I shared a short message of encouragement in the chapel this past week...
Below are the highlights of it:
THE EXODUS
The Lord has been showing me something about our afflictions, and our deliverance from them. Remember the Israelites, how they were enslaved by the Egyptians for 400 years? Well, you know, just before their deliverance came, their afflictions got worse.
Pharaoh (who was a type of Satan) was obviously afraid that one day a deliverer would come for the Jews. He also felt intimidated by the large number of Hebrews who were in the land. And then the time came when Moses (a type of Christ) stepped before the Egyptian leader to demand the release of God's people from captivity.
But rather than showing mercy, and easing up on their afflictions and bondages, Pharaoh got upset and increased the sufferings of the Jews. This is today's portrait, in a sense, of the devil.
Because Jesus Christ is soon to come (and I believe the devil knows this), in his anger he is actually increasing his attacks upon God's children. The devil is angry because soon God's people are going to be snatched off of this sin-scorched earth, and we will be ushered into heaven.
In Heaven, we will be out of Satan's reach forever, just like the Jews, once they crossed the Red Sea, were out of Pharaoh's reach.
There is a parallel here. And so I believe that one of the reasons we, as a church and as individual believers, are going through so many trials and struggles in virtually every area of our lives, is because Satan knows that our Deliverer (Jesus) will soon come to take us away.
The devil is just trying to get in his last licks. Pharaoh did the exact same thing to the Jews. But just as Pharaoh was fully outsmarted and conquered when the day of deliverance came for the Hebrew slaves, so too Satan will be fully conquered when Christ comes for us.
For when Jesus comes for His church, at this moment, all suffering, pain, struggle and hardship will come to an immediate end. Praise the Lord! This should encourage us. Satan knows he has but a short time, and so do we!
D.B.
THE EXODUS
The Lord has been showing me something about our afflictions, and our deliverance from them. Remember the Israelites, how they were enslaved by the Egyptians for 400 years? Well, you know, just before their deliverance came, their afflictions got worse.
Pharaoh (who was a type of Satan) was obviously afraid that one day a deliverer would come for the Jews. He also felt intimidated by the large number of Hebrews who were in the land. And then the time came when Moses (a type of Christ) stepped before the Egyptian leader to demand the release of God's people from captivity.
But rather than showing mercy, and easing up on their afflictions and bondages, Pharaoh got upset and increased the sufferings of the Jews. This is today's portrait, in a sense, of the devil.
Because Jesus Christ is soon to come (and I believe the devil knows this), in his anger he is actually increasing his attacks upon God's children. The devil is angry because soon God's people are going to be snatched off of this sin-scorched earth, and we will be ushered into heaven.
In Heaven, we will be out of Satan's reach forever, just like the Jews, once they crossed the Red Sea, were out of Pharaoh's reach.
There is a parallel here. And so I believe that one of the reasons we, as a church and as individual believers, are going through so many trials and struggles in virtually every area of our lives, is because Satan knows that our Deliverer (Jesus) will soon come to take us away.
The devil is just trying to get in his last licks. Pharaoh did the exact same thing to the Jews. But just as Pharaoh was fully outsmarted and conquered when the day of deliverance came for the Hebrew slaves, so too Satan will be fully conquered when Christ comes for us.
For when Jesus comes for His church, at this moment, all suffering, pain, struggle and hardship will come to an immediate end. Praise the Lord! This should encourage us. Satan knows he has but a short time, and so do we!
D.B.