All of Jacob’s troubles melted away when he saw the sweet face of his long-lost son. Pharaoh’s second in command was greeted with tears of joy by his once broken-hearted dad. In Stephen’s historical-recap-sermon he recounts: “Then Joseph sent word and invited Jacob his father and all his relatives to come to him, seventy-five persons in all” (Acts 7:14). 430 years later that 75 left Egypt having become a nation of a few millions. The enslavement of God’s people caused God’s wrath to descend upon that Pharaoh ‘who knew not Joseph’; he who refused to “let my people go!” As each plague was delivered, Pharaoh’s belligerent response became tantamount to insisting: “God, give me another plague.” Later, Joshua’s two spies met a well informed and spiritually discerning (soon to be former) lady of the night, who made sure that she and her loved ones were going to survive Jericho’s coming judgement. She had heard the rumours about this God of Israel. Her fast thinking not only saved her family but soon made her to become an ancestor in the direct line of Jesus (Mt.1:5). Israel was to repeat the story of The Exodus to all generations to come. The Passover Feast was their yearly reminder of the night that the Holy Spirit ‘passed over’ those houses that had blood on the doorposts. Within those that did not the firstborn of all Egypt died. Years after, John the Baptiser announced to his disciples, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” (Jn.1:29, 36). Jesus would become that Passover Lamb (1Cor.5:7). It is his sacrificial blood that cleanses us from all unrighteousness (1Jn.1:7). By faith we became the Israel of God. Jesus delivered us from the slavery of sin. That was our Exodus from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. Praise God!
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