3-3 The Way to Freedom

Several times in this series we have claimed that the Jew's life in Egypt, their journey through the desert, and their conquest of the Promised land, are an easily grasped analogy for our own journey and spiritual development.

In our third series, "The way to freedom", we will among other things, do a detailed study of the partial goals which are marked on the picture.

Here we will start with a brief overview:

(stage goals 1-3) New life is born and grows only when we recognise and confess our spiritual situation and then ask God for forgiveness. Through faith and baptism we profess participation in the death of Jesus and resurrection to the new life. (stage goals 4-5) In order for us to grow up from being new born children into mature Christians, each day we must eat the biblical food and drink the spiritual water provided for us in the power of the Holy Spirit. These goals are, along with other examples, represented by the manna and the spring. (stage goals 6-7) Sinai and the defeat represent two things. Firstly our need to allow the new life to be raised in reverence to the message of love, and secondly that we are unable to live righteously, as long as we try to do so through our own efforts. (stage goals 8) The error of the Jews was to refuse to enter the promised land when God had prepared the way for them. When they later changed their minds the window of opportunity had already closed, and the first generation were therefore forced to live and die in the desert just as they had wished for in the beginning. (stage goals 9-10) The conquest of the promised land could finally be started 40 years later, by the new young generation. They had been born in the desert and they were therefore not limited by having been captives of "Egypt", i.e. with the mindset and lifestyle of the World. The Bible itself claims that all this happened primarily for our sake in order to: warn us against making the same mistakes help us to get it right the first time around

Can you grasp that God has recommended a model with partial goals for several thousand years! Isn't it about time then, that we start to apply this model to our own lives, just as the apostles did in their time ? (1Cor 10:1-14)

Then the world will finally see the Church come into its own and function as the "body of Christ" here on earth and thus become the living advertisement that is God's purpose for our Christian lives. This is also the way in which the conditions for the last great revival are created (more about this in series 2).