When Jacob and his twelve sons first settled in Egypt, there were only seventy Hebrews in total.  Hundreds of years later there were two and a half million Hebrews.  Joseph enjoyed much favor with the ruler of Egypt, Pharaoh. Hundreds of years later the Egyptians were working the Hebrews as their slaves.  (Exodus 1:8-11).  You may recall in previous chapters that God told Abraham that his family would go into bondage into a strange land.  This did not catch God off guard.

Exodus 1:13-14 says,

13 “So the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with rigor.


14 And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage – in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field. All their service in which they made them serve was with rigor.”

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Real slavery is spiritual slavery, something that has someone in bondage on the inside.  I believe that these Hebrews, like the rest of us, were slaves before they became slaves.  I believe that they were already spiritual slaves and did not know it.  Perhaps it was God's mercy that allows people to experience great pain in their lives just so that they will cry out to Him.  Then in His mercy He can point out that the true issue is spiritual slavery and He can then go to work to solve the true problem.

Also, I believe that when they were set free from Egypt, that they carried their slavery with them.  They all died in the Wilderness from the slavery mindset, except for Joshua and Caleb.  It took the new generation of those born in the Wilderness to make it to the Promise Land.

The realms of the flesh, the world and Satan all operate on the principle of slavery.  Egypt is a shadow and type of the “world” system.  Pharaoh is a shadow and type of Satan.  God’s people were in bondage to the world and Satan, and certainly to their flesh, their old nature.  They were not regenerated people.  The Book of Exodus not only is a shadow and type of how God saves people from their ultimate bondage, giving them the new birth, but stands also as a powerful example of how God wants to save you and me, His children, from the slavery issues even after the new birth.  This is how we will be looking at the blood covenant in the Book of Exodus.

 

Slavery is the very foundation of the world system and Satan’s kingdom.

Slavery puts others to hard labor to accomplish something profitable for the slave owner.  In the natural sense it brings great profit to the owners of plantations to have slaves work the crops.  They don't have to pay them normal wages; they simply need to give them the basic food and shelter to keep them alive so that they may continue to work.

Spiritual slavery puts humans to work for Satan's profit, to accomplish his rebellious purposes.  He puts God's greatest creation to work for him and binds man in such a position so that he does not even recognize God much less fellowship with Him.  If God is recognized then He is portrayed as a mean hard taskmaster.

God was not caught off guard, neither was He indifferent.  He heard their cry and felt their pain, as He hears and feels yours as well.

Exodus 2:23-25 says,

23 Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage.

24 So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.

25 And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them.”

 

Psalm 31:7 (NIV) says,

7 “I will be glad and rejoice in your love, for you saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul.”

 

Notice that God remembered His blood covenant! This is key.  His people may be living in something less than the blood covenant exchange and blessings, but God is not inactive.  He remembers the blood that was shed in the ditch with Abram back in Genesis chapter 15.  He remembers that He agreed to take the exchange of whatever Abram and his descendants would suffer.

Exodus 3:7-10 says,

7 “And the LORD said: ‘I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.

8 So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites.

9 Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.

10 Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.’”

 

Isaiah chapter 61 was Jesus’ mission statement in prophecy hundreds of years before His birth.  It has to do with freeing slaves to receive their blood covenant blessing. The blessings actually include the entire chapter of Isaiah 61, but the following are just the first few verses.

Isaiah 61:1-4 says,

1 “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn,

3 To console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.

4 And they shall rebuild the old ruins, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations.”

 

In verse two, “The acceptable year of the Lord,” refers to the Year of Jubilee as recorded in Leviticus chapter 25.  This describes that every seven Sabbaths, or every 50th year, that there would be a “super Sabbath,” a year when all the slaves were set free and all debts and mortgages were cancelled.

When Jesus began His earthly ministry, He quoted the first few verses of this prophecy as recorded in Luke chapter 4, He stopped at the Year of Jubilee, stating that it was now fulfilled.  He did not continue to the Day of Vengeance of God.  Jesus began this vengeance at the Cross and resurrection.  We are in the Day of Vengeance now, and it will continue to progress until the final vengeance that Jesus takes on Satan at His ultimate coming.  Every time we overcome a generational curse of some type of slavery or bondage, those demons that had been perpetuating those curses and/or slavery are put into “early retirement” vengeance is taken upon them.  This could not happen until the vengeance of the Cross and resurrection of Jesus.  That was the beginning of vengeance. Now as Jesus’ body we are His agents carrying it that vengeance.

While the Year of Jubilee is in Leviticus 25, the Day of Vengeance is in Leviticus 26, and in verse 26:25 it even says, “And I will bring a sword against you that will execute the vengeance of the covenant.”  The covenant contains deliverance from slavery, but it comes with vengeance on those who are opposed to God's purposes, especially Satan.

 

Now, how about your slavery?

The Lord may have allowed you to begin to hurt as He did the Israelites so that you also may recognize your need to cry out to Him, and your need for the blood covenant.

Have you ever felt like you were in slavery?  Have you ever felt like life has been beating you up with “hard bondage?”

God cares about these feelings.  We will learn more about God’s great concern for you and His desire to set you free from all types of prisons, slavery, and bondages!  God’s great mission for you is to make you a free person.

God chose Moses to go to the ruler of Egypt, Pharaoh, and confront him to let His people go (Exodus 5:1).

Since 1979 Jesus has progressively set me free from “prisons” that I had been put into by sin.  A lot of these “sins” were things that others had placed on me.  Some of them were my own doing.  Some of them were simply things that were passed down from former generations.  I believe that all three of these are causes of bondages and prisons in our lives.

So many people are too proud to admit that they need help or that they need to be set free from slavery.

John 8:31-36 says,

31 “Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, ‘If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.

32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’

33 They answered Him, ‘We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can you say, ‘You will be made free?’

34 Jesus answered them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.

35 And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever.

36 Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.’”

 

Notice, Jesus spoke this to the Jews “who had believed on him.”  They did not want to hear that they were slaves and that they needed someone to set them free.  So many Christians today are the same way.

Paul tells us in Romans chapter 6 that we have “already” been set free from sin’s slavery.

Romans 6:16-18 (NIV) says,

16 “Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey – whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?

17 But thank be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted.

18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.”

 

He warns us in this chapter that our choices can keep us in bondages.

It is true that we have been (past tense) set free.  It is also true that we need to be (future tense) set free.  Legally we are no longer slaves to sin and Satan once we make Jesus our Lord.  However, there is a progressive realization of that fact.  Progressively, we work out that truth in our lives.

Philippians 2:12-13 (NIV, added phrases are from Amplified Bible) says,

12 “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed - not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence-- continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, [not in your own strength]

13 for it is God who works in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire] to will and to act according to his good purpose.”

 

We must cooperate with God in His Day of Vengeance.

The Day of Vengeance is not a neat and tidy operation, and often it includes suffering and tribulation.

A good example for visualizing this truth is the story of the Hebrews coming out of slavery in Egypt and going through the desert toward the land promised to them by God.  This story is recorded in the Books of Exodus and Numbers.

The Israelites were slaves to the Egyptians for over 400 years.  Egypt is the type of the “world” to which we were slaves prior to Jesus saving us.  I don’t think we can imagine how deep this slavery mindset was imbedded into the soul of these Hebrews.  Generation after generation these people had no identity, the husbands did not know when their wives would be taken away, and the mothers did not know when their children would be taken away.  They had no rights whatsoever.

God sent a deliverer, Moses, to confront the slave-master, Pharaoh.  Jesus came and confronted our slave-master Satan.  God knew that we could not free ourselves, that we needed someone who could deal with our real slave driver, Satan.

The Hebrews were led across the Red Sea in a supernatural way, out of the hands of Pharaoh.  Their former slave-masters had no more dominion over them.  Likewise, we were baptized into Christ and have been taken out of the hands of Satan.

God did not take the Hebrews directly to the Promised Land.  He led them through the desert.  The deserts of your life are going to come.  They are part of God’s program of deliverance from slavery, and you need to know how to respond in faith.  The Hebrews did not respond in faith.  Except for Joshua and Caleb, they all died in the desert.  However their descendents made it to the Promised Land.  That is a picture of our old nature dying in our “deserts” and our New Birth nature obtaining God’s promises, everything we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3).

Joshua and Caleb were different.  If you study their lifestyle, they hung around the “tent of meeting” even after the others went home.  They were hungry to hear and see God.  Their lifestyle just naturally instilled faith, and that faith spoke faith filled words.  Their faith and their words took them into the Promise Land, when no other Hebrews from their generation made it in.  All the others saw the “giants” and spoke negative, fear filled words (Numbers 13-14).

 

Take a lesson from the First Testament.

We see in Hebrews chapters 3 and 4 that God tells New Testament believers to be warned of the ways of the First Testament children of God.

God provided for the Israelites in the desert in a marvelous way.  Several times He provided for water to gush out of a rock.  He provided fresh bread from Heaven every morning (Exodus 16:15).  Their clothes and shoes never wore out.  God turned the bitter pool at Marah into a wonderful fresh-water lake (Exodus 15).  Yet they kept murmuring against God and Moses because they were not used to living by faith in the unseen God.  They continued to want to live by their natural senses, even preferring slavery.

These Hebrews show us that being a slave for a long time can give us a slavery mindset that is not easily overcome.  God knows how to walk us through the overcoming process, but so many times we do not like God’s ways.

What are some of the symptoms of the slavery mindset?  Give yourself a check-up.  However, as you go through this, please keep in mind that God does not want you to become condemned or shamed if any of these attributes are found.  He is simply trying to get you to see the invisible slavery so that He can set you free.  Just imagine yourself in a penitentiary with Jesus at the gate holding the key to your release.  Don’t be ashamed of the symptoms, perhaps addictions, improper behavior or the other attributes listed here, just get out!  Allow Him to set you free!

There is a good chance that you inherited your slavery, and even if you were the cause of it, you must know the love of God.  He uses His love to bring you to Him, not condemnation.  God does not blame!  He took the blame for you!  Run to Him with your slavery and allow Him to heal you!  He takes you just the way you are, but He loves you too much to leave you that way!

One of the sneakiest types of slavery is slavery to oneself, otherwise known as selfishness.  When we continue to yield to our own selfish desires, we become slaves to our old fallen nature, the flesh.

A lack of identity is the primary attribute of a slave.

Slaves obtain their identity from something or someone else besides God.  That is why you see people in the American culture running around trying to get fancy cars, having certain types of friends, dressing a certain way, being part of a movie star’s fan club, etc.  Some obtain their identity by being on a certain corporate payroll, or living in an elite neighborhood.  In some cultures it may include belonging to the proper tribe or family.  They are trying to define who they are by how they look, what they drive and with whom they associate.

How are we supposed to receive our identity? I believe that God created us to receive our identity through having a relationship with another being.  We are designed to become like the person with whom we become intimate.  We receive our identity from whom we obtain our needs.  God wants us to become intimate with Him in order to receive our identity from Him.  He has taken up residence inside of us.  If that does not give you identity, self-worth and dignity, then nothing will!

During the first century, the Romans dragged people from their homes and made them slaves.  Families were forever separated, never again to see their parents, children, brothers, sisters or spouses.  Most likely the women and men were raped and beaten.  They completely lost their identity.

Identity though one’s performance is typical of slavery.

From the slave's point of view his life was now different.  He had no identity of his own; he was a non-person.  The only thing that he had left was what he could do in his work.  The only scale or measure of who he was now was the way he performed his task.  If his master looked at him with pleasure because his task was done well, he could feel some self-esteem.  Even if another slave admired his work, or perhaps someone else up the ladder of authority gave him one compliment, one measure of “well done,” he could feel good about himself.

His life was now a formula.  (How I perform) + (how you feel about my performance) = (my self-worth).

The human being was created by God to obtain his worth from God’s unconditional love.  Now exactly the opposite has happened; humans feel like all love is totally conditioned upon how they perform, and worse, how their masters feel about their performance.

Is this where critical people come from?

If this slave’s performance is not very good, then he feels condemned.  On the flip side, if the slave sees another person whose performance is not perfect, he is quick to criticize and condemn.  I believe in this way, the slave is devaluing the other person and in some way feels that he is giving value to himself.  God set up a very powerful way to remind those who judge others to feel the pain of it.  Be careful with your judgments, they come back at you with at least the same intensity you used if not more.  Jesus said in Matthew 7:1, “Judge not that you be not judged.”  Then later in verses 3 and 4 He explained that your judgment is like a beam compared to the other person's faults, their splinters, that you are judging.  The person you are judging may be wrong, but your judgment is even worse.

James 4:11 says,

11 “Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.”

 

Slaves are “men-pleasers” (Ephesians 6:5). They are constantly trying to get the applause and approval of other people.  Their work has no other meaning.  If their boss, their parents or teachers are pleased with their work, they feel good about their self worth; if not, they feel like “nothings.” They are always attempting to get friends who will give them their identity and self-worth.

Slaves work for “eye-service” (Ephesians 6:5).

While they are being watched, they work hard, but as soon as their authorities turn their backs, they goof off.  They hold in their resentment of their authority figures.  They criticize them and bring them down all the time.

Slaves Complain. They always blame their problems on other people.  In their minds, their horrible state of being is always somebody else's fault.  This often manifests itself by devaluing others with gossip and criticism.

Some slaves become very good at manipulation.  They learn how to please and even “love” others, so that they will be “loved back.”

Slaves do not like obeying authority. They have learned that authority is bad; they hate their authority figures.

Slaves control others. They have no authority, so they are always manipulating others in order to serve their own needs.  Some slaves use their sheer brute force, like shouting and screaming in order to get others to conform.

Slaves have no self-esteem. They use other people, religion, amusement and immorality, which are some of the same things the Hebrews used in the desert to achieve some sense of self worth.

Slaves become addicts. If you are addicted to food, drugs, alcohol, pornography, or even seemingly more benign things like newspapers, TV, computer games, etc., you are a slave.  God has the power to make you free.  Do not live in condemnation for your failure.


Use this checklist to see if there are areas of your life that are enslaved and that do not line up with love, with the nature of the Holy Spirit Who dwells in you.

Colossians 3:1-25 says,

1 “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.

2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.

3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience,

7 in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.

8 But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth.

9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds,

10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him,

11 where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.

12 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering;

13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.

14 But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.

15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.

16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

18 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.

19 Husbands, love your wives and do not be bitter toward them.

20 Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord.

21 Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.

22 Bondservants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God.

23 And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men,

24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.

25 But he who does wrong will be repaid for what he has done, and there is no partiality.”

Colossians 4:1 says,

1 “Masters, give your bondservants what is just and fair, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.”

 

This is a great checklist to use as a mirror for our own lives.  If there are areas that do not line up, bring them to God for forgiveness and healing.

Jesus gives us the victory as a done deal!  Our faith in His Word is what will deliver us.  We need to sharpen our relationship skills with Jesus, speaking the truth to Him, listening to His Word, the Holy Spirit and fellowshipping with the Church.  As we do this, as we keep our relationship with Him, then His life in the vine runs through us, His branches (John 15).

 

Of Mystery Babylon, the world system ruled by Satan, Jesus speaks an end to its slave tactics in the following passage.

Revelation 18:11-13 says,

11 “And the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, for no one buys their merchandise anymore:

12 merchandise of gold and silver, precious stones and pearls, fine linen and purple, silk and scarlet, every kind of citron wood, every kind of object of ivory, every kind of object of most precious wood, bronze, iron, and marble;

13 and cinnamon and incense, fragrant oil and frankincense, wine and oil, fine flour and wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and bodies and souls of men.”

The blood of Jesus will make you a free person!  Appropriate it.

 

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