Truth Be Told: A Blog by Pastor Bill Alderson

  In Genesis 46:3-4, God told Jacob that the Lord would make him a great nation, promising that He would go with Jacob and his family to Egypt and “ I will surely bring you up again ”. God would birth the nation of Israel beginning with the seventy of Jacob’s family as well as Joseph and his family already there and then deliver them. In Exodus 1, Scripture says that the sons of Israel would be fruitful and increase greatly and be multiplied and become exceedingly mighty for a season. But once the Pharoah who favored Joseph was gone, a new leader would place them in hard labor for hundreds of years. In fact, Exodus 12:41 tells us that this Hebrew nation remained in Egypt for exactly four hundred and thirty years. Since Egypt is a symbol of the world, the nation of Israel would be birthed out of the injustices of the world. When Moses was raised up to lead the nation out of bondage and into the wilderness, heading for the promised land, scholars believe that there were between two...

In Hebrews 2:1, the writer warns the believer to a spiritual phenomenon that can happen to anyone. It involves the “drifting away” from the faith. The Greek word used is pararreoe and it means a slipping away, a gradual and almost unnoticeable movement as a result of a deviation from the truth. The solution to this spiritual warfare is to pay closer attention [ prosechoe – to hold the mind in a particular direction] “ to what we have heard ”. In Deuteronomy 4:9, Moses writes “ Only give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently, so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen and they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your sons and your grandsons ”. The spiritual principle being taught is an attention of the heart to divine instruction as the Holy Spirit illuminates truth in the inner man. Without this approach, we are subject to a slackness in our relationship with God. This may be the most important theme addressed in ...

  From the time Abraham received promises from God in response to his faith in Genesis 12:1-3 (approximately 2000 BC) until God gave Moses the entire Law on Mount Sinai in Exodus 20 (approximately 1446 BC), the Hebrew nation functioned spiritually under this covenant God gave to Abraham that He would bless those who bless Abraham. For a number of those years, the Hebrews were held in bondage in Egypt by pharaohs until Moses was raised up to lead the nation across the Red Sea into the wilderness. The question arises as to why God would introduce the Law of Moses to His people when it was to be a temporary covenant, until such a time as Messiah would introduce the new covenant nearly 1,500 years later? What purpose did this old covenant serve? In Galatians 3:19, Paul asks and then answers the question, “ Why the Law then? ” The conclusion is understood in the context of the covenant made with Abraham that the inheritance from the promise of God is not based on law, but through fait...