When things look dire, you’re crying out for help, and you have no hope, what can someone say to you that will fan that spark of faith that God will save you? There’s a fascinating passage in Exodus 6:6-8. These three short verses contain God’s subtle, but powerful, promise of salvation, help, and hope. When Pharaoh’s initial reaction to Moses was to make the task of the enslaved Israelites much more difficult, God instructed Moses to say to His people:
“I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. 7I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 8I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.”
First look at how many times God says, “I will. . .” There are seven times in these three verses.
“I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. 7I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 8I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.”
Seven is synonymous with God proclaiming an oath. God not only affirms that He will do these things. He repeats the promise with the number seven. The Hebrew shaba (#7650) which means “to oath, to swear, to seven oneself” is the denominative verb form of sheba (#7651) which means “seven.” So God is promising that He will do these things for His people, confirming it with an oath. But then it is confirmed again because it’s put into a chiasm:
A. “I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, [The Israelites are subjugated. They have nothing, no hope, no future.]
B. and I will deliver you from slavery to them, [They are stuck in slavery in Egypt.]
C. and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. [They will be redeemed in an obvious way by God.]
D. I will take you to be my people, [This is the covenant language found throughout the Bible. I will be to you a God, and you will be to me a people.]
C.’ and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. [Now they belong to God, redeemed/bought with a price - obviously done by God.]
B.’ I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. [God will take them out of slavery into their own land, from slaves to land owners.]
A.’ I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.” [God will give them everything, their own land, an inheritance, freedom - hope and a future.]
In three distinct ways, God promised to save His people, to enter into covenant with them, and to give them a future. Do you know what the people’s reaction was? They missed it. They didn’t believe God. Exodus 6:9 records that “they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery.” That didn’t deter God from fulfilling His promise. God did rescue His people from slavery, He did enter into covenant with them, and He did give them hope and a future.
So this begs the question: was it just the Israelites who looked at the situation in which they found themselves and lost hope in what God could and would do for them? I suspect that there is a human proclivity to lose sight of the promise in light of current conditions, if the myriad of verses is any indication: Number 23:19; Hebrews 10:23; Romans 3:3-4; 1 Thessalonians 5:24; 1 Corinthians 1:9; Deuteronomy 7:9; 1 John 1:9; Titus 1:2; Lamentations 3:22-23; Hebrews 6:18; Isaiah 55:11; Psalm 119:90; 1 Samuel 15:29.
We are told that at the end there will be a “wearing out of the saints” (Daniel 7:25), that the beast will be “permitted to wage war against the saints and to conquer them” (Revelation 13:5-7). Matthew 24:13 says that the “one who endures to the end will be saved.” This all presupposes two things: 1) Life is going to become more and more difficult as the return of Jesus approaches; and 2) Many of God’s people will be tempted to lose heart and to give up. Don’t be among those! Rather, fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). Stay the course. Believe the promises of God. Be encouraged by God’s faithfulness. He will save us.
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