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of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible.%u201d (Hebrews 11:24-27).Compiler%u2019s Comment: After being trained in all the ways of the Egyptians for forty years, God trained Moses for another forty years as a herdsman before calling him to lead Abraham's descendants from the bondage of slavery to the land promised long ago to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. End Comment.Because of these former slaves' lack of faith and obedience, it took forty years before they were ready to obey and claim their promised land. Even though this land was given to them by God%u2019s grace they had to fight God's enemies to inhabit it.Compiler%u2019s Comment: Today mankind is under the bondage of sin. By God%u2019s grace (the gift of His Son) we can be freed from the bondage of sin by the blood of Christ. It takes continued obedience and faithfulness for us to reach Heaven, our promised land, while always fighting the enemies of God. End Comment.Compiler%u2019s Comment: %u201cI thought%u201d can cause a heap of trouble. Instead of allowing God to guide our paths. End Comment.Moses, in fear resulting from his rash action, fled from Pharaoh, going to the land of Midian. He humbled himself as a shepherd for forty years, after which God was ready for him to deliver the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob from the bondage of physical slavery, a symbol of our slavery to sin. God gave Pharaoh and the Egyptians ten opportunities to choose obedience over destruction. Pharaoh appeared to recognize God's power but with each passing opportunity, it was easier for him to refuse. After the death of his firstborn, he told the Israelites to leave. But he changed his mind and pursued them to bring them back to slavery. It was at the Red Sea, that the Israelites had to make a choice to obey God or return to slavery. It was also there that Pharaoh and his army were buried in the waters of the sea. A new nation, freed from slavery, arose on the other side. Compiler%u2019s Comment: At the Red Sea Pharaoh thought he could lead his army through the sea like Moses did. This is also like our flight from sin. At the cross of Christ, we must make a decision if we want to bury our sinful master in the waters of baptism in order to arise as a new creation. Paul stated in Romans 6:3-7 %u201cOr don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin- because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.%u201d End Comment.