Turning Point

A series on meeting God – Moses
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Exodus 19-20:2 

[We all have a story about how we met God. Some are more miraculous than others, but none more amazing than the mere fact that the Living God, our Creator, reached out to bring us into relationship with him. In this series, we will be looking at how people in the Bible met God, and what that means to you today.]

  

Do you remember where you were on 9/11? I was in a meeting when someone’s pager went off. His wife told him that a plane had flown into one of the towers at the World Trade Center in New York City.

 

I can still remember watching the TV reports as first the south tower crumbled and then the north. Before collapsing, you could see people jumping from the towers to escape their fiery death. The images were horrific, unbelievable and surreal. It was a turning point for the United States, as well as the world.

 

The Israelites also experienced a turning point in the life of their nation. For 430 years, the Egyptians had enslaved them. But then the Lord called Moses to lead them to freedom… to the Promised Land.

Sixty days after they escaped Egypt, the Israelites entered into the wilderness of Sinai where they stopped at the foot of Mount Sinai. This wasn’t by chance. It was providential; a divine appointment orchestrated by the sovereign God.

 

The Lord was about to confirm his covenant and to give the Israelites a new identity and purpose as a nation. Not as slaves, but as free people to serve a holy God. Speaking to Moses, the Lord gave him this message.

 

⁵ Now if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth; for all the earth belongs to me. ⁶ And you will be my kingdom of priests, my holy nation.’ This is the message you must give to the people of Israel.”           NLT

 

Following this, the Lord told Moses that he was going to come to him in a dense cloud so that the Israelites would hear him when he spoke to Moses. But before doing that, Moses needed to consecrate, or prepare, the people for the Lord.

 

On the morning of the third day, “thunder roared, and lightning flashed, and a dense cloud came down on the mountain". In fact, Mount Sinai shook violently. 

“As the blast of the ram’s horn grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God thundered his reply”. Although consecrated, the Israelites were terrified!

 

² “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.   NIV

 

Like 9/11, this was a dramatic turning point not only for Israel, but for the whole world for ALL generations to come. In fact, almost fifteen hundred years later, the Lord sent his Son to establish a new covenant.

 

This new covenant included everyone everywhere. Because of this, God’s word spoken to the Israelites at Mount Sinai, today applies to all who believe and follow Christ. Peter put it like this.

 

⁹ But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.            NIV    1 Peter 2

 

Like he did with the Israelites at Mount Sinai, the Lord has freed us and given us a new identity in Christ. He has chosen us to be his priests, his holy nation and his special people.

 

Copyright 2025 Joseph B Williams

Feel free to share this blog with others.

www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com

 

 

Let Freedom Ring

Series on I am Joe’s Favorite Verses
Luke 4:18-19
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Leviticus 25:8-12; Isaiah 61:1-2; Luke 4:14-21 

[Many years ago, there used to be articles in the Reader’s Digest titled “I am Joe’s ___” with the blank being filled with a body part or organ. Over the years, I’ve written verses that are meaningful to me on 3x5 cards. In this series we’ll be looking at some of my favorite verses. In other words, “I am Joe’s Favorite Verses”.]

 

In 1751, the Pennsylvania Assembly ordered the creation of the iconic Liberty Bell. Even though it was twenty-four years before the beginning of the American Revolutionary War, the seeds of freedom were bubbling to the surface. The following inscription is engraved on the bell.

 

"Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land Unto All the Inhabitants thereof".                                          KJV            Leviticus 25:10

 

This verse refers to the "Year of Jubilee". The Lord decreed that every fifty years was to be a year of redemption for the Israelites. This involved freedom from all types of bondage. All prisoners and captives were set free, all slaves were released, all debts were forgiven, and all property was returned to its original owners.

 

The Year of Jubilee was to remind the Israelites of the holiness of God, and to keep themselves holy. It began on the Day of Atonement, which was an annual ritual to atone for the sins of Israel. The beginning of the Year of Jubilee was when they were to “blow the ram’s horn loud and long throughout the land”.

 

Despite these religious rituals, Israel rebelled against the Lord. As a result, much of Isaiah’s prophecies were about the judgement of Judah and Israel. This included the future Babylonian invasion, and the resulting exile of Jews. However, Isaiah also spoke a message of hope and freedom.

 

¹ The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me,
    for the Lord has anointed me
    to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted
    and to proclaim that captives will be released
    and prisoners will be freed.
^2a He has sent me to tell those who mourn
    that the time of the Lord’s favor has come…           NLT

 

This is a direct reference to the Year of Jubilee. And although most Jews at the time would have assumed Isaiah was speaking about himself and the Babylonians, his words also had a future meaning. One that they didn’t foresee until hundreds of years later when an itinerant rabbi walked the land of Galilee.

 

As Jesus visited his hometown of Nazareth, he went to the synagogue where he was given a scroll to read and then teach from. After reading the above passage from Isaiah, he then sat down to speak.

 

²¹ He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”       NIV

 

In other words, Jesus claimed to be the Messiah. It was his way of “blowing the ram’s horn” to declare that it was the Year of Jubilee. That he had come to free the captives. Not the captives of Babylon or Rome, but the captives of sin.

 

He came to fulfill the Day of Atonement when, once and for all, not only would Israel’s sins be atoned for, but all people everywhere. Let freedom ring!

 

Copyright 2025 Joseph B Williams

Feel free to share this blog with others.

www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com

 

 

Unmet Expectations

God with you - A Series from the Psalms

Psalm 77 

(Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2077&version=NIV;NLT

 

Unmet expectations! Everybody has them. It might be as small as your expectation of another driver to not cut you off. Or it could be as big as the expectations of a spouse not being fulfilled, resulting in a marriage breaking apart.

 

Whether they are the garden variety, daily living type of unmet expectation, or the earth shattering, life changing type; we all have them. The question is, how do you deal with them?

 

The psalmist had unmet expectations of God that hurt him deeply.

 

² When I was in deep trouble,
    I searched for the Lord.
All night long I prayed, with hands lifted toward heaven,
    but my soul was not comforted.            NLT

 

As a result of his unfulfilled attempts to connect with God, he asked some painful questions.

 

⁷ Has the Lord rejected me forever?
    Will he never again be kind to me?
⁸ Is his unfailing love gone forever?
    Have his promises permanently failed?
⁹ Has God forgotten to be gracious?
    Has he slammed the door on his compassion?          NLT

 

You may have asked yourself those same questions. However, the most important question to ask is, how did you respond? The psalmist reached the point of no return when something unexpected happened.

 

¹⁰ And I said, “This is my fate;
    the Most High has turned his hand against me.”
¹¹ But then I recall all you have done, O Lord;
    I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago.         NLT

 

The Psalmist goes on to recount how God miraculously brought the nation of Israel out of slavery in Egypt, into the freedom of the Promised Land. He brought them salvation. It is the same salvation that He offers to us; that is, to leave the land of slavery to sin for the Promised Land of freedom in Jesus.

 

Unmet expectations! Have yours led you to give up hope? Or do you keep reaching out to God? For He is faithful; He loves you with unfailing love; He is with you always and at work constantly. There is none other like Him. remember His wonderful deeds.