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GOD IS KEEPING HIS PROMISES BY DISCRIMINATING BETWEEN PEOPLEExodus 10:21—11:10INTRODUCTION This last week I had a fascinating discussion with a friend of mine about how to get to heaven. I’m not exactly sure how we got to the subject. The discussion began by her asking how long my sermons are and ended by talking about why Jesus had to die. My friend has not gone to church for years. However, she knows there is a God and there is a heaven and a hell. During the course of our conversation it became clear that she was confident that she was going to heaven. The reason for her confidence was that she was doing all the good that God expected of her. When I asked her how she knew these things were true, she said that was how she was raised. I asked her how good did a person need to be in order to go to heaven. She said she didn’t know how good anyone else needed to be, she only knew that she was good enough. The question that I kept coming back to was this: how do you know that what you think about these things is what God thinks? She could give no reason for how she was sure that what she thought is what God thought. I asked her if she thought the 19 men who flew planes into buildings on Sept. 11, 2001 were in heaven. She was sure they were not. I told her that they were absolutely convinced they would immediately be rewarded with Paradise when they died in those fiery crashes. They believed that Allah would reward them with Paradise for killing thousands of unbelievers and striking a blow against Satan’s primary agent in the world, the U.S.A. I asked her how does she know they were wrong and she is right? The 9-11 highjackers cannot be in heaven and not be in heaven. Both cannot be true. Either they are in heaven or they are not in heaven. She had no answer for this problem. My friend is merely dealing with questions of ultimate reality the way that every human naturally deals with these questions. We naturally assume that whatever we think is what God thinks and we don’t need any reason for thinking so. However, the most basic fact of human existence is that we are creatures, not the Creator. Therefore, the most important question is not what I think or any of us think about the nature of the world we live in but what God thinks. In this morning’s passage we are confronted with one of the clearest presentations of the fact that God is the one who determines reality. He does not merely describe it, but he determines reality in every detail. As we have repeatedly seen in the story of God’s freeing Israel from her slavery, it is God’s will for Pharaoh to resist his command to let Israel go until the time that God has set for him to let them go. Three times, in 20 verses, (10:20, 27 & 11:10) we are told that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart so that he would not listen to God’s command to let Israel go. In 11:3 we are told that the reason that the Egyptians will give their treasures to the Israelites when they leave is because God worked in their hearts so they gladly gave Israel their treasures. God is the primary actor in this story. While Pharaoh willfully disobeys God, yet his disobedience accomplishes God’s perfect will. While the Egyptians willingly gave away their treasure, God is the one who gave them the desire to do so. Pharaoh is guilty because God is not forcing him to do something he doesn’t want to do. He wants to disobey God and oppress Israel and God wants him to also. Pharaoh does evil while God accomplishes his perfect will through Pharaoh’s evil will. In this passage we are told that God has come to the end for which he has been working. All that he has done has aimed at this final blow. After God removes the locusts and Pharaoh again refuses to let Israel go, God tells Moses that there is only one more plague left. In the three days of darkness and then in Moses’ last appearance before Pharaoh, God sets forth the end to which he is bringing the whole world. In this final judgment on Egypt and deliverance of Israel, God shows us that there is a day coming when he will reveal how he feels about every human being who has ever lived. We see in Moses’ angry departure from Pharaoh (v. 8), God’s just anger against him. God justly hates Pharaoh and has determined to destroy him and his nation. However, we also see that God loves Israel. God’s anger with Pharaoh and his people is due to their hard hearted rebellion against him and their oppression of Israel. Pharaoh and his people are sinners and deserve what they get. God’s love for Israel cannot be explained by Israel’s behavior. God loves them because he chose them. He promised to love Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their descendants. Israel is loved not because they are lovable but because God freely chose to love them. God is the one who decides who will be in heaven. In v. 7, God tells Pharaoh that his destruction of the firstborn of Egypt and his deliverance of Israel shows that God graciously loves Israel but justly hates Egypt. God discriminates between people. It doesn’t matter what we think about who will be in heaven, it only matters what God thinks. In God’s treatment of each of these nations, we have pictured for us how God will one day make plain how he feels about every human who ever lived. On the Day of Judgment God’s attitude towards every human will be made evident by how he treats each one. We are not going to answer the question this morning as to how a person knows if they belong to the people of God or not. We will do that in two weeks when we get to Exodus 12. This morning my goal is to enable us to see how God shows his hatred for his enemies and his love for his people at the final judgment, so that we will fear him and rejoice in him. I aim to create in us overwhelming desire to belong to the people of God. MAIN POINT God has a day planned to make plain how he feels about every human who ever lived. On that day he will… I. Cover his enemies with darkness but his people with light (10:21-23) After Pharaoh repents of his repenting and again refuses to let Israel go as he promised, God commands Moses to stretch out his hand over Egypt. When he does a darkness that can be felt descends upon all Egypt. There is no light from the sun, moon and stars. The people of Egypt cannot leave their houses because they cannot see where they are going. No lamp can penetrate the gloom enough to make travel safe. They sit in their homes, huddled around the small flickering flames of oil lamps, candles and fires. They are isolated and alone in the darkness. Throughout the OT and into the NT, darkness is used to describe the terror and horror of God’s judgment on the wicked. Without light, there is no life, no comfort, and no interaction with others. In the darkness, you are alone and separated from all that is living. Jesus used the language of darkness to describe the place where all who refuse him will spend eternity. The enemies of God will dwell in the outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. The destiny of all who oppose the great, Triune God is an eternity of darkness that can be felt. However, in the land of Goshen, where God’s people lived, there was light. The light of the sun, moon and stars filled the land of Goshen and bathed the people of God in life giving light. Children played and families enjoyed the pleasures of life together. There was no slave work to be done because their slave masters could not leave their homes. It was like spending a vacation at the beach with your family and friends and the weather was perfect, not too hot, nor too cold. The moon was full and the sunsets glorious every day. The distinction between the people of God and the people of Pharaoh could not be more obvious. Just as darkness is used repeatedly to describe God’s judgment on the wicked so light is used to describe God’s blessing on the righteous. In fact, the salvation that Christ gives is described in exactly these terms. God tells the apostle Paul in Acts 26, “I am sending you to the Gentiles to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins…” Isaiah 60:1-3 says, “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.” Then in the book of Revelation in describing the heavenly Jerusalem, the place where God’s people will dwell forever, John tells us, “The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light…” There is an eternal day that is coming for the people of God. It will be a day full of light and the life that light brings. It will be in stark contrast to the eternal night, without moon or star that is coming upon all the enemies of God. God has a day planned to make plain how he feels about every human who ever lived. On that day he will…
II. Separate his people from his enemies as a worshipping community (10:24-29) Pharaoh once again summons Moses and tells him he and his people, including the women and children are free to go to worship the Lord. Notice how he phrases his permission, “even your women and children may go with you…” He still believes he is in control of the fate of the Israelites. He has not submitted to God and to his will. He continues to assert his own independence. He shows that he is not obeying God by holding back the livestock of Israel. Again, he holds hostage the animals and aims to force Israel to return to Egypt because they will have no food. Moses fearlessly demands that all their livestock must go as well. He again makes it clear that the function of the redeemed people is to worship the Lord. Pharaoh furiously threatens Moses and tells him to leave him and never return and that if he does, he will kill him. Moses, speaking as God’s prophet, knowing that Pharaoh’s time is up and the day of judgment and salvation has arrived, tells Pharaoh that he is absolutely right. Moses will never see Pharaoh’s face again. Moses and all the people of God will be taken away from Egypt. God is going to separate Israel from Egypt permanently. The destiny of the people of God is to be gathered to God as a worshipping community. Heaven rings with praise because this is the end to which God is bringing all things. Everything that has breath will praise the Lord forever and ever. As Peter says, “But you are a chosen people, a holy nation, a royal priesthood, a people belonging to God that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” Heaven is the place where the people of God are overwhelmed with the glory of God so that they joyfully, spontaneously worship God forever and ever. This is not mindless, glassy eyed, monotone, dutiful singing of boring hymns. It is being preoccupied with God, all that he is and all that he does. There will be no one present in heaven that isn’t completely and absolutely infatuated with God. It was about 15 years ago that this reality burst upon my imagination. I, like I think most Christians, thought that heaven would be a boring place. I mean how can you praise God forever and not get bored? The only way I could imagine that heaven wouldn’t be boring is if I was going to get to do the things in heaven that I love to do here, like play sports and go hiking and read books. One day as I was reading Isaiah 6, I began thinking about the two seraphs who continually, day and night say back and forth to each other, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. The whole earth is full of his glory.” I thought, what a boring job description. Then I thought about something that I had witnessed at a University of Illinois football game. A cheer that Illinois fans have goes like this. There are 75,000 people in the stadium, which is oriented north and south. The west side of the stadium screams out in unison, I-L-L and then the east side responds I-N-I. ( Illinois teams are called the “fighting Illini”, after a tribe of Native Americans.) When the fans cheer, they don’t just go, ill, ini, ill, ini, etc. Yawn, yawn, boring, boring. They don’t do it out of duty but out of delight. They can’t help themselves because they are so delighted with the team, with being at the game, with the whole experience. This is what heaven is like. The seraphs yell back and forth to each other praise for God because they can’t help it. When they see the glory of God in the universe they can’t help but declare his praise. Sprinkled in among the Illinois fans are always fans of the opposing team. Do they jump and join in the cheering? Of course not. They hate being in the stadium during those massive cheers, especially if their team is losing. Heaven will be empty of all who oppose God. The only people present will be those who are delighted with God above all other things. Now, while we are on earth we have opportunities to practice worshipping God. We get tastes of his glory, which result in moments of honest worship. We gather on Sundays as an expression of our anticipation for that final, glorious day when we will be taken out of this present evil age and spend eternity expressing our delight in God in all that we do and say, forever. God has a day planned to make plain how he feels about every human who ever lived. On that day he will…
III. Give his people the wealth of his enemies (11:1-3) 11:1-3 chronologically belong between 10:20 &21. Moses tells us this here to explain why he told Pharaoh he would never see him again and why he says what he says next. God told him before Pharaoh summoned him due to the darkness that this would be the last time he would appear before Pharaoh. He told Moses that there was only one more plague. When Moses went to see Pharaoh he knew that this was the end. He told Moses that when God executed his final judgment upon Egypt that Pharaoh, who was refusing to let them go would so completely change that he would drive them out of his land. However, when he drove them out, each Israelite was to ask their Egyptian neighbors for silver and gold and they would freely give them all their wealth. God would move in the Egyptians and motivate them to give away their treasure. The slaves would ask their masters for their silver and gold and the masters would give their wealth to their slaves as they leave. There are dozens of times in the OT prophets when God’s people are told that the nations of the world will bring their treasures to the people of God in the last day. Jesus says in Matthew 5:5, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” That’s what we see foreshadowed here. The Israelites meekly ask, they don’t demand, and they are given the wealth of Egypt. One of the reasons that we don’t accumulate stuff here and now but are generous and give away our money and possessions now is because one day, the people of God will receive all the world’s wealth. We will possess the earth. We, the people of God will own everything in that final day. As the prophet Isaiah says, “Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy; the wealth on the seas will be brought to you, to you the riches of the nations will come.” This is the end that awaits all the people of God, whereas the enemies of God will be plundered of all their possessions and will live in destitution and poverty forever. God has a day planned to make plain how he feels about every human who ever lived. On that day he will…
IV. Immerse his enemies in grief and fill his people with peace (11:4-7) Now Moses tells Pharaoh what will be the final judgment upon Egypt. He tells him that every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh who sits on the throne to the firstborn son of the slave girl who sits by her hand mill and all the firstborn male animals will perish as well. The grief that will come upon Egypt will be greater than any grief that they’ve ever experienced before and more than they will ever experience in the future as a nation. But notice, among the people of God, everything will be at peace. There will be no disturbance among the people of God but perfect peace and contentment. There will be nothing to make a dog bark. During the night when all the firstborn males of Egypt are killed, nothing will disturb the sleep and rest of God’s people. We see here the unity of the people of God and the unity of the enemies of God. It is not just Pharaoh who is guilty before God but all the Egyptian people. While Pharaoh has been the spokesperson and the head of the Egyptian people, all of Egypt is joined with him in their hostility to God and his people. We see in this judgment and this deliverance that there is only one difference within the human race that matters. Every person in the world is either among God’s enemies or they are among his people. Every human is either joined to Adam in his sin or to Christ in his obedience. The apostle Paul describes this only significant division in Romans 5 when he says, “Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.” On that last day, every human being will be identified with Adam in his sin and thus incur the wrath of God against sin or they will be identified with the Son of God and thus receive the inheritance of love that is due to the Son of God. We ought to note the mercy of God here. While this judgment foreshadows the end of the world, it is not the end of the world and so mercy is mixed with judgment. God could legally, justly destroy ever single Egyptian as he did the whole world in the time of Noah or as he did with Sodom and Gomorrah in the time of Abraham. However, he only kills the firstborn of every family. He takes the life of the leader and primary heir of every Egyptian family but he only takes these and leaves the rest. I’d like every man or boy who is the firstborn son to raise your hand. What would happen to us if tonight every one of us who raised our hands died? The death that he brings to the Egyptians results in horrified and overwhelming grief, which is a foreshadowing of the horror and grief of hell. Jesus regularly describes hell as the place where there is “weeping and gnashing of teeth.” It is a place of unremitting grief, which no one on earth has ever experienced. No one living on earth has ever experienced the anguish that will be the eternal experience of God’s enemies in hell. However, the peace of God’s people is just as profound as the grief of God’s enemies. In heaven, there will be nothing to disturb the contentment or the peacefulness of God’s people. There will be no more sickness or danger or death or heartache. God will wipe away every tear and heal every hurt. It is worth noting that just as the grief of the Egyptians does not disturb the peace of the Hebrews, so neither will the eternal suffering of sinners in hell disturb the peace of God’s elect in heaven. We will know, just as the Israelites knew, that the suffering of God’s enemies is deserved. In fact, the Bible is quite plain that God’s people will rejoice in the destruction of God’s enemies forever. This joy is not permitted to us in this life because we do not know who the enemies of God are. There is yet grace to be found by even the greatest of sinners and so we cannot find joy in the destruction of God’s enemies—yet. However, as Jonathon Edwards, the great American pastor and theologian of the 18 th century, says in his sermon, “The End of the Wicked Contemplated by the Righteous”, there is a day coming when the righteous will rejoice in God’s final vindication in the destruction of his enemies. Probably a third of the Psalms contain statements of praise to God for his destruction of his enemies. Listen to the chorus of praise that erupts in heaven among the elect when God destroys his great enemy, named Babylon, “After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting: ‘Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for true and just are his judgments. He has condemned the great prostitute who corrupted the earth by her adulteries. He has avenged on her the blood of his servants.’ And again they shouted, ‘Hallelujah the smoke from her goes up forever and ever.’” God has a day planned to make plain how he feels about every human who ever lived. On that day he will…
V. Put his enemies under his people (11:8) Finally, notice that Moses declares that when God’s final judgment comes upon Egypt, all the princes of Egypt will come and bow before him and plead with him to leave their country. Here we see in Moses a foreshadowing of that great day when all the kings of the earth will come and bow before the Lord Christ and before us, his people. The apostle Paul talks about that day in 1 Corinthians 6 when he asks the Corinthian church, “Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? …. Do you not know that we will judge angels?” Here is a reason we do not fear men or governments now. We are not impressed with the powers of this age. We offer our respect to those in authority, recognizing that our Lord has given them authority now for the restraining of evil in this age. But we do not fear authority or see human authority as the means for bringing in the rule of God. We know that there is a day coming, when all the kings of the earth will bow before us. God will one day, subject all of humanity to the rule of his Christ and all who follow him. We see in this final act of judgment upon the nation Egypt and the way that God treats Israel a foreshadowing of that final Day of Judgment that is coming upon the whole world. As we look at the horror of judgment and the blessing of salvation, it is my prayer that you will desire above all other things to be counted among the people of God. This passage has not told us how we know that we are the people of God. Exodus 12 answers the question of how do we know that we are part of God’s people and thus will escape the final judgment and become heirs of the world. I would encourage you to be here in two weeks when we look at chapter 12. Today we have had set before us the eternal destiny that awaits each one of us. My friend, during our conversation, as I pressed her to explain how she knew that God would accept her said this: “I just know that God will accept me. I don’t have time to think about whether or not that is true. I have more important things to do.” There is nothing more important in life than being prepared for that Day of Judgment that every one of us will face. Don’t just assume that you are safe. That’s what Pharaoh thought and all his people. They didn’t know, until it was too late, that God was fighting for Israel, that they were opposing the Lord of heaven of earth. God has a day planned to make plain how he feels about every human who ever lived. On that day he will…
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2004 John Swanson. |