METHODIST CHURCH NIGERIA
DIOCESE OF OSOGBO
TWENTY-FIRST (21ST) SUNDAY IN
ORDINARY TIME/ELEVENTH (11TH) SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY
23RD AUGUST, 2020.
GOD’S WORD TO GOD’S
PEOPLE.
THEME:An Afflicted People
(Iran eni a ti a hun pon loju)
TEXT: Exodus 1:10&11
“Come,
let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event
of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out
of the land. Therefore, they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with
their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh supply cities, Pitom and Raamses.”
“E wan naa, e je ki a fi ogbon ba won se; ki
won ki o ma se bisi i, yoo si se nigbati ogun kan ba se won o dapo mo awon ota
wa pelu won o maa ba wa ja, won o si jade kuro ni ile yii. Nitori naa ni won se
yan akonisise le won, lati fi ise won pon won loju. Won si ko ilu isura fun
Farao, Pitomu ati Ramesesi.”
The book, Exodus, contained the continued story of God's program of
Salvation which he announced in the Old Testament to Adam and Eve (Gen. 3:15)
and his chosen servant, Abraham (Gen. 12:1-3) No wonder the writer of Exodus
begins his work with the word - "NOW" because every other thing which
follows is the continuation of the story which started in Genesis. This second
book of the Bible commonly called Exodus is referred to as "the book of
names" simply because it opens with a list of the names of the sons of
Israel (Jacob) who came with their families from Canaan to settle in the land
of Egypt as a result of famine (Gen. 46). You may recall that throughout the
years Joseph served as Prime-Minister (second in command) in Egypt, his family
(family of Jacob) was greatly respected as they all lived in Goshen; and even
when he (Joseph) was no more, his memory was venerated in the way his people
(Hebrews) were treated by the Egyptians. It is obvious that the covenant
between God and Abraham, their great grandfather was upheld by God who
faithfully blessed his descendants and caused them to multiply greatly even in
a strange land (Gen. 12:1-3, 15:5, 17:2&6, 22:17) In fact, the children of
Israel had grown more than six hundred thousand (600,000) adult male as at the
time of Exodus (Ex. 12:37, 38:26). Of course, when we add women and children
who are always more in number at any given occasion, in short, the total
population of Israel in Egypt might not be less than two million people. God
actually kept his promise! But unfortunately for the Israelites, a new Pharaoh
who did not know Joseph nor loved to hear his story became unhappy with the
progress and rapid growth of the Jewish people in Egypt (Ex. 1:1-7), so he took
a shrewd and hard steps to control their growth; hence the affliction of an
innocent people in the land of Egypt took the following dimensions:
- Afflicting the
grown-up Hebrews (Ex. 1:8-14). The
enslavement and maltreatment of the Jewish adults in a strange land of
Egypt as seen in our Old Testament text (Exodus 1:8-2) today was the
fulfillment of God's word (Gen. 15:12-14). He however promised to deliver
them by his power at the right time. Note that Egypt had already been
compared to a smoking furnace by God in Deuteronomy Chapter 4 verse 20,
where the Bible says, "But the Lord has taken you and brought you out
of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be His people, an inheritance, as
you are this day." They were meant to suffer great affliction in
Egypt, but their affliction would transform them as a people into a mighty
nation. (Gen. 46:3). Historically, Israel had seen many Egyptian dynasties
in their successions, because they had lived there for about four hundred
and thirty (430) years (Ex. 12:40&41). One may therefore ask, who could
this new Pharaoh who did not know Joseph and his family be? And why did he
try to destroy the children of Israel? It was agreed in the Old Testament
scholarship that the Hyksos, who were foreigners like the Hebrews in the
land of Egypt’s formed the 17th Dynasty, and that could provide the reason
for their Sympathy for Israel during his reign. The 18th
Dynasty, however, was Egyptian, and during his reign, strangers were
afflicted and expelled from Egypt. This could be the dynasty which began
the precaution of the Hebrews in Egypt. It is an established fact that the
children of Israel were not causing trouble in Egypt, rather they were
sources of blessing in the land just as Joseph had been before their
arrival (Gen. 39:1-6). The only reason for their suffering according to
Pharaoh himself, was the rapid growth of Israel which became a security
risk in the land (Ex. 1:10). He felt that Israel might one day join their
enemies to fight against them. The spiritual reason why Israel was
afflicted and persecuted by the Egyptian is what is written in Genesis
Chapter 3 verse 15, which is about the enmity put by God between the
children of Satan and the people of God, a conflict which is still very
much with us in the world today. But one thing is certain, children of
darkness can never overcome the children of light. Our God is
long-suffering, he sees nations persecuting his chosen people today,
especially in Nigeria where Christians are been persecuted on every side,
even with some sections of CAMA as recently approved by our government. God
will eventually cause his hand of judgment to fall on the oppressors as he
did to the Egyptians (Ex. 14:24&25). Though the Israelites suffered
great affliction in the hands of the Egyptian taskmasters who worked them
ruthlessly (Ex. 1:13), but the blessing of God made them to grow rapidly
and his anger fell even more on the captors/oppressors. The same can still
happen today for our God is not asleep.
- Murdering the Hebrew male children at birth was the next step (Ex.
1:15-21): The next step taken by the wicked king who forgot history of his
people and how they were saved by Joseph, a Jew, was to wipe away the
future generation of the Hebrews in Egypt. He ordered the killing of the
Jewish boys at birth so that their girls would grow and eventually be
married to Egyptian slaves and absorbed into the Egyptian’s race (Ex.
1:15&16). Glory be to God who did not allow Pharaoh's plan to succeed
(Gen. 3:15 and 12:1-3) Darkness can never overcome the light. For the
Bible says "If it had not been the Lord who was on our side,"
Let Israel now say – If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when
men (Egyptians) rose up against us, Then they would have swallowed us
alive, when their wrath was kindled against us." (PS. 124:1-3). The
two midwives attending to the Hebrew women at birth could not be used by
the king to carry out this evil plan, because they both feared God. They
probably witnessed God's miraculous acts of how the Hebrew women, unlike
the Egyptian women, put to bed even before their arrival (Ex. 1:16&19)
This seemed to be the first civil disobedience in the scripture, that is
refusing to obey the command of the king which is just like disobeying the
evil law of the society because of the high good lying side by side with
the evil (Ex. 20:30 - "You shall not murder") Though the act of
the midwives might looked contrary to what the Bible says in Matthew
20:21; Romans 13:1 and 1Peter 2:11,
but the same Bible in Romans 13:5 teaches us that our obedience to civil
law must not violent the law of our conscience. Human beings ought to obey
God rather than men (Acts 5:29) This is why Christians in Nigeria must
rise against the satanic section of the recently approved CAMA where the
secular seeks to control the sacred and thus violate the fundamental human
right to association. God however blessed the two leading midwives for
putting their own lives on the line just to save the Jewish nation from
affliction and extinction. He gave them his best reward (Ex. 1:21). Let us
all say NO to the killings going on in the Southern Kaduna, Nigeria,
today. Let pray it and work for it as well. We will not loose the reward
from God.
- Drowning the Jewish male children was the third affliction (Ex.
1:22) It is now obvious that Pharaoh had been deceived by the God fearing
midwives and he knew it. The king then gave a general command to his
people to ensure that every son born by the Jews in Egypt should be drowned
in the sacred river Nile. What a terrible situation for the Jews! Surely,
many Jewish babies who were boys drowned in Egypt as a result of the wicked
law of the king. But according to chapter two of Exodus, a boy (deliverer,
liberator, legislator and mediator) would be born and no one would be able
to kill him or drown him in any river. This could give all Christians in
Nigeria a hope of deliverance. Certainly, we know that our Redeemer lives
(MHB, YMHB 134) Jesus Christ, our Saviour has promised to be with us at
all times, even in the period of our afflictions (Matt. 28:20; John 16:33)
If the church refuses, to conform itself to the world, but remained
transformed, without blemish and winkle (Rom. 12:1&2), I am optimistic
that our God will bring the words of his beloved Son to fulfillment that,
"...on this rock I will build my Church, and the gate of Hades shall
not prevail against it. And I will give you (Church) the keys of the
kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven,
and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven" (Matt. 16:
18-19) in short, children of God will not suffer affliction the second
time (Nahum1:9).
Let us pray
Rt.
Rev. A.K.O. Ogunrinde, JP, FICT.
Bishop, Diocese of Osogbo.
OS-CAN Chairman.
No comments:
Post a Comment