Nov.11, 2014
by Bob Farrell
Over The Jordan
I’m in such a Saviour mode right now I think I’ll just continue stepping through the oratorio - right up to the Saviour Tour sponsored by Compassion International, Dec. 7-20, 2014, with soloists Larnelle Harris, Wayne Watson, Angie Primm, and Rod Fletcher.
By the way, if you haven’t done so please visit our new page @ facebook.com/SaviourOratorio. I’ll be posting this week on FB how you can attend a performance and even print some posters for your church.
Last time we were with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, ending with the fall of man. Let’s pick up the thread of the Story of God’s Passion for His People by going forward hundreds of years, to a time when Israel was groaning under the bondage of slavery.
Much had transpired in those intervening years - stories of triumph and tribulation. I still remember my first reading of Old Testament scriptures and stories, and how it struck me that those folks seemed to ebb and flow in huge, drastic swings - and mostly paid the price for their willfulness, pride, and rebellion.
I’m so glad us children of God are no longer like that. Right.
Let me set the scene for “The Promised Land”: the people of Israel slaves in Egypt under the tyrananical rule of Pharaoh; weeping and wailing and much gnashing of teeth; crying out for God.
And He heard them.
Bondage, bondage
Cruel oppression and bondage
Persecution at Pharaoh's hand
Woe to sons of Israel now slaves in Egypt's land
Years of misery and bondage
Suffering under the tyrant's hand
The people's spirit broken
All hope and freedom gone
Could heaven even hear their mournful song?
Tears that fell like rain were borne in pain
From Israel crying out and moved the heart of God
God chose to raise up their deliverer, Moses, fulfilling promises He had made to their fathers.
He stretched out His hand, brought forth the man
To lead them from that place
He took them for His own
He would deliver them from chains of bondage
Rescue them with mighty judgements
Fulfill the promise of their fathers
Be the God of holy covenant
God emboldened His deliverer to ‘Go down, Moses’ - and tell Pharaoh to “let my people go”. But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened and things did not go well for him. Plague after plague descended upon Egypt: frogs, bloody water, locusts, climaxing with the ‘angel of death’ - you name it they got it. Until at last Pharaoh relented and some 2 million Jews started to trek across the desert toward the ‘land of milk and honey’: the Promised Land of Canaan.
Born was the spirit in Israel that day
A nation delivered as Moses had prayed
Praise to Jehovah and His mighty hand
Led them from bondage to the Promised Land
Wandering, wandering
Years of marching and wandering
Through the desert the people came
Though their Saviour freed them
They doubted and complained
Were they to be abandoned in this place?
God was always there with patient care
He taught them all His ways
And loved them as His very own
He would proclaim the power of God Almighty
And dwell with all the chosen people
In their midst unveil His glory
Showing them His strength in faithfulness
A pillar of cloud led the children by day
And a fire in the night as the Lord showed the way
Tablets of stone held the holy commands
Law they would live by in the Promised Land
Manna from heaven, water from stone
Miracle power of the Lord was shown
God in His glory Whose wonders abound
Leading His children to higher ground
Holiness and majesty
God revealed for man to see
Onward to Zion the children were led
Rescued in mercy from suffering and death
Chosen to follow the Great I Am
Crossing the Jordan to the Promised Land
But God remains faithful even when we do not. He promises eternal life through His Son to those willing to lay down their life, pick up their cross, and follow Him.
And one day we will come into His Promised Land.
It’s just over the Jordan, folks. Keep trucking.
(Music and Lyrics from “The Promised Land” from Saviour, by Bob Farrell and Greg Nelson, circa 1994)
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