The Final Countdown, Part 2
The Wilderness Journey: Learning to Trust in Our Salvation
Every family has those stories that get retold at gatherings, the ones that remind us who we are and what we stand for. These narratives become the glue that binds generations together, passing down values and identity. The biblical narrative functions similarly for believers, reminding us of our ever-growing relationship with God and His unwavering faithfulness to His people.
When we read Scripture, we encounter the profound truth that God so loved the world that He sent His only Son. Each retelling invites us to turn 180 degrees from our current path and embrace the Messiahship of Yeshua. As Yeshua told Martha in John 11:25-26, "I am the resurrection and the life! Whoever believes in Me, even if he dies, shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?"
This is the moment of promise for each of us—where trust meets salvation.
The Pattern of Redemption
The Exodus story provides a powerful template for understanding salvation. After 430 years in Egypt, God revealed Himself so dramatically that Egypt, Israel, and all nations witnessed His power over everything. The Children of Israel marked their doorposts with the blood of the lamb, were delivered through the waters of the Nile, and headed toward the Promised Land.
But here's the remarkable part: God intentionally hardened Pharaoh's heart so that the Egyptian army would pursue Israel to the Sea of Reeds. Why? So that He would be glorified and the Egyptians would know that He is the Lord. When the last Israelite stepped onto dry ground and Moses stretched his hand over the sea, the waters swallowed the Egyptian warriors completely.
Yet God saw the anxiety of His people when they were frightened by the approaching army. He knew they would fear other armies on the direct route to Canaan. So He led them on a much longer path through the wilderness—not to punish them, but to shape, mold, and mature them.
The Wilderness: A Classroom of Trust
The sages teach that the Children of Israel could not enter the Promised Land until they witnessed miracles. The wilderness became their classroom, teaching them to trust God for all provisions and to witness that He controls everything.
Learning about God helps us develop a relationship with Him. Experiencing God at work in our lives and the lives around us deepens and strengthens that relationship. After just three days in the wilderness, Israel wanted water, and God provided. Then He said in Exodus 15:26, "If you diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, do what is right in His eyes, pay attention to His commandments, and keep all His decrees, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you."
How could they trust Him? Because He constantly showed His presence in the pillar of smoke during the day and fire at night. Experiencing God's presence isn't difficult when we remember that the Holy Spirit indwells every believer.
The Song of Salvation
This experience of God's presence brought forth Moses' song, as he and all the Children of Israel sang in worship: "The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will glorify Him, my father's God, and I will exalt Him."
That phrase—"He has become my salvation"—echoes throughout Scripture. We encounter it again in Isaiah 12:2: "Behold, God is my salvation! I will trust and will not be afraid. For the Lord God is my strength and my song. He also has become my salvation."
The Psalmist declares in Psalm 118:14-17, "The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation. Shouts of joy and victory are in the tents of the righteous: 'The Lord's right hand is mighty!' I will not die, but live, and proclaim what the Lord has done!"
Remarkably, we'll hear the song of Moses again in the future. Revelation 15 describes those who have victory singing "the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb, saying, 'Great and wonderful are Your deeds, Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, O King of the nations!'"
Yeshua: The Embodiment of Salvation
The name Yeshua itself means "salvation." The angel told Joseph in Matthew 1:21, "You shall call His name Yeshua, for He will save His people from their sins." Yeshua is the moment-by-moment hope of every believer.
When Miriam visited Elizabeth, her song echoed the themes of the Exodus: "He has displayed power with His arm. He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down rulers from thrones and exalted humble ones. He has helped His servant Israel, remembering His mercy, just as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever."
Once again, we see God's strong arm and His power over all things, His mercy extending to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Our Journey Through the Wilderness
Like the Children of Israel, our trip from salvation to resurrection may be a long one. It may not be easy, with times of spiritual thirst and hunger, yet God will always provide. We learn to experience God in new and different ways, each time growing in our faith, trust, and relationship with Him.
The longer we live, the more we see God working in our lives. The more we gather for fellowship and worship, the more we witness God at work in others' lives. We get to share how God has worked, retelling the stories of His wonderful deeds and blessings over and over again.
Salvation represents renewal. At Creation, God took chaos and put it in perfect order. The flood brought judgment on evil, but when the waters receded, newness came to Noah, his family, and all the earth. Salvation had come to Noah because he trusted God.
At the Exodus, judgment came to Egypt, but salvation came to Israel when the waters closed over the Egyptian army. Israel spent time in the wilderness learning to trust God—and in many ways, still spends time in exile learning that same lesson.
The Final Countdown
For each one of us in Yeshua Messiah, we find our salvation through trust and faith—remembering that faith means both trusting God and allegiance to Him. Our redemption lies in the future. In the meantime, we travel through the wilderness, observing His mighty work in our lives, taking in all He does for us, learning to trust Him more completely.
The salvation of Noah, the Exodus, the rescue in the book of Esther, and the birth of Messiah were all experienced salvations. Our salvation is experienced too. What we have to look forward to is the final redemption.
We are in the final countdown, the dawning of the messianic age. We've been in the wilderness for nearly 2,000 years now. But soon, the trumpet will sound. The Lord will return, and we will be redeemed.
Until then, we continue our wilderness journey, growing in trust, experiencing His presence, and telling the stories of His faithfulness to future generations.
Every family has those stories that get retold at gatherings, the ones that remind us who we are and what we stand for. These narratives become the glue that binds generations together, passing down values and identity. The biblical narrative functions similarly for believers, reminding us of our ever-growing relationship with God and His unwavering faithfulness to His people.
When we read Scripture, we encounter the profound truth that God so loved the world that He sent His only Son. Each retelling invites us to turn 180 degrees from our current path and embrace the Messiahship of Yeshua. As Yeshua told Martha in John 11:25-26, "I am the resurrection and the life! Whoever believes in Me, even if he dies, shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?"
This is the moment of promise for each of us—where trust meets salvation.
The Pattern of Redemption
The Exodus story provides a powerful template for understanding salvation. After 430 years in Egypt, God revealed Himself so dramatically that Egypt, Israel, and all nations witnessed His power over everything. The Children of Israel marked their doorposts with the blood of the lamb, were delivered through the waters of the Nile, and headed toward the Promised Land.
But here's the remarkable part: God intentionally hardened Pharaoh's heart so that the Egyptian army would pursue Israel to the Sea of Reeds. Why? So that He would be glorified and the Egyptians would know that He is the Lord. When the last Israelite stepped onto dry ground and Moses stretched his hand over the sea, the waters swallowed the Egyptian warriors completely.
Yet God saw the anxiety of His people when they were frightened by the approaching army. He knew they would fear other armies on the direct route to Canaan. So He led them on a much longer path through the wilderness—not to punish them, but to shape, mold, and mature them.
The Wilderness: A Classroom of Trust
The sages teach that the Children of Israel could not enter the Promised Land until they witnessed miracles. The wilderness became their classroom, teaching them to trust God for all provisions and to witness that He controls everything.
Learning about God helps us develop a relationship with Him. Experiencing God at work in our lives and the lives around us deepens and strengthens that relationship. After just three days in the wilderness, Israel wanted water, and God provided. Then He said in Exodus 15:26, "If you diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, do what is right in His eyes, pay attention to His commandments, and keep all His decrees, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you."
How could they trust Him? Because He constantly showed His presence in the pillar of smoke during the day and fire at night. Experiencing God's presence isn't difficult when we remember that the Holy Spirit indwells every believer.
The Song of Salvation
This experience of God's presence brought forth Moses' song, as he and all the Children of Israel sang in worship: "The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will glorify Him, my father's God, and I will exalt Him."
That phrase—"He has become my salvation"—echoes throughout Scripture. We encounter it again in Isaiah 12:2: "Behold, God is my salvation! I will trust and will not be afraid. For the Lord God is my strength and my song. He also has become my salvation."
The Psalmist declares in Psalm 118:14-17, "The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation. Shouts of joy and victory are in the tents of the righteous: 'The Lord's right hand is mighty!' I will not die, but live, and proclaim what the Lord has done!"
Remarkably, we'll hear the song of Moses again in the future. Revelation 15 describes those who have victory singing "the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb, saying, 'Great and wonderful are Your deeds, Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, O King of the nations!'"
Yeshua: The Embodiment of Salvation
The name Yeshua itself means "salvation." The angel told Joseph in Matthew 1:21, "You shall call His name Yeshua, for He will save His people from their sins." Yeshua is the moment-by-moment hope of every believer.
When Miriam visited Elizabeth, her song echoed the themes of the Exodus: "He has displayed power with His arm. He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down rulers from thrones and exalted humble ones. He has helped His servant Israel, remembering His mercy, just as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever."
Once again, we see God's strong arm and His power over all things, His mercy extending to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Our Journey Through the Wilderness
Like the Children of Israel, our trip from salvation to resurrection may be a long one. It may not be easy, with times of spiritual thirst and hunger, yet God will always provide. We learn to experience God in new and different ways, each time growing in our faith, trust, and relationship with Him.
The longer we live, the more we see God working in our lives. The more we gather for fellowship and worship, the more we witness God at work in others' lives. We get to share how God has worked, retelling the stories of His wonderful deeds and blessings over and over again.
Salvation represents renewal. At Creation, God took chaos and put it in perfect order. The flood brought judgment on evil, but when the waters receded, newness came to Noah, his family, and all the earth. Salvation had come to Noah because he trusted God.
At the Exodus, judgment came to Egypt, but salvation came to Israel when the waters closed over the Egyptian army. Israel spent time in the wilderness learning to trust God—and in many ways, still spends time in exile learning that same lesson.
The Final Countdown
For each one of us in Yeshua Messiah, we find our salvation through trust and faith—remembering that faith means both trusting God and allegiance to Him. Our redemption lies in the future. In the meantime, we travel through the wilderness, observing His mighty work in our lives, taking in all He does for us, learning to trust Him more completely.
The salvation of Noah, the Exodus, the rescue in the book of Esther, and the birth of Messiah were all experienced salvations. Our salvation is experienced too. What we have to look forward to is the final redemption.
We are in the final countdown, the dawning of the messianic age. We've been in the wilderness for nearly 2,000 years now. But soon, the trumpet will sound. The Lord will return, and we will be redeemed.
Until then, we continue our wilderness journey, growing in trust, experiencing His presence, and telling the stories of His faithfulness to future generations.
Recent
Archive
2026
2025
October
Categories
no categories
No Comments