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The Lord told him: “Leave here and travel eastward. Hide out in the Kerith Valley near the Jordan. Drink from the stream; I have already told the ravens to bring you food there.” So he did as the Lord told him; he went and lived in the Kerith Valley near the Jordan. The ravens would bring him bread and meat each morning and evening, and he would drink from the stream.
Praise our God for He is “Jehovah-Jireh”, the God who provides. Elijah has just announced to King Ahab that a severe drought will happen throughout the land and it will not rain save at Elijah’s command. Elijah, per the Lord’s direction, is supposed to go hide in a ravine. Get this; ravens are going to bring him food. This isn’t exactly normal raven behavior and it reveals God’s authority over all of creation. This is not to say that we should all move to ravines and wait for ravens to bring us food. This is another example to help our unbelief about who God is. God will provide!
I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that my situation has actually turned out to advance the gospel: The whole imperial guard and everyone else knows that I am in prison for the sake of Christ, and most of the brothers and sisters, having confidence in the Lord because of my imprisonment, now more than ever dare to speak the word fearlessly. Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from goodwill. The latter do so from love because they know that I am placed here for the defense of the gospel.
Paul is writing to the church at Philippi from prison, explaining how his imprisonment has led to the advance of the gospel. Because of the integrity of Paul everyone knows that he’s in chains for Christ. Paul is not ashamed of the gospel, and has embraced the new creation that he is in Christ. Paul was not always for God – so much so that he got a name change. God uses all things for His good. Paul goes to prison, people get saved. What seems like persecution and the enemy winning proves to be God’s plan to extend mercy and salvation toward the unlikely and unworthy.
Now the Lord was going before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them in the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel day or night. He did not remove the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night from before the people.
Israel is free, but God does not stop with the miraculous. We are set free, but salvation is the first of many miracles God wishes to unleash all over your life and through your life. Expect the miraculous from God and lay hold of the sheer awesome life that is found in Christ alone! This reveals the character of our God who desires to watch over us and LEAD us to where we should be; where we need to be. That is, straight to Him through His faithfulness, His promises, His SON. Rest, follow, and surrender.
In the future, when your son asks you ‘What is this?’ you are to tell him, ‘With a mighty hand the Lord brought us out from Egypt, from the land of slavery. When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to release us, the Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of people to the firstborn of animals. That is why I am sacrificing to the Lord the first male offspring of every womb, but all my firstborn sons I redeem.’ It will be for a sign on your hand and for frontlets on your forehead, for with a mighty hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.”
Right on the heels of victory, God commands Israel to remember what the Lord has done in delivering them out of Egypt. Israel was once free, then became slaves, and needed to be set free. We once thought we were free, yet we became slaves to sin – and were hopelessly slaves to sin. Just as Israel needed to be delivered from Egypt, we needed to be delivered from sin. Many firstborn’s had to die to break through Pharaoh’s hardness. God’s firstborn and only Son chose to die to deliver us from the cost our sin. Hear and share the good news.
Moses said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘About midnight I will go throughout Egypt, and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, to the firstborn son of the slave girl who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle. There will be a great cry throughout the whole land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor ever will be again. But against any of the Israelites not even a dog will bark against either people or animals, so that you may know that the Lord distinguishes between Egypt and Israel.’ All these your servants will come down to me and bow down to me, saying, ‘Go, you and all the people who follow you,’ and after that I will go out.” Then Moses went out from Pharaoh in great anger.
Pharaoh again does not obey the Lord. In previous plagues, God at times made the Israelites exempt from them. In this, the Lord includes the Israelites. For the firstborn to be saved from death, Israel must slaughter a lamb and place its blood over their doors. Please hear this – the Lord passes over those who are covered by the blood of the lamb. Here we see one of the many moments in scripture that God is using history to reveal His plan for our future salvation. The Lamb who chose to spill His blood to cover and save us from death is Jesus Christ. Amen!