Puzzle Piece 4: Freedom
Do you want freedom from sin? Jesus died on the cross so that anyone who believes in Him will have freedom from sin nature and the penalty of sin which is death. Even when we sin, God considers us righteous because of Jesus and we no longer have a sin nature. The Holy Spirit will help us sin less and less over time. Likewise, even if our bodies die, our spirit will not die and our bodies will also be raised like Jesus was raised from the dead.
Moses led the Israelites to FREEDOM from Egypt
Key Bible Reference: Genesis 37-Exodus 18
About 150 years after God made a covenant with Abraham, his great-grandson and Jacob’s son, Joseph, was sold into slavery. However, God’s favor caused Joseph to become second in command in Egypt, and during a famine in Israel, he moved his family to Egypt. They grew from a family of 70 to a nation of ~600,000 over the next 150 years. The Pharaoh of Egypt that was ruling when Moses was born feared that the Israelites would take over, so he enslaved them and ordered the midwives to kill the male babies, but one of those babies was saved.
Moses, the great-grandson of Jacob’s son, Levi, was put in a basket in the Nile River, and rescued by Pharaoh’s daughter. Eighty years later, Moses was led by God to free the Israelites from slavery, but Pharaoh refused to let them go, so God sent 10 plagues. Before the 10th plague, God told the Israelites to sacrifice an unblemished lamb and mark their homes with the blood as a sign for the Lord to PASS OVER them and save them from the plague of death. Three days later they crossed the Red Sea from slavery in Egypt to freedom. As they came out of the sea, they saw their enemies buried in a watery grave, so they knew they were truly free from the fear of death and could journey to their earthly Promised Land!
JESUS leads Christians to FREEDOM from sin
Key Bible Reference: Matthew 21-28; Mark 11-16; Luke 18-24; John 12-21
Mankind became slaves to sin because Adam and Eve believed the lies of Satan instead of trusting God. But Jesus, the unblemished Lamb of God, was sacrificed so anyone who believes in Him can have FREEDOM from the punishment of sin, which is death. After taking the fiery wrath of God, Jesus was nailed to the cross and shed His perfect blood. Three days after His death, Jesus came out of the grave alive! Because Jesus left our enemy, death, buried in the grave, we are truly free from the fear of death, which is the punishment for our sins. We can begin our journey to our heavenly Promised Land! If we symbolically mark the doorposts of our hearts with the blood of Jesus, God will PASS OVER us and save us from death.
Connecting the Old & New Testament
| Old Testament | LIFE | New Testament |
| Moses | WHO | Jesus |
| Slavery | WHAT | Sin |
| ~1487 BC | WHEN | AD 33 |
| Egypt | WHERE | Golgatha, Israel |
| Blood; Out of Sea | HOW | Blood;Out of Grave |
| Love via Perfect Lamb | WHY | Love via Lamb of God |
FREEDOM from Slavery vs FREEDOM from Sin
The Israelites sacrificed a perfect male lamb and marked the arches of their homes with the blood as a sign for the destroyer to pass over them and spare them from death. After eating the roasted unbroken lamb, they left the slavery of Egypt. Three days later they miraculously crossed the Red Sea on dry land and began their journey to the Promised Land while their enemies died in the sea.
Jesus is the perfect Lamb of God. His body and blood is represented by the unleavened bread and blood of grapes. When we accept His unbroken body on the cross as our sin offering, we symbolically put His blood on the arches of our hearts and are saved from the punishment of sin which is death. Jesus came out of the grave on the third day and gave us the promise of eternal life and resurrection, as well as Holy Spirit power to defeat our enemy.
If we believe that our sins were nailed to the cross with Jesus, we are free to live without our sin condemning us. However, it doesn’t mean we are free to continue sinning. Our desire for sinful things will die and will be replaced by a desire to please God. Romans 6:15-18
Romans 6:6-8
Our old self was crucified with Jesus,
so our sinful bodies would die
and we would no longer be slaves to sin.
Sin doesn’t have power over dead people.
If we died with Christ,
we will also live with Him.