Redemption and Regeneration

Exodus: The Story of Redemption and Regeneration There is no greater story that parallels salvation and redemption like the Exodus account. According to the Miriam dictionary, redeem is defined as “to make (something that is bad, unpleasant, etc.) better or more acceptable; to exchange (something, such as a coupon or lottery ticket) for money, an award, etc.; to buy back (something, such as a stock or bond).”
The story of the great “exodus” we can see this definition in its fullest come to life. Over the course of time the children of Israel had made some bad choices and ended up in captivity under the control of Pharaoh. The children of Israel are God’s chosen people. They are His. They belong to Him. Therefore, when God’s property is taken, He goes into the plan to “redeem” them. God has “seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows” (New King James Version Exodus 3:7).
In order to redeem the children of Israel, God needed a redeemer. Moses was his choice. God said “Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt (Exodus 3:10)”. After a few different excuses, five to be exact, Moses finally accepted the call that was on his life. It is interesting to note that Moses is a type of Christ found in the Old Testament. Not that Moses was Jesus or is Jesus, but some of his qualities are similar; the main one being a redeemer of God’s people.
For the sake of time and space I want to fast forward and focus on the “redemption” aspect of the exodus. Back to the opening definition of redeem, part of the definition is “to make better of more acceptable”. The state the children of Israel were in was not acceptable to God. We know that from the Garden of Eden mankind has fallen and now has this sin nature that they are born with. God had a plan to help make us better or more acceptable to Him. The question we must first ask is, “Why?”
With the fall of man in the garden, mankind has been separated from God because of his fallen nature. God told Adam “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die (Genesis 2:17).” In the very next chapter we can see that this commandment was not upheld. It was not a physical death God was speaking of, but one that is spiritual. Spiritually mankind has been separated from God. Because man was separated from God, mankind had become no longer acceptable. It is our “iniquities have separated you from your God (Isaiah 59:2).”
So we have the why, now we need to know the “How?” How is God going to “make us better”? Fast forward to the nineteenth chapter of Exodus and we can see the how. Moses was called by God up to the top of Mt. Sinai. It was here that God began to give His law. It will be because of this law that makes the people better. “5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earthis Mine. 6 And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Exodus 19:5-6a).” It was through the law that God was going to redeem, or make more acceptable, the children of Israel.
This is still the plan of God today. God wants to make us more acceptable. The only difference is it is not through the “law” that we are redeemed, but through Jesus Christ. “We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are (New Living Translation Romans 3:22).”
Another aspect of redeem is the “exchange”. Through the Law, God wanted the children of Israel to exchange their way of living with His way of living. The reason goes back to the first point of making something better or acceptable, in this case their lives. I know that there were more laws than they or we could remember, so just looking at the Ten Commandments is a great start to see how God wanted them to exchange their ideals with His.
The children of Israel were to take these laws and exchange them for their ideals, which were not so good. In fact, while Moses was up on a mountain receiving from God, we can see just how bad the ideals of the children of Israel really were. “Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him (New King James Exodus 32:1.” One of the Ten Commandments explicitly said, “You shall have no other gods before Me (Exodus 20:3).” Left to their own way of thinking, which was that of Egypt for they worshipped animals, it caused them to sin against God which separated them from Him. By following His law, it brought them out of the muck and mire of their standards right on up to God’s.
Again, this is still in place today. God is wanting us to exchange our ideals for His. “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God (Romans 12:1).” We renew our minds, our way of thinking, our way of living, by reading the Word of God. It was and is God’s plan to exchange our righteousness (which according to Isaiah 64 is liken to “filthy rags”) with His.
Through redemption there is also a “buy back”. When you buy back something, it gives the impression that you once owned it. The children of Israel belong to God. Well they did pre-dating Pharaoh and the whole Egypt incident. Now they were owned by Pharaoh. “Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh supply cities, Pithom and Raamses (Genesis 1:11).” No longer were the children of Israel doing the work of God, they were now doing the work of Pharaoh. Slaves to Pharaoh with nowhere to go. This did not sit well with God.
During Moses encounter with Pharaoh and demanding on behalf of God that he “Let my people go (Exodus 5:1)”, ten plagues were to come against Pharaoh for not adhering to the Lord. Water became blood (Exodus 7:14-25), an overload of toads or frogs (Exodus 8), lice (Exodus 8:16-19), swarms of flies (Exodus 8:20-32), sickly livestock (Exodus 9:1-7), boils (Exodus 9:8-12), hail (Exodus 10:13-35), swarms of locusts (Exodus 10:1-20, and the lights went out (Exodus 10:21-29). But none of these things set the children of Israel free. God did not buy them back with any of these. It was on the tenth plague that God purchased His property back (here is a side note, God doesn’t steal). This tenth plague was to purchase the lives of His people. The currency? The first born of every male child in Egypt. Not just the children, but of the animals too. “And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the first born of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill; and all the firstborn of beasts (Exodus 11:5).” It was blood that bought them back.
Flip over to the New Testament. This idea of purchasing back what belonged to God still was and is in effect. When we are still in our “Egypt”, we are owned not by God, but by the taskmaster of this world, the enemy. We are enslaved in our own sin. Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin (John 8:34).” We serve a god who is jealous of His property, namely mankind. He has paid the ultimate price in order to buy back what rightfully belongs to Him. “16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved (John 3:16-17).” The great news is that we do not have to wait until we are perfect in order to be bought back! “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).”
The children of Israel failed over and over again, yet God in all of His grace, mercy, and love, still wanted to buy them back. Redemption was on His mind the whole time. This has not changed. In all of our failures and setbacks, in all of our unrighteousness and unholiness, God is still in the redemption business. Just as the children of Israel were lost, God still desires to “to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 19:10).”
Though redemption is a part of God’s master plan for the lives of the children of Israel (and all believers), there is another part of His plan. Regeneration. Regeneration is defined as “A biblical motif of salvation that emphasizes the rebirth or re-creation of fallen human beings by the indwelling Holy Spirit (Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms Kindle Location 1127).”
Not only did God want to redeem the children of Israel, but wanted to give them a new life. Life as they knew it was to be forgotten. Their journey was not to end at the Exodus, but was to continue on into the Promised Land. They have left behind all that they used to know. For you see this generation that came out of Egypt was born in Egypt. This generation knew nothing but slavery. All they knew was how to live the life of a slave.
We know that this was the case for we read “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years (Genesis 6:3).” God had said no man shall live past one hundred and twenty years. The children of Israel were in slavery to Pharaoh for a lot longer than that! “And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years—on that very same day—it came to pass that all the armies of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt (Exodus 12:41).” Over four hundred years they were in slavery. Four generations have passed. For four generations the life of slavery was all they knew. But that was about to change.
God, raising up the redeemer Moses, set His people free. Now He wants to give them a new life, a re-birth. In that re-birth is freedom. Now they are no longer slaves to Pharaoh, but they are free in God. Free to walk into the Promised Land.
Regeneration is for today. We are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ. God has bought us back and our lives are not to look the same. We are not reborn. We are to live a completely new life in and through Jesus. Jesus explains this concept of being born again to Nicodemus. “5 Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again (John 3:5-7).”
It is the concept of being born again. A new birth. A new life. We are no longer slaves to our “Egypt”, but we are to walk in the newness and in the promises of God. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new (2 Corinthians 5:17).”
One of the main issues with the generation that came out of Egypt is they still had Egypt inside of them. They were free, but they still lived as though they were not. They even complained at one point wishing they could go back to Egypt. “Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger (Exodus 16:3).” They have taken their eyes off of the promises of God. The old ways eventually had taken over.
We must constantly keep our eyes on the promises of God. Those can be found throughout the Scriptures. Constantly “the washing of water by the word (Ephesians 5:26b).”
What a magnificent parallel of the children of Egypt and our own spiritual journeys with God. There is a lot we can learn from the Exodus account. My prayer is that we take it to heart and keep moving towards the promises of God.

Works Cited
Stanley J. Grenz;David Guretzki;Cherith Fee Nordling. Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms (Kindle Location 1127). Kindle Edition.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation
The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Cited: Stanley J. Grenz;David Guretzki;Cherith Fee Nordling. Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms (Kindle Location 1127). Kindle Edition. Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.