The Sword of the LORD

The Israelites were not in the wilderness for very long before they realized that God wanted to be everything to them. They needed to learn that in Him we humans live, and move, and have our very being. They needed to learn that they could trust in Him, and lean on Him for every need that life presented to them. God intended to lead them to a land that was flowing with milk and honey, but first He knew that they required some refining. To accomplish the work that He intended, God promised that He would dwell among His people. His presence would be with them all through the time that they spent wandering in the wilderness. He told them, "I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the LORD their God, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them: I am the LORD their God." (Exodus 29:45, 46).  From the time that Israel first left Egypt, God's presence appeared to them in the form of

"The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose." (Isaiah 35:1). God wonderfully delivered the Israelites from Pharaoh and his army, and from the bondage that they had known in Egypt. When Israel reached the far side of the Red Sea, they sang out God's praises saying, "I will sing unto the LORD, for He hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea." (Exodus 15:1).  Rather than being ushered right into the Promised Land, however, Israel found themselves in a barren wilderness where they wandered for 40 more years. God had a very particular purpose in mind when He drew His children into the wilderness, just as He has a purpose for the wilderness in our lives. There are many examples in the Bible of how God used the wilderness to hone and purify His chosen. Moses spent 40 years in the wilderness of Midian before he was ready to return to Egypt and demand th

"But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." (Galations 6:14). The Israelites were spared from the destroyer that passed throughout the land of Egypt slaying all of the first-born as he went. The blood from the sacrificial lambs that God told the Jews to apply to the lintel and doorposts of their homes provided the saving agent that caused God to pass over their houses. God's intention of bringing the Hebrews out of Egypt, and setting them free from Pharaoh altogether, had still not been realized, though. Yes, they had been redeemed by the blood of the lamb, but they were still not free, and were still technically in bondage to Pharaoh and to Egypt. What could be done to deliver Israel once and for all? God had a plan. Pharaoh had been somewhat softened by the death of his first-born son, and he told Moses to go, and take his people with him. This was not to last, ho

What can wash away my sin?   Nothing but the blood of Jesus;   What can make me whole again?   Nothing but the blood of Jesus.   Oh! precious is the flow   That makes me white as snow;   No other fount I know,   Nothing but the blood of Jesus.  From Nothing But the Blood of Jesus  by Robert Lowry Truly, there is nothing as precious as the blood of Jesus! By it we are redeemed, justified, sanctified, and purged from an evil conscience. The simple words of Robert Lowry's great hymn, "Nothing But The Blood," speak volumes about the effectiveness of our Savior's sacrifice. In the book of Exodus, we read how God was determined to set His people free from the bondage that the Egyptians had placed them in. He sent His servant Moses to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to demand this very thing; but Pharaoh refused, and hardened his heart against God and against the Hebrews. After bringing a series of plagues on the Egyptians, God saw that Pharaoh was still unwilling to release