Sermon(Ex 11:9-10): Pharaoh's stubborn heart

The original Korean text: https://blog.naver.com/stevision/50025252892

 

 

 

Scripture reading: Ex 11:9-10

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>> 9 Then the Lord said to Moses, "Pharaoh will not listen to you; that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt." 10 Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh; and the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the people of Israel go out of his land. <<

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My beloved brethren, obey the word of truth immediately when it comes to you. Do not be a man who weeps for sorrow after getting all kinds of blows as a punishment for hardening his heart and resisting the word of God like Pharaoh. Egypt was a wealthy kingdom at that time, but it was also a place where idolatry was practiced. They worshiped the Nile (a god), the frog-god, the fly-god, the guardian god of livestock, the god of disease and medicine, the boil-god, the heaven-god, the sun-god, the god of death, etc. The Israelites had been slaves to the Egyptians and lived in contact with Egyptian idolatrous religion for 430 years. Imitating Egyptian calf-idolatry, the Israelites made a calf-idol in the wilderness, and the people of North Israel erected calf-idols and worshiped them. Israelites would have practiced again gladly the bad custom of idolatry they had learned in Egypt had the God not taught them the vanity of Egyptian gods through ten punishments on the Egyptians and their gods. Except Joshua and Caleb, almost all Israelites who had been born and grown up in Egypt died during the 40 year-wilderness-life after the Exodus. All people who had the corrupt idol culture of Egypt in their heads were dead. Forty years in the wilderness was a necessary period for Israel to live in the land of Canaan as God's people in the blessed religious purity long time. We, too, can start our blessed religious life if we immediately wash away from our head all the unclean thoughts that we have learned in the world for a long time as soon as we believe in Jesus.

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We need to see why Pharaoh rejected Moses' requests, that is the requests of God's agent. Moses and Aaron speak at the command of God to Pharaoh. “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, 'Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness. (Ex 5:1)” Then Pharaoh says, “Who is the Lord, that I should heed his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover I will not let Israel go. (Ex 5:2)” If Moses and Aaron had gone with a great idol to Pharaoh, he might have been a little afraid and wavered at the fearful appearance of the idol. Pharaoh thought that an invisible god having no image was no god, and that therefore Jehovah whom Moses and Aaron spoke of deserved no attention. Pharaoh was ignorant of the Lord God of heaven and earth. Above all, Pharaoh was the son (the agent) of the sun god. What is the most important thing to Pharaoh king of Egypt who had none to fear in his kingdom, the greatest kingdom in the world? It is this: to give absolute loyalty to the god whom he serves so that his throne may be firmly established and be bequeathed to his son. Pharaoh thinks that it is foolish to betray the god of Egypt who gave him the most valuable position in the world and to submit to another god. Now he is in the best position in the world, and what else can he expect from another god, betraying the god who gave him the kingship and thus incurring disaster upon himself? And there are countless Hebrew (Israelite) slaves in Egypt. Why should he let them go? Yes, my brethren! People refuse to obey the word of God because they worry that they may lose what they have already gained. He who believes that he made a lot of money by making a polite bow to Buddha many times would reject the word of truth, the gospel of Jesus Christ, the word of life, so as not to lose the money. Sometimes Christians, too, harden their mind and reject God's word for fear that they should lose what they have. As you know, the substance of 'the stubborn heart' was 'greed'. Desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin; and sin when it is full-grown brings forth death (Jas 1:15). Yes, brethren! You will surely die forever if you live according to your greed, because then you'll go to hell. But those who live according to greed are foolish, because those who abandon their own desires and obey God's word will have eternal life. How foolish it is to live a greedy life for a while here and to suffer forever in the hell! And we must not be against God's will in order to show favor to those who have done us a favor. In particular, if anyone who has shown you grace and love requires or orders what is against God's will, never do it! It is much better to go to heaven by being righteous before God even if you lose recognition from people than to be punished by God as an accomplice.

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The reason why God sent 10 disasters upon Egypt was that they had oppressed and slaved Israel, God's people. Of course, that was the main cause, but God thought that Pharaoh was not a man who could be persuaded just by some words and that he would never renounce his foolish beliefs, so he sent 10 disasters to make Egyptians and the stupid Pharaoh know what and who he (the God) was. The ten plagues were all related to the idols (gods) of Egypt, and the false gods of Egypt (the idols) were so powerless before the true God, Yahweh. But the funny thing is that Pharaoh suffered all kinds of disasters and didn't let the Israelites go until even his firstborn son was killed. Why did he do so? It is because Pharaoh thought that Egyptians had many gods to help them. When Moses, at God's command, told Pharaoh to allow Israelites to depart from Egypt, Pharaoh thought, 'Is the Lord stronger than the Egyptian god the Nile?' When the Lord made the water of the Nile turn into blood, he thought, 'Is the Lord stronger than the frog-god? I won't change my mind!' So God sent numerous frogs to all over the Egypt, and they were distressed. But Pharaoh thought again, 'The Lord could be stronger than the frog-god. Then we have the fly-god.' Now God causes the plague of fly on Egypt. Pharaoh prayed to the boil-god, "God of boil, let sore boils break out among Israelites. and prove that you are stronger than the Lord." His prayer continued, "Gnat-god, please plague the Israelites and their beasts with gnats! Sun-god, do not give lights to Israelites!" But the results were reverse to his prayer. The Lord God permitted nothing harmful to happen to Israelites but sent detrimental boils, gnats and darkness to the Egyptians. (How merciful and faithful he is! Praise him!)

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By the way, Pharaoh could have resisted God's command up to then because there were Osiris and Isis in Egypt, gods who had authority over the life and death of human beings. Pharaoh could endure calamities proudly until now for he thought the Egyptian gods who controled the life of human beings was stronger than the Lord. He prayed, "Oh, Osiris and Isis, I have not asked you for help so far because it is our loss that our slaves the Israelites die. I can't put up with them any longer! Kill all the Israelites, including Moses and Aaron, so that the pride of the Lord may be humbled." But even this petition was not fulfilled as he wanted. God killed all the firstborn of the Egyptians. Of course, none of the Israelites died. Now that the situation was such, Pharaoh had no god to turn to for help any more. Furthermore he felt endangered of his life and had to permit Israelites to depart from Egypt. To say better, the permission was not active but passive.

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Thus, considering the situations of Egypt at that time, we have to come to the conclusion that such events must have happened necessarily even if God particularly had not hardened Pharaoh's heart. Then what does it mean that God hardened Pharaoh's heart? Whenever Pharaoh, in false faith, compared the God with an Egyptian idol, the God sent Egypt a disaster related to the idol. Enraged at the disaster imposed upon Egypt, Pharaoh thought of another idol in order to fight with God. Whenever Pharaoh, trusting in Egyptian gods, resisted the command of God that he should let Israelites go, the God responded to it justly, which was the cause of the stubbornness of his heart. Considering this, we can see that Pharaoh was knocked ten times thanks to only his faults. A man can be stubborn like Pharaoh if he thinks that he has many countermeasures against punishments of God. The reason why those who serve idols or demons do not accept the gospel is that they believe such idols and demons can bless them even if there is no God. The reason why it is hard for a rich man to enter heaven is that the money-god is holding his heart tight and makes him have a stubborn heart against God. Of course, the heart that relies on the power of money is the money-god (the god of wealth). A bright man also is liable to trust only his own brains and have a stubborn heart against God. They are all stupid like Pharaoh. My beloved brethren, do not compare the things of the world with the God. Do not compare idols with God. Do not compare some money with God! Brethren, do not harden your heart like Pharaoh when God teaches truth. God's disaster on men may seem like a punishment at first sight, but in fact it is a process that teaches men a truth. In other words, the disasters inflicted on men tell us the truth that not idols but God the Creator blesses or punishes human beings. Whoever accepts this truth immediately will suffer no disaster, but he who rejects it is obstinate, and many calamities Pharaoh suffered will be with him. He who accepts declared words immediately without any doubts is of a meek heart; he who, on hearing the words, has doubts first and tries to verify it to the end is of an obstinate heart. The ten calamities served for the benefit of Pharaoh, a foolish man, for he must have realized that the Egyptian idols whom he had served until then were less powerful than the Lord God. Because, anyway, it is true that he met a truth though it was partial.

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But Pharaoh, after letting Israelites go, changed his mind, led his army and chased them. Usually in such a situation, a man who behaves like Pharaoh thinks that the gods he serves were angry with him and have sent the calamities upon him. Pharaoh thought that the Egyptians were suffering the disasters because they incurred Egyptian gods' anger with their sins against them, so he denied the Lord and his power again. When Pharaoh has come with his army to attack Israelites, God buried his army in Red Sea. Brethren, if you harden your heart and disobey God's commandment to the end, he will put an end to your life. What a fearful punishment! (He who is steadfast in righteousness will live, but he who pursues evil will die. (Prov 11:19)) If you defy and disobey God and strive to reinterpret, selfishly and in different meaning, the disasters that God has sent you as a warning, God will think you are an incurable man and will pronounce the death penalty upon you.

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Why did God kill all the firstborn of Egypt? The answer is Ex 4:22-23. >You shall say to Pharaoh, 'Thus says the Lord, Israel is my first-born son, and I say to you, "Let my son go that he may serve me"; if you refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay your first-born son.'< God has chosen Israel among all the nations and made it his firstborn son and his possession, but Pharaoh refused to deliver Israelites to God, so God killed all the firstborn of Egypt. At this point, people will ask why God hated only the Pharaoh of Egypt. But not always did God do like that. The Pharaoh (the king of Egypt) in the age of Joseph dreamed a spiritual dream coming from God. He saw in his dream what was to happen. Pharaoh of the time heard Joseph's interpretation of his dream and immediately appointed Joseph as prime minister, showing deference to God. At that time, the Pharaoh subjected himself to God's will heartily, and the God rescued many people of Egypt from the famine. When people are obedient to God's will, he delivers and blesses them regardless of the elect or the gentile. What would have happened if some of Israelites had not put the blood of lambs on their door posts on the eve of the Exodus, disobeying God's order? Of course, the firstborn of the house would have died that night. What if some of Egyptians had obeyed God's commandment and applied the blood of lamb to the door posts of their house in order to save their firstborn son? Of course, God would not have killed the firstborn of the Egyptians. The heart obeying the word of God is a meek heart; the heart disobeying the word of God is a stubborn heart. If anyone obeys God with a meek heart, he will be blessed; if he disobeys him with a stubborn heart, he will be severely punished. Social status or background is not so important here. only obedience is important! Abandon greed, get rid of pride, clear your mind of doubts, stop being inquisitive, but only obey God's word unconditionally with joy. Blessings and life will come from there.

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May the Holy Spirit make your heart meek and make you obey God's commandments gladly. I pray that God bless you who are very obedient.

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Chong Tack Kim

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                              - Dongtoma Sunshine Church -