God’s promise to “take us as His own people” in Exodus 6 has a very special meaning in my life. I did not grow up Jewish, but I LOVED watching “The Ten Commandments” by Cecil B. DeMille every year. I had no idea the God of Israel would be personally inviting me on that journey with Moses, through the mountain-high walls of water, to join His people.
“Let the name of Moses be stricken from every obilesque!”
One of my Mom’s favorite movie lines to quote when I was a kid was “Let the name of Moses be stricken from every obilesque…” Those were the words in the movie when the Pharaoh, whose sister adopted and raised Moses, commands that Moses be punished for murder and sent out into the desert to die. Then, decades later in the movie, that same Pharaoh dies and his last words are of Moses – whom the movie portrays as his favored nephew. But, you probably know all that. It’s funny how a movie about the Bible can be so much more impactful in your images of Bible characters than the actual Bible passages.
Faith Begins at the Tree of Life
I prefer to read the stories for myself and ask the Holy Spirit to give me an insight about the actual people – not characters – and their struggles for faith. The exodus is the birth of a Holy Nation. If I had known that I would be living out that story year after year in my life, growing closer to God, I would have known God promised the hope of a Savior. Instead, I was taught in Catholic school that faith started at the cross and that the “stations of the cross” were the pilgrimage I was to take every Easter to live the sufferings of my Savior. As a child, I had no idea that the REAL journey included both stories – connected by a promise in Genesis and culminating in Revelation – both the beginning and the end revealed both at, and within, the Tree of Life!
When I had suffered in life enough personally to realize I NEEDED SAVING, I found Israel’s Messiah Yeshua by inviting Him into my heart. But, it has been the regular, cyclical, enduring and comforting journey of Israel through the Torah (the Laws of Moses) week-after-week that has revealed the depth and riches of God’s love for me. For about 15 years now, I have read the weekly Jewish reading and then mined for treasures throughout the entire Holy Bible – all the way to Revelation. As I have learned from many Rabbis and Bible teachers, as they share their life experiences, I have dug deeper and cried out to God for more. I am a verbal processor and auditory learner, so I usually read the Bible exclusively. I hope that does not sound ungrateful, it’s just that God is so faithful to open the Bible up to me when I simply read it, that I don’t necessarily want someone to teach me the theology of the Bible. I want people to share what God is showing them in REAL TIME – how the Bible is impacting their life right now in this part of their journey. I find the personal revelation that God gives each person – along their journey – to be so inspiring!
Four things God wants to do in your life this week
Our lives are full of the tests and the victories of God molding and changing us every day. That’s what I want to hear! This week is the reading that includes the promise of God to do four things for the Children of Israel. Those same four things are part of God’s promise for YOU!
He will SANCTIFY you, that is to set you apart for Himself.
He will FREE you, ask Him what chains are holding you back from your destiny today.
He will REDEEM you, so allow Him to pay the price for your freedom and stop thinking you have to do it yourself.
He will TAKE you to be His own, which is the promise of adoption into His family. You do not have to be alone and enslaved and forgotten. Through faith in the God of Israel and the resurrection of His Son, Yeshua, you can receive the gift of “sonship” in the Kingdom of God.
Now, we know why “The Ten Commandments” is always aired at Passover – which connects it with the story of Messiah’s resurrection. Today, I find myself fascinated again with that one scene of Pharaoh remembering Moses before his death because it really is a “nod” to the idea that – though adopted, “sonship” is truly based on the love that grows in a lifelong relationship which eclipses both birthright and family bloodline.
That is what makes the scene so touching, we all want to be belong, whether natural branches or wild branches of God’s Family Tree. Truly, we all long to be wanted and loved for who we are – not the label we receive from the world’s construct. We all want to believe we are God’s favorite child. And, since HE is God, we EACH can be – without competing for His affection. He has so much more love for each of us than we have the capacity to receive.
Please join the family today and join the journey to the coming Kingdom. God loves you so much that He sent His only begotten Son so that the gift of eternal life would be for ALL who believe and the fruit of the Tree of Life is YOU!
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