God will FULFILL ‘His PLANS’ according to ‘HIS TIMETABLE’!
January
21 Bible Reading: Exodus Chapters 10-12
God will FULFILL ‘His PLANS’ according to ‘HIS TIMETABLE’!
"Now the sojourn of the children
of Israel who lived in Egypt was four
hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years--on that very same day--it came to pass
that all the armies of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. It is a night
of solemn observance to the Lord for bringing them out of the land of Egypt.
This is that night of the Lord, a solemn observance for all the children of
Israel throughout their generations." (Exodus 12:40-42)
As we have
gone through the first twelve chapters of Exodus, we have seen God’s tender
compassion towards the Israelites (2:23–25); we have seen the appointment of Moses
as the leader of the Israelites (3:10); we have heard the divine promises for
the Israelites (6:6–8); and we have seen the great displays of divine power (through
the plagues). Yet, not a single Israelite was delivered from the house of
bondage until the blood of the “lamb”
was shed for that redemption. Immediately, even the very next morning, the Israelites
marched out of Egypt as free people. They were “bought with a price”, and that price was “not corruptible things as silver and gold, but with the precious blood
of a Lamb.” (1 Peter 1:18-19)
It was
predicted back in Genesis 15:13-14 that Abram’s descendants would be in bondage
in a foreign land for 400 years, and
that they would leave at the end of that time, carrying great wealth with them.
This time span of 400 years was
substantiated in Acts 7:6 and refers to the time of Israel’s harsh affliction
in Egypt. However, in this passage (Exodus 12:40- 41) we read that the children
of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, were sojourners for 430 years refers to the total
time the people of Israel spent in Egypt from the migration of Jacob’s family to the time of the Exodus.
The
important thing for us to understand is that God did not forget the promise that
He had made centuries earlier. God
fulfilled His Word by delivering His people according to His timetable! What
God has promised is as sure as if it had already occurred! God is always on
schedule and He brought the people out of Egypt exactly on the day appointed. It was not until the day following
the Passover-night that the Israelites were delivered from Egypt!
Let us
remember that God is not negligent concerning His promise of our redemption
either! One day in the near future, our Lord
Jesus Christ (the ‘antitype’ of Moses) will lead us - His redeemed people -
out of this world (the ‘antitype’ of
Egypt) to Heaven, our eternal
Promised Land!
"The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9)
