God rescued a people for himself out of slavery, revealed himself to them, made a way for relationship with him. Sounds like something he did with my life when he blessed me with faith in Christ. But, I am writing about the pentateuch book of Numbers. The parallels of the redemption story in Israel’s history was meant by God to be strikingly similar to how he revealed Christ to people in the first century and beyond.
He pulled them out of slavery to the most powerful nation in the world at the time, Egypt.
He as delivered me from my post powerful enemy – Sin!
He gave them a means of relating to him through the law, the tabernacle, the Levitical system!
He gave us a new law, one written on our hearts, and a means of relating with him through the everlasting atoning work of Jesus and the indwelling Spirit of God.
They did not regard all the Lord had done for them as worth placing faith in him, and desired to go back to Egypt & slavery.
So often in my foolishness, I go back to slavery by choosing sin, rather than walking forward in faith.
He gave them a promise via Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob of a promised land, which was God’s means of blessing them with his rest. But as in Numbers, this rest was only available to them if they trusted God to deliver them from the enemies in this land.
He has given to me an eternal rest (see Hebrews 3.14-4.3), which is available through trusting Christ for my salvation. Its a belief or unbelief issue – with them and for us!
It is interesting how God parallels physical history with spiritual history in how he brought Jesus into the world and communicated him to the first century and to us!