The Arm of Redemption
August 10, 2008
Scripture:
Exodus 6:6 - “Therefore say to the children of Israel: ‘I am the LORD; I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.”
Psalm 77:13-15 - “Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary; who is so great a God as our God? You are the God who does wonders. You have declared your strength among the peoples. You have with your arm redeemed your people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph.”
Synopsis:
The theme of the bible is God reaching out to redeem His people. This story includes personal examples of God’s redemption and ultimately His promises and actions that seal the redemption of all mankind. So God will not only reach out His arm to rescue you and I as individuals from the consequences of our fallen nature, but our personal rescue always leads to us becoming a witness to others that will lead them to their own redeeming encounter with God.
In today’s scripture God is instructing Moses to reassure His people that He will indeed keep His promise to deliver them from Egyptian bondage. However the circumstances don’t look very promising since Moses arrived to deliver God’s message to Pharaoh. Instead of being delivered, the Israelites have been even more severely oppressed under the weight of added labor and pain. This always seems to be the case when God has promised to redeem us. It always gets worse before it gets better, yet God’s redemption always come through and usually in ways that we do not expect.
The good news is that God’s ability to redeem is never limited by our circumstances. His arm is flexible enough to reach through any situation and rescue anyone no matter how far away or down they have fallen. And those He can’t reach through flexibility He will reach by force. In other words, nothing is going to stop God from redeeming us when we cry out for His help. The key to His redemptive power being activated is our willingness to put aside our pride, submit to His control and admit our need to be redeemed. Once we are redeemed we must tell others our story so they too can be redeemed by the outstretched arm of God.
