[AI translation] Last Sunday we spoke of the fact that the exodus of the Lord's people from Egypt under Moses is not only a historical fact, but also a symbolic truth: it is a symbol of the deliverance that Christ gives to His elect. So: the details of the deliverance, the exodus, the unfolding from the bondage of sin, death and Satan are described here. We have also talked about Satan doing everything he can to prevent this exodus. He increases his anger and intensifies his activity when he sees people's desire for the Promised Land and sees them preparing for the exodus, the withdrawal, the separation from him. When he has nothing else to do: he bargains and makes offers to the believer.Last Sunday, we dealt with Satan's first offer, which was that if the people wanted to sacrifice to their God, they should do so in Egypt, under the supervision and control of Pharaoh. In contrast, the Lord warned us that His people would have to go three days' journey to worship their Lord. This three days' journey means the three days from Good Friday to Easter. All that happened on these three days: that is, the death and resurrection of Christ separates believers from the world and from Satan. Beyond the death and resurrection of Christ is death, beyond that life begins, and eternal life at that. That is why Satan does not want to let us go there, that is why he wants us to remain with our faith, our religiosity, our service to God on this line from here, that is, under his power, influence, control, scope!
Satan's second offer to the believer is in what Pharaoh says to Moses, "I will send you away to sacrifice to your Lord your God in the wilderness, only do not go very far." (Exodus 8:28) Pharaoh's intentions were cunning. He thought that if he could not hold the people back in any way, he should at least keep them close to Egypt, not far from his sphere of influence, so that he could continue to influence them. That way, in time, he might even be able to bring them back somehow. So all is not lost. So, "Don't go very far away."
The misery of many believers is that they take this satanic advice and dare not go far! And it is very bad to live on the border. There is perpetual unrest, unrest and uncertainty. Even the slightest attack from the enemy will immediately reach the border dweller. So it is with the one who lives on the border of the kingdom of God and the world, the slightest attack of Satan will immediately overtake him and make him constantly uneasy. It is good for the border dweller to move inland, for there is greater security and peace of mind. Observe, you believer: Satan advises you to "sacrifice to your Lord your God in the wilderness, but do not go very far away." I think that every believer, when he wanted to make some sacrifice to the Lord, for example, to pay tithes, or to do some service, has heard this warning: it is well and good what you want, but you must not go so far in your religiousness!
When a man of faith wants to draw the consequences of his faith, when a man wants to be obedient to Christ, when a man wants to go from the frontier to the interior of the kingdom of God, when a man wants to go from pious words to pious deeds, then he receives this anxious warning: "Don't overdo it! Believers, remember that this was also the advice of Pharaoh, and the offer, the concession of Satan: "I will dismiss you, but do not go very far away." The satanic nature of this offer is evident from Psalm 103, where God's Word says: "How far the east is from the west, so far shall he remove our transgressions from us." (verse 12) Salvation, then, is fully the taking away of our sins by God through Christ. And the frontiersman thinks in his heart: 'Well, then, Lord, put away my sins from me, but not so far away as to leave that sin, my favourite sin, in my hands, so that I can go back to it when I want to!
You know that feeling, Brother? Well, Satan is stirring it up in you. It is a greater achievement and a greater glory to Satan, and if it is the same in hell as it is on earth, then Satan will get a greater reward if he can bring down and turn back a soul who has already gone to the Promised Land. And he can do this easily with those "set out" who have not gone very far! The cause of Christ suffers more harm when such a departed soul returns to the world than if he had never departed at all. Such a soul returning from the borders of the kingdom of God to the dominion of Satan bears witness that, having tasted heavenly things, he has found that earthly things are better than heavenly things! God's Word says of such, "For if by the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, who saveth, they have escaped the plagues of the world, but are again entangled therein, and are overcome, their last state is more evil than the first. For it were better for them that they should not have known the way of righteousness, than that, having known it, they should have departed from the holy commandment given them." (2 Peter 2:20-21) So if anyone does not want to go far, it is better not to go at all! Do not compromise the Lord's cause! So yes: go far! "Let him who serves me follow me", says Jesus (Jn 12,26).
Christ leads the one who follows Him further and further. At one time He pointed the way: 'Be ye holy'; at another time He pointed the way like this: Be perfect! These opportunities are not on the frontier, but far inside the Kingdom of God!
The next, also very dangerous, offer of Satan is this: "Go ye men, and serve the Lord!" (Exodus 10:11) The danger here is that, in answer to Pharaoh's question, "Who are those who want to go? Moses states firmly the Lord's decree, "We will go with our children and our elders, our sons and our daughters." (verse 9) Again, this is not what Pharaoh wants, but he is plotting to tear families, family members apart. "Go away, you men," he says. So: let the old men go and serve God, the elders, the parents - they are so entrenched in this cursed Jehovah-worship that they cannot be beaten out of it even by oppression - go, sacrifice if they so desire: but let their children stay! There are three advantages in this on Pharaoh's part: a) the family is broken up; b) the separation of the older generation from Egypt is not complete, for the dearest pieces of their hearts, the children, remain behind in Egypt; c) Pharaoh will have the youth!
This is not good at all! Satan knows what he is doing! It would only be half a deliverance. Half deliverance from Egypt would mean half captivity in Egypt! Parents in the wilderness, children in Egypt: it is a death sentence! Either everyone goes to sacrifice or no one. What are old men without children? Moses feels very strongly that he cannot accept this offer under any circumstances!
Brothers and sisters, today is Children's Mission Sunday in Budapest. The attention and eyes of the church congregations are turned to the youth! Let the Word of God ask us: where is the youth, the youth of this congregation, where are your sons and daughters? In our Sunday school, in our children's missionary Bible study, we find at most half of them, so where is the other half? Where are our sons and daughters who were confirmed last year and the year before? Barely a tenth of them, if they are left, the rest are lost without a trace! What if the Word were to ask us now where our children are spiritually? Then we would discover what terrible divisions exist in families, that parents and children are often separated by a whole world, because between young and old there is the cross of Christ as a dividing wall, which is salvation for some and foolishness and stumbling for others. The two kinds of spirit create discord in the family. "And if a house be divided against itself, the house cannot stand." (Mk 3:25) Satan knows this, that's why he wants to separate the young and the young girls from the old and the old men, and why he wants to keep them in Egypt! How terrible it would have been for any parent if they had to actually leave their children behind and go out of Egypt without them! What parent would have accepted this offer and tried to save his own skin, no matter what the cost?
A parent who does not do everything in his power to ensure that his child is transferred to the Canaan side of the Red Sea does not love his child! That is, so that his child may be a believer in Christ, redeemed and set out to receive his heavenly inheritance! The mother who holds Christ's hand with one hand, holds her child's with the other. The father who reads the Bible: read it not only to himself, but also to the people of his house. The adult who has prepared himself for the great exodus: pray and work not only for his own salvation, but also for the salvation of his youth. Thus true, thus complete is the exodus, the exodus. Woe to the elders if they realize too late that the youth have been left behind, that their sons and daughters have been left behind in Egypt!
Finally, Satan's last dagger is seen in this offer to Pharaoh: "Go, serve the Lord, but leave your sheep and your cattle; your children may go with you." (Exodus 10:24) There is a great consolation in this offer: that there is a reward for perseverance, for faithfulness, for consistency. When Pharaoh saw that Moses would not give an inch, he gave way. Lo and behold, he now agrees to take the children with him! We are reminded of the Scripture that the Holy Spirit of God wrote to the apostle James: "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." (James 4,7) Behold, Satan is retreating step by step against the one who, standing on the foundation of Christ's victory on Calvary and Easter, steadfastly resists! Satan tries everything first, but then he gives way because he must! "Your children also may go away with you." (Exodus 10:24) But still he does not give up the fight, still he does not want to let them go out of his hands altogether, if neither they nor their children remain: at least something of them must remain in his hands. "Go away... only your sheep and your cattle shall remain," he says. If they are to go, at least let them go without the means of serving the Lord. If he can't keep them back, at least let him deprive them of the ability to serve the Lord, so that they have nothing to sacrifice to the Lord!
Oh, this is a very insidious proposition of Stan, which most believers fall for, that is, to leave something under Satan's power: for example, his wallet, his one pastime, or his one passion, or his dream world, or his imagination, or his patriotism, or a little corner of his heart. Something is still there, and by that something, Satan still has influence over him. Examine those areas of your life through which Satan is interfering in your life and accept by faith that the Lord is claiming all that you have left in the world.
Every soul who longs to leave Egypt, who takes seriously that there is an exodus, for him too the exodus, the exodus, the departure to the Promised Land, is possible and free: hear the word of the Lord against whom even Pharaoh will retreat, even Satan will be forced to yield: 'Fear not, for I have redeemed you, I have called you by name, you are mine' (Is 43:1).
Amen
Date: 9 October 1949.
Lesson
2Móz 8,20-32
2Móz 10,11-24