Faith and Deliverance

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 23, 1908

Faith and Deliverance

The experience of Moses and the children of Israel in “The Deliverance from Egypt,” which is the subject of the Sabbath-school lesson for May 2, presents in a historical setting the experience of every individual who is delivered from the bondage of sin through faith in the power of the cross.

Of the bondage of the children of Israel in Egypt we are told: “The Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigor: and they made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve was with rigor.” When the first effort was made looking toward a mitigation of their life of servitude, their hard service was made the more rigorous: “And the same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people, and their officers, saying, Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore: let them go and gather straw for themselves. And the number of the bricks, which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them; ye shall not diminish aught thereof: for they are idle; therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God. Let heavier work be laid upon the men, that they may labor therein.” This was a determined effort to crush any further manifestation of the desire for liberty, by showing that it would only make their slavery the more abject.

By a special revelation of himself as a God of infinite power, Jehovah encouraged the people to believe that he had sent his servants, Moses and Aaron, as messengers of a deliverance, and that he would work that deliverance for them. “And Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel: and Aaron spake all the words which Jehovah had spoken unto Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. And the people believed.” Although their confidence wavered when the conditions of their bondage became worse than before, yet this confidence was restored by further revelations of the same wonder-working power.

The record declares again and again that it was by “a stretched out arm” that the children of Israel were delivered from bondage. This expression is in almost every case joined with “a mighty hand,” or “the mighty hand,” or “mighty power,” or “great power,” so that “a stretched out arm” becomes the synonym of power, or of the revelation of power.

The real significance of “a stretched out arm” may be learned by the study of another portion of scripture. Thus we read the words of Jesus to Peter: “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkest whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. Now this he spake, signifying by what manner of death he should glorify God.” It is well known that crucifixion was the manner of death suffered by the apostle Peter. It is clear, then, that “a stretched out arm” is a type of the cross, and the gospel lesson of the deliverance or redemption of Israel from Egypt by “a stretched out arm” is that deliverance from sin, or redemption, is accomplished through the cross of Christ. “For the word of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us who are saved it is the power of God.” “We preach Christ crucified, unto Jews a stumbling-block, and unto Gentiles foolishness; but unto them that are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.” The cross of Christ, Christ crucified, is that which distinguishes Christianity from all false religions, and is the very essence of that gospel which “is the power of God unto salvation.” To reject the cross of Christ is to reject the outstretched arm of the divine Saviour, the only way of salvation.

This wonderful truth is clearly taught in the experience of Israel with the Amalekites. As the battle progressed, “it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses’ hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.” Victory to every individual and to the church as a whole always comes through the power of the stretched out arm, the power of the cross of Christ. “Without me ye can do nothing.”

The blood of the slain lamb which was sprinkled upon the posts of the doors as a sign that those within were to be passed over by the angel of death on that fatal night, was also a type of the blood which is efficacious for redemption from sin. Thus we read: “Knowing that ye were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers; but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, even the blood of Christ.”

“For it was the good pleasure of the Father that in him should all the fulness dwell; and through him to reconcile all things unto himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross.” So again it is clear that the experience of Israel in the deliverance from Egypt is a gospel lesson.

In the record in Exodus no mention is made of faith, but from the interpretation given through the apostle Paul in his letter to the Hebrews we learn that the whole experience was one of faith. Read Heb. 11: 24-30. The forsaking of Egypt by Moses, the keeping of the passover, the passage of the Red Sea, and the capture of Jericho, all declare with the greatest emphasis, “By grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, that no man should glory.” And so the gospel of salvation by faith, righteousness by faith, is taught, not merely in those portions of the Scriptures where the subject is discussed in express terms, but also in those experiences which are the exhibition of faith in action. Those who read the Bible in the light of this principle will find that it is all present truth, and that it all has its place in the teaching of this last gospel message.