Exodus 12:25~ And it shall come to pass, when ye be come to the land which the Lord will give you, according as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service.
The Promise Doesn’t Change
Genesis 12:1-3 Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
For four hundred and thirty years the Israelites had been enslaved to the Egyptians. I have to wonder how many times they ask the Lord, “But what about the promise?” How many generations died without having seen it? God’s timing is not ours (else my last journey through heartache would have been much shorter!) Abraham, the original receiver of the promised died having not seen the promise fulfilled. Even with Abraham’s death, Israel’s disobedience, and a change in priorities of God’s people, God didn’t change the promise. He promised Abraham he would make of him a great nation and as the 600,000 men, likely over one million people trekked across the dry land of the Red Sea, what a sight it would have been to behold. My heart stirs in me this morning at the thought of what it must have been like to have been in that passel of people! It stirs not only from that promise being fulfilled but from the promises fulfilled in my own life on the countless times God has said “I’ll bring you through” and He did!
Are you going through a struggle in your life? Has heartache knocked upon your door? For Israel to receive that promise they had to do a few things…
The blood had to be applied – Today is no different for the child of God. The blood represented another promise that God would redeem His people, through a greater sacrifice. His Son would be the final sacrifice to end them all, but you must confess Who He is (the Son of God). What He did (He died for you) and Where He is (Risen from the dead and In Heaven at the right hand of God the Father, making intercession for our sins.)
When God said move, they needed to go – If the children had stayed in the corrupt world of Egypt, God’s plan would not have been fulfilled, they needed to go to the Promised Land where the influence of the world would not be. The problem with that was, they took a lot of the influence with them in their minds. They left the country behind, but not the characteristics. And because of that they lived defeated many times. But the promise didn’t change. It just wasn’t as good as it could have been.
Continue to serve – Once they reached the Promised Land God told them they were to “keep this service.” Somehow or another when people get saved they forget that the journey’s not over. Israel was to continue keeping the Passover as a reminder that God had brought them out. There is much to do for the cause of Christ, and much of it is undone because people have stopped keeping His service. We’re not saved by works. The Bible says in Ephesians 2:8-9 ~ ”For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” But James 2:18 reminds us that although works will not save you, salvation should give you the desire! “Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.”
I hope today find you clingin’ to the promise! It did not change!
Psalm 107 begins in verse 1-2 ~ “O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy;”