Thy mercy, my God, is the theme
of my song. Christ is the subject and substance
of every page in the Scriptures. Those pages which do not directly
testify of Christ Himself declare His purpose and work in the redemption
of that people which were hidden in Him from before the foundation
of the world. The creation of the world was
manifested in order to display the glory of His grace in the
magnificent deliverance of those whom He loved with an everlasting
love. All of history from beginning to end is His story. This truth
is illustrated very plainly in his direction for Jacob to go
from the land of Canaan down into Egypt. Canaan was that land
which the Lord had promised Abraham when he instructed him to get
out of Haran. The scripture indicates that
there is but one sovereign, and he is the God of heaven and earth,
and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing,
And he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and
among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his
hand, or say unto him, What doest thou? He is the high and lofty
one, that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy. But our God
is in the heavens, he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Therefore,
we must conclude that every action, reaction, event, and activity
which takes place in the heavens and the earth can only occur
according to His grand design and sovereign will. He alone
determines the destiny of every part of His creation. He created
Adam for a purpose which Adam perfectly fulfilled, just as
He created Judas for a purpose which he perfectly fulfilled.
In the same fashion, He raised up Pharaoh to magnify the glory
of his power in his certain destruction. He did this in order to ultimately
manifest the glory of His grace in the deliverance of His people
out of the very hand of this despotic and rebellious ruler,
and thereby to illustrate His redemption of all those children
which He chose in Christ before the foundation of the world.
Therefore, he directs Jacob to go down into Egypt and declares
that he will not forsake him while he is there and will surely
bring him out at a future time. Jacob was already in the land
of Canaan when he was directed by the Lord to go down into Egypt.
Little did Jacob know of the enslavement that would ensue
as a result of the fulfillment of God's purpose to redeem the
children of Israel and deliver them from oppression. There is
no time known unto men when the children of God have not been
the children of God, the appointed heirs of grace, and the objects
of the everlasting love of the Father. It is upon this basis
that they were chosen unto salvation, elect according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father. Thus have they always been the
delight of their Father, and those in whom he has taken pleasure
according to their union to Christ, the one in whom his soul delights.
In the purpose of God, it did please him to bruise his son
for the purpose of manifesting the glory of his grace in the
deliverance of his people from the bondage of sin. He was appointed
as a lamb slain before ever there was such a thing as a sinner.
He did manifest his love for his own and demonstrated his
determined purpose to save them by the laying down of his life
for their redemption and in order that he might be both just and
their justifier. So in order for this to be demonstrated,
it was necessary that they be subjected unto vanity in order
that they might be seen as the willing subjects of sin, who,
according to their own natural state, were rebels against God,
despising his way, and were each one worthy of destruction in
their flesh. Jacob, whose beginnings were
in Canaan, nonetheless died in Egypt. And though he was not
a witness of it, his posterity was brought into slavery and
under the lash of a hard taskmaster. Yet Jacob died in hope because
he was given faith to believe that he who promised is also
faithful to perform that which he promised. He told Jacob that
he would surely bring him again to the land of Canaan, even though
death would be the only thing that Egypt could provide for
him. The people of God here in this world have no continuing
city and can but view Canaan's land from afar. Yet in the midst
of the darkness that swirls about here in Egypt's land, there is
light in each household upon whose doorpost is sprinkled the
blood of the everlasting covenant. The same Joseph who closes their
eyes in death is the same one whose touch shall awaken them
and carry them out of Egypt, even as Joseph took his father's
body back to Canaan. He is that one who has promised
never to leave nor forsake his own. Having loved his own which
were in the world, he loved them unto the end. If you would like a free transcript
of this broadcast, email us at forthepoor at windstream.net.