I have frequently said in the past that
God works through death and resurrection. Jesus had to die to reclaim the human race from sin and death. Jesus had to rise again for our sanctification. You see God using this pattern in all of creation to teach us this is how it works. Every twenty-four hours the day dies only to be resurrected in the morning. Every twelve months creation dies only to be resurrected in the spring. You see this pattern with nations. Nations go through a pattern of birth, expansion, success, complacency, lethargy, death, renewal and rebirth.
But there is another way God acts. It is the Exodus story. He subjects His people to tyranny and hardship, but he always brings His people out. You see this in the original Exodus story.
In the book of Genesis, we read that Israel went down to Egypt to avoid a drought. Joseph became a leader in Egypt and led the Pharaoh in the ways of the covenant of Yahweh. However, things changed.
Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. 9 And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. 10 Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.”
13 So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves 14 and made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field. In all their work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves. Exodus 1.
But God remembered the covenant He made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
23 During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. 24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 God saw the people of Israel—and God knew. Exodus 2
And because God remembered His covenant, He acted. He acted by bringing plague and death on the nation of Egypt. He also brought the nation of Israel out of Egypt. Israel plundered Egypt and went to serve and worship God. God made a new covenant with Israel and gave them the law. And God destroyed all of Egypt who pursued His people.
One thing we don’t often learn is that God worked another exodus story in the years 30 – 70 A.D. Israel itself did not know its God. Jesus came forth as the new Israel. In the book of Matthew, in particular, he came forth as a new Moses. And Jesus led His people out of the land of tyranny, out of Israel. Ultimately, God destroyed the unfaithful nation in 70 A.D.
Is there another exodus going on today in America? This nation was founded upon a firm reliance on the Lord Jesus. The Declaration of Independence closes with these sentiments:
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States . . . . And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
But there has arisen a new generation in America that knows not the foundation of our nation on the Lord Jesus or the reliance on Providence of our Founders. They have usurped to themselves the power of government for their own purposes. They have taken our lands and the fruits of our labor. They use our property for their own purposes and ends. They are taking our children and indoctrinating them in a new educational system. They seek to take our liberty by taking our means of self-defense. And they are taking our health.
The irony is that this new generation is destroying itself. Our national debt is destroying the country’s fiscal integrity. Regulation of all kinds is destroying our industrial vibrancy. Educational reform such as Common Core is destroying our children’s ability to think independently. It is destroying their ability to appreciate truth and beauty. And we have not even touched the surface of what health care reform will do to our lives. The proper response at this time is for God’s people to cry out to Him for help. He will act.
God works through death and resurrection. He also works through exodus. But it is surprising that these two often look alike. As our culture is in the process of destroying itself, God will act to liberate and enliven His people. God concluded His covenant with Abraham by declaring, “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”