Times change and so must we; there’s no going back.
13 … but this one thing I do, FORGETTING those things which are behind, and REACHING FORTH unto those things which are before,
14 I PRESS TOWARD the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3 (Verbs, the things we should DO, are in Capitals)
The account of God’s people, Israel, continued to move on in the land of Egypt. Times had changed and their favoured position under Joseph no longer existed.
6 Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, 7 but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them. Exodus 1
God had met with Jacob as he was leaving Canaan for the last time, the land promised by God to him and his forefathers;
2 And God spoke to Israel in a vision at night and said, ‘Jacob! Jacob!’
‘Here I am,’ he replied.
3 ‘I am God, the God of your father,’ he said. ‘Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I WILL MAKE YOU INTO A GREAT NATION THERE. 4 I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again. And Joseph’s own hand will close your eyes.’ Genesis 46
But as we said, times and circumstances had changed for the people;
8 Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. 9 ‘Look,’ he said to his people, ‘the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. 10 Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.’
11 So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labour, Exodus 1
The new king, the Pharaoh, was determined to destroy this numerous people who were living in the land of Egypt, representing the world. First of all he enslaved them and made their lives ‘bitter with hard labour’.
12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites Exodus 1
The same thing was also said of the Church Martyrs, the more of them that the devil killed, the more the Church grew.
15 The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, (interesting that the midwives’ names were recorded in scripture) 16 ‘When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.’
Pharaoh now ordered the midwives to murder the Male children, but they refused, at risk of punishment or maybe death;
17 The midwives, however, Feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live.
These two ladies had TO MAKE A CHOICE, Kill the Male Children or Fear God (the God of Israel) and allow them to live. Pharaoh has been and is still killing many people to this day. The midwives took a stand and God rewarded them;
20 So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. 21 And because the midwives FEARED GOD, He gave them families of their own.
May God bless and keep you today, even as He kept these faithful midwives.