Consume The Whole Lamb
The First Passover
God Forced the Enemy to Let Them Go
(Exodus 3:19 NLT) “But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand forces him.”
God has always wanted his people free of slavery and abuse. In the Old Testament history—referred to in this passage—to achieve this, he needed to rescue them from Egypt and the cruel tyranny of Pharaoh. For us, the Old Testament Egypt and its brutal ruler represent Satan and his world system. The emancipation of God’s people in Exodus is a prophetic picture of how he wants to fully release us from all bondage today.
Note that in the exodus story, those in slavery to the enemy and his tyrannical system were already God’s people. So for us, this prophetic picture speaks not only of our initial salvation, but also of our coming into complete freedom after our new birth. Yes, it’s possible to be born anew into God’s family and yet still be in partial bondage to the enemy’s kingdom—along with the world, its system, and fleshly sins and habits. These tie us to Satan’s rule in some areas; these in turn render us outside God’s complete protective covering, exposed partially to the enemy’s pernicious and merciless brutality.
This double-mindedness is not what God wants for us. To lead us to his safety, he gives us instructions. They may seem harsh, daunting, or even demanding, but Jesus is both Lord and Shepherd; only through his directives can he lead us into his safe place for us:
(Hebrews 5:9 NKJV) And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.
(Psalm 23:1–2 NKJV) The LORD is my shepherd; … He leads me …
(John 14:15, 21, 24 NLT) If you love me, obey my commandments. ... {21} Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. ... {24} Anyone who doesn’t love me will not obey me.”
We need to be completely out of Satan’s rulership and his world system; we need, instead, to be entirely under the covering of God’s protective kingdom through our faith and obedience. Any part of our lives that is outside of God’s covering is in peril any time the enemy wants to take advantage of it; he has his hooks in those areas.
Despite our upright desire to walk free of the counterfeit king and his deceptive kingdom, in our opening passage, God reveals that Satan will not let you go from his grip unless a “mighty hand forces him.” A different translation of the ancient Hebrew renders it thus:
(Exodus 3:19 GNT) I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless he is forced to do so.
In the New Testament, Jesus echoes this same use of force to advance God’s kingdom and thus free the enslaved pawns of Satan’s deceptive dominion. (Remember, Satan has blinded all of his hostages so they simply cannot see that they are being held in abject slavery (See: 2 Cor. 3:14, 4:4; Eph. 4:18).)
(Matthew 11:12 DKJV) “And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven forcefully advances and the forceful try to seize it back by force.”
Force is needed to rescue people and territory from the wicked overlord of this world and his system. In Pharaoh’s case, what forced him to free his enslaved workforce? The final plague, the death of the firstborn:
(Exodus 11:1 NKJV)
