EXODUS REDUX?

by David Schnittger

During the days of Israel’s bondage in Egypt, Pharaoh’s tyranny and oppression became so severe that the Hebrews cried out to God: “And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage” (Ex 2:23). This cry before God came after many years of suffering which included being “afflicted with their burdens”, serving “with rigor” and “lives bitter with hard bondage” (Ex 1:11-14). They were defenseless and experiencing excruciating hardship with no end in sight. In the midst of their agony, they cried out to God. Notice God’s response: “And 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 had respect unto them” (Ex 2:24-25).

Chapter three of Exodus details God’s response to the groaning of His people. He sought out Moses and said to him, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmaster; for I know their sorrows; And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians . . . (Ex 3:7-8a).” God answered the groaning of His people by raising up Moses as their deliverer. We know from the subsequent narrative that Moses was a reluctant and “unqualified” candidate for “deliverer-in-chief.” Nevertheless, he obeyed the Lord and proceeded to appeal to Pharaoh for Israel’s release. Pharaoh’s obstinate refusal brought increasingly severe plagues upon the land, culminating in a plague on Pharaoh’s own household. Thus, God, through Moses, affected the miraculous deliverance of Israel from Egypt.

While I am not saying that America has replaced Israel, let me make some parallels to the situation American Christians find themselves in today. For the last 100 plus years, Christians have been increasingly suffering from the bondage of the global elite. From the passage of the Federal Reserve Act in 1913, to the endless banker financed wars to follow, from the takeover of education, healthcare and enactment of global trade deals, Christians, indeed all non-elite Americans, have suffered dearly in blood and treasure at the hands of the tyrannical “pharaohs” of globalism. Americans now find themselves increasingly unemployed, their savings ravaged, their prospects of home ownership destroyed and their children in endless debt to school loans. They feel defenseless, unprotected against the ravages of globalist tyrants and their punitive organizations – the United Nations, the World Bank, the IMF, CFR, The Trilateral Commission, The Bilderberger Group, etc. They are making our lives bitter with hard bondage! American Christians who have some idea of what is going on are crying out to God in desperation. The question is, will or IS God hearing and responding to the cries of His people?

While the hand of providence is sometimes difficult to perceive while in progress, we have seen God’s providential intervention on America’s behalf on numerous occasions in the past, delivering us from enemies without and within. The Light and the Glory, (Revell,1977) by Peter Marshall and David Manuel, is an excellent book detailing God’s providence in early American history. Does God have any more miracles in store for America, unworthy as we are for the slightest of His mercies?

Time will tell, but judging from the Exodus narrative, here are some things to look for if God should graciously choose to intervene on our behalf. First, God may raise up a reluctant and unqualified person to be His instrument of deliverance. Do not look for a perfect person or one who is totally qualified, for that is not God’s way. He uses “earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us” (2 Cor 4:7). Look for this person to be opposed by the totality of the power structure, on both sides of the aisle and on both sides of the pond. Tyrants do not let go of their power or plunder easily. The pharaoh greatly enriched himself upon the labors of the hapless Israelites, and therefore, did not want to let them go without a ferocious struggle. Neither should we expect that our deliverance will come without immense conflict!

Second, expect God to visit plagues upon the tyrants, upon their lands, their fortunes and their people, even reaching into the very families of the ruling elite themselves. Might we see, in response to the “groanings” of God’s people, the tyrants and their followers in total disarray, and the elites themselves suffering from mysterious maladies so severe that they cannot be hidden? Could we not see in our day, in response to massive believing prayer, the utter destruction of the wicked as we saw in the days of Pharaoh (Exodus 11), Sennacherib (2 Kings 19) and Belshazzar (Daniel 5)?

Isaiah said to wicked Israel in Isaiah 59:1, “Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save: neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:” Beloved, let me encourage you to repent and cry out to God on behalf of our beloved nation. Let me assure you, on the authority of the Word of God, that God will hear your groanings and have respect to your prayers, based on the New Covenant signed in the blood of Christ. Perhaps He is not through with America, despite our wickedness, and there might yet again be another great revival of faith and freedom that will be another “shot heard around the world.”