THE FOUR 'I WILL'S' AND OUR TRUE REDEMPTION!

“God spoke to Moshe; he said to him, ‘I AM Adonai. I appeared to Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya’akov as El Shaddai, although I did not make myself known to them by my name, Adonai]". Shemot (Exodus)  6:2-3, CJB
 
 
Parashah 14 (Va’era) is translated from the Hebrew as “I appeared” and in Exodus 6:2-9:35 details both our Exodus motif and the measures Adonai took to deliver the Children of Israel from their bondage of slavery in a foreign land. In the beginning of this Parashah, its name Va’era sets our tone, where it is translated, “He appeared!” As an expression of great Covenantal Love, at the beginning of our Torah reading, In 6:2-3 God declares that although He had revealed Himself to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and made eternal promises to them - it was nevertheless as fulfillment that God alone would reveal Himself by His name Adonai! Such an introduction denotes intimacy and deep Covenantal Love. Not only would God’s people be delivered, but they would be rescued by the God who is known by Name and through four, powerful expressions of redemption. First, the Children of Israel would be freed from their enslavement in Egypt and secondly - Adonai Himself would alone redeem them. Next, Adonai would soon call them alone from among the nations as his own chosen people and inheritance and finally, in fulfillment He would fulfill His promise and bring them all the Land He had promised to their fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob! 
 
These Four Expressions of Redemption is often referred to by theologians as the Four “I Will’s” of the Exodus and for us as believers in Yeshua - this imagery and fulfillment holds even greater significance when we consider our own redemption and the price that was paid to purchase it. In this, the events of the historical exodus are as much a matter of biblical record and revelation from the Tanakh, but also as mentioned at the beginning, a motif for our own redemption and deliverance.
 
Thus, in Yeshua, through great Intimacy and Covenantal Love - we have been freed from our slavery to sin and the curse of death. Secondly, it is Messiah alone who has redeemed us through His shed blood - because it is Adonai alone, in Yeshua who has once and for all, bought our redemption. Third, in Messiah Yeshua alone, God has made us His Elect and has called us all from amongst all the nations and peoples of the earth and we have now become the Lord’s inheritance. And finally, as with the Children of Israel were bought to Canaan as promised to their Patriarch’s (and to this day and forever, Eretz Yisrael stands), so Yeshua has Promised that He has now gone to His Father’s Kingdom to prepare a place for us and has Assured us that He soon will return for us and forever we will be with the Lord! 
 
In this, dear friends, the Exodus is not simply an event in human history as recorded in the Torah or even a powerful Feast commanded in Scripture, but with it is a constant reality in our lives each and every day! Yeshua has promised that nothing could ever separate us from His loving, faithful hands and the reality of the Exodus is our ever-present reality where God reveals Himself to us by Name and provides us with a Hope and Redemption that can never be taken away! 
 
Blessings in Yeshua,
 
            - Rabbi Mark Rantz


January 16, 2021 | 3rd of Sh'vat, 5781