God Delivers His Oppressed People (Exodus 3:7-10)
Sermon Summary
Pastor David Yan
26 February 2023
The church has always been oppressed. Jesus warned of this—"in the world you will have tribulation" (John 16:33).
How does the Lord respond to the oppression of his people? Israel's experience in Egypt gives as some understanding.
First, the Lord sees. Our God is a living God not a dumb Egyptian idol. He saw the suffering of Israel. He saw the suffering of Jesus. He sees the suffering of the church. He sees your suffering even now.
The Lord hears the prayers of his people. Prayers rise and reach the ears of God in heaven. Jesus prayed intensively on earth. The Father heard his cries. When the church prays, the Lord hears. If parents hear the cries of their children we should not be unbelieving that God hears the prayers of his children.
Note the Lord knew his people before he delivered them. Before Israel was delivered God called them his people. He knows his elect before they are saved. They are chosen before the foundation of the world.
The Lord knows the plight of his people. He saw the suffering in Egypt. He saw the travail of his Son. He knows all about the oppression of the church and is not indifferent to their pain.
The Lord intervenes. He came down. He miraculously brought Israel out of Egypt. He came down in the person of Jesus Christ to bring about a miraculous deliverance from sin.
God came down at the birth of Jesus. God came down at the crucifixion of Jesus. God will come down again at the second coming of Jesus. The Christian faith is all about God coming down. Because God came down to us we can rise up to him.
The Lord brings Israel to a better place than Egypt. It is a land flowing with milk and honey. This is a way to describe heaven. The Lord will lead his oppressed people out of suffering into heaven.
In the process of deliverance God uses a leader. In Egypt that leader was Moses. For us the leader is Jesus Christ who delivers us from the bondage of sin.
Oppression gives us opportunity to pray before God's throne. From that throne we obtain mercy and grace to help in our time of need.
Do not allow oppression to embitter you but embolden you. Praise God for your exodus from Egypt and your entry into the promised land—heaven itself.