Another edition of this edifying book, "From Egypt to Canaan," is herewith sent forth with an earnest desire that it may be of profit to the readers. The eight lectures contained herein are notes of addresses delivered at different times by the devoted servant of Christ, W. T. P. Wolston, M.D. Many persons have greatly benefited from his ministry.
After the death of Joseph, the Egyptians turned against the Israelites, and put upon them hard and cruel bondage. These descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob cried out in their misery. While they did not cry to God, God heard their cries and came down to deliver them. He promised to bring them out of Egypt and from their bondage into a good land where they would eat bread without scarceness. He had promised their father Abraham that He would bring his descendants out of bondage in their fourth generation (see Gen. 15), and the time for this had now come. His purposes were to "bring them out" of Egypt and to "bring them into" Canaan. The wilderness formed no part of these purposes, but in the ways of God He suffered "their manners" there for forty years. There they learned what a God was theirs, and what evil hearts they had.
Now their experiences and deliverances were written for our learning, and he who sees in these scriptures only a history of the Israelites misses their most important meaning. When we know the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, we are delivered from this present evil world, and made fit for the heavenly land. We are then in a spiritual wilderness where we have many lessons to learn. God's purpose is to bring us into the heavenly Canaan, but here we prove that Israel's God is our God.