THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN PART ONE: LET MY PEOPLE GO
“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14).
"Wherefore
come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the
unclean thing; and I will receive you,
and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the
Lord Almighty." (2 Corinthians 6:17, 18).
“And
the LORD said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before
Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me
in the wilderness.” (Exodus 7:16).
In
His Word, God has provided us with many types and shadows: historical accounts
that also reveal deeper truths concerning the Kingdom of Heaven. There are many important principles that are
presented in those stories which are the keys we need to become mature in the
faith. They are critical for us to
follow if we would be effective witnesses for the Gospel and for the Kingdom of
God.
What
the Bible teaches about our separation from the world is one of those
principles. It is fundamental to our
walk with God, but, unfortunately, it has been cast aside by many today. The gospel of inclusion which is taught by
many today, demands that we accept everything and everybody regardless of how
offensive it, or they, may be. It has so
successfully replaced the truth with lies that wrong now seems right and right
seems wrong in many instances. Even many
evangelical Christians today are unclear about what their proper worldview
should be.
We
find in the Bible a clear and perfect roadmap for us to follow in order to
fulfill the Father’s design for our lives.
God’s ways are the old ways which have been established from the
foundation of the world. They have never
ceased to be true and effective for those who choose to follow them. As God spoke by the Prophet Jeremiah, “Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways,
and see, and ask for the old paths,
where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But
they said, We will not walk therein.” (Jeremiah 6:16). God laid the foundation of truth in the
beginning, and it cannot be altered.
Solomon wrote, “The thing that
hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which
shall be done: and there is no new
thing under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9).
Modern
society may believe that it is evolving into a better version of itself because
of its enlightened ideas and philosophies, and that it is more sensitive today
and able to apply new solutions to 21st century problems. God’s Word, however, remains a clear and
steady beacon which remains unalterable - yesterday, today, and forever. Traditional beliefs are said to be
old-fashioned and archaic and are cast aside for new approaches. Many are not willing to apply the whole
council of God to the issues of life, and yet they still expect positive
outcomes. This is like being prescribed
an antibiotic for an infection but only taking half the dosage because we start
to feel better. Then we complain when we
have a more severe relapse of the same condition. We only want to apply half the truth to our
lives, or follow the Lord half the way, and still expect to be victorious,
productive and effective Christians.
God’s remedy is simple: He says, “Let
My people go!”
Exodus,
the second book of the Bible, recounts the story of the Israelite’s bondage in
Egypt and their subsequent deliverance by the hand of Moses. This story very clearly illustrates the
principle of separation as it relates to the Kingdom of Heaven. It also portrays the enmity between the
kingdom(s) of this world, represented by Egypt with Pharaoh as its’ god/king,
and the Kingdom of God, represented by the Promised Land with Moses as its’
savior. Here is a quick synopsis of the
history.
During
Moses’ time, God wanted to lead Israel out
of Egypt, but prior to that it was God who led His people into Egypt in the first place.
A man by the name of Joseph, who was one of the twelve sons of the
Jewish Patriarch Jacob, was used by God to preserve Israel and the rest of the
world from a great world-wide famine which occurred during his time. God gave the Pharaoh of Egypt dreams which
fortold the coming famine, but he didn’t know what the dreams meant. Joseph, however, had the spiritual gift to
interpret those dreams. At Joseph’s
direction, they prepared ahead for the famine by stockpiling grain in Egypt for
7 years. When Joseph’s family ran out of
food, they went to Egypt to buy grain and were ultimately reunited with Joseph
and moved there permanently to the region known as Goshen.
Just
as God so loved the world that He sent His Son to sacrifice Himself to save
them, God loved His people so much that He sent Joseph to be a sacrifice and
make a way to preserve their
lives. God didn’t intend for Israel to
remain in Egypt indefinitely, however.
As beautiful as the land of Goshen was, it was not the land “flowing with milk and honey” that God
had promised to Abraham and his heirs.
God understood that, as necessary as Egypt was in the grand scheme of
things, that nation would eventually resent the freedom that His people enjoyed
and would seek to enslave and destroy them in the end. This is why God chose Moses to lead His
people out of Egypt and to the Promised Land.
Egypt
was a great place for Israel to begin with.
The Pharaoh who was kindly toward Joseph took good care of Joseph’s
family also. He gave them some of the
best land to settle in and made sure they were well provided for. Years later, when a new Pharaoh began to
reign that didn’t know Joseph or appreciate what he had done, things began to
change dramatically for the worse. The
new Pharaoh was jealous of Israel’s prosperity and afraid of their rapid
growth. He began to enslave them and
force them to work on his building projects.
Ultimately, he commanded that their male babies be slaughtered to weaken
them and curb their growth as a people.
There
is an obvious parallel that we can draw between Egypt and the world system that
we are all a part of. Just like the Jews
in Egypt, we all start our journey as citizens of this world and of its’
kingdoms. It is a seemingly pleasant
place at first. There are opportunities
and amusements galore to occupy our time, our thoughts, and our resources. When we come to know and accept the Lord into
our lives, though, something changes.
The world is not as kindly toward us as it used to be. The more we seek to serve the Lord, the more
threatened the world seems to be by our lives and witness. Just as Pharaoh was the god of Egypt and
hated all that the Jews represented, Satan as the god of this world, despises
the children of the true God, and wishes to destroy them or place them in
bondage (2 Corinthians 4:3, 4). The
world is Satan’s dominion for right now, and he is not about to tolerate anyone
resisting his authority. Like a hungry
lion, he is constantly walking up and down in the earth seeking someone to
devour. He lies, steals, kills and
destroys. He is also content to place
them in such bondage that they don’t have time to think about serving their
God.
There
is always a price to be paid for our fellowship with the world. There are taskmasters to serve and cruel
bondage to bear. Like the Israelites, this
is what often causes us to cry out to God in the first place, and to recognize
our need for a Savior. The Holy Spirit
allows us to see that the things that occupy our time and resources are the
things that Satan uses to enslave us.
They make it difficult – and even impossible – for us to serve God as He
has called us to do. The Apostle John
wrote, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If
any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For
all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and
the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust
thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” (1 John
2:15-17).
This
is when God’s people realize that they need a savior. They cannot deliver themselves from their
chains and servitude. They need someone
who is sent of God, one to whom God has given the authority to say to Satan, “Let My people go!”
Moses
himself was born during the time when Pharaoh’s persecution of the Hebrews was
at its worst. In fact, he was born after
the command had gone out to destroy all of the male Jewish babies. His parents managed to hide him from the
Egyptian soldiers for a time, but eventually had to commit him to God by
setting him adrift in the river Nile. It
was there that Pharaoh’s daughter discovered him and chose to raise him as her
own. In Pharaoh’s daughter’s household,
Moses was surrounded by wealth and privilege and received every benefit and
luxury. For all that, when he grew
older, his sense of justice and love for his people prevailed and forced him to
leave all of that privilege behind. We
are told, “By faith Moses, when he was
come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction
with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;
esteeming the reproach of Christ
greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the
recompence of the reward. By
faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing Him Who is invisible.” (Hebrews
11:24-27). There had to be a clear separation
between Moses and Egypt in order for him to be an effective savior to his
people. Any conflict of interest or
secret desire for the “riches of Egypt” would have compromised the mission God
had for him. It’s astounding that at 40
years old, God set Moses aside, sending him into the desert in order to refine
his character over the next 40
years. It wasn’t until Moses was 80
years old that he was fit for the purpose that God had planned for him! By then, God had dealt with his pride,
ambition, and self dependence and brought him to a place where he was ready to
do as God directed him.
For
about 1500 years after their Exodus, God would remind Israel about their
deliverance from Egypt. They were to
teach their children about it and celebrate it with a festival every year so
that they would understand its importance and meditate on the principles that
God intended for them to learn by it.
Separation from the world was one of the key lessons that God wanted Israel
to learn and understand. He intended for
them to be separate from unbelievers because He knew that their goals and
ambitions were different from those who did not know Him or honor Him. It would be like mixing oil with water or
light with darkness: they could never be in harmony. For this same reason, God wants us to
comprehend that the Exodus story is about more than just Israel and Egypt: it’s
about Christians and the world, about the Kingdom of Heaven and the kingdoms of
this world. It illustrates the concept
of separation to believers today. Israel
had been redeemed by the blood of the Passover lamb, but they still needed to
leave Egypt in order to actually serve God.
Many Christians today are content to be saved by the blood, but have no
intention, and see no need, to separate themselves from the things of the
world. Remember just Lot who was caught
up in the affairs of Sodom and unable to save his wife and some of his family
from the overthrow of that wicked city?
The Apostle Paul declares the necessity of separation between believers
and the world when he writes, “Be ye not
unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for
what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion
hath light with darkness? And
what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with
an infidel? And what agreement hath the
temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath
said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they
shall be My people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the
Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a
Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.”
(2 Corinthians 6:14-18). And James is very
outspoken on the subject when he states, “...know ye not that the friendship of the
world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is
the enemy of God.” (James 4:4).
For those who are still entangled with the things of this world, this
can seem like a tall order, but God has provided a way for us to be
delivered!
The
word Exodus means, "a going
out," and that's exactly what God has intended for His people from the
very beginning. It isn’t enough that man
be saved, he must also be delivered in order to be an effective witness for
God. God wants man to be separated, or
set apart, for Himself alone: free from the distractions of the world which are
ever working to bring him into bondage.
This freedom requires a deliberate choice on man’s part to “go out” and disentangle himself from
that bondage. The Israelites could never
“enter in” to the Promised Land until
they had “gone out” of Egypt. Neither can a Christian enter in to the
promises and blessings of God if they are not willing to separate themselves
from those things in their lives that hinder and grieve the Holy Spirit.
The
reason that it is so critical for man to “come
out” of this world is that this world that we are living in has been
irreversibly compromised by Satan, who is the prince of the power of the air
(Ephesians 2:1-3). He is called the god
of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4) because he has managed through his lies and
deceptions to blind the hearts of those who do not believe the Gospel. The kingdoms of this world are under his
control and will remain so until God brings them to judgment. Satan has brought great evil and death on the
human race, but one day the words of Revelation 11 will be fulfilled that
say, “The
kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ;
and He shall reign forever and ever.” (Revelation 11:15). Jesus said that we are currently not of this world even though we must
remain in the world for a time
(John 17:14, 16).
The
path of deliverance from the world for us lies in the words of Paul. He said, “I
beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable
unto God, which is your reasonable service.
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the
renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and
perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:1, 2). As Christians, we must realize that Christ’s
willing sacrifice of His body and blood for the atonement of our sins demands a
“reasonable service” on our
part. That reasonable service is that we
present ourselves – our bodies, minds, hearts and service – as a living
sacrifice to God. How is it that we can
continue to walk in the same paths of darkness that led us into sin and bondage
after we have been washed and cleansed by so great a sacrifice? Instead, Paul beseeches us not to conform
ourselves again to the world and its ways, but rather to be transformed by the
renewing of our minds by the Word of God.
Conformity is an effort to change ourselves from the outside in, while
transformation is being changed from the inside out. To conform is to act like a butterfly. To
transform is to actually become a
butterfly! The world can only urge us to
conform to a standard of morality that it has presented to us and one that
changes with every new notion. The Lord
offers us the opportunity to become a new person altogether – one who has been
changed into His likeness! A new
creation!
Water
baptism is the vehicle that God uses to deliver us from the world and from our
old, carnal nature that desires the things of the world above the things of
God. When we are immersed in the waters
of baptism we are buried with Christ in death and crucified with Him. When we are raised from those same waters we
are raised with Christ from the dead. By
faith, sin no longer has dominion over us!
The Israelites had to experience such a death and resurrection when they
crossed the Red Sea on teir way out of Egypt.
We, like them, have been planted together in the likeness of His death
so that we can also be raised in the likeness of His resurrection. As the Apostle Paul said, “Shall we continue in sin, that grace may
abound? God forbid. How shall we, that
are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were
baptized into His death? Therefore we
are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up
from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in
newness of life. For if we have been
planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness
of His resurrection: knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that
the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.”
(Romans 6:2-6).
Separation
isn’t always about the things that are grossly evil or harmful to us and to
others. It is more often about seemingly
innocent things that nevertheless capture our heart and allure us back into
bondage. There was nothing wrong with
the fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlick that the Israelites had
in Egypt (Exodus 11:5, 6), but when they allowed the memories of those things
to cause them to despise the heavenly Manna that God had given them, that was
another matter. Without God’s
intervention such lusts would sooner or later lead them back into Egypt. We are permitted to use this world to an
extent, but we must take heed that we do not misuse it by letting our hearts be
defiled by its lusts. “ …and those who use this world as not
misusing it. For the form of this world
is passing away.” (1 Corinthians 7:31 NKJV).
The
idea of separation goes even further back.
God called Abraham to leave his kindred, and come out of the country in
which he was born and raised. God told
Abraham to move to the place which He would show him, and, in return, He would
bless Abraham, and make a great nation of his descendants. "And
I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee
shall all families of the earth be blessed." (Genesis 12:3).
Abraham
was called to sojourn as an alien in the Land of Promise. He became a pilgrim, and a stranger in a
strange land; but God had promised that all of that land would be Abraham's one
day, saying, "Lift up now thine eyes,
and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward,
and westward: for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to
thy seed forever." (Genesis 13:14, 15). In due time, God's promise to Abraham was
fulfilled when Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt and to the
Promised Land.
Moses'
name means "drawn out," and
this became true of his life for many more reasons than just the fact that he
had been drawn out of the Nile as a babe.
When he came of age, he chose to abandon the riches and pleasures of
Egypt and suffer affliction with his people instead. Ultimately, God called him to leave Egypt
altogether, sending him before Pharaoh to proclaim this message, "Thus saith the LORD,
Let my people go, that they may serve
me." (Exodus
8:1). Notice that Israel’s service to
God was contingent on their going out of Egypt!
God was not
interested in forcing Pharaoh into reforming the laws of Egypt in order to make
life easier for His people, the Israelites.
He didn't care about better wages, nicer living conditions, or a welfare
system that would take care of the elderly and underprivileged. He simply wanted His people to be free once
and for all from the tyranny of Egypt.
As long as Israel was entangled in Egypt, they would not be able to
serve God as He wished. The time would
come when God would lead His people into a new land where He would establish
laws based on righteousness and true
holiness. The poor would be
cared for and the weak and elderly would be looked after. What God intended was that we learn that love
is the fulfillment of every law, but that could not happen until Jesus came and
changed men’s hearts.
Many of God's
children are in bondage today. They have
allowed themselves to become slaves to sin, to wealth, to work, and to
pleasure. They have allowed the serpent
to deceive them into making the same tragic mistake that Adam made: choosing
death over life. God just wants us to be
free. Like His call to Abraham, He is
calling us to separate ourselves from the attachments that are dear to the
flesh, but devastating to the spiritual man.
He asks us to hate father, mother, wife,
children, brothers, sisters, and,
most importantly, our own life. (Luke 14:26). That is, to reject their influence over us
when it would lead us in a direction, no matter how well-intentioned, away from
the Lord's leading.
Self is our greatest enemy when it comes to being
a separated people for our God. God has
remedied this dilemma by the cross of Christ.
By His cross "the world is crucified unto me, and I
unto the world." (Galatians 6:14). As the Apostle Paul said, "I
am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in
me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son
of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2:20)
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