THIRD QUARTER 2025
SABBATH SCHOOL INSIGHT #1
JULY 5, 2025
"OPPRESSION: THE BACKGROUND AND THE BIRTH OF MOSES."

 

My heart dropped as I recognized my new reality. I hoped it wouldn’t be me—but it was. The non-profit was downsizing—my position on the team, regrettably, had to be eliminated. I didn’t want this, my co-workers didn’t want this, my boss, and even management didn’t want this. No one wanted this. “God, You led me here—I know it. The doors opened up so clearly,” I mused as I submitted a resume to a listing that has at least a thousand other applicants, “is this a part of Your plan?”

How can one be out of something but still in it? Two weeks later I find myself anxiously scrolling through job listings into the early hours of the morning. The search is a half-hearted one at best. I find myself out—but still in. I understand and accept my new reality, and I’m embracing the new opportunities God has put before me, but my mind is still in my old job. I imagine Lot’s wife may have felt this way. She was physically outside of Sodom, but her mind, her heart, was not.

There were many points, angles, and lessons we could focus on this week, but in the wake of the 1888 National Conference this year one verse stood out: 

“The children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them” (Exodus 2:23–25, NKJV).

Israel, God’s beloved people, were trapped in servitude to the mighty empire of Egypt. They were struggling under the burden of their very existence. Cries of anguish fell from their lips—God’s people were suffering. God was not indifferent to their situation. His ears were not deaf, His eyes were not blind. He acknowledged them, He understood them, and His heart was pierced with their sufferings. What came to the mind of God? His covenant. And what moved His heart? Not their merit or strength, but His covenant. A promise rooted in divine initiative, not human effort.

Though this covenant was made with Adam and renewed to Abraham, it could not be ratified until the death of Christ. It had existed by the promise of God since the first intimation of redemption had been given; it had been accepted by faith; yet when ratified by Christ, it is called a new covenant. The law of God was the basis of this covenant, which was simply an arrangement for bringing men again into harmony with the divine will, placing them where they could obey God's law.

But if the Abrahamic covenant contained the promise of redemption, why was another covenant formed at Sinai? In their bondage the people had to a great extent lost the knowledge of God and of the principles of the Abrahamic covenant. In delivering them from Egypt, God sought to reveal to them His power and His mercy, that they might be led to love and trust Him. He brought them down to the Red Sea—where, pursued by the Egyptians, escape seemed impossible—that they might realize their utter helplessness, their need of divine aid; and then He wrought deliverance for them. Thus they were filled with love and gratitude to God and with confidence in His power to help them. He had bound them to Himself as their deliverer from temporal bondage.

But there was a still greater truth to be impressed upon their minds. Living in the midst of idolatry and corruption, they had no true conception of the holiness of God, of the exceeding sinfulness of their own hearts, their utter inability, in themselves, to render obedience to God's law, and their need of a Saviour. All this they must be taught.

The people did not realize the sinfulness of their own hearts, and that without Christ it was impossible for them to keep God's law; and they readily entered into covenant with God. Feeling that they were able to establish their own righteousness, they declared, “All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient.” Exodus 24:7. They had witnessed the proclamation of the law in awful majesty, and had trembled with terror before the mount; and yet only a few weeks passed before they broke their covenant with God, and bowed down to worship a graven image. They could not hope for the favor of God through a covenant which they had broken; and now, seeing their sinfulness and their need of pardon, they were brought to feel their need of the Saviour revealed in the Abrahamic covenant and shadowed forth in the sacrificial offerings. Now by faith and love they were bound to God as their deliverer from the bondage of sin. Now they were prepared to appreciate the blessings of the new covenant. —Ellen G. White, Patriarch and Prophets, pp. 370-371

The covenant “had existed by the promise of God since the first intimation of redemption had been given.” It was first made with Adam and renewed to Abraham and ratified (signed, confirmed, sanctioned, certified, validated, officially valid) by the death of Christ. Until the death of Christ, belief, acceptance, and faith in God to uphold His covenant were accomplished through faith. The foundation of this covenant? The Law. The purpose? To bring “men again into the harmony with the Divine will, placing them where they could obey.” The purpose is to restore in us the image, the character of God,which has been marred by the existence of sin in our hearts. 

As we read, why was another covenant needed? Why was a “new” covenant created at Sinai? Because of Israel’s bondage in Egypt. A knowledge of God and the principles of the covenant had been lost. The purpose of physical deliverance from Egypt was to demonstrate His love towards us, to reveal our helplessness and need for total reliance upon the power and mercy of God. But there was a deeper purpose. “Living in the midst of idolatry and corruption, they had no true conception of the holiness of God, of the exceeding sinfulness of their own hearts, their utter inability, in themselves, to render obedience to God's law, and their need of a Saviour.” 

Alonzo T. Jones, on Friday evening, March 5, 1897, in a sermon entitled “Spiritual Egypt No. 4,” speaks on these themes. For brevity, I have provided excerpts as follows:

When they [Israel] had crossed the Red Sea on dry ground…and stood on the shore triumphant in the destruction of the Egyptians…they were delivered bodily, physically, from physical Egypt; but there was a deeper Egypt than that, from which they were not yet delivered. 

You know that step by step in their experience, their hearts were in Egypt; and when anything occurred that disappointed them, they exclaimed, Let us go back to Egypt! When they had reached the borders of Canaan, and the Lord wanted them to go in, they exclaimed, “Let us make us a captain and go back to Egypt!” Where were their hearts then?—In Egypt. The first thing in their thoughts was always Egypt. 

As they stood at Mount Sinai…after they had listened to the voice of the Lord from the top of Sinai, proclaiming the word of his law, and heard the voice of the trumpet sounding louder and louder, and saw the top of the mount altogether on a smoke…Egypt was so largely in their hearts that they turned to the idolatry of Egypt rather than wait until Moses returned from the top of Sinai with the message of God. And when they had been turned back from the borders of the land, and were obliged to wander in the wilderness, you can see that it was because of this very Egyptian bondage that held them, and from which they were not free.

I need not cite you to another instance…Israel were not completely out of Egypt when they stood on the shore of the Red Sea and sang the song of Moses. Bodily they were out of Egypt, but spiritually they were not. They were delivered from Egyptian bondage of the body, but they were bound by Egyptian spiritual bondage; and the trouble is they never did get out of Egyptian bondage. They died in Egyptian bondage…Then what is spiritual bondage of Egypt? and what is spiritual Egypt?—The bondage of sin. 

—Alonzo T. Jones, General Conference Bulletin, Volume 2, p. 27.

Though the Israelites were physically delivered from Egypt at the Red Sea, they remained spiritually enslaved. Their hearts and minds were still attached to Egypt. Ultimately, even though their bodies left Egypt, their spirits did not. They died still in spiritual bondage—symbolic of sin. The true “Egypt” they never escaped. Jones continues on in his sermon, bringing the experience of Israel into our own: 

The history of ancient Israel is a striking illustration of the past [and present] experience of the Adventist body. God led this people in the Advent movement, even as he led the children of Israel from Egypt. In the great disappointment their faith was tested as was that of the Hebrews at the Red Sea. —Alonzo T. Jones, General Conference Bulletin, Volume 2, p. 28, emphasis supplied.

Perhaps the purpose of the Red Sea for ancient Israel was a type of the disappointment of 1844 for the people of God—a revelation of “their utter helplessness, their need of divine aid” and a call to show love, confidence, and gratitude towards Him. We are bound by faith in Christ who delivers us from all things in the physical realm. But like the history revealed in Israel’s experience, there is a deeper, higher, holier calling. We must be delivered from spiritual Egypt. Commenting on the disappointment in 1844, Jones says: 

“Had they still trusted to the guiding Hand that had been with them in their past experience, they would have seen the salvation of God. If all who had labored unitedly in the work in 1844 had received the third angel’s message, and proclaimed it in the power of the Holy Spirit, the Lord would have wrought mightily with their efforts. A flood of light would have been shed upon the world. Years ago the inhabitants of the earth would have been warned, the closing work completed, and Christ would have come for the redemption of his people.” [Quoting from Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 457]

 

Where, then, have that people been since the disappointment [In the wilderness]? As verily as Israel was before. But why were Israel of old kept in the wilderness?—Because of unbelief. They didn’t see what the Lord had for them. And the reason they did not see, was because they did not believe God. If they had believed God, they would have seen what they did not see. And that is the trouble with this people here. We have not believed the things that were said to Israel of old. They are said to us as well as to them. Precisely the same gospel is preached to us as was preached to them. Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them; but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. For we which have believed do enter into rest. —Alonzo T. Jones, General Conference Bulletin, Volume 2, p. 29.

What is the reason the Second Coming has been so long delayed? We have been wandering in the wilderness, we have not trusted the “guiding Hand,” and just as Israel was unable to enter into the land of Promise,we too have been unable to enter into our rest. Jones continues: 

What kept them out of the land is precisely what is keeping us out of the land. It was not the will of God that the coming of Christ should be so long delayed, and his people remain so many years in this world of sin and sorrow, Ah, we are responsible for that. Is not that so? Where does the responsibility lie? In what thing are we guilty?—Unbelief. But what was in the hearts of Israel that caused their unbelief?—Egypt, Egypt, Egypt. What, then, has been in the hearts of these people that has caused this unbelief and this holding back from God? —ibid.

We may no longer be in Egypt, but Egypt is still in us. We are in the world and still of the world. How are we to truly come out of Egypt? How are we to break the cycle of unbelief? How long are we going to be the dam—to ourselves, to the church and to the world—that is preventing the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the fulfillment of the Great Commission? Jones continues, touching on the solution that lies at the very beginning of the Law itself: 

Let us see, then, what he said. Here it is: “And God spake all these words, saying, ... Thou shalt have no other Gods before me.” Is that where he begins? Does he begin speaking with, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me?—No. Have you begun there? You know you have. Well, if God did not begin there, and you and I do begin there, don’t we leave oath something that he said, that is essential for our good, too? Where did he begin? Read it. “And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God. which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”

We have left out the very thing that shows deliverance from Egyptian bondage? And why have we left it out? O, because we have considered that we have not been delivered from Egypt,—and that is so. We have considered that we never were brought out of the land of Egypt,—and by our unbelief that is so. We have thought, “We were never in bondage to any man.” But we were [we are]. We were in bondage to ourselves, to the power of sin—to spiritual Egypt.

Of course no one can keep that law while he is in Egypt [spiritual]. They could not do it. God delivered them from Egypt that they might keep the law. To be in Egypt is to be in sin, and no man can keep the law of God in sin; for sin itself is the transgression of the law. Of course you can’t keep the commandments while you are in Egypt. You can’t; I can’t. But let the Lord deliver us, and then we can keep the commandments, and not until then. The Lord knew that well enough; therefore, when he wanted Pharaoh to let the children of Israel go, he said, “Let my people go, that they may serve me.” Of course they could not serve God in Egypt. He wanted them delivered, not only bodily, but spiritually. And then, when he would give them his law to keep, the first thing that he says to them is, “I am the Lord thy God which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage,” so that they might keep it.

We must be brought out of Egypt, in order to keep the commandments of God. Now we see that in order to follow Jesus, we must be called out of Egypt. To keep the commandments of God, demands that we be brought out of Egypt; faith in Jesus demands likewise that we be brought out of Egypt. And both these are expressed in Revelation 14:12: “Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” —ibid, pp. 30—31.

Friends, there is another, deeper experience into which we must enter. If we are to enter into the Promised Land, if we are to speed the return of our Lord, if we would have victory over sin, we must enter into another experience. We may trust and believe in God to deliver us from temporal bondage, but we must realize our utter helplessness to keep the covenant. We must see our sinfulness and our need of a Savior, we must be bound Christ as our personal deliverer from the bondage of sin.

In freeing our souls from the bondage of sin, God has wrought for us a deliverance greater than that of the Hebrews at the Red Sea. Like the Hebrew host, we should praise the Lord with heart and soul and voice for His “wonderful works to the children of men.” What compassion, what matchless love, has God shown in connecting us with Himself, to be to Him a peculiar treasure! What a sacrifice has been made by our Redeemer, that we may be called children of God! —Ellen G. White, From Eternity Past, p. 198.

We are like the wife of Lot, halting between two paths. By the word of the Lord we are free from the bondage of sin—we have been freed from Egypt. That is our reality. Yet our minds refuse to be delivered. We stand on the edge of the Promised Land. The Ark of God has gone before us, the Son of God has made plain the path unto Salvation. Will we yet tarry to step into the way made so plain before our feet? Will we stay, halting, doubting and unrepentant as we yet again delay the end of this age? Will be be distracted from the thing that we need most, a true revival, an experiential knowledge of the power of Christ in our personal lives? Will we seek after such an experience with all our hearts and minds? “To know Christ,” will that be our one burning desire?

Thus you see that from beginning to end there is a spiritual Egypt; and the whole plan of salvation is simply deliverance from Egyptian bondage by the power of God; it is being called out of Egypt into the glorious liberty of the sons of God.

Deliverance is free for us, it is given to us. O then, let every heart be opened, every soul be turned to God, and seek him by confession of sin, that we may be delivered from darkness; and thus that we may, before the Conference closes, be delivered into the glorious light and liberty of the sons of God; for, “Out of Egypt have I called my son.” That is what he waits for. Shall we keep him waiting? And when that comes, this word will be fulfilled; the third angel’s message will be proclaimed in the power of the Holy Spirit; the Lord will work mightily with our efforts; a flood of light will be shed upon the world; soon the inhabitants of the world will be warned; the closing work will be completed; and Christ will come for the redemption of his people. O, we are nearer to the time when God will deliver us than we have ever dreamed, I am thinking. God’s deliverance is so near to us! Shall we walk into the land! Israel failed because they did not believe. They did not see wondrous things in his promises. Those promises are now for us. They are to be as real to you and me as they were to him when he gave them to Israel, to whom they were not real.

Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

The time has come to sing the song of Moses. Shall we sing it? “Out of Egypt have I called you,” saith the Lord, and out of Egypt we have come. Now he says, I am your God, and you are my people. “I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage;” and, “Out of Egypt have I called my son.” And this is what it means to-day when it says: Here are they, here are they “HERE ARE THEY which keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” —Alonzo T. Jones, General Conference Bulletin, Volume 2, pp. 32—33.

May we not be blind to our condition. Individually and corporately, we are groaning—the world is groaning—under the bondage of sin. “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).

Let us seek the Lord. Let us seek the gift of repentance. Let us seek to have true deliverance from Egypt.  May we realize our weakness, our helpless inability to desire the things of God. Let us seek from Him all that we lack, for He is the author and finisher of our faith. 

 

~Anya Kinsley