The world is sinking in sin!

(All Scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated)

Our featured Scripture, Deuteronomy 15:15, is one of at least 12 in this book where Moses told the Israelites to remember events in their rescue from Egypt and 40 year journey in the Sinai wilderness: “You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you….”

In the last Gem, we were in the process of learning the meaning of Egypt in the Bible. When this ancient nation of pharoahs and pyramids is…

• …considered in a positive light, it is a land of refuge, education, prosperity, and pow!

• …negatively considered, Egypt stands for slavery, death, and the pagan godless world!

Previously we looked at two examples, Abraham and Lot. Let’s continue:

• Joseph was sold into slavery, first to the Ismaelites (see Genesis 37:28), and by them to “…Potiphar, and officer of Pharoah and captain of the guard…in Egypt….” (Genesis 37:36). He was wrongly incriminated in a false claim of attempted rape by Potipher’s wife, and thrown into prison! (See Genesis 39:6-20). Although Joseph finally rose to greatness as prime minister of Egypt, his slavery and mistreatment were a forewarning of what would happen to the Hebrews in that kingdom!

• Yes, the descendants of Jacob prospered in Egypt for a few generations. But, “…there arose as new king over Egypt who did not know Joseph…” (Exodus 1:8), or all the good he had done for that country! So the Egyptians enslaved and oppressed Jehovah’s chosen people!

     ✡    The world is diametrically opposed to God and His 
          children! (See John 15:18, 19; 17:14-16; James 4:4; 
          I John 2:15-17).

     ✡   In II Corinthians 4:4, Satan is called “...the god 
         of this age (or world in the KJV)....” In Luke 4 
         is recorded the three temptations the devil placed 
         before Jesus. The third temptation is in verses 5 
         through 7:

             Then the devil, taking Him up on a high moun-
             tain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world 
             in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, 
             “All this authority I will give You, and their 
             glory; for this has been delivered to me, and 
             I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if 
             You will worship before me, all will be Yours.”

Notice: “…all the kingdoms of this world…and their glory…” are under Satan’s control! Or how else could he have realistically offered it? So Egypt is also under the evil one’s control, as is the whole world! As the apostle John wrote in I John 5:19, “We know that…the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.”

     ✡   It is written in Deuteronomy 17:16, “You shall 
         not return...to Egypt...again.” So we Christians 
         are not to go back and embrace the world! (See 
         I John 2:15-17). We are to be in the world, tes-
         tifying of Christ’s sacrifice, but not of it! 
         (See John 17:14-18).

     ✡   In Mark 8:34, Jesus told His followers, “Whoever 
         desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, 
         and take up his cross, and follow Me.”

         ➪   The purpose of the cross is for crucifixion!  
              The only reason why we are to take up our 
              cross, and follow Jesus, is to die to self 
              so we can live for God!  

         ➪   As Paul testified in Galatians 5:14, “But God 
              forbid that I should glory except in the cross 
              of our Lord Jesus, by whom the world has been 
              crucified to me, and I unto the world.”

• I mentioned above Deuteronomy 17:16. In the context of that verse, Moses is giving the LORD’s instructions to the Israelites knowing that in the future they will desire a king to rule them (see I Samuel 8:4, 5).

         When you come to the land which the Lord your God is 
         giving you...and say, “I will set a king over me like 
         all the nations that are around me,” you shall surely 
         set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses.
         ...But he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor 
         cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, 
         for the Lord has said to you, “You shall not return 
         that way again.” (Deuteronomy 17:14-16).

Also in verse 17, God further states, “Neither shall he [the king] multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself.” Yet Solomon, called the wisest man ever (see I Kings 4:29-34), did all those things – horses from Egypt (see I Kings 10:28, 29), foreign wives (see I Kings 11:1-8), and great quantities of silver and gold! (See I Kings 10:14, 27; II Chronicles 9:22). The combinations of all these things, contrary to God’s warning in Deuteronomy 17 (above), derailed Solomon’s spiritual life! And returning to Egypt for horses and chariots certainly played a part his downfall!

So will returning to the embrace of the world bring down the Christian! (See James 4:4).