June 26

“So I have come down to rescue them from the land of the Egyptians and to bring them out of that land and into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey…”  —EXODUS 3:8

‘EXODUS’ means the road out. Over 3,500 years ago, in excess of two million people accomplished a humanly impossible feat. From one of the most fortified cities in the world, they walked away from slavery and embarked on the greatest pilgrimage ever recorded. Historically and spiritually, the miraculous exodus of God’s chosen people from Egypt is a twofold story that draws remarkable parallels to our lives today.

Historically, the exodus is a documented record of a particular people in a place and time. Spiritually, it is about God’s intervention in liberating men, women and children from the bondage of sin. It is the story of Israel and their release from slavery, which depicts our lives today and our release from sin. It’s about a journey into Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey, which is symbolic of our journey into the fullness of our inheritance in Christ. 

God provides not only a road out, but a road in – deliverance to something and for something. This picture of slavery is one Scripture gives us of the natural state of human beings. Our real problem is not what we do, but what we are, which is embodied in the old sin principle called ‘the flesh’. It is the corruption of the human heart which, apart from God, drives the way we live and act.

Through Jesus Christ, we are given the road out and the road in. God’s purpose for Israel was to bring His people into a land flowing with milk and honey where they would enjoy the riches of Canaan under His sovereignty. When Christ is Lord of our lives, we are given the resources for the fullness of life that Canaan represents in a loving and wholesome relationship with Jesus. Canaan is spoken of as a land of rest in the strength of God, but what should have been an eleven day journey took forty years because though the people trusted God to deliver them from, they did not equally trust Him to deliver them to.

God brought His people out of Egypt and into Canaan as a free nation so that they would be the means through which all people would be blessed. His focus was not inward on Israel alone, but outward on how they would bless the world. This is equally true of the Christian life today. God blesses us so that through us we might be the means whereby He blesses the world.

PRAYER: Thank You, God, for the precious gift of Jesus.  

TO REFLECT UPON: In what ways have I experienced the Promised Land of Canaan with Christ as Lord of my life?