Through the Bible with Les Feldick
LESSON 1 * PART 2 * BOOK 69
REDEEM, REDEEMED, REDEMPTION – PART 2
Various Scripture References
We’re going to get on with program number two this afternoon. For those of you joining us on television, we’re just an informal Bible Study. I like to compare it to a Sunday School class more than anything. We’re simply comparing Scripture with Scripture. My whole idea of this is to get people to study their Bible by themselves. Don’t go by what I say. Don’t go by what some preacher says. You go by what the Book says, because this is how we’re going to be judged one day.
Okay, we’re looking at a little different approach to Scripture today. We’re looking at the whole process of redemption as we see God exercise it in various ways and forms from Genesis to Revelation. As I mentioned in the last program, I really wanted to do this with the Book of Ruth, but I couldn’t do it with Ruth alone, so we’re going to have to put it all together and then come back and see where the picture of Ruth and Boaz figure in.
All right, in this lesson we’re going to go back and look at the beginning of the Nation of Israel and how God lost them. Again, it’s a picture of what was once God’s He lost and He has to redeem them.
So, let’s go all the way back to Genesis chapter 37. We’re going to jump all the way up to when Joseph was having his dreams. I don’t think I have to rehearse for most people that Joseph is the dreamer. The brothers are starting to hate him a little bit more all the time until finally, one day, old father Jacob sends him out to check on the brethren. They conspire and say, here comes that dreamer, let’s get rid of him.
All right, so drop all the way down to Genesis 37 verse 19. I want you to see how all this took place, that here we have the Abrahamic Covenant, and it has now become a reality. Isaac has come and gone. Jacob has sired the twelve sons which will be the twelve tribes of Israel. We’re still in the early stages, of course, but the Nation has now gotten a good beginning.
Genesis 37:19
“And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh.” Which was Joseph, and then they conspire between themselves what to do with him. First they want to kill him. Then they decide to throw him into a pit, and you know the story. So, let’s drop down to verse 26, where the eldest of the brethren, Judah, has a little bit of compassion left in him.
Genesis 37:26-28
“And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay (or kill) our brother, and conceal his blood? 27. Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmeelites, (slave traders) and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother and our flesh. And his brethren were content. 28. Then there passed by Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph to Egypt.”
Now that is merely the beginning of the process that brought the whole Nation of Israel down into the land of Egypt where they became slaves of the Egyptian Pharaohs and so forth. But it all started with the evil thinking and reaction to this godly man, Joseph, who was actually dreaming things that were prophecy. He was dreaming of the time when indeed they would be coming down to Egypt, and they’d have to bow down to him in order to get food for sustenance. But of course, none of them understood that as yet.
But, what we want to show in just this little bit here is how the beginning of the Nation under Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and his twelve sons is now interrupted by the first step in God’s losing them as they go down into Egypt. All right, now we know that after they’re in Egypt for a period of time, they come under abject slavery and the persecution and pressure of the Pharaohs, and then God’s going to do something totally different.
Now, jump all the way up to Genesis chapter 46. We’re going to see how everybody ends up in Egypt, and it all began with selling Joseph into slavery. Joseph, of course, comes out of prison and becomes the second man in Egypt. He puts together the seven years of plenty. You know the story. I don’t have to rehearse that. But now we come to the place where Jacob and the brethren have had to go to Joseph to get grain, not knowing who he was, of course, the first time. But when they went back the second time, then they understood that Joseph was indeed their brother, and Joseph made it known that the brethren were his brethren.
And that, of course, is a point that Stephen makes in Acts chapter 7, that for whatever reason, Israel always has to have a second go around. When the brethren went down to Joseph the first time, they didn’t know who he was. They didn’t have clue. But Joseph knew them. But when they came back the second time, then it’s revealed who Joseph is, and of course there’s this great reunion. Well, this was all a picture, in type of course, of Christ. The first time He came, He knew them. But they didn’t know Him.
We have the same thing with Moses. Moses went out to the Children of Israel supposing that he could lead them out. But what’d they do with Moses? They rejected him, and he was guilty of murder, so he had to flee for 40 years. Then he comes back the second time and he becomes the deliverer.
Now, these are all pictures in type. Which of course, I was thinking again sometime, either during the night or driving up here, you know, this Book is just like a huge, beautiful mosaic. I don’t think many people understand the beauty of a mosaic unless you get to the Middle East and see some of the archeological uncoverings over there of these beautiful mosaics, these little chips of stone. I think the most beautiful one we ever saw was the lady in Sepphoris.
It was in a huge mosaic. Almost a quarter of the size of this room and in one central part of the mosaic was a beautiful face of a young lady. It was like a Mona Lisa. You know why? No matter where you stood from that face, it was looking at you. You could look over here. It was looking at you. Stand in front of it. It was looking at you. Well you see, I like to compare that as a crude, crude illustration, but this Bible is a beautiful mosaic. All the little pieces when they come together are flabbergasting! But people will just reject it out of hand.
I always have to think of a survey I think lawyers took up in Iowa years and years and years ago. This one believing lawyer asked all the members of the bar association, I think it was in Iowa. Forgive me if I’m wrong. But he asked two questions. Do you believe the Bible is the Word of God? The second question was – if you said no, have you ever read it? Well, you know what the result was? About 90% said, no, they didn’t believe the Bible. Had they ever read it? One hundred percent said, no, they’d never read it. So, they reject it out of hand, not even having a clue of what they’re rejecting. But, you see, it is such a beautiful mosaic. Everything fits, but you have to dig it out. It isn’t going to unfold like a fifth grade reader necessarily. But yet it’s simple enough, like I said in the last half-hour, that anybody can understand it if they’ll just try!
You know, when people write and disagree with me on some of these things, you know what my stock answer is? There’s only one reason that you’re not agreeing with me. You don’t want to. And isn’t that true? No, they don’t want to. And they’ll be switched if they’ll try. But if they would and if they’d want to, it’s there. It’s as plain as day. I make no apology for that.
Okay, so here we go back to Israel now. They’ve just gotten started as a result of the promises made to Abraham. Then the old devil comes into these eleven brothers with envy and jealousy, and they sell Joseph down into Egypt. All right, so now in chapter 46 verse 1, we find that the brethren up there in Canaan are getting short of food. They’re hungry, and Joseph has the granaries full in Egypt. Now, up until this time they were warned constantly to never go down to Egypt, because Egypt was the biblical picture of the world. God’s people don’t go to the world for their problems, nor was Israel to go to Egypt. But now, after all these years of don’t go to Egypt, God changes it around and He gives the opposite directions.
Genesis 46:1-3
“And Israel (Jacob) took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, (Which is down south of Jerusalem, present day Jerusalem, about, I suppose, 75-80 miles, which makes it just due east from Egypt.) and offered sacrifices unto the God of his father Isaac. 2. And God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here am I. (Now, look what God tells Jacob after all these years of saying go not down to Egypt.) 3. And he said, I am God, the God of thy father: fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there (in Egypt) make of you a great nation:”
You know the rest of the story. Jacob and the eleven brethren moved down into Goshen. Under Joseph’s authority they prospered. They had the best producing area of Egypt up there in the delta, and they fared quite sumptuously for quite a few years. But then the Scripture tells us that there was another Pharaoh “who knew not Joseph” after he had died. Of course he brought in the extreme pressure of the slavery that the children of Israel found themselves under.
All right, let’s move on up, for sake of time, to see how God is going to bring about a redemption of that which He had lost. He has lost the Nation of Israel. They are out of fellowship with Him. They are under Gentile dominion, but He’s going to buy them back. Now, this is why I had to bypass the Book of Ruth. As we saw with Adam, we’re going to see with Israel. We’re going to see with Christ and the work for the whole human race. We’re going to see at the same time that when He pays off old Satan’s mortgage in Revelation, there are always three parts of redemption.
Number one, there has to be a person. Now, you might want to write this in your notes. You have to have a person. Number two, it has to be by blood. It has to be by blood. That’s the only way God can redeem. The third one is power. Power! This is why I cannot understand, as I’ve said it almost every taping lately, why do even our evangelical people avoid the Resurrection? They’ll speak of His death. They’ll speak of His forgiveness. But they just seemingly are remiss in bringing up the Resurrection. That’s where the power lies! That’s where the power is. You cannot have redemption without all three.
It doesn’t do a bit of good to have the shed blood if you don’t experience the power, and vice versa. We’re going to the Book of Exodus. We’re going to jump in at, let’s see, I want to go to chapter 11, I think. Exodus chapter 11 dropping down to verse 6, this is the night when every firstborn of Egypt is being put to death. This is the beginning of God redeeming His lost people and bringing them to Himself.
Exodus 11:6-7
“And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it anymore. 7. But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast: that ye may know how that the LORD doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.” Now verse 9.
Exodus 11:9-10
“And the LORD said unto Moses, Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you; that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt. 10. And Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh: and the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go out of his land.” All right, now God is going to step in, in chapter 12, with the first step of redemption. And what’s it going to be? First, we have the person, which is Moses. That’s right off the bat in verse 1.
Exodus 12:1-2
“And the LORD spake unto Moses (He’s going to be the person God is going to use in this instance.) and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2. This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.” This, of course, is our month of April.
Exodus 12:3-4
“Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: 4. And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.”These are the instructions leading up to the very first Passover. The night that the Egyptians were losing their firstborn and Israel is gathered in their little houses, their huts, whatever the case may be. It’s nighttime. They’re not sitting at the table, they are what? They’re standing. Okay, let’s move on.
Exodus 12:5
“Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:” Now remember, they were to take it out on the tenth day. They were to watch it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Of course the whole purpose was to make sure that there was nothing remiss about this little sacrificial animal. It had to be perfect. No injury. No sign of sickness. It had to be absolutely perfect.
Exodus 12:6-7a
And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. (Now, here comes the next part of redemption.) 7. And they shall take of the blood,…” Remember what we said in the first half hour? Hebrews says that “without the shedding of blood there is no remission.”
I wish I could give a beautiful, simple illustration as to why God always demands the shed blood. I can’t. I’ve got an idea, but I cannot explain it enough that everybody would be satisfied. The closest I can come is that all through the process of salvation, redemption, whatever the case may be, we have to have death, and out of death comes life. Genesis tells us that “life is in the blood.” This is not enough to satisfy everybody. I know it isn’t. But, it’s as far as I can go. Since life is in the blood, that blood has to experience death, so that out of death can come new life.
We see it in the plant families of the earth. When that seed is planted, it dies. Out of that death comes new life. This is the only thing that I’m able to put on why does God always demand the shed blood. It’s a fact of Scripture. We can’t escape it. Whether they like it or not, you cannot take it away. All right, so here again we had to have the sacrificial Passover lamb. Its blood had to be applied on the doorposts of their little huts in Egypt. That blood would spare them and would secure them from the death that was going across the land of Egypt.
Exodus 12:7-9
“They shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it (the Passover lamb). 8. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs shall they eat it. 9. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden (or boiled) at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof.”
Exodus 12:10
“And ye shall let nothing of it remain to the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.” All right, now verse 12. While they are enjoying the Passover Lamb with the blood of safety on the doorposts, God says:
Exodus 12:12-13
“For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all of the gods (Plural – everything in Egypt was a god, remember.) of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. 13. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.”
Now, that’s the beginning of the Passover. Jews to this day are still celebrating Passover. Even though they’re missing, I think for the most part, all of the spiritual ramifications. Yet, this has always been part of Israel’s history. All the way since 1500 BC and here is the reason. Verse 26 of this same chapter, and, oh, this just says it all! Why do our Jewish people still practice Passover when they don’t believe in the God of the Passover? Here it is in verse 26.
Exodus 12:26a
“And it shall come to pass, when your children…” Now, are kids active in the Passover? Absolutely they are! What do the parents hide? The piece of bread? They hide the Matzo. And whose prerogative is it to go through the house and find it? The children. They become an active part of the Passover feast. Okay, here’s the reason. Oh, God knows how to do things!
Exodus 12:26
“And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean you by this service?” Why are we doing this, Daddy? Why are you hiding something and then we go and find it? Well, to get them involved and to give them an understanding. Now verse 27, when the kids shall say why are we doing this? Then the Scripture says:
Exodus 12:27-28
“That ye shall say, it is the sacrifice of the LORD’S passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed their heads and worshiped. 28 And the children of Israel went away, and did as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.”
All right, let’s just jump over a little further and come down now to chapter 14 where Israel is now escaping Egypt. Miraculously! The whole scope of Israel, and I maintain that there were six or seven million of them. Now, for the longest time I never heard anybody say anything more than six or seven hundred thousand, but then it wasn’t long and I heard people say three million. Then it wasn’t long and it was four million. Now I’m reading more and more people who are agreeing with me, it was more like seven million.
I think that was pretty much the average population of Israel all the way up through their history. Then lo and behold, I was reading the editorial by the Jewish editorial writer Krauthammer, and miracle of miracles, you know what Israel is close to today? They are real close to six million people in Israel. Six million. There’s fifteen million worldwide, but they’re getting close to six million now.
The first thing I had to think of, now I’m rambling, I’m chasing rabbits! Sorry about that. But you know I had to think of what he said. Six million people in Israel – what was the number of the men of war when Israel began winning everything all the way up through their history? What was the number that they had to have? You know? Six hundred thousand. When they reached six hundred thousand men of war, nobody could beat them. And I think the same thing happened in 1967. Israel had the six hundred thousand men of war and nobody could beat them.
Now, when I saw that there were six million, that’s just another multiplication of six hundred thousand, so there’s the mosaic. Everything fits. Okay, chapter 14, we’ve only got three minutes left? They have now escaped out of Egypt. They’re gathered on the banks of the Red Sea. Why bring us to the banks of the Red Sea? We don’t have boats. We don’t have rafts. What are we going to do? I imagine about that time they could see the dust clouds behind them of Pharaoh’s army. Can you see the panic? Can you feel it? What are we going to do? There’s no place to go and the Egyptians are coming.
Verse 13, of all things to tell seven million people. Now remember they had a chain of command. Moses didn’t stand some place and yell at six or seven million people. But they had a chain of command that just went like wildfire, and what was His command?
Exodus 14:13a
“And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still,…” Stand still? Are you kidding?! The Egyptians are behind us! They’ll slaughter us. But God says, “Stand still,” or Moses does by God’s instruction.
Exodus 14:13
“And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will show to you today: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more for ever.” Do you suppose those Jews had even an inkling of what was about to happen? They had no idea. They couldn’t dream of all of a sudden the waters parting, but they did.
Now what’s this? We’ve had the blood on the doorpost. We’ve have had Moses as God’s spokesman. Now what have we got? Power! Power! The power of God opens that Red Sea, not just for forty or fifty feet. It must have been for miles, because seven million people cross on dry ground in a matter of hours. You see that? What a miracle! And of course, it became part of Israel’s history. One of the greatest miracles in all of Israel’s history was how God opened the Red Sea.
All right, now in the minute we have left, I hope I’ve got your imagination running. Here these seven million walk through the Red Sea on dry ground. Not a drop of water touches them. And as soon as they come up on the other side, the water comes back and destroys their enemies. Now, what’s the picture for you and me? That’s our Salvation. When we recognize that we’re a lost sinner, we’re undone. Does God say, get to work and do something? Does God say, go find a preacher and get baptized? Does God say, well, learn how to speak in tongues? What does He say? Don’t try to do anything. I’ve done it all. I’ve done it for you. I’ve shed my blood. I’ve already experienced the power of resurrection. I’m ready to give it to you – if you’ll just stand still and believe it! I can’t make it any plainer.
This is the perfect picture then of Israel losing their identity with God for ever so long, almost two hundred and some years, and then God redeems them with the use of a person, with the shed blood, and with the power of opening the Red Sea. Israel comes out on the other side now a redeemed Nation of people.