Three Categories of Man and Woman

One of the most famous and remarkable stories in the Old Testament is the record of how God brought His people Israel out of bondage in Egypt.

You all Know the story, and some of you still think Moses looks like Charlton Heston.

If not, lets review

Exodus 1:6-14New Living Translation (NLT)

6In time, Joseph and all of his brothers died, ending that entire generation.7But their descendants, the Israelites, had many children and grandchildren. In fact, they multiplied so greatly that they became extremely powerful and filled the land.

8Eventually, a new king came to power in Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph or what he had done.9He said to his people, “Look, the people of Israel now outnumber us and are stronger than we are.10We must make a plan to keep them from growing even more. If we don’t, and if war breaks out, they will join our enemies and fight against us. Then they will escape from the country.[a]”

11So the Egyptians made the Israelites their slaves. They appointed brutal slave drivers over them, hoping to wear them down with crushing labor. They forced them to build the cities of Pithom and Rameses as supply centers for the king.12But the more the Egyptians oppressed them, the more the Israelites multiplied and spread, and the more alarmed the Egyptians became.13So the Egyptians worked the people of Israel without mercy.14They made their lives bitter, forcing them to mix mortar and make bricks and do all the work in the fields. They were ruthless in all their demands.

Exodus 12:31New Living Translation (NLT

31Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron during the night. “Get out!” he ordered. “Leave my people—and take the rest of the Israelites with you! Go and worship theLordas you have requested.

Exodus 14:26-28New Living Translation (NLT)

26When all the Israelites had reached the other side, theLordsaid to Moses, “Raise your hand over the sea again. Then the waters will rush back and cover the Egyptians and their chariots and charioteers.”27So as the sun began to rise, Moses raised his hand over the sea, and the water rushed back into its usual place. The Egyptians tried to escape, but theLordswept them into the sea.28Then the waters returned and covered all the chariots and charioteers—the entire army of Pharaoh. Of all the Egyptians who had chased the Israelites into the sea, not a single one survived.

Numbers 13:25-31New Living Translation (NLT)

25After exploring the land for forty days, the men returned26to Moses, Aaron, and the whole community of Israel at Kadesh in the wilderness of Paran. They reported to the whole community what they had seen and showed them the fruit they had taken from the land.27This was their report to Moses: “We entered the land you sent us to explore, and it is indeed a bountiful country—a land flowing with milk and honey. Here is the kind of fruit it produces.28But the people living there are powerful, and their towns are large and fortified. We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak!29The Amalekites live in the Negev, and the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country. The Canaanites live along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea[a]and along the Jordan Valley.”

30But Caleb tried to quiet the people as they stood before Moses. “Let’s go at once to take the land,” he said. “We can certainly conquer it!”

31But the other men who had explored the land with him disagreed. “We can’t go up against them! They are stronger than we are!”

Numbers 14:34-35New Living Translation (NLT)

34“‘Because your men explored the land for forty days, you must wander in the wilderness for forty years—a year for each day, suffering the consequences of your sins. Then you will discover what it is like to have me for an enemy.’35I, theLord, have spoken! I will certainly do these things to every member of the community who has conspired against me. They will be destroyed here in this wilderness, and here they will die!”

Joshua 3:14-17New Living Translation (NLT)

14So the people left their camp to cross the Jordan, and the priests who were carrying the Ark of the Covenant went ahead of them.15It was the harvest season, and the Jordan was overflowing its banks. But as soon as the feet of the priests who were carrying the Ark touched the water at the river’s edge,16the water above that point began backing up a great distance away at a town called Adam, which is near Zarethan. And the water below that point flowed on to the Dead Sea[a]until the riverbed was dry. Then all the people crossed over near the town of Jericho.

17Meanwhile, the priests who were carrying the Ark of theLord’s Covenant stood on dry ground in the middle of the riverbed as the people passed by. They waited there until the whole nation of Israel had crossed the Jordan on dry ground.

That is a rather condensed version of a very long and dramatic story

There are 3 main bodies of geography which serve as the stage for this drama

Egypt is the first

The Wilderness is the second

And the Promised Land, or Cannan, is the third

As in all He does, our God has an eternal purpose. The story of the people of Israel and their trek to Canaan is as significant today as it was thousands of years ago.

And the 3 geographical areas are clear representations of man and woman today - their spiritual categories.

For 400 years the children of Israel suffered bitterly, helpless to save themselves; hopeless except for the fact that over 400 years before, our God had promised Abraham that He would redeem them out of Egypt.

Genesis 12:1-7New Living Translation

12TheLordhad said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you.2I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others.3I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”

4So Abram departed as theLordhad instructed, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.5He took his wife, Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all his wealth—his livestock and all the people he had taken into his household at Haran—and headed for the land of Canaan. When they arrived in Canaan,6Abram traveled through the land as far as Shechem. There he set up camp beside the oak of Moreh. At that time, the area was inhabited by Canaanites.

7Then theLordappeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.[a]” And Abram built an altar there and dedicated it to theLord, who had appeared to him.

So let's not get ahead of ourselves. Let us go back to Egypt

The geographical area of Egypt is the spiritual picture of today's unforgiven, unredeemed sinner.

At the fall of man when Adam sinned by thinking he could be man without God, God withdrew His Holy Spirit from the human spirit.

Although at birth, all men and women retain their animal body and possess a functioning soul of mind, emotion, and will - we all start out empty of God - Spiritually bankrupt

This is the consequences of sin, and is the reason we must train our children in the ways of God, for they are empty of God until they understand their need for a Savior.

For the day God went out of man's heart, the principle of sin came in.

The Bible calls this sin principle - the Flesh. Look at Mark 7:20-23

Mark 7:20-23Amplified Bible (AMP)

20And He said, What comes out of a man is what makes a man uncleanandrenders [him] unhallowed.

21For from within, [that is] out of the hearts of men, come baseandwicked thoughts, sexual immorality, stealing, murder, adultery,

22Coveting (a greedy desire to have more wealth), dangerousanddestructive wickedness, deceit;[a]unrestrained (indecent) conduct; an evil eye (envy), slander (evil speaking, malicious misrepresentation, abusiveness), pride ([b]the sin of an uplifted heart against God and man), foolishness (folly, lack of sense, recklessness, thoughtlessness).

23All these evil [purposes and desires] come from within, and they make the man unclean andrender him unhallowed.

Here Jesus is speaking of the Flesh

Just as Egypt represents our natural condition of spiritual death, so the Eqtptian slave masters represent the Flesh - in its tyrannical control over human behavior, for the unredeemed are prisoners, suffering the torment of the imprisoned, and most have no idea!

But God - there are those 2 words again - But God had no purpose to leave His people in such tyranny and enslavement. The most prominent part of the story are the series of plagues to convince the Egyptians that God was serious - culminating in the last dreadful death of all first born males.

Exodus 12:6-13New Living Translation (NLT)

6“Take special care of this chosen animal until the evening of the fourteenth day of this first month. Then the whole assembly of the community of Israel must slaughter their lamb or young goat at twilight.7They are to take some of the blood and smear it on the sides and top of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the animal.8That same night they must roast the meat over a fire and eat it along with bitter salad greens and bread made without yeast.9Do not eat any of the meat raw or boiled in water. The whole animal—including the head, legs, and internal organs—must be roasted over a fire.10Do not leave any of it until the next morning. Burn whatever is not eaten before morning.

11“These are your instructions for eating this meal: Be fully dressed,[a]wear your sandals, and carry your walking stick in your hand. Eat the meal with urgency, for this is theLord’s Passover.12On that night I will pass through the land of Egypt and strike down every firstborn son and firstborn male animal in the land of Egypt. I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt, for I am theLord!13But the blood on your doorposts will serve as a sign, marking the houses where you are staying. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. This plague of death will not touch you when I strike the land of Egypt.

Blood!!! God said when He saw the blood of the lamb He would pass over His people and spare them

This is clearly the foreshadowing of the death of Christ

And just as it was not God's desire or purpose for His people to remain enslaved and tortured by fleshly masters, so too it is not his purpose for each of us to remain enslaved, tortured, and terrorized!!

Just as that little choice lamb bore the judgement in place of the firstborn of Israel, so Jesus Christ bore our sins!

All God asked His people Israel to do was to apply the blood to the doorposts in FAITH and to REST in God's promise.

That is all God asks of each of us, of your children, of your friends, of your neighbors - to apply the blood of Jesus Christ to our needs as terrorized, enslaved, quilty sinners - by FAITH- and to REST in God's promise of forgiveness, and to humbly say, "Thank You"

So the children of Israel left Egypt, and as you remember, watched as their enslavers were buried in the Red Sea

1 Corinthians 10:1-2New Living Translation (

10I don’t want you to forget, dear brothers and sisters,[a]about our ancestors in the wilderness long ago. All of them were guided by a cloud that moved ahead of them, and all of them walked through the sea on dry ground.2In the cloud and in the sea, all of them were baptized as followers of Moses.

Now look at Romans 6:3-4

Romans 6:3-4New Living Translation (NLT)

3Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death?4For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.

See the similarity? They were baptized, we were baptized

The Egyptian slave masters - the Flesh - were buried forever, just as our sin nature - the flesh- is also buried.

Then what must replace it??

Galatians 4:4-6New Living Translation (NLT)

4But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law.5God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children.[a]6And because we[b]are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.”[c]

Once we are redeemed, God restores His Holy Spirit to our human spirit, by whose presence we receive the very life of the Lord Jesus

1 Peter 1:3-4Amplified Bible (AMP)

3Praised (honored, blessed) be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah)! By His boundless mercy we have been born again to an ever-living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

4[Born anew] into an inheritance which is beyond the reach of changeanddecay [imperishable], unsullied and unfading, reserved in heaven for you,

(Show a glove)

"Glove, pick up the Bible" it cannot although it has fingers and a thumb

You can preach to it, instruct it, but the glove still cannot pick up the Bible

Yet when I put my hand in it, everything that is possible for my hand, becomes possible for the glove.

THAT is what it is like to have Christ, His divine nature, by His Holy Spirit, dwelling in our redeemed humanity.

WE are the glove, Christ is the hand

Philippians 4:13Amplified Bible (AMP)

13I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who[a]infuses inner strength into me; I am[b]self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency].

or as you probably know it better

Philippians 4:13New King James Version (NKJV)

13I can do all things through Christ[a]who strengthens me.

It is this enjoyment of Christ's indwelling which is represented by the third geographical area - Cannan, the land of promise and provision

Cannan is Christ NOW, not heaven one day down the road

This was God's purpose for His people then, and it is God's purpose for His redeemed people Now

He desires that the natural man - destitute of divine life, Satan's plaything, destined for hell, - might become the SPIRITUAL man - filled with the Spirit of Christ, alive unto God as an instrument of righteousness.

Made in His image

2 Corinthians 5:21New International Version (NIV)

21God made him who had no sinto be sin[a]for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

So why is there a second geographical area? The wilderness

The Wilderness represents the tragedy of Christianity today, just as it was a tragedy for the children of Israel so long ago.

For they lived in SELF-IMPOSED poverty for 40 years.

God had given them the land

Numbers 13:1-2New Living Translation (

13TheLordnow said to Moses,2“Send out men to explore the land of Canaan, the land I am giving to the Israelites. Send one leader from each of the twelve ancestral tribes.”

Yet they would not believe the God who brought them out, was the God who could bring them in.

They chose man's weakness over God's strength.

Numbers 13:30-33New Living Translation (NLT)

30But Caleb tried to quiet the people as they stood before Moses. “Let’s go at once to take the land,” he said. “We can certainly conquer it!”

31But the other men who had explored the land with him disagreed. “We can’t go up against them! They are stronger than we are!”32So they spread this bad report about the land among the Israelites: “The land we traveled through and explored will devour anyone who goes to live there. All the people we saw were huge.33We even saw giants[a]there, the descendants of Anak. Next to them we felt like grasshoppers, and that’s what they thought, too!”

We have all read the sad, dramatic stories of those 40 years marked by weak faith and rebellion.

It is this Wilderness period which is the picture of the carnal Christian today!

If you are a carnal Christian:

* You have been redeemed by faith in Christ through His reconciling death

* You have received the gift of the Holy Spirit by whose gracious presence Jesus lives in you

*Yet in spite of these - you live in SELF-IMPOSED poverty. Plagued by memories of a flesh

already buried with Christ

Just like the children of Israel constantly remembered their task-masters - "at least they gave us food, at least we had a roof over our heads."