Resurrection Life of Jesus Church

430 YEARS IN EGYPT
Jesus told Abraham that his offspring would be afflicted for a period of 400 years in Egypt. Genesis 15:13

Moses recorded that when they left Egypt, the Israelites had been in the land for 430 years. Exodus 12:41

Joseph was 30 years old when he became the prime minister of Egypt. Genesis 41:46

He died at the age of 110, which means that he spent 90 years in Egypt. Genesis 50:26

The Hebrews prospered for the next 30 years and started to rapidly multiply in number.  Exodus 1:7

Then something happened when Joseph was 60 years old. A new Pharaoh came to the throne who did not know Joseph and the next 400 years saw the Israelites afflicted as slaves. verse 8

The only explanation is that the Hittite empire lost its grip and the Egyptians took their land back. Historically, we know that the Hittites and Egyptians fought for a number of years before the Egyptians got the upper hand and then the Hittites faded into history.

It would be natural for the Egyptians who returned from exile to have a hostile attitude toward the Hebrews since they had worked with the occupation government and taken the best land in Egypt. The family of Jacob went from being celebrated guests in Egypt to slaves performing hard labor. The new Pharaoh also wanted to kill all the males born to the Hebrews. verses 9-22

THE THINKING OF THE GODHEAD
The Godhead does not think as men do. Their thoughts and ways are beyond humanity.  Isaiah 55:8-11

The goal of the Godhead was to create a bloodline which could be used to usher in the future Messiah/Redeemer to earth so that all men can be saved.

As the Godhead watched the virtual time run, they now had the bloodline in Egypt and the next step was to grow them in number and keep them from being polluted with Egyptian paganism.

The Godhead didn’t want the Israelites to intermingle with the Egyptians. Thirty years after Joseph became prime minister, the Hittite régime was overthrown by the Egyptians and the Hebrews went from being favorites to pariahs with the new government.

The Egyptians hated the Israelites and corralled them, effectively isolating them so there was no intermarrying and embracing the idolatrous culture of the Egyptians. They became slaves and their comfortable life was removed. There was a higher purpose to grow them into a strong nation which could receive the Messiah someday.

The perfect will for the children of Israel would have been to obey and faithfully reject all paganism and to walk closely with God. Some 1,100 years later, Jesus spoke to the prophet Isaiah and explained that He wanted the people to come to obedience. Isaiah 1:1-20

The generations during these 400 years suffered, but at the same time they had the opportunity to repent of their sins and to be saved. They did not have a great life on earth, but they would be more than compensated when they arrived to Paradise and later get to spend eternity with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

Believers in Christ will have to suffer during the time of the Antichrist. This is not fair from a human perspective, but we have to remember that we are created to show God’s righteousness and that means some Christians will suffer for a time and a season.  Revelation 13:2-9

Jesus suffered greatly in this project as He was rejected, beaten, and crucified by Lucifer’s mob. Matthew 26:65-68; 27:26-43

1. Are you suffering because you are walking in righteousness with God?

2. Are you suffering because you are living a sinful life?