What the Bible says about God's Separation of Israel from Egypt
(From Forerunner Commentary)

John 6:44 We and our brethren fit into the same pattern as Enoch, Noah, Abraham and the other patriarchs, and others down through time, as individuals who make up the church. All of us are called out, drawn by God's grace—an act of love on His part—that separates us from the world and puts us in a position in relation to Him that the uncalled do not have the privilege of being part of. We had no control over this, and neither do the uncalled. "Jacob I have loved; but Esau I have hated," God says (Malachi 1:2-3). We are living fulfillments of that prophecy. God has loved us, but the uncalled has He not. To break Israel's bondage to Pharaoh and to Egypt, did God have to work miracles and others things far beyond human capability? Of course, He did. To break us away, to set us apart, to separate us from the herd, as it were, God had to do similar things spiritually to break our bondage to Satan and this world. This is no little thing. It is because of what the Lord does that we are separated from the world. Real miracles must occur, or we would never be separated. Those miracles begin with our calling. The Greek word translated into English as "assembly" or "church," depending on which version of the Bible one uses, is ekklesia, and it means "a calling," "a summons" to an assembly. The purpose of the calling out or separation from others is determined by the context in which ekklesia appears. So, the word can even be applied to a mob of people who are summoned by their own curiosity about something exciting happening in the neighborhood. Luke uses it exactly this way in the book of Acts (see Acts 19:21-41). People were drawn by the possibility of a riot taking place in the city. Ekklesia can apply to people summoned by the attraction of a theater show. It does not necessarily need to be a formal summons, but in our case, the Bible makes sure that we understand that our calling is specific and formal. God Himself summons us to be separated away from the world. As time passed in the first century, ekklesia came to be applied to the Christian assembly or congregation to distinguish it from the Jews' Sabbath meeting in a synagogue. The word itself has absolutely no direct connection to the church, but by common usage, it came to be understood as implying those called and separated from the world, and so we speak of "the church." But in Greek, all it means is "those summoned." To us, it implies "summoned by God"; "summoned to be separated from the world"; "summoned so God can reproduce Himself in us." John W. Ritenbaugh Sanctification and Holiness (Part 1) Related Topics: Bondage to Sin | Calling | Church Separated from the World | Ekklesia | God's Separation of Israel from Egypt | God's Summons | Sanctification and Holiness | Summons, God's

Revelation 18:4 When God separated Abraham and his family from his family and his country, and when God separated Israel from Egypt, their sanctification was also geographical. He literally moved them from one place on earth to another. His purpose was to establish a new community of people all involved in the same purpose. With the church, our separation is not geographical but spiritual, moral, and ethical, while still living geographically within the system that we were born into. We must become separated from the way, from the manner, from the lifestyle, from the attitudes of the system that we were born into and moved (motivated) to make God's way, His manner, His system, His attitudes ours. That is how we "come out" of Babylon. Abraham and Israel literally moved geographically. Some of us may move geographically, but that is not really what God has in mind. He desires a spiritual, moral, ethical, and attitudinal departure from our friends, neighbors, family, the gang we ran with, or whatever. We are called to be different. The concept of God's separating, making holy, and establishing a new community, is not lost. The community aspect is merely reserved until a later time. Under the New Covenant, the community is the Kingdom of God. It is a goal we are moving toward as He prepares His set-apart people to enter that new community. So where are we headed? To the Kingdom of God. Are we headed there geographically? No. We stay right where we are, but we still "come out" of Babylon in a spiritual sense. We are still sanctified by a change of attitude, of practice, and of conduct. Instead of immoral, we become moral. Instead of being unethical, we become ethical. Instead of being spiritually anti-God as Satan is, we become spiritual in the way God is spiritual. That is how we "come out." We are set apart for that purpose. At this time, geography has little or no part in the sanctifcation of the overwhelming majority of God's people. John W. Ritenbaugh Sanctification and Holiness (Part 1) Related Topics: Come Out | Come Out of Babylon | God's Separation of Israel from Egypt | New Covenant | Sanctification | Sanctification and Holiness | Set Apart | Spiritual Separation

 

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