That you may know that I am the LORD
Mon, 27 February, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.
1 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may show these signs of mine among them, 2 and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and of your grandson how I have dealt harshly with the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them, that you may know that I am the LORD.”
Why was Pharaoh so slow to realize the destruction occurring to his country? Why didn’t he let Israel go until after the final, tenth plague. We see later in this chapter, before the eighth plague of locusts, Pharaoh’s servants beg him to relent and let Israel go. Do you not yet understand that Egypt is ruined? they ask him. Why does Pharaoh not listen to his servants? Why doesn’t he do what they ask? Why does he refuse to let them go?
Because it is God’s will that this should continue on to the tenth plague. It is God’s will to show His power to the Egyptians, but even more so to show His power to Israel. It is God’s will that His people see this and remember it. It is God’s will that His people tell this to their children so the memory of it will continue.
What do we learn from this?
God is in control of all things. He does use His power to bring good into people’s lives. He also uses His power to bring calamity into people’s lives. We can’t always tell the exact reason something bad happens, but here God has told us why He has allowed His people to suffer and why He has allowed the Egyptians to not let them go. God is using this situation as an opportunity to display His power to His enemies and to His people. He is displaying that He is God.
Also notice how God desires that His people remember what He has done in the past. We are not to forget His great acts done to save His people in the past. We read about them in the Bible, and we should think of them as done for us. This is how God saved our spiritual parents. This is how God saved the church that came before us. We share an heritage with them, and so in a sense God was saving us when He saved them. God brought us out of Egypt when He brought Israel out under Moses. We need to tell our children of how God has displayed His power in saving us from the bondage of Egypt.
Where is Christ in this passage?
As we tell our children the great story of God saving His people in history, the story continues beyond what God did here in Exodus. We see Him acting in many times and ways, but it is all building until we get to the New Testament. Then we come to the great salvation that God provides for all of His people in all of time: Jesus Christ. It is in Jesus Christ that we find God’s complete display of His love and power as He defeats sin and makes a people for Himself. We need to personally know this salvation God has won for us in Jesus Christ and to teach it to our children as well.
