Exodus 8:1-9:35; Psalm 24; Matthew 19:13-30

There is a fatal misconception that there many ways to heaven- in the end all people are God’s people. This simply isn’t true. The Bible shows us how God set apart the people of Israel for Himself. He is a Covenant-keeping God, long-suffering with wayward, scared, ungrateful and at times faithless people. Good news for us. We aren’t that much different in our sin nature from Israel and yet God still pursues His people, displaying a love and power only He can possess.

The Lord wields His dominion over creation with the plagues He set upon Egypt. Scripture specifically points out how God protected His people from these afflictions, passing over the land of Goshen where the Hebrews lived (Exodus 8:22-23; 9:4; 26). He saved them from His wrathful plagues. The wonder of salvation is that none of us deserve it. We are all dead in our sins, guilty to have plagues set upon us before a holy God. Yet in His great mercy the Lord created and preserved a holy nation, a royal priesthood, the body of Christ, the Church. We who are in Christ Jesus are set apart as His holy possession. All acts of redemption recorded in the Bible foreshadow God’s greatest work in Jesus, rescuing us from the slavery of sin, resurrecting spiritually dead men and women for His ultimate Glory and our eternal good.

Jesus told His disciples that with man salvation is impossible. We cannot save ourselves or find another way to heaven than through Him (John 14:6). But with God, the miracle of salvation is not only possible, He actually made this a reality for all who place their trust in Jesus. God makes the impossible, possible.

Since the beginning of Time it was God’s desire to enjoy fellowship with His creation- us. When we separated ourselves from Him in sin, God made a way in Christ to set us apart once again, but this time with a purpose to make us holy. As Christians we are no longer held captive to our culture and the depravity of man. He has made and is making us holy to be like He is. Paul explains it this way, “And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified” (Romans 8:30). If you are a Christian, you are becoming what God has already called you to be. He is faithful to sanctify you and me until the day of Christ Jesus when we see Him face to face (Philippians 1:6). As God’s beloved, we are set apart to be free.

Grace upon grace,

April