Friday, May 6, 2011

God's Soverign Plan

There is no other more beautiful picture of God’s unmerited salvation unto us through Jesus Christ than that of the story of God’s deliverance of His chosen people, Israel, from the land of Egypt, and not only His deliverance, but also His sovereign plan that led them into Egypt to begin with so that He might deliver them from the hand of the Egyptians and make His power and glory known. God, in His sovereignty, actually commands Jacob and his sons to move to the land of Egypt,

"I am God, the God of your Father; do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you a great nation there. I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again." [Genesis 46:3-4]

Jacob and his sons move to the land of Egypt, and for two generations they live at peace with the Egyptians. But the Lord raises up another king, one who oppresses the sons of Israel and makes them his servants, and for several generations the sons of Israel are the forced laborers of Egypt. The Lord God is the One responsible for the enslavement of the Israelites, for He is the One who sent them there. Why? For without bondage there is no deliverance, and through their bondage He delivers them and makes his power and glory known. In Paul’s letter to the Romans he writes,

“For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope, that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” [Romans 8:20-21]

Paul is saying here that the fall of man in Genesis was a pre-ordained measure of God, for He was the one who subjected creation unto futility and He was the One who let man fall. One might ask why a loving God would do such a thing, to allow man to fall, sin to enter the world, and condemnation to fall upon all mankind. Well, the answer is easy, for without condemnation there is no salvation, and out of our condemnation He delivers us through the blood of Christ and makes His power and glory known. The only reason we have salvation through Christ is because we were once condemned, and how could we be redeemed without once being condemned?

Just as the Lord allowed Jacob and his sons to move to the land of Egypt so that they may become enslaved to the Egyptians, so He also allowed Adam and Eve to fall in the Garden, and through them sin entered into all mankind. And just as He delivered His chosen people, Israel, from the hand of the Egyptians, so the same He does unto us, His chosen, the church of Christ, through the blood of Christ from the everlasting wrath of Himself. What a God we serve.