The child goes to Egypt

Personal Narration's

December 1, 2005

Joel Akin

Lets begin a story that began with a dream. The dreamers of the Old Testament were many and varied. Each one dreamed and eventually the dreams came true. There was Jacob and his dream of the ladder. And then there was his son Joseph.

 We know that Joseph was called by God to go to Egypt but not in a way he wished. He was sold to Potiphar by the Midianites. There, after serving his time as a slave, he was lifted up to a place and position of power. He was given an Egyptian wife. For 7 years he grew and stored corn. A time of famine came upon the land. Eventually his father and brothers joined him and his family was reunited.

 Isaiah 27:6 He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.

It was there that Joseph prospered, on behalf of Pharaoh, so that money failed and the people gave of themselves and their land.

Genesis 47:27 And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they had possessions therein, and grew, and multiplied exceedingly.

And it came time that Jacob (Israel) must die and he made Joseph promise that they would not bury him in Egypt. And Joseph wished of his father that he would bless his two sons, his first born Manasseh and Ephraim. Joseph wished for his father to bless the firstborn Manasseh with his right hand but his father refused. Instead Israel spoke to Ephraim, the second born and said that he would be greater then his firstborn brother and from him would come a multitude of nations. And thus Ephraim was set before Manassah.

For 430 years the root of Jacob was planted in Egypt. 430 years the people of Israel grew and intermarried with Egypt yet they retained their culture, beliefs and traditions. For 430 years the people of Israel grew.

Exodus 1:7 And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them

In fact the scriptures tell us they grew so great that the king of Egypt spoke and said "Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we:"

The children of Israel were put to work and to bondage and yet this did not stop them from being blessed by God.

 The King spoke to the Midwives that every male child was to be killed but the midwives feared God more then men and refused the kings orders.

 It was during this time that a Levite married a Levite woman and they had a son and they were forced to hide him for 3 months. This child was Moses.

An ark was made of bulrushes and placed in the Nile where Pharaoh's daughter found him. When she opened up the Ark she saw the child and the child cried. She had compassion on him. The sister of Moses was hiding nearby and was able to bring the mother of Moses into the picture but the child Moses was raised in the house of Pharaoh as the son of Pharaoh's daughter.

Time passed and scripture tells us that Moses killed a man and he fled Egypt to the land of Midian.

There in Midian Moses married, had a son and prospered for 40 years. Yet in Egypt the King died, a new Pharaoh came to power and the bondage of the children of Israel became so great that the sound of their tears reached God. And God remembered his covenant with them and loved them.

Then God called Moses out of Midian and sent him back to Egypt as His spokesman with the command tell the children of Israel  "I AM hath sent me unto you."

Moses returned to Egypt and set before the Pharaoh a command "Let my people go" but Pharaohs heart was hardened again and again by the plagues sent upon his land and people until finally God had to send death upon the first born. An urgent order was given to the Hebrews to place lambs blood upon the entrance to their homes and that night all the first born of Egypt, not protected by the blood, died.

 Pharaoh gave orders to Moses and Aaron to take the children of Israel and that night they fled the land where they had lived for more then 400 years.

 We are thus brought to the New Testament and the life of Jesus. It was during the days of Herod when wise men came from the east that a king had been born. Jerusalem and Herod were troubled by this news and sent word to the wise men to find this child that they also might worship him. But God warned the wise men in a dream and Joseph also so that they might flee. God sent them to Egypt so that scripture might be fulfilled Hosea 11:1 When Israel [was] a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.

Who was Jesus? He was conceived by the Holy Spirit of a virgin named Mary. Matthew tells us, speaking of Joseph 1:25 And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.

 We have to wonder why Jesus went to Egypt. We know that on one hand we have the understanding of scripture that Jesus went to Egypt because Herod was after his life. For he was born a king, a ransom for many.

 Yet to understand this we have to go back in time to Jacob and his son Joseph who was sent into Egypt also as a slave. Jacob was known as the root but from Jacob grew a vine. And from that vine grew other branches. Each one of these grew and supplanted the original roots of Egypt which were born there. Jacob was called the supplanter, the one who takes over and strangles out the old so that the new might be established.

Psalms 80:8 Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it.

 Was it not Isaiah who spoke of this time of Jesus when he said "Where are thy wise men and let them tell you what the Lord of hosts has purposed for Egypt?" For God speaks to Egypt with promise that the language of Canaan shall be spoken there. Isaiah also went on to say that in the latter days he shall send onto them a mighty savior who shall deliver them in their day of trouble. God shall be known to the Egyptians and they shall know the Lord in that day. For the Lord of hosts shall bless saying "Blessed be Egypt my people."

 And of Hosea it is said "Yet I am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but me: for there is no savior beside me."

It is Jesus who traveled to the land of Egypt and in doing so became their savior as well. We know that Jesus is the true vine and as Israel (Jacob) was the supplanter or the original vine so Jesus came that he might become the root.

For Egypt there were signs and from Egypt there came forth knowledge that we must follow carefully lest we be lead astray.

First we know from scripture there are many mysteries left unsolved. First why did Jacob refuse to bless Manasseh first? The answer is clear that the first born of Egypt was not born of Jacob but came from his son Joseph. This indicates that there had to be a new root added to the Egyptian people. They were a transplanted people living in Egypt and as a transplanted people they intermingled fully and completely with the Egyptians living off their root. They, for a period of 430 years, became part of that rootstock. But something happened that changed all this. The first born had not yet been born that was fully rooted into the promised land. And not only that but there needed to be a spiritual precedent. For on one hand we had Jacob who was given the promise by his father Isaac who received it from his father Abraham, that they would be a chosen people, set aside. Yet why did God send them to live with the Egyptians for over 400 years? In that period of time they would have intermarried with them and would have become a part of their land. The answer is because Egypt was chosen by God to be his people and to become a place of refuge. Egypt became the harbor of safety and yet it was also a harbinger of things to come. There were in Egypt things left unfinished and in Gods house we know that he does not leave things unfinished.

 So what changed this? The answer is the hole of the first born. Manassah could not receive the initial and full blessing even though he was the first born of Joseph. We know that Joseph protested this that the blessing would fall upon the second born. For in slighting the first born Jacob was preparing the people for things yet to come. We know that Jesus came that he might fulfill the law. Yet the first born savior of the Hebrew people out of Egypt was Moses who was responsible for bringing the law upon the children of Israel. And it was during his tenure that the blood of the lamb came upon the doors of the House of Israel and it was the first born of Egypt, the sons, who had to die.

 So what is spiritually significant about this is two fold. First we have the children of Egypt who had become part of the people of Israel but they separated themselves and made the children slaves. Their sin was multiplied upon them and they had to pay the price, in blood, of the first born. But remember the original root or vine was placed there and had to be brought out of Egypt.

 But a blood price or a blood debt remained. Remember the first born of Joseph? His first born could not receive the blessing. This left a vacuum that had to be filled and not one man born to the Hebrew people filled that vacuum. Not one until Jesus, the first born of God, was born to a virgin woman. God needed His son to return to Egypt as the first born blood for a reason. That the people of Egypt might have a savior but more then that so that God might call them his people.

So what does this mean? It means that they, the Egyptians, are considered part of the family of God. Not just as in the Gentiles but as in blood relation. This blood relationship needed a first born son to travel there and spiritually become their king. It is this kinship which will help to explain the scriptures where the Egyptians are called "my people" and how there is only one who can truly be their mighty savior.

Just as the vine came out of Egypt so Jesus had to go to Egypt so he could be that vine and in being that vine become part of the future root stock for the people.

 Just as Moses returned from Exile to bring the children out of Egypt so Jesus went into Egypt, in exile, to be spiritually grafted into the Egyptian soil.

 This grafting is the only way that the angel of death would have no authority over this first born on Egyptian soil. Herod could not follow Jesus there. Once again Egypt became a place of refuge for the people of God. But in this case the coming of a righteous first born to Egypt meant that from him all the nations could be blessed.

 Remember Ephraim received the greatest blessing over the first born Manassah. But just as Jacob was a deceiver so Ephraims lineage became one bound up in sin. Hosea spoke of this in 13:12. Thus the blessing needed from a first born never arrived in Egypt and the land remained barren and the vine planted there by a king and kind Pharaoh remained unfruitful. The people of Egypt never received the fullness of their kindness for taking in the children of Israel. They opened their doors and made them family and we often think only of their end time wickedness but not of how they treated them as sons and daughters. But God does not forget and God said to them "You are my people" just as He did with Israel who was His inheritance. Egypt needed a savior and Jesus heard that cry. For the blood called up from the sands of Egypt for a long time from the first born. For there was wailing and crying that night among the people of Egypt for the loss of their children.

 So what does this mean for the future? It means that the people of Israel need to understand why Jesus went to Egypt. That he went there to fulfill scripture. That Jesus went to Egypt that the people might have a savior who could save them from their sins. Ephraim could not do it for he was bound in his sin. Only a perfect first born who had authority over death, over sin, over the grave and over all the law could provide it.

 Yet Israel and Egypt also need to understand that just as Pharaohs daughter took Moses in and made him a son so need we to realize that Egypt is not just a spiritual but a physical brother to Israel. There is no other nation on earth that can say this and no other nation that can be called "my people" in the same way by God. This calling of Egypt of "my people" needs to be recognized and needs to be understood. That we are living in the last days and the speaking of fulfillment of scripture is at hand. No more can we say of Egypt that they are a stranger. Again and again in scripture God tells us to love the stranger for the people of Israel were strangers in Egypt. They were strangers but they are not meant to be nor are they meant to remain strangers. And they were not for Pharaoh, king of Egypt, took in Israel and made them his children also. And if Pharaoh can do it for Israel then God needed to find a way to repay that kindness. They are children of Israel and in being children they are also inheritors of the promises of God. Is it not time that the prodigals were returned to the fold of God?