“Then He brought us out from there, that He might bring us in, to give us the land of which He swore to our fathers.” Deuteronomy 6:23 (NKJV)

In this one sentence, Moses summarizes all that God has done for the Israelites through Moses’ leadership, and at the same time he reveals God’s plan for all of humanity. Just as God delivered His people from the bondage of Egypt and gave them the “promised land,” so God wants to deliver us all from our bondage to sin, and to give us our own promise — “whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16b). Just as in the case of the Israelites, in order for this to occur He must first bring us out of our bondage, out of the darkness of a life lived in sin, so that we are able to inherit our promise.

The Israelites were in a place of physical bondage, ruled over mercilessly by Pharaoh. The ac-count of God’s deliverance of His people is filled with extraordinary miracles. Although our bondage is mostly spiritual it is no less binding than the slavery imposed upon them by Pharaoh, and our own deliverance from sin is no less miraculous than God’s work to free them from physical slavery.

The goal, God’s goal, has always been to bring us in to our “promised land” — or more properly, to bring us back to the birthright that Adam and Eve gave away. What did they give away? Their, and our, personal relationship with God was destroyed when they were disobedient to the one command that He had given them, they, and we, died as a result.

From the fall of Adam and Eve, the entirety of Scripture is an account of God’s work of restoration of that lost relationship on behalf of His children. As with any restoration project, some demolition of previous faults is required before restoration can begin. A part of this “deconstruction” is God saying no to our pride and arrogance, no to our complacency and unbelief; and yes, but not yet to our impatience.

Just like the Israelites we have a choice, we can allow God to bring us out of bondage and lay claim to our promised inheritance, or we can refuse and wander in our own desert of disobedience until we die the second death.

Rev. Bobby Thornhill is a retired pastor.