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Awesome Hands – Part 36

“.. every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians...”

Every son of God is destined to be sent into Egypt, so that they can be called out of Egypt. For those with a spiritual mind, this should sound familiar to the calling out of Babylon that we go through as Christians.

Rev 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

The Truth of the matter is that we WILL and do partake of the seven last plagues if indeed we are God’s chosen people.

It may seem like a glaring contradiction, but in order for us to partake of the goodness of God, the mystery (Rev. 10:7) of Christ in us, we must go through the seven last plagues being fulfilled.

Rev 15:6 And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles.
Rev 15:7 And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.
Rev 15:8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

As was mentioned in the last study, coming from the “land of Canaan to the land of Egypt” and then eventually being called out of Egypt, isn’t an easy journey and the Lord knows this perfectly.

So, He provides for us and “doesn’t put more on us than we can bear”.

Gen 45:26 And told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt. And Jacob’s heart fainted, for he believed them not.
Gen 45:27 And they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said unto them: and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived:
Gen 45:28 And Israel said, It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die.

The wheat and the tares will grow together until the time of the harvest and as we saw in the story last study, and we are now at that time in our walk with the Lord as we reflect on what the Lord is doing with us.

Mat 13:28 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?
Mat 13:29 But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.
Mat 13:30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

We will be brought to the land of Goshen, “drawing near” to God as He brings us to a point where His remnant can continue to grow into the next phase of His ultimate deliverance.

Israel took his journey with all that he had:

Gen 46:1 And Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices unto the God of his father Isaac.
Gen 46:2 And God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here am I.
Gen 46:3 And he said, I am God, the God of thy father: fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation:
Gen 46:4 I will go down with thee into Egypt; and I will also surely bring thee up again: and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes.

There are several striking revelations that are contained within these few verses and I hope you are able to “see” the same types and shadows with me.

First notice that Israel goes to Beersheba to offer sacrifices unto God. Beersheba is where Abraham makes a covenant with the Philistines in the form of Abimelech.

Abimelech is also the king of which Abraham lied to about his wife Sarah and caused Abimelech to take Sarah because he thought that Sarah was just Abraham’s sister.

Gen 20:2 And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah.
Gen 20:3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man’s wife.
Gen 20:4 But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation?
Gen 20:5 Said he not unto me, She is my sister? and she, even she herself said, He is my brother: in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this.
Gen 20:6 And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.
Gen 20:7 Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine.

Now notice that it is in a dream by night that the Lord comes to Jacob similar to when he comes to Abimelech.

This is all type and shadow to show us what the process is for those with whom God is working directly with. We are being raised up as kings and priests in training and the “course work” for this training is similar to all of us, the same as it was for Christ.

There is going to be a separation between the old and the new man, and that is exactly why we see God speaking with Jacob at this junction of his life.

For us, in type and shadow, Jacob is being dealt with as the old man and the old man must die for the new man to be born.

Here is where the old man goes to commune with God.

Gen 21:1 And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken.
Gen 21:2 For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.
Gen 21:3 And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac.
Gen 21:4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old, as God had commanded him.
Gen 21:5 And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him.
Gen 21:6 And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me.
Gen 21:7 And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck? for I have born him a son in his old age.
Gen 21:8 And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned.
Gen 21:9 And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking.
Gen 21:10 Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.

And then a few verses later…

Gen 21:14 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.

Gen 21:19 And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink.
Gen 21:20 And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer.
Gen 21:21 And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.

See, the seed of the bondwoman will not inherit the Kingdom of God. God will not have this, and He has laid a foundation which must be adhered to in order for this process to work.

So, what is this process you ask? We must go into Egypt to be called out of Egypt. Our “marriage” is not with the gods of Egypt, but rather with the God of who controls Egypt and everyone in it.

Joseph, typifying Christ, will put his hands on our eyes upon our death. This is what God promises Jacob (Israel) in Gen 46:4, so how are all of these various ideas and thoughts connected?

The answer is Egypt or to us spiritual Babylon.

Joseph is caused to go into Egypt at a young age and is later taken out via his bones.

Moses is caused to go into Egypt to later be called to come “out” of Egypt so that he can be used as a savior to Israel.

Christ is caused to be taken to Egypt as a young boy to flee the slaughter that Herod committed against all the two year old and under boys, but He too was called up out of Egypt to be a savior.

So, is it any mystery that we too must go into Egypt in order to be used as saviors later?

What does God say to us about this?

Gen 46:2 And God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here am I.
Gen 46:3 And he said, I am God, the God of thy father: fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation:
Gen 46:4 I will go down with thee into Egypt; and I will also surely bring thee up again: and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes.

Here is Moses’ story of being spoken to by God for what he is going to be caused of the Lord to do.

Exo 3:1 Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.
Exo 3:2 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.
Exo 3:3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.
Exo 3:4 And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.
Exo 3:5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.
Exo 3:6 Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.
Exo 3:7 And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;
Exo 3:8 And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
Exo 3:9 Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them.
Exo 3:10 Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.

We are taken “onto a mountain” in order to be delivered, but this isn’t an easy process.

Instead, it will seem almost impossible and indeed is without the Lord doing the work. The “work” we must do, is to BELIEVE what we are given to see.

After all, it is not everyone who has “Joseph” put his hand on their eyes in death! Here is what we are given to see, Lord willing.

Mat 2:13 And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.
Mat 2:14 When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt:
Mat 2:15 And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.

Hos 11:1 When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.

A huge part of the process of salvation is that Egypt is NEEDED to nourish us for a time. When we have our “deadly wound healed,” so that we leave our first love, it is very much when we are contending with a babylonish mindset.

We can NOT fear this process though because the Lord fights for US!

“Jesus…. bringeth them up into an high mountain apart..”

This same process is shown to the very disciples of Christ. There are three disciples taken UP high enough to see this mountainous process.

Mat 17:1 And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,
Mat 17:2 And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.
Mat 17:3 And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.
Mat 17:4 Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.
Mat 17:5 While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.
Mat 17:6 And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid.
Mat 17:7 And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid.
Mat 17:8 And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only.
Mat 17:9 And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead.
Mat 17:10 And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come?
Mat 17:11 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.
Mat 17:12 But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them.
Mat 17:13 Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.

Do you believe? Do you see? What do you hear?

What I see and hear is that it is out of a cloud that the voice of Lord comes a shouting.

What I see and hear is that it is when we are in FEAR of the Lord and His words that we fall on our face only to LIFT our eyes UP so that we see no man but ONLY JESUS.

It takes a very strong event such as being faced with a mountain in our lives that when we are we are able to cast a mountain into the sea.

It is the faith of the Son of God and the Son of man which will cause us to believe that a mountain can be MOVED.

It is with this mindset that we see at the start of Gen 46 verses 1-4 just what we are being told.

We are seeing the process of the old man being separated from the new man but before the new man can be given life, the “old man” must die.

Gen 46:5 And Jacob rose up from Beersheba: and the sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, and their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him.
Gen 46:6 And they took their cattle, and their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt, Jacob, and all his seed with him:
Gen 46:7 His sons, and his sons’ sons with him, his daughters, and his sons’ daughters, and all his seed brought he with him into Egypt.

Indeed, the process of going from Canaan to Egypt is just as needed as coming from Egypt into the promised land. During each stage of our walk, we “grow thereby”, but there is going to be a lot of war taking place while we are still in this tabernacle of flesh.

We will “rise up” from the place where we have “digged a well in the earth” (Babylon the great whore), and we will move on to the next stage of progression of coming out of her my people.

It took Israel to go through a lot of war before they were sent David with a sack of five stones to slay Goliath and it will be no different for us.

Of a Truth, it is when we DON’T include Joseph and his seed that we have 66 in “our family,” when what we are made up of is NOT whole unless we add “a few more”.

Gen 46:26 All the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt, which came out of his loins, besides Jacob’s sons’ wives, all the souls were threescore and six;
Gen 46:27 And the sons of Joseph, which were born him in Egypt, were two souls: all the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, were threescore and ten.

Whenever we see the Lord saying something twice, we know it is important. When we are being called by “our name” TWICE, we know the Lord is working with us… and for the chosen elect in particular, we have a witness that He is dealing with the old man in a particular way.

Gen 46:2 And God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here am I.

Exo 3:4 And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.

Luk 6:46 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
Luk 6:47 Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like:

It isn’t when we use our name that we are heard as with “the voice out of the cloud”; rather, it is when the NAME of the LORD is used (which is written on our forehead) that He is heard.

Exo 3:13 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?
Exo 3:14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
Exo 3:15 And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.

When we are sent to the “lost sheep of the house of Israel” we do not come in our name “here I” but rather we come in the name of “Here I am”.

Do you hear the voice of the True Shepherd? If you do, you have been called to “come out of her my people” for Shepherds are an abomination to Egypt.

Gen 46:28 And he sent Judah before him unto Joseph, to direct his face unto Goshen; and they came into the land of Goshen.
Gen 46:29 And Joseph made ready his chariot, and went up to meet Israel his father, to Goshen, and presented himself unto him; and he fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while.
Gen 46:30 And Israel said unto Joseph, Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, because thou art yet alive.
Gen 46:31 And Joseph said unto his brethren, and unto his father’s house, I will go up, and shew Pharaoh, and say unto him, My brethren, and my father’s house, which were in the land of Canaan, are come unto me;
Gen 46:32 And the men are shepherds, for their trade hath been to feed cattle; and they have brought their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have.
Gen 46:33 And it shall come to pass, when Pharaoh shall call you, and shall say, What is your occupation?
Gen 46:34 That ye shall say, Thy servants’ trade hath been about cattle from our youth even until now, both we, and also our fathers: that ye may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians.

The Way, Truth and Life of the narrow way is that we are placed in Canaan for a season to be called out of Canaan.

We are called into Egypt to later be told to “come out of her.”

However, the lesson of this study today is to reflect on the spiritual concept of the types and shadows that point us to knowing that EVEN while we are in these various stages with our walk with the Lord,

He is with us and places us in a land that only causes us to “draw near” to Him.

No matter where and of us are in our spiritual walk, or whatever trials the Lord is placing us in at any given time, we are the Lord’s people and He is with us.

Appearances can be deceiving just as being given the land of Goshen to dwell in WHILE in Egypt seems like a good thing until we later realize we are thrown into slavery.

Fear not though, because the Lord tells us clearly that this process of our walk with Him is indeed holy ground.

Exo 3:5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.