Thursday 5 October 2017

I am Healthy, Deuteronomy 7:15 by Susan L.

"And the Lord will take away from you all sickness, and will afflict you with none of the terrible diseases of Egypt which you have known, but will lay them on all those who hate you." NKJV
 "And the Lord will protect you from all sickness. He will not let you suffer from the terrible diseases you knew in Egypt, but he will inflict them on all your enemies!" JCB

  I find Old Testament verses at odds with those of the New; at odds with Jesus' message of love.
  Bear with me as I think this through.

  So God's chosen people knew diseases in Egypt but I think this is more than physical ailments. I think it also includes spiritual sicknesses such as despair and hopelessness. Several centuries of slavery would make anyone despair of ever being free.
  So God sent Moses.
  Then the Israelite's path to freedom was paved by plagues visited upon the Egyptians.
  Signs and miracles. Violence and death. Vengeance and revenge upon their captors. The Israelites weren't touched or harmed in any way. The blood of a lamb spared them.
  Maybe this isn't about the Israelites. Maybe this is about the rest of the world. They would witness God's hand caring for His chosen people. They would see them victorious in battle after battle despite overwhelming odds. They would see them blessed with the finest lands, the healthiest flocks. The world would wonder, would want to be a member of God's chosen people.
  In the movie, "The Prince of Egypt", as the Israelites leave Egypt, they portray Egyptian guards dropping their spears and joining in the Exodus. Perhaps it's artistic licence or maybe it really happened. I'd like to think it did.
  It wasn't all happily ever after for them. Forty years they wandered, being tested, being humbled, being refined and purified because through these people, God's Son would come.
  He came so our sickness, our sins, can be forgiven and we can be made well and whole. He came so we can have a personal, intimate relationship with our Father without having to do a thing except believe in His Son who died. The final Lamb sacrifice required to solidify the New Covenant of God for all peoples.
 
 
 
 
 

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