Exodus Chapters 7-12
Exodus chapters 7-12 tells us the story of how the
children of
The Bible says
in Exodus chapter 7:1-7, “And
the Lord said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy
brother shall be thy prophet. Thou shalt speak all
that I command thee: and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh, that he send the children of
There are two kinds of people in this world: those
that resist the will of God and those that submit to God’s will. Pharaoh was a
man who resisted God. And it would bring him nothing but suffering. Exodus 7:3
speaks of God hardening Pharaoh’s heart. Romans chapter 9 is speaking of the
sovereignty of God and the free will of man.
God uses the Pharaoh as an example to explain these two truths. Romans
When God has mercy it’s because He has decided to,
and when God does not have mercy it’s because He has decided not to have mercy.
All mercy which man receives from God is based on Jesus who died for our
sins. Jesus said except ye repent ye
shall all likewise perish. God hardened pharaoh’s heart, but He did not harden
Pharaoh’s heart until Pharaoh had hardened his own heart. Make sure that in
seeking to understand the sovereignty of God and the free will of man, you do
not take away from one or the other. Life is about opportunity. The primary
opportunity of life is to find forgiveness from our sins and eternal life
through faith in Jesus Christ, who washed us from our sins in His own blood.
Our opportunity to repent is limited by how long we live on this earth, but it
is apparently also limited by an unkown amount of
times that God will choose to offer His mercy to someone. John
God said of
pharaoh Exodus
There are ten
plagues that God cast upon the land of Egypt: the water of the land turned to
blood, swarms of frog lice and flies covered the land, the cattle horses and
other animals of the Egyptians died, painful boils infested the bodies of the
Egyptians, hail rained down upon their land, swarms of locusts ate all that was
green, darkness covered the earth for three days, and finally; all the
firstborn in the land died. If you take a moment to ponder these ten plagues;
you will realize that they were terrible indeed, and that the
Despite the
horridness of the first nine plagues, the tenth plague, the death of the
firstborn was undoubtedly the worst. God was truly indeed showing His power
through these ten plagues. Of course God’s work on this earth is primarily the
work of freeing people from their spiritual blindness, slavery, and rescuing
them from the fires of eternal damnation; by turning people from their sins and
turning them to Jesus. The plague of the death of the firstborn was the night
of the Passover.
Concerning the
Passover the Bible says in Exodus 12:12-13,
“For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night,
and will smite all the first born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and
against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord. And the
blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see
the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to
destroy you, when I smite the
There may
indeed be no greater suffering for a parent than to lose a child especially an
only child. But those families who slew a lamb and puts its blood on the posts
of their door would not face the plague of God’s judgment. Any suffering that
the families of
Concerning the
suffering of Jesus, the Bible says in Isaiah chapter 53:4-7 “Surely He hath borne our griefs,
and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and
afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him;
and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have
turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid Him the iniquity of us
all. He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth: He is
brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth
not His mouth.”
Life is indeed
filled with cruel suffering, disease, war, and death. And it is all because of
sin. Suffering is the nature of the world in which we live. God uses all
suffering to touch the hearts of men, so that they will turn to Him and receive
His love. But there is no one that has suffered the way that Jesus suffered for
our sins. Just as the Passover lamb in Exodus chapter 12 died, so that that its
blood would spare men from the tenth plague that God sent upon Egypt, Jesus
died and shed His blood; so that we might be spared from the judgment of God
that is the lake of fire.
There are two
kinds of people in this world: those who are like pharaoh and resist the will
of God, and those who are like the thief on the cross; who turn from their sins
and turn to Jesus. Very soon this world will face a great tribulation not
unlike the ten plagues which left the
There is coming
a day when the day star will arise; like the sun with its warm rays which
wakens to bring light and life to the dawn of each new day. Jesus Christ will
very soon return to bring judgment to the evil of this world. But He will also
come with healing in His wings, because; worthy is the Lamb that was slain to
receive power, riches, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, and blessing.
Today is the
day of salvation. But like Pharaoh your opportunity is limited. Don’t resist
the will of God and harden your heart. If you do, there is coming a day when
God will harden your heart and then you will be nothing more than a vessel
fitted for destruction. Jesus said in John
___________________________________________________
Copyright; 2003 by Charles
F. (Rick) Creech
All Rights Reserved