Going down to Egypt for help is a sin that we are challenged with as Christians living in the world today and struggling to live a life that is holy rather than influenced by our sin natures (Romans 7). Of course we don't literally go down to Egypt but we figuratively go down to Egypt by using those habits and tools that were our patterns in our life before salvation.
Woe tothose who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, whotrust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, butdo not look to the Holy One of Israel or consult the Lord! Andyet he is wise and brings disaster; he does not call back his words, butwill arise against the house of the evildoers and against the helpers ofthose who work iniquity.
Isaiah 31:1-2
It is very easy to take over the ordering of our lives and stop consulting the Lord. Should you consult your Lord? That we can generally ask the question without laughing says an awful lot about us. Your Lord is your Regent, King, Ruler, Master, and God over every atomic particle in the universe including those particles that are you. So, yes, not only is it prudent to seek His council it is treasonous and sinful not to seek His council.
Those in Judah and in Israel had been told that it was sinful to look back to Egypt. Here is what they were told about kings in Deuteronomy 17:16 “Only he (the king) must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall never return that way again.’ These people were not just scared and looking for help but these people were in disobeying a direct command of God. This is what God says about you in this regard.
Now this I say andtestify in the Lord,that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do,in the futility of their minds. Theyare darkened in their understanding,alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due totheir hardness of heart. Theyhave become callous andhave given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way youlearned Christ!—assuming thatyou have heard about him andwere taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, toput offyour old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt throughdeceitful desires, andto be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put onthe new self,created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
Ephesians 4:17-24
So we also have a direct command to come out of Egypt in putting off our old selves and our former manner of life that was corrupt. Our lives were corrupt through deceitful desires that lead us astray and do not ultimately satisfy us. How careful are we to avoid the patterns of our life prior to Christ and all those things that offend Him.
Having a command to put on the “new self” then how much time do we spend in the “Means of Grace” such as prayer, worship, Bible study, and fellowship compared with those older means of getting what we want? I don't like the answers in my life and it is clearly a matter for prayer as we prepare ourselves for what God wants in our lives.
Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of youspeak the truth with his neighbor, forwe are members one of another.Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, andgive no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but ratherlet him labor,doing honest work with his own hands, sothat he may have something to share with anyone in need.Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may givegrace to those who hear. Anddo not grieve the Holy Spirit of God,by whom you were sealed for the day ofredemption.Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.Be kind to one another, tenderhearted,forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Ephesians 4:25-32
Notice that God doesn't just call us to leave our Egypt and camp in the wilderness. He calls us to an active obedience not just a cessation of sin. Get away from falsehood and tell the truth. When angry don't let it produce sin, don't let it ferment, and don't give the devil any opportunity to direct you. Don't steal but share. Don't say things that tear people down but rather say things that build people up in grace. Put away bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and slander and put on tenderheartedness, forgiveness, and model God's forgiveness in your life. So there are commands that tell us what to “leave behind” and what to “actively model”.
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. Andwalk in love,as Christ loved us andgave himself up for us, afragrantoffering and sacrifice to God. Butsexual immorality and all impurity or covetousnessmust not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there beno filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking,which are out of place, but insteadlet there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, thateveryone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.Let no onedeceive you with empty words, for because of these thingsthe wrath of God comes uponthe sons of disobedience. Thereforedo not associate with them; forat one time you weredarkness, but now you are light in the Lord.Walk as children of light (forthe fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), andtry to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in theunfruitfulworks of darkness, but insteadexpose them. Forit is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But whenanything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light.
Ephesians 5:1-14a
God tells us to imitate Him and to stay well away from sexual immorality and covetousness which is idolatry. We should leave all this because He has taken us from the dark into the light. We should leave that and “try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord” and then do it. It is a sad thing when we turn back to our old idols and methods that kept us in bondage before God took hold of us. It is a sad thing but something that Judah did and we must guard our hearts against.
The Egyptians are man, and not God, and their horsesare flesh, and not spirit. When the Lord stretches out his hand, the helper will stumble, and he who is helped will fall, and they will all perish together. For thus the Lord said to me, “As a lion or a young lion growls over his prey, and when a band of shepherds is called out against him is not terrified by their shouting or daunted at their noise, so the Lord of hosts will come down to fight on Mount Zion and on its hill. Like birds hovering, so the Lord of hosts will protect Jerusalem; he will protect and deliver it; he will spare and rescue it.”Turn to him from whom people havedeeply revolted, O children of Israel. For in that dayeveryone shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which your hands have sinfully made for you. “And the Assyrian shall fall by a sword, not of man; and a sword, not of man, shall devour him; and he shall flee from the sword, and his young men shall beput to forced labor. His rock shall pass away in terror, and his officers desert the standard in panic,” declares the Lord, whosefire is in Zion, and whosefurnace is in Jerusalem.
Isaiah 31:3-9
At this point Jerusalem is rebuked and God points out the obvious. The Egyptians will not be of any help in the defense of Jerusalem. Only God can defend them and God will. God isn't threatened by Sennacherib's talk outside the wall of Jerusalem. The prophecy was fulfilled in the destruction of the Assyrian army by God. They fell by the sword but not the sword of man. Each day God defends us. He keeps us against an enemy who, like Sennacherib, says we are foolish to trust in God. But we trust in God's keeping power. Even those great martyrs of the Church could know that God is able to keep us in the worst circumstances and I'm sure that the believers inside the wall during this siege leaned on the promises of God.
He who did not spare his own Son butgave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect?It is God who justifies.Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—m ore than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God,who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sakewe are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more thanconquerors throughhim who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:32-39
Even if we were to be martyred we would still be more than conquerors through Him who loves us. The ultimate enemy of death is no longer effective against us because God has fought the battle for us. This principle of trusting in God's keeping power is what Jerusalem and Judah and Israel in the Northern Kingdom all failed to do. Many of us lead tremendously blessed lives by God's mercy but even if we walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death we will see God bear us up and keep us His.
When we are blessed we never want to forget that it is mercy and grace He has poured out on us. When we see others blessed we must know it is God's hand in their lives. When we see our brothers and sisters, especially in other parts of the world, undergoing great trials then we need to pray for them in accord with God's will and ask Him to lift them up and pour out the Holy Spirit on them. Each of us will be instructed by God to rest in Him more and more fully. I pray each of us will be quick to yield to God and be corrected immediately for any turning back to the deceitful methods from before we were redeemed.
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