To See Clearly; To Follow Closely

June 3

“Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it”

The Israelites of old had great cause to believe God. Yes, they had suffered much in bondage in Egypt, but the deliverance the God of their fathers prepared for them made all the indignities they endured worthwhile.

Not only did the Holy One cause Pharaoh to become frustrated with them because of the plagues he and his kingdom endured as a result of his refusal to obey the Lord’s demand of their release but the Israelites themselves were spared the consequences of those plagues.

In the midst of the affliction upon Egypt because of Pharaoh’s rejection of God’s command to let His people go, the Israelites endured none of the plagues’ affect. When Egypt’s firstborn sons were taken by the death angel, Israelite children were under the blood. (See Exodus 12:7).

Like them, we who believe in the completed work of the cross are under the blood. But we are not under the blood of sacrificial animals; we are under the blood of Heaven’s sacrificed Lamb. Our salvation emerges from the single most amazing event of time—the death and resurrection of Jesus.

But what do we do with His great sacrifice? Will we mix it with faith, or shall we be like the Israelites of old who were not profited by the miracles they saw or the blood that was applied to their door posts?

Will we who have Christ’s shed blood upon the door posts of our hearts avail ourselves of the totality of His great sacrifice or shall we live our lives as the Egyptians who were faithless; who, even when they had seen a clear revelation of the power of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, pursued His people to the Red Sea?

Lord, help us to see You clearly and to follow You closely that we may sail the Sea of Life in the security of the salvation You have supplied to us. May we not perish in a Sea of Unbelief as did the Egyptians. May we not negate the power of Your Spirit in us or the truth of Your immutable Word.