Let my people go: a Passover message for today

There’s a lot packed into that famous phrase: ‘Let my people go!’ In the Exodus story, Moses repeats this message to Pharaoh multiple times – but in Hebrew, the verb is far more dynamic. The command isn’t simply to passively allow the Israelites to leave; it’s to actively send them. Moses was essentially saying, ‘Send my people!’ (Shalach et ami! – שַׁלַּח אֶת־עַמִּי). Send them where? To what? Exactly.

God told Moses they were to come and worship Him on that same mountain. In fact, that would be the sign of success: “I will be with you,” says the Lord. “And this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain” (Exodus 3:12). 

Moses himself was sent on a mission, the prospect of which evidently made him quite nervous. The challenge was immense. Not only did Moses have to somehow persuade the king of Egypt to release his free labor force, but he also had the formidable task of uniting the people of Israel and getting them on board with the plan.

In his encounter with God at the burning bush, Moses needed a lot of reassurance to take on this mammoth task. He asked who he should say had sent him. God’s answer was to tell them, “I AM has sent me to you” (Exodus 3:14). So Moses was sent to the people, and now he had to get Pharaoh to send the people out of Egypt.

In a way, then, the story of Passover is a story of sending. Not just deliverance and rescue from the horrors of slavery, but being sent on a mission with purpose and destiny.

“Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go [send My people], that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness'" (Exodus 5:1).

That was the goal. That was the commission. To be God’s people and to worship Him. 

The people came to that mountain, just as God originally promised Moses they would, to serve Him. But there was more. While God states in Exodus 6 that He is bringing the Israelites out of Egypt that they might be His people, Isaiah 43 clarifies it further: Israel is a people that God created and formed for Himself, for His purposes:

“But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: 'Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you'" (Isaiah 43:1-2b).

God had created a people with purpose and they walked right through those waters. Later, it says in verse 21: “The people whom I formed for myself, that they might declare my praise.” 

Israel was to be a testimony to the world about who God is and what He has done. God created Israel, brought them out of Egypt, and sent them on a mission to bless all the other nations on earth:

“I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations” (Isaiah 42:6).

God repeats this calling, this commission, several times. Israel is to be a light to the nations, a people who declare His praise, and a blessing to all the families of the earth (see, for example, Genesis 12:3, Isaiah 19:24, 49:6, 60:3, and Romans 11:12).

So when Moses stood before Pharaoh, that’s what he was demanding. Release and send the people of God into their destiny! And what a destiny it has been.

“They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Messiah, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen” (Romans 9:4-5). 

And we haven’t even finished yet.

Israel is still in focus today as God’s purposes for the world continue to unfold, but there’s another people in the spotlight right now that is about to be sent, catapulted even, into their God-given destiny: The people of Persia. We seem to be watching Jeremiah 49 coming to pass in real time. Iranians really were scattered around the world, the leaders are being summarily deposed, and the battle bow is being broken, just as God said through His prophet Jeremiah.

The plight of ordinary Iranians crying out for freedom is one that begs for another Exodus-style deliverance. With God’s help, they are about to be set free, let loose, and “sent” in a way that will impact the whole world. God has said He will set His throne in Elam, a province of Persia, and though none of us quite know what that will look like, it is bound to be good. But we need a Passover-grade miracle. 

Passover is a story of sending. Not just deliverance and rescue, but being sent on a mission. 

This Passover we can pray for the forces of evil to “Let God’s people go” (“Shalach et ami!”) For the people of Israel to step further into God’s call and destiny, for the people of Iran to break free into theirs, and while we’re at it we can offer ourselves for God’s purposes and pray, “Here I am Lord, send me!”