Puzzle Piece 4: Freedom
Moses led the Israelites to FREEDOM from Egypt
Key Bible Reference: Genesis 37-Exodus 18
About 150 years after God made a covenant with Abraham, his great-grandson and Jacob’s son, Joseph, was sold into slavery. However, God’s favor caused Joseph to become second in command in Egypt, and during a famine in Israel, he moved his family to Egypt. They grew from a family of 70 to a nation of ~600,000 over the next 150 years. The new Pharaoh of Egypt feared that the Israelites would take over, so he enslaved them and ordered the midwives to kill the male babies, but one of those babies was saved. Moses, the great-grandson of Jacob’s son, Levi, was put in a basket in the Nile River, and rescued by Pharaoh’s daughter. Eighty years later, Moses was led by God to free the Israelites from slavery, but Pharaoh refused to let them go, so God sent 10 plagues. Before the 10th plague, God told the Israelites to sacrifice an unblemished lamb and mark their homes with the blood as a sign for the Lord to PASS OVER them and save them from the plague of death. Three days later they crossed the Red Sea from slavery in Egypt to freedom in Israel. As they came out of the sea, they saw their enemies buried in a watery grave, so they knew they were truly free from the fear of death and could journey to their earthly Promised Land!
JESUS leads Christians to FREEDOM from sin
Key Bible Reference: Matthew 21-28; Mark 11-16; Luke 18-24; John 12-21
Mankind became slaves to sin because Adam and Eve believed the lies of Satan. But Jesus, the unblemished Lamb of God, was sacrificed so anyone who believes in Him can have FREEDOM from the punishment of sin, which is death. After taking the fiery wrath of God, Jesus was nailed to the cross and shed His perfect blood. Three days after His death, Jesus left our enemy, death, buried in the grave and came out alive, so we know we are truly free from the fear of death, which is the punishment for our sins. We can begin our journey to our heavenly Promised Land! If we symbolically mark the doorposts of our hearts with the blood of Jesus, God will PASS OVER us and save us from death.
Connecting the Old & New Testament
| Old Testament | LIFE | New Testament |
| Moses | WHO | Jesus |
| Slavery | WHAT | Sin |
| ~1487 BC | WHEN | AD 33 |
| Egypt | WHERE | Golgatha, Israel |
| Blood; Out of Sea | HOW | Blood;Out of Grave |
| Love via Perfect Lamb | WHY | Love via Lamb of God |
Romans 6 (NIV)
6For we know that our old self
was crucified with him
so that the body ruled by sin
might be done away with,
that we should no longer be slaves to sin—
7 because anyone who has died
has been set free from sin.
8 Now if we died with Christ,
we believe that we will also live with Him.