SONGS WEEK OF
23 October 2007
PRINCE OF EGYPT
23 October 2007
PRINCE OF EGYPT
DELIVER US
With the sting of the whip on my shoulder, with the salt of my sweat on my brow, Elohim, God on high, Can you hear your peole cry? Help us now, this dark hour. Deliver us, Hear our call, deliver us, Lord of all. Remember us, here in this burning sand, deliver us, there's a land you promised us. Deliver us to the promised land. THE PLAGUES
Thus saith the Lord: Since you refuse to free my people all through the land of Egypt, I send a pestilence and plague ino your house, into your bed, into your streams, into your streets, in your your drink, into your bread, upon your cattle, on your sheep, upon you oxen in your field into your dreams, into your sleep, until you break until you yield, I send the swarm, I send the horde, Thus saith the Lord. MOSES: Once I called you brother, once I thought a chance to make you laugh was all I ever wanted. Chorus: I send the thunder from the sky, I send the fire raining down. Moses: And even now I wish that God had chose another, serving as your foe on his behalf is the last thing that I wanted. Chorus: Send the hail of burning ice on every field, on every town. Moses: This was my home, all this pain and devastation, how it tortures me inside, all the innocent who suffer from your stubborness and pride. Chorus: I send the locusts on a wind, such as the world has never seen on every leaf, on every stalk, until there's nothing left of green. I send my scourge, I send my sword, thus saith the Lord! Moses: You who I called brother, why must you call down another blow! Chorus: I send my scourge, I send my sword. Moses: Let my people go! Moses and Chorus: Thus saith the Lord. Rameses: You who I called brother, how could you have come to hate me so? Is this what you wanted? Chorus: I send the swarm, I send the horde. Rameses: Then let my heart be hardened and never mind how high the cost may grow. This will still be so! I will never let your people go! Chorus: Thus saith the Lord! Moses: Thus saith the Lord! Ramese: I will not. . . Moses, Rameses and Chorus: Let your (my) people go!Leviticus and the Power of Blood
The book of Leviticus, at the center of the Torah (3d book of the Five Books of Moses----the Law) is mostly a book of atonement, which means the way in which the person becomes "at-one" with God.
This may seem like an unappealing book to today's readers, since it's mostly about sin, sacrifice, and blood. Yet it's central to Old and New Testaments.
Because the life is in the blood (a person dies after losing blood), God forbade the consumption of blood; blood was allowed only for atonement purposes.
But why blood? The idea is that God is holy; therefore an offense against God requires the life of the sinner. Yet, as the scapegoat ritual on the Day of Atonement makes clear, God mercifully allows a substitute death in the form of an animal.
This messy bloody sacrifice reminds each person of sin----that no-one can ever equal God's holiness (wholeness). Because God is perfect, sacrificed animals had to be perfect too.
By this means, the sinner again became "at one" with God. Otherwise sin in the community would drive God away (holiness and sin do not mix). Or the sinner would die instead of a substitute.
Yet even this was not enough; so sacrifices were made continually, since one always sins----as God says after the flood: Man will always sin. To be sure of complete purity, on the Day of Atonement, whatever sins were overlooked were placed on a goat (the "scapegoat"), which carried them away.
The sacrifice system is not as odd as it may seem. By shedding blood, the individual was reminded (1) that he almost certainly offended God in some way, and (2) that caused a separation from God, which, in principle, deserved death (the shedding of one's own blood).
Perhaps the sacrifice system was not a bad idea. Imagine if someone had to shed blood if he gossiped about another person or envied that person's money or passed a traffic light: that would be a stronger reminder of misconduct than just to have to say, for example, 'I'm sorry."
Finally, by shedding blood for unknown sins, one was reminding oneself that one was not perfect and was still a long way from being so. This too would be a cure for complaisance----being overly pleased with oneself.
Regardless, the student of the Bible should understand the important place Leviticus holds in the scheme of the Law where it has a central location in the middle of five books.
But there was a paradox. The more sacrifices were made, the more people were reminded of their sins and felt unworthy. Therefore, as Paul said, the Law can not justify the sinner.
So a perfect sacrifice was needed, equal to God's perfection. In this way, the blood of Jesus (God's son, according to Christians: "a lamb without blemish or defect" [1 Peter 1:19]) ended the sacrifice system among a certain group of Jews later called Christians.
THERE IS POWER IN THE BLOODThis may seem like an unappealing book to today's readers, since it's mostly about sin, sacrifice, and blood. Yet it's central to Old and New Testaments.
Because the life is in the blood (a person dies after losing blood), God forbade the consumption of blood; blood was allowed only for atonement purposes.
But why blood? The idea is that God is holy; therefore an offense against God requires the life of the sinner. Yet, as the scapegoat ritual on the Day of Atonement makes clear, God mercifully allows a substitute death in the form of an animal.
This messy bloody sacrifice reminds each person of sin----that no-one can ever equal God's holiness (wholeness). Because God is perfect, sacrificed animals had to be perfect too.
By this means, the sinner again became "at one" with God. Otherwise sin in the community would drive God away (holiness and sin do not mix). Or the sinner would die instead of a substitute.
Yet even this was not enough; so sacrifices were made continually, since one always sins----as God says after the flood: Man will always sin. To be sure of complete purity, on the Day of Atonement, whatever sins were overlooked were placed on a goat (the "scapegoat"), which carried them away.
The sacrifice system is not as odd as it may seem. By shedding blood, the individual was reminded (1) that he almost certainly offended God in some way, and (2) that caused a separation from God, which, in principle, deserved death (the shedding of one's own blood).
Perhaps the sacrifice system was not a bad idea. Imagine if someone had to shed blood if he gossiped about another person or envied that person's money or passed a traffic light: that would be a stronger reminder of misconduct than just to have to say, for example, 'I'm sorry."
Finally, by shedding blood for unknown sins, one was reminding oneself that one was not perfect and was still a long way from being so. This too would be a cure for complaisance----being overly pleased with oneself.
Regardless, the student of the Bible should understand the important place Leviticus holds in the scheme of the Law where it has a central location in the middle of five books.
But there was a paradox. The more sacrifices were made, the more people were reminded of their sins and felt unworthy. Therefore, as Paul said, the Law can not justify the sinner.
So a perfect sacrifice was needed, equal to God's perfection. In this way, the blood of Jesus (God's son, according to Christians: "a lamb without blemish or defect" [1 Peter 1:19]) ended the sacrifice system among a certain group of Jews later called Christians.
There is power, power, wonder-working power in the blood (in the blood) of the Lamb (of the Lamb). There is power, power, wonder-working power in the precious blood of the Lamb.
And would you be free of your passion and your pride? There's power in the blood, power in the blood. Come for a cleansing to Calvary's tide. There's wonderful power in the blood.
There is power, power, wonder-working power in the blood (in the blood) of the Lamb (of the Lamb). There is power, power, wonder-working power in the precious blood of the Lamb.
And would you do service to Jesus the King. There's power, power, wonder-working power in the blood of the lamb. There is power, power, wonder-working power in the precious blood of the Lamb. Would you be free from your passion and pride? There's power in the blood, power in the blood. There's wonderful power in the blood. There is power, there is power, wonder-working power in the blood of the lamb.There is power, power, wonder-working power in the precious blood of the lamb.
And would you do service to Jesus, the King? There's power in the blood, power in the blood. Would you live daily, his praises to sing? There's wonderful power in the blood.
There is power, there is power, wonder-working power, in the blood (in the blood) of the Lamb (of the Lamb). There is power, power, wonder-working power in the precious blood of the Lamb.
There is power, there is power, wonder-working power in the blood (in the blood) of the Lamb (of the Lamb). There is power, power, wonder-working power in the precious blood of the lamb.
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