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Exodus 20.2, 3
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.”
Deuteronomy 5.6, 7
“‘I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.’”
The Redeemer. God identifies Himself as the One Who brought Israel out of captivity in Egypt. In Egypt Israel was enslaved to the whims of Pharaohs and overseers. The promises eluded them; oppressors exploited them; and all the memory of their special calling from the Lord was being systematically erased.
But in faithfulness to His covenant promises (Ex. 2.24), God came to His people in Egypt, and by a mighty arm and an outstretched hand, delivered them from captivity under the leadership of Moses and Aaron. This deliverance was all of grace, and bears strong testimony to the steadfast love and faithfulness of God.
He Who had thus delivered His people would not fail, from that time forward, to relate to them on that same basis. Israel, after her deliverance, belonged to God; they were His people, and He would be their God, dwelling among them, receiving their worship, and blessing them according to all their needs and all His precious and very great promises. The Law, which God gave to His people upon their deliverance, was intended as an administrative means by which the people of the covenant could know the blessings of the covenant in fellowship with the God of the covenant and His people. The Law, therefore, is, like the deliverance of God, a gesture of His covenant love, given to Israel entirely by grace and wholly for their good and God’s glory.
Consequently, the redeemed of the Lord are not their own; as Israel belonged to God Who delivered them from captivity in Egypt, so believers belong to God Who redeemed them through Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 6.19, 20). We have been redeemed by grace through faith so that we, belonging to God, might do the good works which God has before ordained for us in His Law (Eph. 2.8-10).
This series of In the Gates we present a detailed explanation of the Law of God, beginning with the Ten Commandments, and working through the statutes and rules that accompany each commandment. For a practical guide to the role of God’s Law in the practice of ethics, get The Ground for Christian Ethics by going to www.MyParuchia.com and click on our Book Store.