Verses 1-2, "Now the Lord said to Moses, 'Go in to Pharaoh; for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his servants, that I may show these signs of Mine before him, and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and your son’s son the mighty things I have done in Egypt, and My signs which I have done among them, that you may know that I am the Lord.' ” God's work not only affects us, but also future generations. Our testifying of the power of God can be very powerful. Satan seeks to destroy us, but his evil schemes can be overcome by the power of Jesus' blood and our testimony of who God is. Revelation 12:10-11, "Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, 'Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.' "
Verses 3-7, "So Moses and Aaron came in to Pharaoh and said to him, 'Thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews: "How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, that they may serve Me. Or else, if you refuse to let My people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your territory. And they shall cover the face of the earth, so that no one will be able to see the earth; and they shall eat the residue of what is left, which remains to you from the hail, and they shall eat every tree which grows up for you out of the field. They shall fill your houses, the houses of all your servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians—which neither your fathers nor your fathers’ fathers have seen, since the day that they were on the earth to this day.” ' And he turned and went out from Pharaoh. Then Pharaoh’s servants said to him, 'How long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not yet know that Egypt is destroyed?' ” Pharaoh's stubbornness at this point, didn't even make sense from a worldly perspective, but God had hardened his heart. He had hardened the servants hearts too, but evidently Pharaoh's was even harder. This was all part of God's plan to show Himself mighty, beyond any human understanding of the situation.
Verses 8-11, "So Moses and Aaron were brought again to Pharaoh, and he said to them, 'Go, serve the Lord your God. Who are the ones that are going?' And Moses said, 'We will go with our young and our old; with our sons and our daughters, with our flocks and our herds we will go, for we must hold a feast to the Lord.' Then he said to them, 'The Lord had better be with you when I let you and your little ones go! Beware, for evil is ahead of you. Not so! Go now, you who are men, and serve the Lord, for that is what you desired.' And they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence." Pharoah still will not allow the people to go, but offers a compromise to let just the men go, keeping the women and children behind. Moses would not accept this compromise, because there is no bargaining with God. Many think that they can accept God on their own terms, but Cain was a clear example of how we must come to God on His terms.
The only way to come to God is by fully surrendering, and it could cost you everything to follow Him. If you aren't ready for that, then there is no need to go through the motions of partially obeying. Don't think you can hang onto your vices and still worship and serve God. If it didn't cost you anything, it wouldn't even be a sacrifice would it? Luke 14:26-33, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it — lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’? Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple."
Verses 16-17, "Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste, and said, 'I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. Now therefore, please forgive my sin only this once, and entreat the Lord your God, that He may take away from me this death only.' ” Again and again, Pharoah falsely repents, but his heart never changes. When God removes the plagues, he ends up harder than before. God's mercy and grace poured out should soften our hearts, not harden them. His kindness shown toward us, leads us to repentance (turning away from sin), if our hearts are right before Him. If you continue to fall back into your old sinful ways after your trial is removed, you need to examine your heart to see if you are even in the faith.
Hebrews 6:4-6, "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame."
"Now the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh; for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his servants, that I may show these signs of Mine before him, and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and your son’s son the mighty things I have done in Egypt, and My signs which I have done among them, that you may know that I am the Lord .” So Moses and Aaron came in to Pharaoh and said to him, “Thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, that they may serve Me. Or else, if you refuse to let My people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your territory. And they shall cover the face of the earth, so that no one will be able to see the earth; and they shall eat the residue of what is left, which remains to you from the hail, and they shall eat every tree which grows up for you out of the field." Pharoah's heart was hard because he didn't want to humble himself before the Lord. He was too prideful and stubborn. God had clearly made a distinction between his people and the Egyptians, and the signs and plagues that God had given only proved that they were from the Lord. We need to make sure that we are humble in the presence of the lord. If we are humble, God will exalt us, but he will humble those who exalt th selves such as Pharoah.
ReplyDelete"Then Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not yet know that Egypt is destroyed?” So Moses and Aaron were brought again to Pharaoh, and he said to them, “Go, serve the Lord your God. Who are the ones that are going?” And Moses said, “We will go with our young and our old; with our sons and our daughters, with our flocks and our herds we will go, for we must hold a feast to the Lord .” Then he said to them, “The Lord had better be with you when I let you and your little ones go! Beware, for evil is ahead of you. Not so! Go now, you who are men, and serve the Lord , for that is what you desired.” And they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence." Pharoah's men were wanting to let the Jews go because of everything that happened, but he wouldn't budge. Eventually he told Moses that the men could go, but that's not what God's plan was. Pharoah wanted to do this on his terms, which God is not of with. Same with us, we can't make conditions for God to follow, we need to obey and do His will only. So many people try to add certain conditions onto salvation for example, but the word is the only thing that matters. A big one is baptism plus salvation. These are conditions that are not necessary, but an like to tack on.
"So Moses stretched out his rod over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind on the land all that day and all that night. When it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts. And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt and rested on all the territory of Egypt. They were very severe; previously there had been no such locusts as they, nor shall there be such after them. Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste, and said, “I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. Now therefore, please forgive my sin only this once, and entreat the Lord your God, that He may take away from me this death only.” So he went out from Pharaoh and entreated the Lord . And the Lord turned a very strong west wind, which took the locusts away and blew them into the Red Sea. There remained not one locust in all the territory of Egypt. But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go." God did exactly what He said He was going to do. His plan came to pass, and locusts invaded Egypt. This was worse than they had ever seen before, and couldn't have been very pleasurable.
"So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. They did not see one another; nor did anyone rise from his place for three days. But all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. Then Pharaoh called to Moses and said, “Go, serve the Lord ; only let your flocks and your herds be kept back. Let your little ones also go with you.” But Moses said, “You must also give us sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. Our livestock also shall go with us; not a hoof shall be left behind. For we must take some of them to serve the Lord our God, and even we do not know with what we must serve the Lord until we arrive there.” But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let them go. Then Pharaoh said to him, “Get away from me! Take heed to yourself and see my face no more! For in the day you see my face you shall die!” this was the 9th plague that God sent forth onto the Egyptians. Once again Pharoah tried to put conditions on to letting the Jews go, but God was not satisfied with that. He requires full submission and obedience. Partial obedience is only disobedience. In our every day lives. We need to obey the Lord and not obey only what we want to hear. God's whole word is important, and those who try to make their own way to heaven will judy end up in hell. God is not ok with other man's ways to get to heaven. His way is the only true way.
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