"Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, but the Israelites were fruitful and multiplied greatly and became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them. Then a new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power in Egypt. "Look," he said to his people, "the Israelites have become much too numerous for us. Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country." So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. But the MORE THEY WERE OPPRESSED, the MORE THEY MULTIPLIED AND SPREAD; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites and worked them ruthlessly. They made their lives bitter with hard labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields;" Ex 1:6-13
When you have the ability to multiply and increase in hostile working environments, people will fear you.
Egypt feared Israel, because the more they beat, ridiculed and mistreated them, the more they grew in number, favor and wisdom. But the place of abomination in Egypt's sight was the address of favor, blessing and provision in God's sight.
Earlier this year, my Pastor declared that this would be a Goshen year for the saints. Goshen was the place of immunity from the 10 plagues of Egypt. Years in advance, God had positioned the Israelites to build the very cities that would protect them during this season. So when the time came, God declared that despite the present crisis and destruction in the land of Egypt, there would be sustainable sunlight, vision, protection, supply, water and increase in Goshen (where they dwelt.)
God promised to put a division and sign of deliverance between His people and the Egyptians.
So, it is fitting that the Passover marked a season where a lamb was slain in Egypt to bring deliverance to the COI while they were slaves (or yet sinners.) The Passover, whose origination was in the home, commemorated the Israelites departure from a bitter, hard, cruel, oppressive and enslaved life from Egypt in haste:
Ex 12:11-13 and 36-41 records what transpired: " And you shall eat it thus: [as fully prepared for a journey] your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste (YOU WILL NOT HAVE TIME TO PUT LEAVEN IN IT). It is the Lord's Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment [proving their helplessness]. I am the Lord. The blood shall be for a token or sign to you upon [the doorposts of] the houses where you are, [that] when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt. 36The Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they gave them what they asked. And they stripped the Egyptians [of those things]. 40Now the time the Israelites dwelt in Egypt was 430 years.(E) 41At the end of the 430 years, even that very day, all the hosts of the Lord went out of Egypt.
430 years of slavery ended in one day because a lamb was slain.
In one night, God ended all of their oppression, all of their slavery, all of their hard years, tears, to bring them out by a strong hand with the wealth of their oppressors.
Imagine what the blood of Jesus can do for you and I.
Like the blood of the lamb which saved the Hebrews from destruction in Egypt, Jesus' blood, as the ultimate Passover sacrifice, NOW redeems us from the power of sin, poverty and death.
So from Ex. 21-23, God is establishing ordinances or a legal system that will govern His people. These were laws or divine principles that would release and sustain supernatural blessings into their life, if they were obedient.
In Ex 23:15 He said: "You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread; seven days you shall eat unleavened bread as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. None shall appear before Me empty-handed."
What is in your hand?
God will never make a demand on you without providing supply. Twenty chapters before He made this command, He told Moses: "And I will give this people favor and respect in the sight of the Egyptians; and it shall be that WHEN YOU GO, you shall not go empty-handed." (Ex. 3:21)
God already has a plan to give you more stuff than you came in with.
When you are determined to leave something known (familiar) for what is unknown (uncertain), God will make sure that you do not leave empty-handed. God told his people to ask their neighbors for jewels, silver and gold, and then drowned their debt in the Red Sea.
So, in Exodus 23, God promised a supernatural release of seven blessings connected through the observance of Passover:
- God Himself will go before you. In v.20, He said: " Behold, I send an *Angel before you to keep and guard you on the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.
- God will be an enemy to your enemies. "But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries" (v. 22)
When cancer, depression, suicide, poverty, lack, come into your life, they've just made enemies with the God you serve. Therefore, you have a right to declare the struggle is over; the rule and reign of everything in my life not planted by God comes to an end!
- God Himself will give you prosperity. "You shall serve the Lord your God; He shall bless your bread and water;" (v. 25).
God said, I will stretch what you have, multiply what is already in your hand, because I specialize in taking what is little and making it much; in doing MORE with less.
- God Himself will take sickness away from you. "And I will take sickness from your midst." (v. 25).
That means it doesn't belong there. It is illegal, unlawful and without jurisdiction.
Exodus 22:9 reminds us that for every unlawful deed, for any lost thing at all, the thief must repay double. Whatever the devil has stolen, deceived or lied out of your life, you have legal right to claim double restoration. I DECLARE, that jobs that have been stolen from you, promotions that have been denied to you, back money (inheritances) that is owed to you and lost business opportunities are coming back pressed down, shaken together, running over into your bosom.
- God Himself will give you a long life. "None shall lose her young by miscarriage or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days." (v.26)
What you dreamed in your youth, years ago (long life, health, favor and success) will not be miscarried, aborted or barren by any means; Nothing you conceive (think, grasp, pray or imagine) will die, but live and declare the works of the Lord. God wants to satisfy you with years long enough to birth and bring to pass all that is inside you.
- God Himself willincrease you and throw your enemies into confusion to give you dominion in the land of your inheritance. "I will send My terror before you and will throw into confusion all the people to whom you shall come, and I will make all your foes turn from you [in flight]. I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate [for lack of attention] and the wild beasts multiply against you. Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and are numerous enough to take possession of the land." (v. 27-30).
While authority is given once, dominion is a process. It's one thing to take possession, but something entirely different to sustain it. God promised to help sustain the position, favor, influence blessing and open doors in your life.
- God said, "I will give you something THIS YEAR that you can see but doesn't belong to you yet." "I will set your borders from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the river [Euphrates]; for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand and you shall drive them out before you." (v. 31).
Today, you no longer have any excuse to dream small.
- You no longer have to fill shoes that don't fit because they are too small.
- You no longer have to be a carbon copy of your predecessors
- You can be the original God intended; with your own anointing, your own property, your own marriage, your own business and territory if you refuse to appear empty-handed before God (and man.)
Egypt was not easy. Likewise, I know that some of the things you have been going through the past 12 months, 12 weeks, 12 days or hours have been, cruel, hard, oppressive, unfair or unjust. Maybe you didn't understand why family, friends or peers were so hard and bitter towards you, but God allowed you to go through it to identify demonic threats to your dream and potential.
You WILL NOT LEAVE empty-handed.
You're leaving with MORE freedom; with MORE spoils of your enemies. No more bondage, no more staying in the same place for years. It's time to leave the place of your oppressors with haste. It ends today because a Lamb was slain over 2000 years ago.
In case you don't know the magnitude or extent of what He did:
· Christ restored what He did not steal.
· Paid a penalty that He did not owe.
· Died for sins He did not commit.
· Became a curse for enemies that hated Him.
That's how much He loved us (VIEW VIDEO.)
