Thread by @GbengaWemimo

In Genesis 15, right after God sealed his covenant with Abraham, God told him his descendants will spend 400 years in Egypt
God also promised that he would bring the descendants of Abraham out of Egypt with a mighty hand
Abraham didn't argue with God, he accepted God's verdict as

law
But he was smart
He told Isaac to keep far away from Egypt
As a young man, Abraham and Sarah had gone to Egypt in Genesis 12:8-13:2 to avoid the devastating effect of a famine
When they were about to get to Egypt, Abraham pleaded with Sarah to introduce herself as his sister

and not as his wife because of her beauty
(This was a half-truth but the intention was self-preservation and not faith)
When Pharaoh was told of Sarah's beauty, he immediately sent his servants to go and bring Sarah to his palace

(Collecting beauty is an obligation of royalty)

Abraham had no say in the matter
Pharaoh paid him Sarah's dowry and he collected it
Pharaoh became the legal husband of Sarah
Abraham prayed that God would somehow step into the matter
God did.
Pharaoh and his household were afflicted by a strange disease
Pharaoh called for his

diviners
His diviners told him Sarah had to go
Pharaoh sent for Abraham
Why did you lie?
Abraham claimed he was afraid for his life
Pharaoh wanted to be rid of the affliction
Pharaoh paid Abraham and Sarah appeasement/compensation offering
Abraham practically came out of Egypt

super-rich
He had robbed Pharaoh of gold, silver, slaves, and livestock
Now God was telling him, his descendants shall become slaves in Egypt for 400 years
Abraham decided it was better to prevent the slavery prophecy from coming to pass
He told Isaac to keep away from Egypt

In Genesis 26, another Famine came
Abraham had died and Isaac felt he seriously needed to move to Egypt if he was to survive
Famine is usually caused by a lack of rainfall
Egypt had the river Nile and her irrigation system
This helps her cope best with famine among the nations of

the earth at that time
Isaac packed all his belongings and began the journey to Egypt, it was his only recourse
When they got to Gerar, Isaac slept and God appeared unto him
God told him not to go to Egypt and God showed him what to do to prosper in Gerar
Isaac obeyed God and he

prospered in the land
Isaac told Jacob the same thing
Keep away from Egypt at all cost
When Jacob left Laban he settled in Shekem, one of the cities of Canaan
That was the land God promised Abraham
Jacob wanted to possess the land before time with human scheming and cunning!

Unfortunately, Dinah his daughter was raped by Shechem, son of Hamor (Genesis 30:21, 34, 46:15)
The maternal brothers of Dinah, Simeon, and Levi decided their father's manipulative diplomatic solution which was that the men of Shechem should be circumcised was not enough
They

killed all the men of Shechem
When Jacob saw what Levi and Simeon did, he had to flee Shechem with his family because he knew there would be reprisal attacks from the other communities around Shechem
His plan to take over Canaan by association and assimilation failed woefully

He ran to Bethel for safety by divine instruction (Genesis 35)
It was when he was in Bethel that two significant things happened to him
1. He wrestled with God and started to limp on one leg
2. His name was changed to Israel
He didn't know He had to be called a nation before he

could become a nation
The name Israel, changed everything
From the moment he was given that name, the engineering of its reality became a divine assignment
There was a preordained path he must take, according to the Word of God in order to be what God said he would be
That path

was Egypt!
Joseph, the first son of Rachel and the eleventh son of Jacob started having weird dreams
Jacob showed Joseph with attention because of his late mother
These factors stirred jealousy among Joseph's brothers and they sold him to Midianites
The Midianites took him to

Egypt and sold him to Potiphar (Genesis 37)
In Genesis 39, we saw Joseph's triumphs and travails
The first, in the spirit of excellence and godliness he exhibited as a servant
The second in the false accusation leveled against him by Potiphar's wife which landed him in prison

Eventually, Joseph ended up in Pharaoh's palace
His presence and divine guidance preserved many people from death and his brothers were eventually brought to him in Egypt
In Genesis 46, God appeared to Jacob and said "Jacob, Jacob, do not be afraid to go to Egypt, for i will make

you a great nation there"
Egypt became the incubator for the birth of Israel, just as God promised Abraham
When it was time for the children of Israel to be free God appeared to Moses and commissioned him
By a mighty hand, God took Israel out of Egypt
This didn't happen by chance

The children of Israel cried to God when the yoke placed on their neck by Pharoah was too heavy
Throughout the book of Judges, we saw the same pattern play out
Affliction-prayer-freedom
This pattern went on through the book of Kings/The prophets until Nebuchadnezzar sacked Judah

from the point Israel was taken here, she was never really free again
Daniel prayed when Israel had been in captivity for seventy years
Nehemiah served the King of Medes and Persia and was given the concession to rebuild Jerusalem but not as an independent nation
He was appointed

the governor while Ezra was the priest but the nation was still essentially under the rulership of Persia (Nehemiah 4)
Alexander the Great conquered Persia in 334-324 BC war
and Jerusalem came under Macedonian rulership by default
In 146 BC, The Romans defeated The Macedonians

and Israel came under the rulership of the Romans as a result of their conquer of the Macedonians
When we opened the Bible to the new testament, we see the Israelites being asked to return to their local government area for the purpose of a census and taxation
Joseph and Mary

were obeying this directive when Mary started feeling birth pangs and this led to Jesus' birth in a manger
Again, the sons of men had a role to pay in the process
Three magi's were shown his star and they followed it for several months until they traced it to the House where

Jesus and his parents were living in at the time
Mary heard the word of the angel and said "Be it unto me according to your words"
Joseph heard the instructions of the Holy Spirit while he was asleep and hurting because his babe had gotten pregnant miraculously and obeyed the

instructions foolishly
(How many men would truly accept the fact that their wives got pregnant by divine power)
It took a lot of foolishness from Joseph not to report the dream to a Rabbi as manipulative work of witchcraft or sorcery
When God speaks, he expects a response from us

if we agree with His word, what he says comes to pass speedily
If we refuse to agree with His word, what he says might be delayed from coming to pass in the realm of men
Anyone who claims to be walking with God through the senses and public opinion is a liar
We walk by the Spirit

We must all endeavor to walk by the spirit this season as we move into 2021
Living by the senses only helps us to fulfill our lusts
The right life is lived by the Spirit of God
Walk with the Holy Spirit and learn to live the real life of triumph
I wish you a Merry Christmas

GSW