
slaves of sin and of Satan. Many who claim to be children of God are children
of the wicked one, and have all his passions, his prejudices, his evil spirit,
his unlovely traits of character. But the soul that is indeed transformed will
not despise any one whom Christ has purchased with His own blood. - SW 13.2
Men may have both hereditary and cultivated prejudices, but
when the love of Jesus fills the heart, and they become one with Christ, they
will have the same spirit that He had. If a colored brother sits by their side,
they will not be offended or despise him. They are journeying to the same
heaven, and will be seated at the same table to eat bread in the kingdom of
God. If Jesus is abiding in our hearts we cannot despise the colored man who
has the same Saviour abiding in his heart. When these unchristian prejudices
are broken down, more earnest effort will be put forth to do missionary work among
the colored race. - SW 14.1
When the Hebrew people were suffering cruel oppression under
the hand of their taskmasters, the Lord looked upon them, and He called Israel
His son. He bade Moses go to Pharaoh with the message, “Israel is my son, even
my firstborn. And I say unto thee, let my son go, that he may serve me.” The
Lord did not wait until His people went forth and stood in triumph on the
shores of the Red Sea before He called Israel His son, but while they were
under oppression, degraded, downtrodden, suffering all that the power and the
invention of the Egyptians could impose to make their lives bitter and to
destroy them, then God undertakes their cause and declares to Pharaoh, “Israel
is my son, even my firstborn.” - SW 14.2
God cares no less for the souls of the African race that
might be won to serve Him than He cared for Israel. He requires far more of His
people than they have given Him in missionary work among the people of the
South of all classes, and especially among the colored race. Are we not under
even greater obligation to labor for the colored people than for those who have
been more highly favored? Who is it that held these people in servitude? Who
kept them in ignorance, and pursued a course to debase and brutalize them,
forcing them to disregard the law of marriage, breaking up the family relation,
tearing wife from husband, and husband from wife? If the race is degraded, if
they are repulsive in habits and manners, who made them so? Is there not much
due to them from the white people? After so great a wrong has been done them,
should not an earnest effort be made to lift them up? The truth must be carried
to them. They have souls to save as well as we.
- SW 14.4
In the language of Daniel 11:40-45, the king of the south
(Egyptian atheism in France), the dragon himself who is the devil (Revelation
12) or the lower powers of the body, pushed (provoked) at Him, the True King of
the North who is Jesus Christ (by enslaving His people, the bruising of the
heel) and when His victory over death marked His triumphant return conquering
till the dragon (Pharaoh or any dearest idol) shall come to his end and none
shall help him. If only we realise our current slavery to sin, we would weep
for deliverance from the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, but it takes eyesalve to
open the blinded eyes, the blind cannot lead the blind out of miry bondage. The
“I can’t breathe” protests and riots caused by those who have long imbibed in
manipulation and propaganda of the media of different persuasions cannot achieve
the intended objective to stop the violence of the authorities.
Wrongs cannot be righted, nor can reformations in conduct be
made by a few feeble, intermittent efforts. Character building is the work, not
of a day, nor of a year, but of a lifetime. The struggle for conquest over
self, for holiness and heaven, is a lifelong struggle. Without continual effort
and constant activity, there can be no advancement in the divine life, no
attainment of the victor’s crown. - MH
452.1
The strongest evidence of man’s fall from a higher state is
the fact that it costs so much to return. The way of return can be gained only
by hard fighting, inch by inch, hour by hour. In one moment, by a hasty,
unguarded act, we may place ourselves in the power of evil; but it requires
more than a moment to break the fetters and attain to a holier life. The
purpose may be formed, the work begun; but its accomplishment will require
toil, time, perseverance, patience, and sacrifice. - MH 452.2
We cannot allow ourselves to act from impulse. We cannot be
off guard for a moment. Beset with temptations without number, we must resist
firmly or be conquered. Should we come to the close of life with our work
undone, it would be an eternal loss. The
life of the apostle Paul was a constant conflict with self. He said, “I die
daily.” 1 Corinthians 15:31. His will and his desires every day conflicted with
duty and the will of God. Instead of following inclination, he did God’s will,
however crucifying to his nature. The Christian life is a battle and a march.
In this warfare there is no release; the effort must be continuous and
persevering. It is by unceasing endeavor that we maintain the victory over the
temptations of Satan. Christian integrity must be sought with resistless energy
and maintained with a resolute fixedness of purpose. - MH 453.2
No one will be borne upward without stern, persevering
effort in his own behalf. All must engage in this warfare for themselves; no
one else can fight our battles. Individually we are responsible for the issues
of the struggle; though Noah, Job, and Daniel were in the land they could
deliver neither son nor daughter by their righteousness. - MH 453.3
“He that is slow to
anger,” says the wise man, “is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his
spirit, than he that taketh a city.” The man or woman who preserves the balance
of the mind when tempted to indulge passion stands higher in the sight of God
and heavenly angels than the most renowned general that ever led an army to
battle and to victory. Said a celebrated emperor when on his dying bed, “Among
all my conquests there is but one which affords me any consolation now, and
that is the conquest I have gained over my own turbulent temper.” Alexander and
Caesar found it easier to subdue a world than to subdue themselves. After
conquering nation after nation, they fell—one of them “the victim of
intemperance, the other of mad ambition.” CG 95.3
But we must have a knowledge of ourselves, a knowledge that
will result in contrition, before we can find pardon and peace. The Pharisee
felt no conviction of sin. The Holy Spirit could not work with him. His soul
was encased in a self-righteous armor which the arrows of God, barbed and
true-aimed by angel hands, failed to penetrate. It is only he who knows himself
to be a sinner that Christ can save. He came “to heal the brokenhearted, to
preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to
set at liberty them that are bruised.” Luke 4:18. But “they that are whole need
not a physician.” Luke 5:31. We must know our real condition, or we shall not
feel our need of Christ’s help. We must understand our danger, or we shall not
flee to the refuge. We must feel the pain of our wounds, or we should not
desire healing. - COL 158.2
What thoughts and feelings did the message arouse in
Pharaoh? “This people, my slaves, those whom the lowest of my people despise,
the God of such a people I care not for, neither will I let Israel go.” But the
word of the Lord will not return unto Him void; it will accomplish the thing
whereunto it is sent. The Lord speaks in no uncertain manner. He says, “Let my
son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will
slay thy son, even thy firstborn.” - SW
14.3
In the kingdom of God, position is not gained through favoritism.
It is not earned, nor is it received through an arbitrary bestowal. It is the
result of character. The crown and the throne are the tokens of a condition
attained—tokens of self-conquest through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. - AA 543.1
Study by Tarisai P Ziyambi
The Silent Messanger Blog
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