Exodus 3:17-18

And I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, unto a land flowing with milk and honey. And they shall hearken to thy voice… and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The Lord God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.

The Lord continues to speak with great tenderness and great clarity. He does not merely say that He has seen the affliction of His people. He says He is going to bring them up out of it. That is always the hope of redemption. God does not simply acknowledge bondage. He acts to break it. And when He speaks here, He does not speak in vague terms. He tells Moses exactly what He intends to do. He will bring His people out of Egypt and into a good land, a land flowing with milk and honey. In other words, the Lord is not only dealing with what they are leaving behind. He is setting before them what lies ahead by His grace.

That matters because when people are in affliction long enough, they can begin to think only in terms of survival. Their world becomes as narrow as the burden they are carrying. But the Lord lifts their eyes beyond Egypt. He reminds them that His plan is larger than their suffering. He has a destination in mind. He has promise in view. He has abundance beyond bondage. Egypt may be all they can presently see, but it is not all God has prepared for them.

Then the Lord tells Moses that when he gives this message to Israel, they will listen. That is an encouraging word, especially for a man who already feels weak and hesitant. God is assuring him that when he speaks what God has said, hearts will respond. That is still true. There is power in the Word of God. When people hear that the Lord has visited, that He knows their pain, that He has come to bring deliverance, something in them begins to awaken. Hope begins to stir. Faith begins to rise. God is telling Moses that this message will not fall to the ground because it carries the weight of divine mercy.

Then comes the instruction about going before Pharaoh and asking for three days’ journey into the wilderness that they may sacrifice to the Lord. This was not because God intended merely a brief religious retreat and then a return to bondage. The Lord was not negotiating for a short break in the middle of slavery. He was exposing Pharaoh’s heart. Even such a modest request would be refused. Even the granting of a short journey to worship would be denied. And in that denial, Pharaoh’s hardness would be brought fully into the light.

That is often the way the Lord deals with proud men. He lets their rebellion show itself plainly. He gives opportunity, and in the giving of that opportunity, what is really in the heart comes out. Pharaoh would not simply be judged as a man who misunderstood. He would be revealed as a man who resisted even the most reasonable expression of mercy and worship. The issue was never really the length of the journey. The issue was the condition of Pharaoh’s heart.

There is also something beautiful in the request itself. God was calling His people out to worship. Deliverance was not just about relief from pain. It was about restored relationship and rightful worship. The Lord was not merely trying to improve their working conditions. He was calling them to Himself. That is always the deeper aim of redemption. God brings His people out so that they may belong to Him, walk with Him, and worship Him.

That is the great contrast in the passage. Egypt is the place of affliction. The wilderness journey is unto worship. The promised land is fullness under the blessing of God. So the movement is clear. God is taking His people out of bondage, through the wilderness, and toward promise. And the first note of freedom is this: let My people go, that they may sacrifice unto Me.

That is still how the Lord works. He does not free us merely so we can live more comfortably. He frees us unto Himself. He brings us out so that we might know Him, worship Him, and walk in what He has prepared. Egypt always wants to keep a man bound to labor without worship, burden without rest, and duty without delight. But the Lord calls His people into a very different life. He calls them out of affliction and into promise, out of slavery and into worship, out of what crushes the soul and into what satisfies it.