United Pentecostal Church Mannheim Short Messages

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Through the water
1.Cor. 10,11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

The apostle Paul writes to us Christians, that these events which took place at that time in connection with Israel, they are to serve as an example for us. We can learn from them.

As a small group of people, they came at that time to Egypt. Jacob saw his son Joseph, the man who God had promoted to the position of being the second man of the land. The former Pharaoh was good to the Jews and gave them the best land; for in Canaan where they had lived beforehand, there had been a great drought for a period of many years.
Many years went by and the number of Jewish inhabitants grew and grew. The Pharaoh, of whom the Bible writes about, and the Egyptians put them under their yoke and the Jews now became their slaves. During this time of their oppression and suffering, they cried out and prayed to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that he would free them from this slavery and bring them into their land -which is the present day Palestine - which God had promised to Abraham. In the Scriptures, Egypt represents the world with its idols and pleasures, a land which lies in sin and spiritual bondage.

Just like God brought the Jews out of Egypt by His power and through signs and wonders, He brings out every person who really wants to, out of this world of sin. There were 10 plagues which God poured out upon the Egyptians. The last one was the death of the firstborn, from Pharaoh down to the beggar. There was not one single house which was excluded from experiencing the death of the firstborn. Only among those who had stricken their doorposts with the blood of the Passover lamb were there no deaths. This took place on the night when they departed from Egypt. It is exactly the same with those who follow Jesus Christ. He is the Passover lamb of God, through his blood we have the grace to enable us to be taken out of this world.

Israel moved out together and followed Moses as he became their leader. Meanwhile, on the other hand, Moses followed the pillar of a cloud of God during the daytime as God led him. In their anger, Pharaoh and his superiors regretted that they had allowed the people to go; and they therefore gathered their whole forces together, in order to bring the Jews back again to be their servants. When an individual has made the decision to follow Jesus Christ, then the spirit of the world sets out to bring this person back under his control, also even by force if necessary. God saw this and he led His people, the Jews, to the west side of the Red Sea (the golf of Aqabah), to the place Pihahiroth (which in this present day is Nuwaibi), which they reached after about 10 days. In front of them was the sea and behind them were the mountains. It was there that the Pharaoh had positioned his soldiers, and he thought to himself that there would be no way of escape for the Jews. However, as usual, in all of his plans he had forgotten about God. How could someone be so blind, that upon seeing the miracles and signs of God, he still remains in doubt about His omniscience, power and His Word? Pharaoh is only one of many.

Well, now his greatest experience was laying ahead of him still. In that very same night, the angel of God who led the people went behind and stood now between the Egyptians and His people. Where the Egyptians were it was dark, however, where the Jews were there was light. The world lies in darkness and feels very sure about itself. The people of God see the way. Moses stretches forth his rod, the sea parts and God makes a way for His people. They cross through the sea. On either side, the water is standing like a wall up to a 100 metres high; it was only first of all in the morning that the last ones also reached the other bank. Now they were no longer in Egypt, instead, they were in Median (Saudi Arabia). Pharaoh pursued after the people and had almost caught up with them; Moses then stretched forth his rod again and the waters came together again. Not one of the enemies of God escaped, all of them were drowned in the floods.

Even today, the remains of the chariots are laying at the bottom of the sea in the golf of Aqabah and are covered with corals. This exodus out of Egypt through the sea symbolises the water baptism in Jesus’ name. At that time they went through the water, so we also must be baptized in water in Jesus’ name just like God commanded. “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” Mark 16,16. It is no wonder that the apostles emphasised the importance of baptism. After all, the past is there as an example for us. Through the water baptism all our enemies are destroyed. Who is our enemy? It is our sins, and it is our sins which are able to accuse us when we are before the throne of God. If we have got rid of them, then they can no longer do that.
The people of Israel crossed through the water at that time and came to the mountain Horeb (Jabal al Lawz) in the present day Saudi Arabia, and there they received the commandments of God.

The true Christians follow the words of Jesus, they understand the examples. They also go through the water and come to the mountain, upon which God writes His commandments on their heart by His Holy Spirit.

God has a plan for how He will save his people, also for the people of this present age. rw

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