#DailyDevotion With Outstretched Arms The Lord Delivered Us
Deut. 5:15 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.
The Lord had delivered the Israelites up from the land in which they were slaves, the land of Egypt. He did it with a mighty outstretched arm. Because of this the Lord God commanded the Israelites to keep the Sabbath. They were to remember they were once slaves who had to work every day, but now they had a day of rest to remember how the Lord had freed them.
We as Christians, while we do not have to observe the Sabbath as the Jews do (that would be a return to slavery the elementals Gal. 4 and 5) should observe some sort of Sabbath rest as well for similar reasons. Before we were in Christ we too were slaves. Jesus says, Joh 8:34 “Jesus answered them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.’” Who hasn’t practiced sin? No one. St. Paul reminds us, Tit 3:3 “For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.” We were slaves to sin. We obeyed its calling and demands. We obeyed at times even if we didn’t want to.
Not only were we slaves to sin, the book of Hebrews says, 2:15 “…[He delivered] all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.” We were slaves to the fear of death. That which you fear is your master Jesus says. You either fear God or fear death. The fear of death causes us to sin. We think this life is all we have so we do things to get what we want, when we want it, no matter who it hurts and despite what God says about it.
But the Lord did not leave us there, Rom 6:17 ESV “But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed,…” Like the Israelites, the very same Lord who saved them with a mighty outstretched arm saved us by stretching out his arms upon the cross. In Egypt it looked mighty with plagues and the like. In Jerusalem it looked weak, suffering and dying upon the cross. But it wasn’t weak but meek, for he had the power to stop it and the power to lay down his life. He chose to lay down his life for us, paying the price of our death with his death. Atoning for our sins to which we were enslaved by shedding his blood for them. Raising himself mightily on the first day of the week demonstrating his power over sin and death on our behalf. For this reason we should gather together regularly, to remember what he has done for us. We should be like the Israelites who forsook the Sabbath so often and then turned to be enslaved by other gods and peoples. If we don’t gather together to remind one another what Jesus the Lord did for us, we too may experience the same fate and be enslaved again to sin and the fear of death. But thanks be to God, he provides us pastors and places we can gather to remember his great salvation for us and remain free unto everlasting life.
Heavenly Father, by the outstretched arm of your Son Jesus Christ, you delivered the Israelites from the Egyptians and by the same outstretched arms on the cross you delivered us from slavery to sin and the fear of death. Ever draw us together with all your saints to remember this salvation and be kept in it. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.