Studiesin

Exodus

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The Table of ContentsChapter 1v1-22 IntroductionChapter 2v1-25 Preparing a DelivererChapter 3v1-22 The Call of Moses [1]Chapter 4v1-17 The Call of Moses [2]Chapter 4v18-5v21 Final PreparationsChapter 5v22-6v27 Discouragement and ComfortChapter 6v28-7v24 The Exposure of EvilChapter 8-v1-10v29 Idolatry: A Dangerous RefugeChapter 11v1-10 Corrective to Final JudgmentChapter 12v1-30 Blood on the DoorpostsChapter 12v31-42 God’s FaithfulnessChap.13v1-16 Consecration of The RedeemedChap.13v17-14v18 God’s Dead EndsChap.14v19-31 Power to DeliverChap.15v1-21 The Exultation of God

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Corrective to Final Judgment

Chapter 11

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IntroductionPharaoh, in common with a great many people today viewed God as a big softy, someone who could be manipulated and who would constantly back down. Pharaoh, despite having irrefutable proof of God’s power, nevertheless refused to submit to him. The plagues experienced up until this point had held Pharaoh's attention for as long as they lasted and once the judgements had passed they were labelled as ‘minor irritants’. God’s demands were forgotten. Thus opening the door for one final any very different judgement.

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Corrective to Final JudgmentReasons for JudgementBefore examining this judgement in particular it may be helpful to understand something about judgement in general:

1. First, it is God’s response to something in man. Man by nature has within him a spirit of rebellion. This is seen from our earliest years when a child tells its father to, "Get lost". Rebellion is a challenge to authority and ultimately to God’s right to rule. Pharaoh’s rebellion found expression in his words, “Who is the Lord?”

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Corrective to Final JudgmentReasons for Judgement2. Secondly, judgment tells us something about God. He is righteous. God cannot pretend rebellion does not exist and simply brush it under the carpet.However, his response towards it must not to be compared with that of a petty tyrant whose pride is bruised if he is not given the obedience he thinks he deserves. It is God’s righteousness that cannot tolerate sin and that in turn draws out a response of judgment.

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Corrective to Final JudgmentReasons for Judgement3. Even then the judgments of God are often corrective and designed to bring men and women to a place of repentance and faith. e.g. Manasseh, one of the wickedest kings in the O.T., repented when God’s corrective judgement touched his life 2 Chron 33.10-13. Note “Then Manasseh knew that the LORD is God.”

But not all men repent in response to God’s corrective judgements. Pharaoh didn’t. When men become hardened by God's dealings with them they are brought to a final judgment. Why?

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Corrective to Final JudgmentReasons for JudgementThe reason is not that of human ignorance. Man can’t say "I didn’t know..." Ultimately the reason for final judgment is a rejection of God's grace. The question to be answered on the great Day of Judgment will be "What did you do with my Son, and my gracious offer of salvation?"

Men who reject God's grace during their life on earth open the door to God’s final judgement. Pharaoh rejected the gracious dealings of God’s corrective judgements and so opened the door on a final judgement.

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Corrective to Final JudgmentThe Nature of Final Judgement1. Irreversible cf 11v5... The characteristic of temporary judgements is that they are reversible eg. frogs, locusts, hail etc. But God's final judgement typified here in the death of the firstborn is irreversible. This situation could not be undone. There comes a time when men discover to their horror that they have stepped over the boundary- line of God's grace. There is a popular idea entertained by some that a second chance awaits them after death, that an escape route exists from hell to heaven. This illusory hope isn’t biblical. Final judgement ere is irreversible.

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Corrective to Final JudgmentThe Nature of Final Judgement2. Inescapable cf 11v5...Throughout history the wealthy and powerful have grown accustomed to evading human judgments made against them. Judges are bribed, witnesses threatened, foreign nations provide sanctuary etc. Encouraging men to believe that they are invincible to justice. Hitherto, the judgements on Egypt has proved minor personal inconveniences to Pharaoh. His power and position cushioned him from much of the discomfort others would have experienced..

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Corrective to Final JudgmentThe Nature of Final JudgementBut there was no escape from the final judgement of God and this was driven home in the nature of the final judgement - the loss of his first born son. He would suffer as acutely as the poorest Egyptian.

Neither his wealth nor power would be able deflect or dilute this judgment. Final judgment is inescapable.

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Corrective to Final JudgmentThe Nature of Final Judgement3. Impoverishing 11v2-3... Pharaoh had refused to release the Hebrews because he did not want to lose the resource of cheap labour. He believed obeying God would impoverish him while rebellion would enrich him. But ironically it is the Hebrews who are to be enriched at Egypt’s expense v2-3. The Hebrew people, who submitted to and obeyed God's word would experience the enrichment of their lives as they left their Egyptian bondage!

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Corrective to Final JudgmentThe Nature of Final JudgementFrom the beginning temptation to rebellion promised enrichment and argued that obedience to God would bring impoverishment. cf Eve's temptation... Gen. 3.1-6.

This deception that a failure to put ourselves first and rebel against God is exposed in the staggering paradox of Jesus’ words. "Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it". Mk.8.35 Final judgement on rebellion is impoverishing.

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Corrective to Final JudgmentThe Effect of Final Judgement1. It realises man’s greatest fear. The Egyptians were terrified by death. You cannot read Egyptian history without realising that the great obsession of this society was with death. They tried to reverse it and escape its hold. But God's words to Adam had been "on the day that you eat you will surely die". Gen 2.17 In Romans 5.12ff we read, "because of one man’s disobedience death passed on all men". Death is God's final sanction on rebellion. That death was the final plague in Egypt should not surprise us.

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Corrective to Final JudgmentThe Effect of Final Judgement2. It separates believer from unbeliever. In v7 we read, "You will know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel" Many hesitate to make this kind of distinction between believers and unbelievers. They say, "We are all God’s children". They find it repugnant to think that God would say, "I am for him but not him". But what does scripture teach? It makes this distinction over and over. Sheep and goats Matt 5.22ff, wheat and weeds Matt.13.24-30,36-43, Dives and Lazarus cf Lk. 16.26 “between us and you a great chasm has been fixed”.

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Corrective to Final JudgmentThe Effect of Final Judgement3. It separates man from God and his grace. In 10.29 Moses, God’s spokesman says, "I will never appear before you again". God's word would no longer speak powerfully to Pharaoh. The day of God's grace now lay over the horizon. For Pharaoh there would be no way back from this outer darkness.

With good reason John describes the separation of the final judgement as a second death. Rev.20.11-15

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Corrective to Final JudgmentThe Effect of Final Judgement4. It was marked by great distress.cf v6..... Why? They realised the irreversible nature of this judgement - a trauma heightened by the fact that the peace of God's "shalom" hovered over the Hebrew community v7 "Not a dog will bark". This picture foreshadows the final judgement. Mankind is divided between those among whom there will be "weeping and gnashing of teeth" Matt. 13.42 and those who will “shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father”. Matt .13.43

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Corrective to Final JudgmentThe Effect of Final Judgement5. It demonstrated God's faithfulness to his Word. The Hebrews must have asked over and over again, “when will God deliver us ”. When evil men appear to out-manoeuvre God and his justice then confidence in the justice of God can diminish. This was the Psalmist’s experience cf Ps.73. The prosperity of the wicked was more than the Psalmist could bear until he brought the matter before God v17 and he says "then I understood their end". Judgement after death! In the light of that discovery how glad he was v28 that he had made “the Sovereign Lord his refuge”.

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Corrective to Final JudgmentShelter from JudgementPharaoh and his people had no refuge, no shelter from judgement. There was no place for them to hide. Echoes of Rev.6.16... “They called to the mountains and the rocks “fall on us and cover us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb””.

There is no hiding place for those who have dismissed the corrective judgments of God and scorned God’s mercy and grace. That is a fearful prospect.

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Corrective to Final JudgmentShelter from JudgementNow it is at precisely this point that the narrative of God's dealing with Pharaoh is interrupted and another theme introduced. God’s Passover provision is rolled out. God himself provides a shelter from his judgment.

We read in Romans 5.17, “for if by the trespass of one man death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through that one man, Jesus Christ”.

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Corrective to Final JudgmentConclusionThere is a shelter from final Judgement. And the great Passover theme unpacked in Exodus 12 points forward to the provision of Christ our Passover Lamb [1Cor.5.7] given for our salvation. God stretches out two hands and if one contains judgement the other contains mercy and provides shelter from the first. Men and women are encouraged to pick a hand. To reject one is to embrace the other. Those who have not made the Lord Jesus their shelter, and hiding place should do so without delay!

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