If this be the case, it gives a peculiar interest to the narrative, because it shows that we are to regard this deliverance of Israel as the act of the pre-existent ‘Coming One,’ the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It was not merely a type of the coming salvation; but it was wrought by the same person who is now saving us, so that we may see in it the actual commencement of the saving work of our own beloved Redeemer. It was both a type and a reality. It was a prophetic picture of what He was about to do, and at the same time the commencement of His work as the Deliverer. Let us, then, study it with care, and may He who has redeemed us by His blood teach us by His Spirit!
You will remember that we found in the previous lecture, that redemption is deliverance through ransom, and, therefore, consists of two parts—the saving act and the atoning blood, or, in other words, the power and the satisfaction. Let us consider both, as exhibited in the deliverance of Israel.
In studying this we cannot do better than follow the guidance of Exod. vi. 6, where we learn that He saved them from their burdens, from their bondage, and from inextricable difficulties.
(1.) From their _burdens_. ‘I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.’
There are many burdens that weigh heavily on man, so that St. Paul said, even when he was sealed by the Holy Ghost: ‘We that are in this tabernacle do groan being burdened.’ There are burdens on the strength when a man has to toil beyond his powers: burdens on the heart when we feel a weight of sorrow as we witness the sufferings of those we love: burdens on the thoughts when some heavy care rests upon us, and produces depression of spirits: and, above all, burdens on the conscience when the sense of sin troubles us, when we know we have been wrong, and when the present conviction of our own utter unworthiness weighs heavily on the heart.
These burdens come from many sources. Sometimes they are laid upon us by the providence of God, and sometimes they are of our own creation. For example, the great pain of the burden of sin is that we know it is our own fault, and, therefore, it involves the bitter pain of self-reproach.
But some of these burdens are not always felt, or, if felt, not really cared for. People are ready to complain of them; but they are not really longing to be free. They are very much like Israel in Egypt. Israel groaned and grumbled, but yet when a deliverer came to them from God, they did not care to be delivered. Turn to their words of reproach which they spake to Moses when the Egyptians were pursuing them, Exod. xiv. 12, ‘Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians?’ They groaned a great deal, but yet they wished to be let alone. They had no faith in delivering power, so they preferred to bear their burden rather than run any risk in their effort to be free. How many are there to this day just like them, who confess their burden, who lament their burden, who wish to be free of their burden, if they can be so without difficulty, but who yet, when you tell them of the saving power of the Lord Jesus reply in their hearts, ‘Let us alone!’