Resurrection Reconsidered - Pt. 2 Redirected

In Part 1 of our series, Resurrection Reconsidered, we discovered how the Resurrection of Jesus is directly connected to Passover and the story of Moses with the people of Israel being freed from enslavement found in the book of Exodus. We first looked at when the people of Israel placed the lambs blood across their door frames, which wrote out the Hebrew word Chet חֵטְא, that stands for the word Sin. God told the people of Israel in Exodus 12 to apply the blood of the lamb to Sin (Chet). We then saw in Exodus 12:11, the description of cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand as an imagery of describing someone going forth. To be prepared. This we saw was Part 1 of the Resurrection. The blood of the lamb is applied to sin for the purpose of going forth or moving forward.

This applying of the lambs blood to sin in order for one to to go forth, to move forward with a purpose has to do with a person being Reclaimed by God into his Kingdom. Meaning that one who has chosen to be reclaimed into Gods Kingdom has a purpose, and in order to fulfill this purpose given to them by God they must move forward in the direction called will lead them in. And this is where we begin Part 2 - Redirected.

The Resurrection of Christ is about how God fulfilled a promise he had made to all of His Creation clear back to the beginning. It is God Reclaiming all of His creation, and Redirecting the lives of those who choose to reclaim their relationship with God. In Exodus 12 we see the Passover happening with God instructing the people to apply the lambs blood to the door posts and thus death being defeated. Jesus rising from the grave, is a confirmation of that promise made in Exodus 12 showing that death has been truly defeated. That has God reclaimed in this life now, but also in life after death. Eternally Reclaimed!

However, there is still much to be done in this life. Which means that we are in fact Between the Resurrections. There is the death and Resurrection of Christ and then the Resurrection of all that God Reclaimed - which is still to come. Christ being that lambs blood that we can apply to our door frames of our lives, to our sin, is when we are Reclaimed in the Resurrection of this new life we've chosen. But now, there is more to this Resurrection of life for us. We must now be Redirected in our lives.

In Exodus 12:31 we see something happening in the Exodus story. Let's read verse 31, "During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the Lord as you have requested." [Exodus 12:31]

Notice how Pharaoh himself remember why God was Reclaiming those who chose to listen to and obey His words, his guidance. He said to Moses and Aaron, Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the Lord as you have requested. All that God did in Resurrecting His Relationship with Israel had a purpose behind it! All that God did in Christ's Resurrection to Restore His Relationship with You also has that same purpose we see here in Exodus 12:31.

The purpose of Resurrection for our lives now is so that we right now in this life can be Redirected for a purpose. That purpose is to Go out of Egypt in order to Worship The Lord! Whether you know this or not, many of us, especially me, have been or are enslaved in our own Egypt's that have within them their own Pharaoh's. What exactly do I mean by this?

Using the Passover in the Exodus story as an image of our own lives is the principle behind the passage. You see in my own life I was also in my Egypt, a life in which I was enslaved. A life of depression, discord, and despair. Within that Egypt was my own Pharaoh. Now for many of us, the reason our lives are in the direction they are going is because we all have these kind of Pharaoh's that are ruling over our lives instead of God ruling over our lives.

The reason my life was in such disarray was because I had not chosen to leave my Egypt because I had not chosen God over my own Pharaoh. Even though as a young boy I asked Christ into my life, I asked for forgiveness, went to Church, and read my Bible...I did not realize that I had yet chosen to Redirect my life in order to Worship The Lord!

*Important Note: Understand that I'm using the terms Egypt and Pharaoh as an image for what I am about to share with you.

I was enslaved still in my own Egypt, under my own Pharaoh. I was so self-centered into my life that I didn't even see it because I had lived there for so long. What was my Pharaoh that caused this enslavement of self-centeredness? Insecurity! My Pharaoh was the insecurity that had built up within me for so many years. This Egypt of enslavement was the doubt I held, not In God, but in myself. My insecurity created thoughts that in turn developed certain feelings of fear, anger, sadness to even the degree of depression. I was a slave to my own Pharaoh.

The sacrificial Lamb of God, Jesus, was given to me and for me, as well as for you, to place on the door frames of my home, which in fact is my life and your life. God provided the lamb, but I had not really placed the lambs blood on my door frames. Because had I done this, then I would have done the next-step that we see here in the Exodus story. To Go, Worship The Lord. In Exodus 12: 50-51 shows us what happened after the had done what God commanded, "All the Israelites did just what the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron. And on that very day the Lord brought the Israelites out of Egypt by their divisions."

God brought the Israelites out of Egypt. The principle behind this passage taught me that if I had truly done what God commanded by placing the lambs blood on my door posts, then I would have without hesitation chosen to be led out of my Egypt, out from my enslavement of self-centeredness into the place God wished to lead me, as He wishes to lead you. When I soon realized what this meant for me, I knew this meant to no longer be ruled by my Pharaoh but to instead be ruled by God.

Consider Jesus in connection with this. If all Jesus came for was to die on the cross and to then be resurrected, then why spend on that time on this earth before this great event happened? Why not just come, die and be resurrected? He didn't though. What did Jesus do all those years before this event happened. He himself growing up in Israel studied, lived by God's teachings and then himself taught others. The very command Jesus gave to the Church, to you and to me, was to go out and make disciples [Matthew 28:18-20]. You could think of discipleship in this way, mentorship. We are to mentor others as we ourselves have been mentored.

The very ministry of Christ's was that of teaching what it meant to be in the Kingdom of Heaven. God's kingdom is that in which God Himself is ruling and reigning over our lives. The Kingdom is about Going out of Egypt to Worship The Lord. And I had not chosen to do that. I chose to remain enslaved in my Egypt under the Pharaoh I had created. You may think you Pharaoh is that of a life of sin. Sin my friend is the behavior that others see. Behaviors are driven by our feelings, and our feelings come from our very thoughts. It is why Jesus came and taught the people of Israel. Making his own disciples, mentoring them.

So the question I have for you today is, have you decided to place that lambs blood on those door posts in order that you may Go out to Worship The Lord? Have you chosen to allow God Himself as Jesus to mentor you, to become His disciple? Because when you truly decide to do this, you too will then begin to take that next-step towards leaving your life enslaved to whatever Pharaoh you've created in order to fulfill the purpose God has for your life?

I encourage you to read this story in Exodus, to see the principle behind the passage of Passover and see yourself placing the lambs blood that God provided for us. To listen to and follow after the teachings and ways of God. I encourage you to then take that next-step of leaving your Egypt in order to Go, Worship The Lord!

The Next-Step in Part 3.