Stephen Terry, Director

 

Still Waters Ministry

 

 

Heirs of Promises, Prisoners of Hope

Commentary for the November 29, 2025, Sabbath School Lesson

 

"Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm..."

Deuteronomy 6:15a

Jesus had a gift for simplifying the message he preached. He reduced all of humanity to sheep and goats in the judgment to come. You can read all about it in Matthew 25:31-46. The sheep are genuinely concerned for the welfare of others. But the goats are too busy with their own affairs to even notice that others have needs. As Cain cared little about the life of his brother, Abel, many, if not most, seem to care little about others today. Why is that? It is because like the goats, they are too busy to notice. They are narrowly focused on their own needs.

What do I need to get what I want in life? And once I determine that, what means are acceptable to achieve that end? Do I simply work hard at my job in the hope that it will someday pay off and provide me with my dreams? What if I do not survive until then? Or what if I do and the meager income I have had has not allowed me to live as I hoped? What if others reap the rewards of my labor either by stymieing my efforts during my working years or by outright theft when I had hoped to live secure and undisturbed. What should I do when I see the wicked prosper despite my efforts to live honorably? Should I turn to thievery myself?

We all know examples both past and present of those who answered that last question in the affirmative. Those examples can be as furtive as a robbery in a dark alley or as blatant as massacring or enslaving an entire race of people to take their possessions and their land. Even if they survive, their bodies can become forfeit as they spend their lives in slavery so others can have the things they dreamed about thereby stealing the dreams of those so subjected. As if that were not enough, the slavers claim to own every offspring of those they have enslaved forever. It is an egregious kind of evil that deprives someone of hope before they are born. Those who do such things claim special privilege or even God's favor as an excuse for oppressing others and hoarding the wealth accumulated at their expense.

We demonstrate how quickly and easily we fall into that kind of behavior whenever a natural disaster threatens and suddenly the stores are out of toilet paper. It is not because the manufacturers are not making enough. There is plenty for everyone, but the shortage is created when some take far more than they need at the expense of those who end up with none. Whenever a shortage is feared, those who respond by hoarding make the shortage happen, and every time this happens, it reinforces the felt need to hoard what could not be found on the shelves the last time. Unfortunately, just like when we get too busy to be aware of our neighbors' needs, we also get too busy to hear the words of Jesus. He said, "Do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." (Matthew 6:31-33) Did you catch that? The sheep will be taken care of. They do not need to act like goats. When they care for others, they are only living out what they have learned about compassion and empathy from the one who cares about them.

Those who have been enslaved understand the need for that compassion. The Israelites suffered for four centuries in Egypt, and through Moses, God wrought a mighty deliverance for them. He expected them to rely upon him because he had proven dependable in delivering them and caring for them. He promised them a paradise in Canaan compared to what they had known in Egypt. All they needed to do was to go up and possess it. But tragically they refused. Despite all that God had done for them, they felt they would lose everything if they obeyed and went up into that land. It seems hard to understand why that would be such a hard concept to grasp, but when someone else had done all their thinking for them for generations, it had become their default to not be expected to accept responsibility for decision making so they waffled, complained, and murmured about everything. Joshua was of a different mold. He knew they needed to decide and commit to it. He lived that example and at the end of his days, he reaffirmed that he and his house would follow the Lord. (Joshua 24:14-15)

Knowing that God is loving and compassionate while so many who claim to be his followers are not is vital to those who are enslaved, and they are always with us. Trafficking in human beings has never ended. As a country, we in the United States are experiencing public furor as I write this over sexual slavery involving wealthy oligarchs and politicians, pedophiles who preyed upon girls in a disgusting subculture of abuse and exploitation. However, it is not only the wealthy who are to blame. We frequently hear of massage parlors that are nothing more than fronts for the prostitution of women brought into the United States and enslaved to perform such acts for the common working man. As an adjunct to such evil, there is an entire side industry that markets photos of these acts even exploiting tiny children who, if they survive such sexual slavery, will never be normal as a result.

Goats do not care. They are focused on their own needs. And just like in the parable, they say they are shocked to discover that such neglect occurred without their being aware of it. But Jesus is there in the person of that victim. God misses nothing. We can accumulate wealth and unwarranted power over others, and even if we deny it or try to hide it like Achan and his family hid the plunder from Jericho in his tent, it cannot be hidden from God who is the revealer of all secrets.

Every victim, whether beaten by an Egyptian slave master, or later by an antebellum plantation overseer in the American South, whether murdered or forced into silence by the wealthy and powerful today, like Abel, their blood cries out to God for justice. The wicked will not escape. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr stated, "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."

Seeing these promises of God and that justice will out, how can we then refuse to go up like the Israelites did when God offers us citizenship in his kingdom in exchange for the paltry things of this world. We spend our whole lives accumulating what we can, and then we die. Who thought that made sense? Gold is a yellow rock that means nothing to the dead. Paper money and bit coins are also meaningless to the dead. We may justify it by claiming to be providing it to our heirs, but we are only passing on the curse that eats up much of our own lives and energy if we do. Why do we prefer wandering in that barren wasteland pretending we are making progress when we are only going in circles?

God has promised his kingdom to us just as he promised a land of milk and honey to the Israelites. But we cannot grasp title to land in his kingdom if we refuse to release our grasp on the glittery things we desire here. Before and during the American Civil War, enslaved Africans risked their lives following their hope to find freedom in northern states, in Canada, and even in Mexico. They were willing to risk their very lives only for a hope.

We may claim we are free as we commonly say in the United States, but the Bible says we are all slaves. "...Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin." (John 8:34) We may feel that it is about someone else and not us, after all we are good people. But again, the Bible refutes our claim. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." (1 John 1:8)

Why do we want to remain enslaved? It will only degrade and eventually slay us. Jesus offers us a better way. Referring to his willingness to free us, he tells us, "If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." (John 8:36) When the Israelites left Egypt for the Promised Land, they murmured and said they should return to slavery in Egypt where they felt they had it better. But let us pursue freedom in Christ, there is no future in the slavery of the past.