In Exodus chapter 9, God demonstrates His merciful nature is not just a New Testament concept (nor is His righteous judgment strictly an Old Testament concept!). The chapter begins with God telling Moses to go tell Pharaoh “what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says“. Once again, God warns Pharaoh of the consequences of rebellion BEFORE the rebellion. He has very clear instruction, “Let My people go to worship Me“, but He adds, “If you refuse… the Lord will bring a terrible plague on your livestock… but the Lord will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt“. God even gives Pharaoh a deadline, “Tomorrow“. As always God keeps His word, “all the livestock in Egypt died“. Sadly, we are told of Pharaoh, “his heart was unyielding“. The next plague comes without a warning, Moses did as God commanded and stood before Pharaoh and tosses soot from the furnace into the air, “and festering boils broke out on men and animals“. It was so bad “the magicians could not stand before Moses“. We also read this time, “the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart and he would not listen to Moses“. It appears that sometimes God desires for us to experience the consequences of our rebellion. God is not looking for us to stumble so He can smite us; no, God is so patient with our weakness. But when we continue in a pattern of rebellion we can miss the warning signs to yield. That is one of the reasons we need the accountability of fellowship with other believers. We often see the errors others are making clearer than our own!
For the third time Moses is instructed to “get up early in the morning” to go before Pharaoh. When we have fellowship early in our day, before the trials hit, we are better able to maintain our spiritual balance throughout the day. This time Moses restates God’s will and repeats His warning; “or this time I will send the full force of My plagues… so you will know that there is no one like Me in all the earth. For I could have stretched out My hand and… wipe you off the earth“. God continues, “But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you My power and that My name might be proclaimed in all the earth“. Pharaoh does not earn the right to be given mercy; it is given as a free gift because that is God’s nature. “This time tomorrow I will send the worst hailstorm that has ever fallen on Egypt… give an order that everything that you have in the fields should be put in the shelter“. He mercifully declares, anything “still in the field will die“. And we read the reaction of the people, “Those… that feared the word of the Lord hurried to bring in their slaves and livestock“. But just as today, there are those that “ignored the word of the Lord“. We read, “throughout Egypt, hail struck everything in the fields, both men and animals; it beat down everything growing“.
This time when Pharaoh summoned Moses, he exclaims, “I have sinned… The Lord is in the right and I and my people are in the wrong… pray to the Lord…we have had enough. I will let you go“. This time Moses is not fooled, he tells Pharaoh, “you may know the earth is the Lord’s, but you… do not fear the Lord God“. Moses spread out his hands to the Lord and the hail stopped. When Pharaoh saw that the hail stopped, he sinned again, and hardened his heart. How tragic it is to watch someone experience God’s mercy, but reject His truth. In John 14:6 Jesus Himself declares, “I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the father except through Me“. We that have been given this truth today have a choice to make, will you hurry to obey God, or harden your heart? Just as with Pharaoh, there is a deadline, though “no man knows the hour or the day” (Matt 24:6). The day of deliverance will come without warning, “as a thief in the night” (1 Thes 5:4) and we are warned to be ready. Are you ready? Jesus is more than just Lord of the earth; He is our only hope for salvation.