Bulletins - Brookdale Baptist Church

This Is My Father's World
There Is A Redeemer
Behold Our God
Lamb Of Glory
Luke 1:5-25; 57-80
If you want to run for governor of MN, you must take several steps long before election day to have any hope of success:
Confirm their eligibility and file for candidacy.
Build a core campaign team.
Develop a clear policy platform.
Launch a fundraising and financing compliance strategy.
Kick off a grassroots engagement and messaging campaign.
If you just write your name onto a ballot or show up on election day, you will certainly fail.
When God sent Christ into the world to be the Savior of our sins and King over all creation, he didn’t just send him then see what happened. He prepared long in advance and involved key people along the way. These people served as prophets, priests, and kings throughout history as God did all sorts of intricate and powerful things to prepare the way for Christ.
As the culmination of this process, he sent a man to prepare people to recognize and follow Christ as God’s promised Savior and King. He was God’s chief spokesperson, newscaster, reporter, and announcer for Christ. This man was John the Baptist. And from the story of John the Baptist’s birth, we will see that Christmas reminds us that God keeps his promises—and that he calls us to prepare the way for Christ in the lives of others.
After centuries of silence, God acted in a special way.
When John the Baptist came onto the scene, God had not provided any special revelation – prophecy, Scripture, etc. – for more than 400 years. During this long period of time (longer than the full history of the United States), his people experienced terrible oppression by the Syrian world empire. They struggled through persecution by the Greek world empire. Then they struggled through difficult times with the Roman world empire, which included being governed by a series of men called Herod, wicked politicians from Edom who hated the Jews. It seemed as though God has abandoned or forgot his people.
He chose a married couple devoted to him. (1:5-10)
Similar to how God chose a godly, faithful married couple to be parents to Samson at a very dark time, he did the same in choosing the parents of John the Baptist. Zechariah, the husband, was a priest and his wife, Elizabeth, was also the daughter of a priestly family. Both were considered righteous by God, which means they had believed in his promise of salvation by faith, just as their ancestor Abraham had done thousands of years before. From a human standpoint, they also had an outstanding reputation for taking seriously God’s commands.
The difficulty for them was that they had no children. This difficulty was compounded by the fact that it seemed impossible to resolve, since Elizabeth was unable to have children, and they were both too old to do so, even if she could. Once again, this resembles the condition of Samson’s parents, many years before.
Even so, this couple found purpose in serving God. And on this particular year, Zechariah was given the special opportunity to offer incense in the temple during their annual holiday. Priests (from among approx. 18,000) were chosen randomly once in their lifetime to perform this service during one of the three major Jewish festivals of the year (Passover, Weeks, and Booths) or during one of the two other weeks of priestly duties assigned to their group.
So, this was a special, once-in-a-lifetime moment for Zechariah. It was probably in the evening, as thousands of Jewish people looked on outside. This offering of incense represented the prayers of God’s people. And after offering this incense, Zechariah would have knelt down in prayer as the thousands of Jewish people did the same in the Temple courtyard outside.
He continued a plan set in motion long ago. (1:11-17)
As Zechariah fulfilled this special service, a surprising thing happened. An angel from God appeared standing beside the altar of burning incense. This unexpected appearance shocked Zechariah so greatly that he was both scared and terrified. Had he done something wrong? Was he about to be killed or judged by God?
The angel quickly assured him that he was safe. But not only was he safe, but the angel also assured him that his prayer had been answered. What prayer? The general prayer of salvation for God’s people? Maybe so, but apparently Zechariah was praying – like Hannah in the Old Testament prayed for a son, Samuel – that his wife would give birth to a son. I say this because the angel said that his prayer had been answered by reporting that Elizabeth wouldgive birth to a son.
The angel further announced that Zechariah must name this child ‘John,’ which means “God is gracious.” He also announced that Zechariah and Elizabeth would experience much joy and gladness because of John’s birth and that beyond this, many other people would also experience much joy because of his birth, as well. This child would become a significant and impactful person in the sight of God in the outworking of God’s plan.
Like Samson and Samuel, this child would be raised to observe the Nazarite vow so that he would publicly stand out as a special servant of God, and God would give him a special enablement from the Holy Spirit – who is God – from infancy onward.
As an adult, this man would go on to have the kind of influence which would restore broken, intergenerational relationships between parents and children, and turn people disobedient to God to a lifestyle of following God’s ways. Most importantly, he would sensitive people to God’s truth so that they would be prepared and ready to recognize and follow Christ when he appeared.
The special ministry of this special man was promised more than four hundred years before by God himself through the prophet Malachi.
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.” (Mal 4:5-6)
This man would behave and have a ministry which resembled the highly respected and influential prophet, Elijah, from hundreds of years before, calling God’s people to turn away from idolatry to worshipping the one true God who loved them. So, by sending John the Baptist to do this work of preparing the way for Christ’s arrival, God was not doing something new or random. He was doing something he had promised to do many hundreds of years before.
He called for unquestioning faith. (1:18-25)
After hearing all these things from the angel standing beside the altar of incense, and after composing himself from his initial, terrified reaction, Zachariah asked how he could be certain that this would happen – reiterating the twofold problem which made this impossible, that he was too old to father a child and his wife was the same.
To answer this doubtful question, the angel identified himself as the angel Gabriel. He is one of only two archangels (or chief, topmost, most senior angels) of God named in Scripture. While the other archangel, Michael, seems to be primarily focused on overseeing the outworking of God’s plan in the spiritual realm (Dan 12:1), Gabriel seems to be primarily focused on the outworking of God’s plan in the material, human realm.
He gave key information to the prophet Daniel about what would happen on the final judgment day (Dan 8:16; 9:21-22), announced the birth of John the Baptist to Zechariah, then sixth months later announced the birth of Jesus to Mary (Lk 1:11-20). To understand the significance of receiving a firsthand message from God through Gabriel, realize that this would be like receiving a special message or assignment from the President firsthand through the Vice President himself, only this was not the President and Vice President, but God and a highest-ranking angel.
Because Zechariah responded to this stunning announcement with doubt, Gabriel informed him that he would become mute – unable to speak – until the child was born. Why? “Because he did not believe [Gabriel’s] words.”
While this was going on, thousands of Israelites waited outside for Zechariah to come out from the Temple to indicate that God had received their prayers. They would have wondered why it was taking so long. Had God rejected their prayers? Was this an omen of bad things to come? Had Zechariah been struck dead?
You can imagine their confusion when Zechariah finally emerged but was unable to speak. As Luke describes, since Zechariah could not speak, he “beckoned” to the people instead, which means that he motioned to them with his hands to describe what had happened inside.
After his festival service in the Temple was complete, he returned home and Elizabeth soon became pregnant as Gabriel had promised, after which she isolated herself away from the public for five months. It was in the sixth month of her pregnancy, then, that Gabriel appeared to Mary to announce that she would give birth to Jesus (Lk 1:26-56).
Through John the Baptist, God prepared people to follow Christ. (1:57-80)
After Mary heard the news that she would become the mother of Jesus, she visited Elizabeth to tell her the news. Elizabeth happened to be a close relative to Mary (as close as a first cousin or as distant as a fellow descendant of the same tribe of Israel). These two ladies lived together for three months, after which Mary returned home, and Elizabeth gave birth to her son.
As it was customary for Jewish families to do, Zechariah and Elizabeth held a circumcision ceremony for their infant son on the eight day of his life. And to this point, Zechariah was still unable to speak. So, the people present at the ceremony (close friends and family) expected that the parents would name their child Zechariah, after his father. But Elizabeth insisted that they would name him ‘John,’ instead. This surprised everyone because there was no family relative called John.
This demonstrates that Zechariah had found a way – probably through writing – to tell his wife what to name the child, which indicated that he had chosen to believe the promise. So, the people turned from Elizabeth to ask Zechariah what he would name the child, thinking that Elizabeth was acting independently. To communicate with Zechariah, they made hand motions and gestures, which indicates that Zechariah was not only mute but deaf. So, he asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.”
At this very moment, Zechariah was able to speak again, and he immediately began to praise God. This situation became the talk of the surrounding countryside for days to come, and people began to wonder what this baby would grow up to be and do. If God had performed such a miracle through his birth – after four hundred plus years of silence and apparent absence – why?
The rest of Luke 1 (vv. 67-80) records a song of prophecy which Zechariah spoke with guidance from the Holy Spirit. This song foretold what John the Baptist would say and do for God. This child would grow up to be a messenger on behalf of God’s plan of salvation from the beginning of time, traced through Abraham and God’s promises to him, through King David and God’s promised to him, and the Old Testament prophets and God’s promises through them.
He would be a prophet for God in his own right who would provide a direct connection from all that the Old Testament tells us and Christ, who was about to appear at last. He would awaken peoples’ consciences to their sin and unbelief and prepare their hearts to recognize and follow Christ.
As Zechariah said, he would “go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to His people…to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death...” What a remarkable and special ministry this man would have!
Slow down to consider your calling.
As we prepare our hearts for a special but busy holiday season, we find ourselves in the same position as the Israelites at their special festival observance, when Zechariah went into the Temple to offer incense and prayers to God. Though we probably will not come face to face with an angel standing beside our Christmas trees, we should slow down to consider our calling.
It is good to celebrate God’s promises and blessings. Christmas gives us a wonderful way to do that. But we must first be sure that our hearts are directed towards God in genuine prayer and worship and that we are focused on our special calling as witnesses for Christ.
John the Baptist’s entire life was designed to direct attention away from himself and toward Jesus. That’s a profoundly countercultural message at Christmas, when the season often becomes self‑focused, stressful, or consumer‑driven. And does not this materialistic, self-focused approach to Christmas reflect a larger materialistic, self-focused approach to our everyday, non-holiday lives?
As we head into a special holiday week, let’s remember that every believer shares John the Baptist’s calling in miniature — to prepare the way for Christ in the lives of others. Christmas gives unique opportunities to speak of Christ with family, coworkers, and neighbors who are more open than usual.
You should be prepared to do so. You should also remember that simple acts of faithfulness — kindness, forgiveness, hospitality, generosity — can function like John’s ministry, softening hearts and pointing people toward the Savior. Let us see Christmas not only as a celebration of Christ but as a mission field for Christ. How will you prepare and help people to come to Christ this Christmas season?
Let Christmas renew your trust in God’s plan.
Christmas marks the near end of another calendar year of life for people. It serves as a closure of sorts on one year and a preparation for another. Zechariah and Elizabeth, along with so many other Israelites, went through the motions of their own special holiday, only to be surprised by God’s special intervention after centuries of seeming silence. May we have a similar experience today.
May this be a time of renewed belief that God is working in special ways in your life even when you see nothing. For centuries God had seemed absent, yet He was quietly orchestrating everything. Christmas reminds us that God keeps His promises—even when His people feel forgotten.
Like Zechariah, don’t give up praying. What long-buried prayers of your own, rooted in the promises of God, have begun to fade? Bring them back with renewed hope knowing that God is a patient, faithful God who often answers prayers and fulfills promises over long periods of time for good and necessary reasons known only to him. He is honored when his people believe his promises and don’t remain in doubt.
Zechariah’s prayer for a child seemed impossible, yet God answered it at precisely the right moment. Christmas invites believers to trust God with the prayers they’ve stopped praying. Let this Christmas becomes a season of renewed trust in God’s timing, God’s promises, and God’s grace.
The birth of John the Baptist reminds us that God works out his plan in his perfect way, even when his timing feels slow and our need seems impossible. For centuries, God’s people had waited in silence, yet God was preparing the way for Christ through ordinary people who trusted Him.
This Christmas, let that truth renew your confidence in God’s promises. He is still working in your life, even when you cannot see it. Like John the Baptist, your calling is to point others to Jesus—not to yourself. So, as you celebrate the Savior’s birth this Christmas, prayerfully ask yourself, “How will I prepare the way for Christ in my home, my workplace, and my community?”
Through prayer, faith, and witness, you can help others see the light of Christ in a dark world. Trust His timing, embrace your calling, and let this season be more than a holiday—make it a time of renewed hope in prayer and a time of renewed commitment to your mission to prepare people to believe on Christ. Christmas reminds us that God keeps his promises—and that he calls us to prepare the way for Christ in the lives of others.
Rosaria Butterfield was a tenured English professor at Syracuse University and a prominent voice in the LGBTQ community as a lesbian activity. She was intelligent, influential, and deeply committed to her unbelieving, secular worldview.
One day, she received a letter from a local pastor who gently challenged her thinking and invited her to dinner. Instead of dismissing it, she accepted his invitation to his home.
That meal changed everything—not because of a debate, but because of hospitality. Week after week, Rosaria sat at the table of this Christian family, sharing meals with them and experiencing genuine Christian love. They didn’t treat her like a project; they treated her like a person. Over time, those conversations led her to open a Bible, wrestle with what it said, and eventually she believed on Christ.
After believing on Christ, Rosaria left her old life behind, married a gospel-believing, Bible-teaching pastor, and became a committed homemaker, mother, and grandmother. She wrote the excellent books The Gospel Comes with a House Keyand The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert and speaks occasionally across the country, urging Christians to practice “radically ordinary hospitality.” She says, “God used a humble meal to bring me to Himself. He can use your table too.”
Rosaria’s story reminds us that preparing the way for Christ often happens through simple, faithful acts—like opening your home, sharing a meal, or listening well. This Christmas, who could you invite to your table? Who needs to see Christ through your kindness? Like John the Baptist, we’re called to point people to Jesus—not ourselves. As you are waiting on God this Christmas, perhaps he is waiting on you – to prepare the way for Christ.
Exodus 1-18; 2:24-25; 3:16-17
Today we begin a New Year with a new preaching series. In this series, we will familiarize ourselves with some important big-picture, overview messages from the Old Testament (OT) books of Exodus and Deuteronomy. Then we will take an in-depth look at the message of three OT books called “minor prophets” – Hosea, Habakkuk, and Malachi.
To help make this preaching series (and all other Sunday AM sermons this year) more meaningful, we’re providing a weekly devo guide. These guides will offer questions for both children and adults to ask about the Bible passage for the upcoming sermon. They will be organized into 5 days and even offer prayer helps, too. They are ideal for personal, couple, or family devotions, whichever you prefer.
To summarize how the OT books we are looking at work together, we should view Exodus and Deuteronomy as books that show how God formed a special covenant and relationship with his people, Israel. Then we should view the OT prophets as books which describe how his people responded to their covenant with him and how God responded to them over a period of many years afterward.
This preaching series – called “Forever Faithful” – will help us better and more deeply understand how God thinks, feels, and behaves towards his people and will, I trust, help correct two crucial flaws in our thinking. The first flaw is that we tend to view ourselves in too positive a light, and the second flaw is that we tend to view God in too negative a light.
First, we tend to feel that though we know God is good and loving, he is also somewhat distant and disengaged, harsh and disappointing. We might not say this directly out loud, but our attitudes, words, and behavior speak more loudly and directly than we realize.
Second, we also tend to feel that though we know we are imperfect and sinful somehow, we are also generally good, reliable, and faithful to God. We might not say this directly out loud, either, but again, our attitudes, words, and behavior speak more loudly and directly than we realize and betray our real beliefs.
These two flaws in our beliefs and perspective greatly diminish the quality of our emotional, spiritual, and social lives, so correcting these flaws can go a long way in helping us improve the quality of our relationship with God and the people in our lives.
From this series, we’ll discover the great reality that though we are more difficult and unfaithful than we care to admit, God is more loving and loyal than we can ever comprehend. We’ll see that God is unfailing in his love and loyalty to his people, and this great reality should give our hearts the comfort, courage, and confidence we need to rise above our hurts and failures to take our next steps in following him. Will you grow in your loyalty and faithfulness to God knowing that he is so faithful and loyal to you? And will you let his loyal love motivate you to be faithful and loyal to the people in your life – your community, church, or family? That is the hope and my prayer for this preaching series.
This is an important message for our hearts to hear because the qualities of commitment and loyalty are remarkably rare today. We resist and resent commitment and break commitments and relationships like unsubscribing from a streaming service. Rather than remain loyal throughout years and life, we quit jobs, ghost friends, and abandon churches and family for an easier life and greener pastures. And though there can be good, valid reasons for such changes, we must not let the exceptions become the norm. Sadly, for anyone paying close attention, it is clear that the exceptions have become the norm.
At a wedding, the bride and groom commit to love one another “for better or for worse.” But such a commitment means almost nothing today – nice sounding words with a million exceptions. And while the power to end a relationship gives me an illusion of freedom, it quietly reduces my confidence that anyone else will be loyal to me when I am at my worst.
Thankfully, God is not this way. Though you are far more difficult to love than you will ever comprehend and more disappointing and disloyal to God than you can ever admit, you can know with certainty that if you are in relationship with God, he will never withdraw his love or loyalty from you. With God, your relationship begins and never ends. No matter how difficult, costly, or unlovable you may be, he will pursue and love you forever.
For you to be a faithful, loving, loyal person – to God and others – you must first be convinced that you are loved by a faithful, loyal God who will never let you go. That’s what this preaching series is all about and is why it’s called “Forever Faithful,” because it will show that God is that faithful, loyal, loving God we need to counteract and rise above the disloyalty and resistance to commitment that permeates not only the world around us, but especially our own hearts. We will speak more about these themes in future sermons, but for now, let’s learn what Exo 1-18 teaches about being “Redeemed by God.”
God sees the slavery of his people.
These chapters tell the story of how God fulfilled his promise to a few men who believed him centuries before. He told Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob he would form their descendants into a special nation with a unique relationship to him. They would become the people through whom he would bring his promised Savior and King to the world.
Between the last chapter of Genesis and the first chapter of Exodus had passed about 430 years, from the time Jacob the patriarch moved into Egypt and the time when Moses led all of Jacob’s descendants out (Exo 12:40-41). From Exo 1–18, approximately 80 years passed from the birth of Moses to when he led the Hebrew people out, through the Red Sea, and to Mount Sinai – where the 10 Commandments were given.
At Mount Sinai, the Hebrew people became the official nation of Israel and began a very special relationship between God and his people began. In a real and profound way, what happened at Sinai resembled a solemn wedding ceremony in which God committed himself in an unending covenant to his people, a covenant he would never break, no matter how badly or difficult his people would behave.
In Exo 3:16, God told Moses to tell the Hebrew people, “I have surely … seen what is done to you in Egypt.” This means that though they couldn’t see God and may have felt like he was far away and unconcerned with their problems for 430 years, he was completely aware of what they were experiencing and paying close attention. What evidence was there to show that God was paying close attention to them?
Exo 1:1-7 shows that despite being displaced for centuries, they expanded from 70 people to abt. 2-3 million. Exo 12:37 says that about 600,000 adult men left Egypt, which would indicate 2-3 million to account for women and children. Despite being displaced, they became “exceedingly mighty,” or a powerful influence (1:7).
Exo 1:8-22 shows that despite their horrible slavery conditions and Pharaoh’s attempt to kill their newborn sons, God protected them through the bravery of two midwives.
Exo 2:1-25 shows how God raised up from them a man named Moses thanks to the bravery of the Hebrew midwives, Moses’ mother and sister, and even a daughter of Pharaoh. Not only did God protect this man from death by Pharaoh, but he prepared him to lead God’s people to freedom. He did this by giving him 40 years of training in Pharaoh’s palace followed by 40 years of experience as a shepherd in the wilderness.
In between those 40 years, though, Moses did something that taught him and us a very important lesson about God. We do not save ourselves – he alone saves us.
[Read Exodus 2:11-15.]
From this we see God was not calling Moses to rescue his people by “taking matters into his own hands,” literally. Instead, he was calling Moses to listen closely to his words and teach others to follow his words by faith, even in the face of great or increasing difficulty.
The children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. So, God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them. (Exo 2:23-25)
After 430 years in Egypt, God remained faithful and loyal to the covenant he made with Abraham (Gen 12:1-3). He had made a solemn agreement and commitment to Abraham that he would multiply his descendants and settle them safely in the land called Canaan. He had also promised that he would bless them and make them a blessing to the world.
God intervened to save his people from slavery. No matter how difficult, costly, or unlovable they would be, over any length of time, he would pursue and love them forever.
God saves his people from their slavery.
In Exo 3:17, God also told Moses to tell the people of Israel, “I will bring you up out of the affliction in Egypt … to a land flowing with milk and honey.” God not only sees the slavery and suffering of his people – he intervenes. What did this intervention look like when he acted to saved the Hebrew people from slavery?
He raised up Moses and Aaron to be leaders of his people and speak out to Pharaoh on their behalf (3:1-22). In doing so, he revealed himself to Moses and the Hebrew people by his most personal name, “Yahweh” or “I AM.”
He confronted and humiliated Pharaoh and Egypt – the superpower of the world at that time – through a series of ten extraordinary, overpowering plagues, showing his power over the false Egyptian gods and ungodly leaders. The remarkable thing about these plagues is that they could only be performed by an all-powerful, supernatural God with no human explanation.
In similar manner, God miraculously parted the Red Sea so that the millions of Hebrew people he had rescued could walk over to the other side on dry ground. And not only that, but he wiped out the entire Egyptian military force by returning the waters to their place once they had all entered the seabed (Exo 12-15).
While the millions of Hebrew people traveled through the wilderness, God miraculously provided large flocks of quail, daily supplies of bread from the sky, and water from dry rocks (Exo 16:1–17:7).
He gave them a tremendous victory over a surprise attack by an army of people called the Amalekites, longtime adversaries of the Hebrew people (Exo 17:8-16).
After hearing this summary of God’s actions on behalf of his people, we see once again that after 430 years of seeing what his people experienced, God remained faithful and loyal to the covenant he made with Abraham.
In the children’s book called “Horton Hatches an Egg,” by Dr. Seusss, a kind-hearted elephant agrees to sit on the egg of a lazy bird while she takes a break. She goes away and never returns, leaving Horton to guard the egg. He endures fierce storms, freezing rain, scorching sun, and relentless ridicule from other animals. Why would an elephant do such a silly thing? He is even captured by hunters and hauled across the ocean to a circus—yet through it all, he never abandons his promise.
His famous line captures the theme: “I meant what I said and I said what I meant. An elephant’s faithful one hundred percent.” Against every danger and cost, Horton’s loyalty never wavers, and in the end, his faithfulness is rewarded when the egg hatches into an elephant-bird. The story illustrates how true commitment means keeping your word no matter how hard or inconvenient it becomes.
Far more importantly, in history and not fiction, God promised that he would bless the Hebrew people and make them a blessing to the world, and that’s why he intervened to save them people from slavery. No matter how difficult, costly, or unlovable they would prove to be, over any length of time, he would pursue and love his people forever.
Salvation is entirely of God.
As we read the opening chapters of Exodus (1-18), we should all notice one obvious detail – that everything which happens is somehow from God. Psalm 3:8 makes this reality very clear – that whenever God intervenes for his helpless, undeserving people, “salvation is of the Lord” (Psa 3:8). It is always, entirely of him. When God saves his people, he alone is the one who does the work and he alone is the one who makes it happen.
In Exo 1-18, God is the one who did all the saving. God is the one who intervened. His people were unable to save themselves, and in many cases, his people were not behaving in a way that deserved God’s favor. The story of the Exodus, then, is a story of God as a loving husband pursuing his future wife, his people, at great expense. When we see all that he did to redeem them and make them his people, we know that nothing will ever cause him to let them go.
To summarize all that God did, preview the start of next week’s sermon, hear how God himself described all that he did in Exo 1-18 to redeem his people from slavery in Egypt:
You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. (Exo 19:3)
This beautiful, majestic description of God “carrying up his people on eagles’ wings” communicates two very personal and important things about God’s commitment and salvation of his people.
First, it describes God’s loving care for his people as the tender, observant care of a mother for her young child. Philip Ryken and Kent Hughes explain it this way:
The picture is of a mother eagle caring for her young. Eaglets are especially helpless, remaining in the nest for as many as 100 days. Then, as one commentator explains, “When it is time for the young birds to leave the eyrie and learn to fly, the eagle stirs up the nest, but does not abandon her young. If they experience difficulties, the mother bird swoops down below them and lifts them on its wings back to safety.” This is precisely what God did for his people in the wilderness. They had been delivered from slavery, but they were vulnerable to starvation and to attack by their enemies. So God lifted them up on his mighty wings, providing them with food, water, and victory in battle.
Second, it describes his God’s majestic, powerful care of his people as a mighty warrior rushing in to overpower and overwhelm the enemy. Ryken and Hughes also explain:
This beautiful image is richly symbolic. The eagle is a fierce bird of prey; it attacks its enemies the way God attacked Egypt. It is also a bird of rescue. This is wonderfully portrayed in J. R. R. Tolkien’s fantasy The Hobbit. At two different points in the story the heroes are rescued by eagles. The second time is near the end, when they are surrounded by hordes of goblins. Just at the moment when all seems to be lost, one of them “gave a great cry: he had seen a sight that made his heart leap, dark shapes small yet majestic against the distant glow. ‘The Eagles! The Eagles!’ he shouted. ‘The Eagles are coming!’”
Today, we must remind ourselves that salvation is entirely of God. For us today, thousands of years after God rescued his people from slavery in Egypt, we know a thing or two about slavery ourselves. Paul tells us in the New Testament (NT) that:
… before we believe on Christ for salvation, we are “slaves of sin.” (Rom 6:6)
… “Christ has made us free … from the yoke of slavery.” (Gal 5:1)
Jesus himself taught the same thing when he said:
“Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.” (Jn 8:34)
“If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” (Jn 8:36)
Just as God rescued his people from slavery in Egypt, so he rescues his people from slavery to sin by his miraculous birth, perfect life, sacrificial death, and stunning resurrection from the dead. And just as the Hebrew people celebrated the Passover meal to remember God’s salvation from Egypt, so we celebrate the Lord’s Supper to remember God’s salvation of our lives from sin.
As we reflect on God’s loving, powerful salvation from slavery in Egypt, may we be even more aware and more grateful of Christ’s salvation of our souls from slavery to sin and death. And may we realize the incredible price of Christ’s resurrection and the incredible power of his resurrection.
May we realize that the God who does such things to rescue us from slavery and bring us into a relationship with him will not abandon us either, no matter how difficult or undeserving we may be. Salvation is entirely of God from the beginning until the end. And since we did nothing to save ourselves and God did everything, we can be sure that he will love us relentlessly to the end, pursuing us, protecting us, and providing for us forever.
When we look at the story of the Exodus, we see that redemption is entirely God’s work. For 430 years, Israel was away from their land and then groaned under slavery, powerless to change their condition—yet God saw, God heard, and God acted. He raised up a deliverer, displayed His power over Egypt, parted the sea, and provided for his people every step of the way. Why? Because he is forever faithful to his covenant and his people. He carried them on eagles’ wings and will do the same for all who follow Christ.
That same God has redeemed us through Christ, rescuing us from slavery to sin. If He did all that for Israel and gave his Son for us, we can be certain he will never abandon us. May you find great comfort, courage, and confidence in the loyal love of our God who is forever faithful—and let that love move you to be increasingly faithful and loyal to him and to the people he has placed in your life, no matter what personal or relational difficulties or dysfunction you have experienced. Your God is forever faithful to you.
Lead Me to Calvary
One Day

After centuries of silence, God acted in a special way.

He chose a married couple devoted to him. (1:5-10)

He continued a plan set in motion long ago. (1:11-17)

He called for unquestioning faith. (1:18-25)

Through John the Baptist, God prepared people to follow Christ. (1:57-80)

Slow down to consider your calling.

Let Christmas renew your trust in God’s plan.

God sees the slavery of his people.

God saves his people from their slavery.

Salvation is entirely of God.