December 15, 2006

• Exodus 12:12-22

  Because of Pharaoh’s hardened heart, God had to resort to the hardest plague, a plague that affected not only Pharaoh’s family but every Egyptian family, and if there were any Israelites who did not listen to God, they too would suffer from this plague.

  Exodus 12:12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt will I execute judgment; I am the LORD.

  Oh does this hit me hard. Years ago, in my pagan days I spent a lot of time with a group that tried to reinstate the Egyptian religion, they went so far as to be able to read hieroglyphics and create elaborate artifacts and worship services. At that time I was impressed with their dedication and devotion to the Egyptian gods. I even attended a slide show where the person who visited Egypt, read the hieroglyphics on the photos to us. Not only have people tried to reinstate the Egyptian religion, but in many of the witchcraft and occult circles people are worshipping the various gods and goddesses of other cultures such as the Greeks and Romans. In the coven I belonged to, I was instructed to make extensive lists of the epithets that the ancient writings used to describe the gods, and then came to my “brilliant” conclusion that all gods were one god and that no matter what we believed we would ultimately get back to the source. I decided that the gods of all the pantheons were created to help us deal with our human needs and wants. I had decided that Christ and God, Mary and Joseph correlated nicely with other holy families in other pantheons. Today these old religions are rearing their head in an intense way, and it is seeming to people that God is quiet about it and doesn’t care. He DOES CARE. His silence about the new age, the attempts to reinstate older religions, the occult, lifestyle choices does not mean that He isn’t aware of them, and doesn’t mean that He will not act about them. He just waits, as he did often in the Old Testament, to give people a chance to come to the truth, but make no mistake, there will be a judgment and those who choose to harden their hearts will face the consequences of their choices.

  A reading of the entire chapter of Romans 1 is pretty indicative of what is happening in this day and age, Romans 1:20-25 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man–and birds and four footed animals and creeping things. Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

  I have one friend here on Xanga who speaks about how God is all loving, and how because of his all loving nature that even satan will make it to heaven and we will all be one happy family. That all religions are true and it doesn’t matter which one you believe, for we will be one big happy family in the sky. This is not what God says, in His Word (the Bible) it plainly states that there is one way to God, and that is through accepting Jesus Christ as our savior. There is no other way. God is a God of order, and the universe is an ordered universe. It is very easy to see that spring follows winter, day follows night, etc. What if God were random? There would be chaos – and believe it or not there are even occult groups out there who worship chaos. But there is one absolute truth – two opposing beliefs cannot be true – if God says I am God there is no other, and another religion says, there are many gods, they cannot be both true simultaneously, one must be true/the other false. God loves us so much he gives us the chance to pick, and I pray that people pick wisely, the choice is eternal.

  God’s silence for 400 years of the Israelites’ slavery was not his condoning of that lifestyle for them. But he used the Egyptians to preserve the Israelite’s life until the right time for them to move on to the Promised Land – their numbers had to increase to a point that they would effectively govern the land God gave them. It is no accident that the last plague was the death of the firstborn sons – because remember, we first met Pharaoh who had made the law that all sons of the Israelites should be killed at birth. God is showing Pharaoh in a very controlled way, that this was wrong policy. God, had he chosen to, could have killed all male children like Pharaoh attempted to do, but He stayed His hand.

  Many people today want to dumb down God, making Him all loving and sweet and codoning of everything we want Him to condone. He IS all loving and sweet, but that does not make him soft and a pushover. He is the one who created us, who gives us breath, life, keeps our hearts beating, our plants growing, our life orderly – He makes the rules and those who do not abide by the rules will face His judgment. Only God can be both Judge and Loving at the same time. He worked to make sure that when we face His judgment for our inevitable sins, that He has provided a way for reconciliation to Him, through His Son, Jesus. We have to realize that God is very complex and powerful, and that is good, do we really want a God that is only as big as our understanding of Him? Not me, I want an all-powerful God who is in control, who knows far more than me. Honestly, haven’t you made poor decisions regarding your life, and wish that you could have made a different choice? Knowing the chance of poor decisions, I want to make sure that I have God who I can ask about wise choices.

  And also, don’t misinterpret the fact that many people who do not believe in God also have good lives, and seemingly are not beset with problems here on earth. God lets it rain on the just and the unjust alike. It is only in judgment that the wheat will be separated from the chaff, that those who accept Him are separated by those who willingly choose to reject Him.

  Anyway, God’s action will ultimately prove that Pharaoh was not god, that he could not protect the people, and because the firstborn of both people and animals (the Egyptian gods idols were in animal forms), God would show his judgment in a controlled way, that preserved the life of most Egyptians, for God really wants all to be saved and come to Him.

  Exodus 12:13 Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

  This is the way it is for us today. We are the temple of God, and the blood of Jesus on us, through the sacrifice He made for our sins, puts us under the covering and protection of God. Remember, if an Israelite chose not to do the Passover sacrifice, they would not have been protected too.

  Exodus 12:14 So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance.

  Notice, it is to be an EVERLASTING ordinance. That means that it is to be kept today just as it was kept in the past, and it will be kept in the future. Everlasting ordinances do not have a time limitation on them. Thus, those who say God is through with Israel because they rejected Jesus, cannot forget that God ordained that the Passover celebration was to be everlasting – Jesus did not come to do away with the old laws, but to fulfill them, and even He kept the Passover. Why would His death for our sins do away with God’s everlasting ordinance? Why would God make a decree and then go back on it. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. His everlasting ordinance is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

  God then details the elements of the Passover, which I shared with you in a previous post, showing how each detail relates to Jesus. For 7 days they should not eat anything with leaven in it.

  Moses then called together the elders of Israel and gave God’s instructions to them regarding the passover lamb and the passover feast.

  Hoping you have a blessed day!

  Heather

   

  • 8:45 am
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