Introduction
I
will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment
– Exodus 6:6
The Book
of Exodus in the Old Testament gives the account of how God raised up Moses,
his servant, to deliver the chosen people from oppression in the land of
Egypt. Exodus recounts a seven-fold promise which God made to Moses and
the people (Exodus 6:6-8):
1.
I will free you from the burdens which the Egyptians have laid upon you.
2.
I will release you from slavery to them.
3.
With strokes of power I will deliver you.
4.
I will adopt you as my own people.
5.
I will be your God.
6.
I will bring you to the land I swore I would give to Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob.
7.
I will give this land to you for your inheritance.
This seven-fold
promise forshadows the fulness of redemption which Jesus Christ fulfilled
for the human race when he delivered us from slavery to sin and death through
his victory on the cross.
The
ten plagues demonstrated God's power and presence in a land that worshiped
idols and oppressed the people of God. Pharoah was worshiped as a divine
person in Egypt. His defiance and refusal to submit to God is a type or
symbol of the Angel of Light (also called Lucifer and Satan) who was thrown
out of heaven for his defiant refusal to serve God.
The
plagues brought judgment on Pharoah and the Egyptians for enslaving Israel,
and judgment on all the gods of Egypt. They demonstrate that the Lord is
the only true God and greater than all other gods.
They
also demonstrated for Israel, and for all believers, both the depravity
of sin and our need for God's redemption.
The
Book of Revelations also describes plagues which will take place at the
end of the age, when the Lord Jesus returns to judge the world and to usher
in his kingdom of righteousness and peace. See Revelations 15:1, 16:3-7. |
