Title: The Trap of Compromise with Unbelief
Content ?The trap of compromise (Ex 10:1-29)
When our reality is difficult, we can easily live our religious life in moderation and try to compromise with the world. A willingness to compromise arises in the direction of choosing what is convenient for the body rather than for what is comfortable with the body, and choosing temporary benefits rather than eternal values.
1. Pharaoh's Hardness (1-2)
(1) Showing the sign of God (v. 1).
Again, “I will harden his heart and the hearts of his servants.” He foretold that the hearts of the late Pharaoh and his servants would be hardened.
(2) To convey the sign of God (verse 2).
The reason the disasters keep repeating is to make the name of God known to our descendants. Here we see God's educational passion (Deuteronomy 6:6ff). The best way of education is experiential education in real life. God's education is repetition education. The recurring catastrophe is because it has an educational goal. God was trying to teach that God is the only true God, not only for the first generation of Exodus, but also for generations to come.
2. Locust Plague (3-6)
(1) We must humble ourselves before God (verse 3).
Today is the eighth locust plague. Millions of clinging to Egypt's grains are eaten up in an instant. What will characterize this locust plague? It means to bow humbly before God and worship Him. He sends calamities for the purpose of fearing only God.
(2) God's mercy was withdrawn (vv. 4-6).
Even in the time of the hail disaster, there was food left. However, when the locust plague comes, it will be recorded as an unprecedented disaster that devours all food.
A place without God's mercy becomes an uninhabitable land. No matter where the wicked live, God grants the grace of nature to preserve the basic right of survival. However, the locust plague that Egypt is facing now is a disaster that is serious enough to survive. When the disaster became so severe, Pharaoh's servants began to shake.
⑶ Pharaoh’s servants shake (verse 7)
Before this calamity, the servants, together with Pharaoh, thought that the Israelites could benefit greatly from them because they were the basis of the Egyptian labor force. Now, however, that perception has changed, and the subjects are not ‘beings that create economic benefits’ but ‘traps’. If we only hoped for material gains, the whole of Egypt would come to ruin.
3. Pharaoh's Compromise (8-20).
(1) Pharaoh's compromise plan: Go only to the South (verses 8-11).
Pharaoh offered a compromise to Moses four times in total.
The first was, during the fourth plague of Paris, “Go and offer sacrifices to your God in this land” (Exodus 8:25). The secret behind these words was a tactic to prevent the Egyptians from offering animal sacrifices, which the Egyptians hated, in the end.
The second compromise was to go into the wilderness, but not too far (Exodus 8:28).
The third compromise was presented to Moses by Pharaoh when the eighth plague of locusts came (verses 8-11). “Only your husbands go and serve the Lord.” This was calculated from the calculation that if you leave children behind, you will eventually come back to Egypt as a parent because of your children.
⑶ Pharaoh's false repentance (verses 12-20).
After that, King Pharaoh hardened his heart and refused to let the Israelites go. God sent another plague of locusts, where the locusts came and ate up what the hail had left (verse 12). So, King Pharaoh says, “I have sinned against you, O LORD, please forgive me this time only” (verses 16-17). However, King Pharaoh lied to pass the disaster, but did not truly repent of his mistakes and repent.
Those who are under Satan's control are deceitful and lying like a loaf of bread. Pharaoh already escaped the crisis by asking him to pray for me during the Paris disaster (Exodus 8:28-29) and seemed to repent during the hail disaster, but it was all false repentance (Exodus 9:27). Also, Pharaoh's repentance in verse 17 is also false repentance. Satan is the father of lies (John 8:44). It may sound plausible when we hear of worldly compromises, but we must not be deceived. If we keep trying to satisfy our own desires, we will eventually fall for Satan's tricks.
4. The plagues of darkness (21-35)
(1) Three days of darkness (verses 21-22).
The Egyptians considered the sun to be their greatest god. But Moses held out his hand and the sun was gone. And for three days the whole land of Egypt was covered with darkness (verse 22). This is a disaster that shows the fall of the idol sun god, which Egypt believed in, and that Pharaoh, along with the sun god, will also fall. Here we can see that both light and darkness are in the reign of God (Isaiah 45:7, Psalm 74:16).
(2) Israel in the light (verse 23).
In a world of darkness, Jesus came as light. He came as a light that removes darkness from the hearts of all. He came to cast away all sins, fears, and fears and to give hope and peace to their hearts (John 14:27). Please accept Jesus as your Savior. The Lord will supply you with life (John 1:12).
⑶ Pharaoh's compromise: Let the sacrifice remain (verses 24-29).
Moses caused the plagues of darkness to come according to God's word without any warning or warning. Then Pharaoh became impatient and told him to leave only the sheep and oxen this time, and let them all go and offer sacrifices. Of course, Moses rejected this proposal. What could be the reason?
The first is the issue of freedom. This is because Pharaoh was opposed to leaving very far until the very end, and Moses was thinking about leaving altogether. God gives us complete freedom. Even though we have become God's people, we still don't want to be saints who follow the world's values or be led by the world's demands.
The second is a matter of survival. Without livestock such as sheep and cattle in the wilderness, they cannot endure long. The wilderness is not arable land. Livestock is the only food that can survive on grass that is intermittent during the rainy season. Moses had to drive all the livestock to survive.
Thirdly, it was because they wanted to serve God with the best things (verses 25, 26). Moses took all the livestock and went out, and he said that he would give what God told him to give, that is, the best thing. It is to give the best and most precious thing that I have to God.
Ministry: Let's overcome the trap of unbelief with the wisdom of obeying God's commands.