Call Us: 423 661-4734 | Email: requests@comeandreason.com      
Overcoming Fear: How Faith Parts the Waters — Part 1

Overcoming Fear: How Faith Parts the Waters — Part 1

The Bible is a record of real people and events that God inspired to be written down for the purpose of communicating to human beings the truth about Him and the plan of salvation. As such, many of the people and events recorded in the Bible not only give us a record of what transpired, but they also serve as examples, types, or object lessons for us personally and for the overall plan of salvation. As the apostle Paul wrote regarding the Exodus:

Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did (1 Corinthians 10:6 NIV84).

One of the lessons we can learn from the Bible’s written record of Exodus is God’s plan to free us from sin personally, individually, and globally—the human species at the second coming of Christ.

Most people recognize the global object lesson application of the Exodus:

  • The slaves in Egypt are a type for all humanity being enslaved by sin.
  • Pharaoh, who denies God and will not submit to Him, represents Satan, the sin-slave master.
  • The bondage, degradation, and abuse the people received as slaves represent the bondage, degradation, and abuse sin causes in our lives.
  • Moses represents Christ, who entered the enemy’s seat of power and confronted and overcame him in order to lead the people to freedom.

These lessons are powerful, meaningful, and encouraging, and they give us hope and confidence in the soon return of Jesus, who will free us permanently from sin and take us to our heavenly promised land!

What may be less obvious, and what I want to unpack in this blog, are the lessons for individual freedom over fear, selfishness, and sin and how we can experience this victory today.

 

Born as Slaves

The Hebrews of the Exodus generation were born into slavery. They did nothing to indenture themselves into slavery; it was their station and condition from birth. Likewise, the Bible teaches that we are all born in sin and conceived in iniquity (Psalm 51:5); this is our condition at birth. None of us ever chose to become sinners—we were born enslaved to fear and selfishness, constituted with a carnal nature inherited from Adam.  

The Hebrew slaves in Egypt were incapable of freeing themselves, and we are incapable of freeing ourselves from sin.

God sent a deliverer, Moses, to confront Pharaoh in order to free the people. And,

God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son (John 3:16–18 NIV84, emphasis mine).

We are already enslaved to sin at birth. We are not condemned because we sin; we sin because we were born infected with a fearful, self-centered, sinful nature. Our freedom comes from Christ—if we refuse Christ, our station, position, and heart/mind do not change and we remain enslaved to sin; thus, we remain condemned by this terminal sin condition because we have refused the healing, the transformation, the new life, the freedom that comes only through Christ—that comes by receiving His life via the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Imagine an HIV-infected man and woman having an HIV-infected baby—what did the baby do to get HIV? Nothing! But despite the baby having done nothing wrong, it is still born infected, which is a metaphor for us being born in sin; the baby still has a terminal condition that will result in symptoms (metaphor for sins) and death (first death/sleep from HIV represents the wages of sin death, which is second death/eternal destruction that comes from sin), unless a remedy is provided. But if the child is offered free antiviral meds that will put the infection into remission (metaphor for the blood of Jesus, which is a symbol of His sinless life/spirit that we receive through faith, which replaces the terminal life/spirit we inherit from Adam) and they refuse (upon the age of accountability) to take them, they remain condemned, not for being born with the condition, but for refusing the remedy. But if they take the free remedy, despite being born infected, they are no longer condemned to die from that condition. That is what Jesus is saying in the passage above.

So, Jesus came, confronted Satan, overcame all his evil forces, purged the spirit of fear and selfishness, replacing it with the Spirit of love and trust, and opened a way for each of us to leave the slavery of sin and live a new life of freedom, a life of love and trust, by becoming our substitutionary Savior.

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV84).

Jesus took up humanity, broken and damaged by Adam’s sin, and purged the infection, the spirit of fear and selfishness, and replaced that terminal life with His sinless, perfect life and, thereby, became the second Adam. (For more on how Jesus procuring the remedy actually cures this condition, see our blogs Salvation and the Cleansing of Our Spirit, Part 1 and Part 2. Or get our FREE magazine, Salvation and You: What It Really Means to Be Saved.)

 

The Passover: Rite and Reality

But in our journey from the slavery of sin to a life of victory and freedom, there are often many battles to fight. The events of the Exodus serve as a powerful object lesson to encourage us in our sojourn to freedom.

The Hebrew slaves prepared to leave Egypt by celebrating the Passover, which was instituted at that time as both a memorial of their deliverance from Egyptian slavery, but also as an object lesson pointing forward to Jesus’ becoming our Passover Lamb to deliver us from the slavery of sin (1 Corinthians 5:7). We will never succeed in escaping the bondage of sin without first partaking of Jesus. In other words, freedom from sin starts with taking Jesus into one’s heart!

The Hebrew slaves were instructed to sacrifice a lamb or goat, symbolic of Jesus’ sacrifice for us (John 1:29), to eat its flesh with bitter herbs, and to put its blood on the doorpost of their homes.

This ritual symbolizes the starting point in our deliverance from sin. Jesus is the Word made flesh (John 1:1–14). To ingest the “flesh” of Jesus means to internalize the Word, the truth of Jesus, of who God is. The truth about God will destroy the lies about Him and set us free from doubt (John 8:32) and bring us to the point where we choose to trust Him and open our heart to Him. When we open the heart in trust, we receive a new life, the life of Christ (Galatians 2:20), via the indwelling Holy Spirit, which is symbolized by the blood (the life is in the blood; see Leviticus 17:11). This is what it means to be born again; to be born of the Spirit is to surrender one’s attachment to the motivational, animating, spirit of fear and to receive, identify with, cling to, and act upon the Spirit of love and trust. Jesus described this in symbol when He said,

I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him (John 6:53–56 NIV84).

This is not cannibalism! It is a metaphor for internalizing into our hearts and minds the truth of God, which results in the elimination of lies and serves as the platform upon which we choose to trust. This trust opens the heart to receive His life. All of this was prefigured in the Passover celebration prior to their departure from Egypt. Just as the Jews ingested the meal prior to leaving Egypt, we must ingest the flesh (truth) and blood (life) of Jesus prior to our departure from the slavery of sin. In fact, it is the truth and life of Jesus that sets us free!

The bitter herbs symbolize the hardships and bitterness of this world of sin that enslaves us. Despite the nurturing and revitalizing strength and power received from the “flesh” of the Lamb, we are still living in the bitterness of a sinful world and struggling with the impact of what the enslavement to sin has done.

The Passover symbolizes conversion, the beginning point of our freedom. We cannot start our journey to the heavenly promised land until we are converted to Jesus Christ. The Passover represents, for the individual, how God has passed over our sinful lives, not allowing the full, natural results of sin (eternal separation from Him and subsequent death) to be realized, but instead has intervened (interceded) with grace to free us from this sin condition through Jesus, who provides us the truth (Word/flesh) and a new animating spirit/life (blood).

Once we have surrendered to Jesus in trust and have been reborn, the journey to freedom begins, and the experiences of the Hebrews during the Exodus provide additional powerful lessons that are applicable to our individual experience, which we will explore in part two of this two-part blog series.

 

Email me the blog whenever a new one is published.

Donate online, securely via PayPal using your credit or debit card (no PayPal account needed, unless you want to set up a monthly, recurring payment).


cancel recurring payment

 

Want to use zelle instead?
See how on our
Support and Donations page.

Upcoming Events

calendar

Testimonial Post Slider

Testimony 13

I borrowed “Healing The Mind” DVDs from a friend and showed them at my home for a small gathering of women friends. Neither of my friends are Adventist, but they both enjoyed and embraced the messages you taught. In fact, one of the ladies prayed out loud in our group and that was the first time she had ever had public prayer.

J.B. ,Dalles, OR, USA

 

Testimony 29

Thank you for all of your work to correct misconceptions about God’s character. So many people that my husband and I have talked to seem to be against the natural law construct and view it as “errant” and “dangerous.” Having learned more about it through your blogs and lessons, I don’t really understand why they view it that way, except that it means they have to relearn theology they have known for their entire lives. But I’m so excited to relearn this. For the past few years I have been questioning how I could trust a God who punishes arbitrarily and is full of wrath for those who don’t obey His commands. That view made me afraid to “mess up” or “not be good enough,” even within my relationship with God. I really appreciated the point you bring out about God not wanting us to serve Him because we are afraid, but because we love Him.

Melissa H., IN, USA

 

Testimony 36

Thank you and may God continue to bless you as you share with others the intricacies of how we are all “fearfully and wonderfully made”. I must share that you have opened a whole new world to me, and I have found tremendous healing through what you have shared in two of your books, “Could It Be This Simple?” and “The God Shaped Brain.” I praise God for what you shared, what I have learned, and how I have grown and healed! My prayer is that My Precious Jesus will be seen by others in the way I live, act, talk, etc. and they may be encouraged to know He is truly a GREAT God of LOVE, desiring that no one should perish! God Bless you in your continued endeavors to present Him as He really is!

Joleen H. GA, USA

 

Testimony 20

I just wanted to personally thank you for your teachings and insight into scripture. I came across your website via my cousin who suggested I look into “Healing the Mind” information. My youngest daughter has been struggling over the last couple of years and it all came to a head this spring. When I started listening to the “Healing the Mind” lectures my own life began to be transformed. I began sharing with all my daughters the concepts you laid out so clearly. I ordered your book and soaked it up. I just want to say “Thank You!” My walk with the Lord has been refreshed and renewed. Your obedience to the Lord is a blessing to so many.

R. K., Anderson, SC, USA

 

Testimony 23

I would just like to add my voice to the many people who, I believe, must have contacted you to express their appreciation for the “Healing the Mind” DVDs. I’ve been listening to your Bible study class discussions for many years and I’ve been personally blessed by your research and teaching about the character of God.

L. G., Oakland, MI, USA

 

Testimony 11

I would love to have a copy of “Healing the Mind” DVDs to have in my therapy office. I enjoy having clients check out materials to enhance their therapy experience. I have sat under Dr. Jennings’ teaching at an American Association of Christian Counselors convention and respect his work greatly.

K.B., LA, USA

 

Testimony 24

I wanted to thank you very much for presenting your understanding of God. I’ve always been troubled by this question: Why did Jesus have to die? Since my conversion I understood that The Father & Jesus are one, I did not have issues with that. But was there not any other way to save us than for Jesus to die? I guess I actually had a question about God – if He is so wise, how come He did not find another way? I did not see the real ‘beauty’  in the cross. Only when you explained the picture in the medical context, Jesus providing medicine for my selfishness, have I started to finally ‘see the light’. Thank you so much. Your seminar, “Healing the Mind,” are absolutely marvelous & have shared them with my family and many other people, including colleagues at work. Thanks, thanks, thanks. May God bless you abundantly in your ministry.

M. W., Australia

 

Testimony 47

I can’t even begin to thank you and your ministry enough for introducing me to the Truth about a loving and merciful God! I have my daughter and her in-laws to thank for sharing with me “The God-Shaped Brain” as well as your website. I listen to the Bible study class lessons on my daily walk. May God continue to bless your thirst-quenching ministry!

Liz H., Port Angeles, WA, USA

 

 

Testimony 40

I was brought up in a different faith and have been petrified my whole life of God. I believed that I would burn in hell for eternity. When I was 12 I started pursuing the things of this world, but for the next 45 years the Spirit was always calling me, as I knew there was a God through nature. I could see the vast sea of stars in the universe and knew there was something bigger out there. Five years ago, through a Revelation seminar, I was blessed to learn about God’s character and government.

Then I found Come and Reason Ministries and have come under some extreme pressure when I speak about the ministry. One time a member sent me an internet article titled “Whats wrong with Tim Jennings?” I asked her what she thought of it and she said “I don’t know, I didn’t read it.”

I have always wanted to find out for myself the truth about God, so I stayed with the Design Law construct and have been liberated to understand the big picture. Once we consider Design Law, all other Bible stories and prophecies seem to fit perfectly. It is truly beautiful to see people grasping how God operates this Universe of Love and the liberation it has provided in their lives. It blows my mind to see how consistent Design law is with what our founders believed. I hear statements like “This makes so much sense.”

Tom W., Mt. Pleasant, MI, USA

 

Testimony 14

We really appreciate your views on the judgment and they make good sense considering our free choice.

Anonymous

 

Testimony 25

I just want to say thank you so much for your conversations via YouTube. I regularly tune in to your lectures, “Let’s Talk” sessions, and many others. Through these I’ve found greater depth and meaning to God’s word. Thanks for all that you do and please continue. I’m currently working in the middle of Silicon Valley at Stanford University. I feel like God really has me in the right place right now and I’m sensing that your teachings might be part of it.

B. F., Silicon Valley, CA, USA

 

Testimony 66

I am incredibly grateful for the transformative impact you’ve had on my life, and words cannot fully express my appreciation. Over the years, I have been an avid listener and follower of C&R and extend my heartfelt thanks for creating the C&R mobile app. It has allowed me to immerse myself in your lessons repeatedly, enabling me to grasp the profound significance about the Character of God, Design Law, the protocols for life, the reasons behind the current chaos, and Christ’s mission to restore everything. They have deeply touched me. Having studied with various churches, I came away with the perception that God is no different from the deities of ancient Greek or Roman mythology—demanding sacrifices and taking pleasure in bloodshed. Thanks to your transformative teachings, I have experienced a profound awakening to the true nature of God and the immense power of His love. It is truly a remarkable and liberating sensation to finally grasp the truth and embrace the empowering nature of God’s laws. My self-perception has become brighter and more infused with love. My journey of growth continues on a daily basis.

Chris P., Lake Mary, FL, USA

 

Testimony 21

I am absolutly on fire with the message at Come and Reason! I can’t get enough! I’ve read your book, blog, and articles. I’ve listened to your Bible study podcasts, your radio show, and your series – all excellent! It wasn’t until the past couple of years that I have I like I’m becoming “healthy,” with more to share with others than just beasts and commandments! I used to be a Bible worker and preached when the pastors were gone until I had had enough. I didnt realize at the time what the problem was, but i know now… the message wasn’t properly focused. Now my flame is rekindled. All of your little examples are so perfect in explaining something “complicated” and making it easily understood! Now I’m trying to shape it into a life changing evangelistic series! Thank you!

M.T., USA

 

Testimony 28

I have been following your Bible study class for about a year now. I must say I am impressed with how your ministry has grown. I took it upon myself to listen to all your lesson podcasts from the past and they have both enriched me physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. I have learnt a lot from this class. I have also noticed how the class has grown in spiritual strength. One of the things that benefited me is that now I am not afraid of God. I use to be, but now it has melted away. The second thing is that you helped me to have a real life relationship with God. Now He is my friend that was always there and I love having him with me all the time. Thirdly, because of this class, it inspired me to take over and lead a class. I have called it “Let Us Reason Together,” adapting your inquisitive style and creating a class of free thinkers.

T. Banda, Malawi, Africa

 

Testimony 55

I was born [into the church], then I left it for many years. 10 years ago, I came back, but I could not take the hypocrisy and the lack of answers to the missing pieces. I struggled, but I did not abandon my commitment to know the truth. God is leading me to the simple understanding of his relevance and I am relearning what the church taught me as a youth… that he loves me, that he has led me to a knowledge of him such as I have never known. He is using Dr. Jennings to connect the dots that are now so apparent and hiding in plain sight!

Dean P., Arlington, TX, USA