Revelation 20:11-15 “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”
Continuing Pastor Kyle’s message, he states that there is a Judgment Day coming, when we die, and the second death is the harsh reality for rebellious unrepented sin and rejection of Christ. God offered chance after change for Pharaoh and the Egyptians to let God’s people go. He told them each time, what He was going to do and followed through on each calling to repent and change their mind, but they wouldn’t take the offer again and again. I am belaboring this negative reality point, but it is important here because this actually has important spiritual ramifications for us to understand later in this message.
Exodus 12:29-30 says, “And it came to pass at midnight that the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock. So, Pharaoh rose in the night, he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead.”
The sound of the cries from every Egyptians home collectively at the same moment would have been deafening by the sudden and simultaneous loss of their first-born for their defiance and unrepentance. In our case today, it is our sin that caused the death of God’s innocent first-born Son. That is why John 3:36 tells us, “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” Romans 6:23 tells us, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
The Israelites sacrificed an unblemished yearling lamb, put its blood on the door posts and lentil to avoid the plague of death. This initial Passover event was foreshadowing the Passover Lamb of God, our perfect sacrifice, Jesus Christ on the Cross to pay that wages for our sins. How must God feel when someone simply won’t repent of their sin, given chance after chance to accept His gracious free gift by faith but they will not turn to God? Our heavenly Father is saying, “Here is the way to forgiveness, to redemption, to freedom, to salvation, to life”, and they sadly say, “No, I am going to do something else on my own.”
Exodus 11:7 says, “But against none of the children of Israel shall a dog move its tongue, against man or beast, that you may know that the Lord does make a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.” We keep seeing the theme of God’s protective hand over Believers in the book of Exodus. Yet, Yahweh – Jehovah Sabaoth gives everyone the opportunity to put their faith in Him and have access to His Divine protection. Even the Pharaoh of Egypt could have been protected if he would just obeyed God and let His people go.
Moses said in Exodus 11:8-10 “And all these your servants shall come down to me and bow down to me, saying, ‘Get out, and all the people who follow you!’ After that I will go out.” Then he went out from Pharaoh in great anger. But the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not heed you, so that My wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.” So, Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh; and the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go out of his land. After this final plague, it will be obvious to the people of Egypt that the Israelite God is the God of Heaven and Earth; not the Egyptian false gods. They shall bow down in respect and let God’s people go.
Let's continue Pastor Kyle's message on God's Way in the next post.
In Christ, Brian
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