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| Egypt is a picture in the Bible of the world. Not the physical world but the natural world system that we live in that operates opposite to the way that God wants us to live. It pictures where God's people were living before God delivered them out of sin and into salvation. It is a picture of people enslaved to sin just like the Israelites were slaves to the Egyptians. |
| When the Israelites crossed the Red Sea it was a picture of salvation which is exactly the same as a natural birth into this world is a picture of being "born again" in the spiritual world. |
| But after salvation came the wilderness. It is great to have joy and excitement in your Christian life, but sooner or later you have to walk the path of life. God wants us to live in reality and learn how to make our Christian life work in everyday circumstances. That can be just like travelling in a desert. The lessons that the Children of Israel learned in the wilderness can be a tremendous help to us trying to live as a Christian in a world that doesn't want to believe in God. |
| The Pictures Shows Us There Are Stages In Our Christian Lives |
| Although many people think that the Promised Land is a picture of when we get to heaven, it is not. It is a picture of spiritual maturity. As you grow in your Christian life, eventually you will learn more and more to trust in God. You learn to conquer sins and rest in the Lord as He uses you for His glory. It is a wonderful part of the Christian life and the goal for us to strive for before we get to heaven. |
| The Parable of the Sower which is presented in three of the four gospels is often thought of as a picture of four different people. A closer look reveals that this is a picture of four different stages in the life of a believer. |
| One thing we find in most of God's pictures of the Christian life is that they all seem to illustrate that there are different stages in the Christian life. Just as in the natural life we go through stages: birth, childhood, adolesence, adulthood, middle age, old age, death, etc so it is also in the Christian life. |
| 1. The believer who has not yet accepted Christ. |
| 2. The believer who has just accepted Christ. |
| 3. The believer who has been a Christian for a time and has been bogged down in the things of this life. |
| 4. The believer who has hung in there and pressed on to spiritual maturity. |
| When the Children of Israel arrived on the other side of the Red Sea and their enemies were destroyed there was great rejoicing. That is just like a new Christian. Do you remember when you were saved? Wasn't it a great sensation? |
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| Do you know the Parable of the Sower? If not click here and read it. |