Easter Week

April 20-26

Books of Exodus and Hebrews

The Israelites are stuck with their backs to the sea, facing a furiously advancing Egyptian army that will violently force them into resubmission. But God has a much greater plan for his people. He parts the waters, allowing the Israelites to cross over on dry ground, while the Egyptians perish under the collapsing walls. At first glance, this doesn’t sound much like an Easter story, but it is. It is a story of regeneration, of our baptism.

What God uses to save his people, he also uses to destroys his enemies. Much like that great army, he crushes our sinful nature in a deluge of baptismal water. But he does more. Beyond that watery graveyard lay our former life, lived under the weight of idolatry and sin. As the waves close in, our deliverance is sealed. There is no need to ever return to that place.

And yet, despite this great miracle, we want to. When our LORD leads us into a seemingly uncertain wilderness, we complain. Our physical needs get the best of us, and we convince ourselves it was better in the old world, where our hearts were heavy, but our bellies were full. The LORD hears this complaint and resets our priorities. One day, we will feast. But for now, we eat the manna he gives us with hopeful hearts. And at Easter, why shouldn’t they be? Our Lord is risen! Death itself can no longer loom; what physical pain or worry can overwhelm us?

So the LORD leads us on toward the promised land, but the journey is long. How do we follow? The writer of the book of Hebrews answers. We live by faith: the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things unseen. We have not seen heaven, but God has supplied us with a cloud of witnesses throughout Scripture that testify to it, and teach us to believe and trust in our Savior.

Easter is a time when we stand on the other side of the sea, free from sin and death, knowing full well how the story will end. So we rejoice and declare as God’s people:

The LORD will reign for ever and ever. (Ex. 15:18)

Holy Week

April 13-19

Books of Exodus and Hebrews

The great kingdom of Egypt was on the brink of collapse: water contaminated, crops destroyed, livestock dead, silver and gold jewelry handed over, and the firstborn in every home struck down. Clearly, this Israelite God had a problem with Pharaoh, yet he would not relent by letting God’s people go. Even his own aides protest. Would he honestly sacrifice the well-being of his country to hold on to slaves?

Pharaoh’s stubbornness is beyond politics. The question, in his hardened heart, isn’t whether the Israelites can leave; it is whether letting them go subjects him to their God. He would be forced to concede, and Pharaoh concedes to no one.

These final days of Lent are a good time to consider the tyrant that lives in our own hearts, the hardened usurper who insists that he is righteousness. Bowing to no one, he enslaves, constantly and violently subjecting us to our basest desires and most wicked ambitions.

Fortunately, for us, the righteous king became the hardened sinner. This week, as we follow our Savior to the cross, we will see this in stark detail. There, we have a prime opportunity to confess our sin and submit to the mercy and grace of the true God. The liberation is at hand. We are about to get out.

But our exodus has only begun. Next week, when Easter dawns, we will get a glimpse of the ending: the triumph over death and the new land to which our LORD is leading us, the land free from the chains of sin, full of holiness and joy.