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Scripture Reading: Exo. 1:8, 11, 13-14; 3:7-8, 10, 12; 5:1-11, 17-19; 6:9; 8:15, 25-27, 32; 10:7-11, 24-27
In this series of messages we will consider the book of Exodus. Genesis, the book before Exodus, covers four major points: first, God’s desire and purpose; second, God’s procedures to fulfill His purpose; third, man’s fall; and fourth, God’s calling. Although God’s desire and purpose were not fulfilled through His original creation, He continued through His calling to produce an Israel for Himself. This Israel was not only in the image of God but also ruled for God.
Based on the types and symbols in the Bible, the end of Genesis is equivalent to the end of Revelation. At the end of Genesis in type and at the end of the Bible in reality, we see Israel in God’s image ruling for God. We may say that God’s eternal purpose has been fulfilled. Since this is the case, why do we need the book of Exodus? It is because Genesis focuses on God’s calling, and God’s redemption is not spoken of in God’s calling.
For the fulfillment of His original purpose God gave up the created race and chose a called race. God worked on the called ones and eventually produced Israel as the fulfillment of His purpose. However, the man chosen and called by God was fallen, and fallen man needs God’s redemption. If there were only choosing and calling without redemption, God could only choose and call those who are not fallen. Since those who are chosen and called by God are fallen, there is the need for redemption. Therefore, after Genesis shows God’s choosing and calling, Exodus shows God’s redemption.
Since Exodus comes after Genesis, all the people and events recorded in Exodus should be a continuation of those in Genesis. However, the spiritual significance of Exodus does not follow the experience of Jacob. In other words, God’s redemption does not come after God’s choosing and calling. In fact, God’s calling and redemption begin at the same time. We need to stress this matter: Genesis 11 is the beginning of God’s calling, whereas Exodus 1 is the beginning of God’s redemption; nevertheless, these two beginnings proceed together and end together. Apparently, the children of Israel, as redeemed ones, are the descendants of Abraham, and Abraham, as a called one, is the forefather of the children of Israel. But according to spiritual significance, Abraham and the children of Israel are one. With Abraham we see the aspect of being called; with the children of Israel we see the aspect of being redeemed. In Genesis God shows the aspect of being called, and then in Exodus He shows the aspect of being redeemed.
The story of Abraham portrays the aspect of being called, and what we see is simple. The story of the children of Israel portrays the aspect of being redeemed, and what we see is more complex. This clearly indicates that the aspect of being called is simple, whereas the aspect of being redeemed is more complex. When we read Exodus and review the calling of Abraham in Genesis, we must see that the children of Israel and Abraham are one according to spiritual significance. In Abraham we see God’s chosen people in one aspect; in the children of Israel we see God’s chosen people in another aspect.
Abraham was in Ur of the Chaldeans before he was called (11:28, 31). According to the dark background of Babel, the people in Ur were building cities with bricks of baked clay (vv. 3-4). Building cities with bricks of baked clay signifies human labor with earthly material. Similarly, before the children of Israel were redeemed, they were in a place that built cities. The children of Israel built storage cities for Pharaoh in Egypt, using bricks made of baked clay (Exo. 1:11, 14), that is, by human labor with earthly material. Making bricks and building cities signify a man-made, godless living. The chosen and called ones, represented by Abraham, and the redeemed ones, represented by the children of Israel, were both in places that made bricks and built cities. This shows that the redeemed ones are a continuation of the chosen and called ones; the redeemed children of Israel are a further aspect of Abraham, as the chosen and called one. Hence, we cannot say that Genesis 1—11 is one line, Genesis 12—50 is another line, and Exodus 1—18 is yet another line. Actually, Genesis records the aspect of God’s chosen people being called, and Exodus records the aspect of their being redeemed.
In God’s redemption the first crucial point is God’s selection. If we read the Bible carefully, we will see that the children of Israel did not suddenly appear in Exodus; rather, this group of people was chosen and predestinated by God. Those whom God redeems are those whom He has called, and those whom He has called are those whom He has chosen. This point is shown clearly in the book of Ephesians. The apostle Paul says that God chose us before the foundation of the world (1:4), and because God has chosen us, He has marked us out. At the appointed time, God called us. This was God coming to redeem us.
The children of Israel were not redeemed based on a coincidental meeting with God. God redeemed them based on His selection. From our viewpoint and according to our feeling, our salvation seems to be a matter of coincidence; that is, we did not know what was going on and simply believed in the Lord. It seems that our salvation was a chance encounter with God, and we came unwittingly to the Lord Jesus. This, however, is not God’s viewpoint. The Bible clearly says that God chose us before the foundation of the world. God’s coming to save us is altogether based on His selection.
Concerning God’s redemption, the second crucial point is man’s fall. God redeemed man because man fell. If man had not fallen, there would have been no need for God’s redemption. However, since man has fallen, there is a need for redemption. In the Bible we see three lines concerning the world. The first line is the world of idols, represented by Babel (Gen. 11:1-4). The second line is the world of usurpation associated with the power of our livelihood, represented by Egypt (12:10). The Bible records that whenever God’s chosen people went down to Egypt, it was either to solve a problem related to their livelihood (Gen. 12:10; 42:1-3; 45:9-11, 18) or because they were relying on the power of Egypt (Isa. 30:2; 31:1). The third line is the world of sin, represented by Sodom (Gen. 13:13; 18:20; 19:13). Originally, God’s chosen people were living in Babel, the world of idols. After they were called and came out from Babel, some fell into Egypt, the world associated with the power of our livelihood, and some fell into Sodom, the world of sin, as in the situation with Lot (13:11-13).
In Genesis we see the four steps of man’s fall. Adam’s fall was the first step. His fall was not a fall into the world but a fall into sin. Cain’s fall was the second step. Cain lost God by leaving His presence and beginning a godless culture (4:16-24). Originally, in the garden of Eden God was everything to man. But once man lost God, he lost the supply for his livelihood, support, security, and happiness. Thus, outside of God, man generated his own living; this is the origin of the world. Beginning with Cain, man started to build cities (v. 17). In the Bible a city refers to the center of human living and symbolizes the God-forsaking world. This God-forsaking world began after Cain’s fall, for after his fall Cain dwelt in a city. Therefore, in man’s second fall, man fell into the world.
When the world of Cain was developed fully, man’s fall reached the third step, and the result of this was judgment by the flood. At that time the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually (6:5). God looked on the earth and saw that it was corrupt, so He decided to destroy the world with a flood (vv. 12-13, 17). At that time there was not only human wickedness but also the human world. Eventually, both man and the world were judged by God. In that judgment God rescued Noah’s family of eight. However, out of Noah’s descendants another God-forsaking world was produced, and men in Babel began to make bricks and build a city (11:3-4). To build a city means that man rejects God, forsakes God, and creates a godless living for himself, apart from God. This is the world. Therefore, the Bible shows that man’s fall included a fall into the world.
Man first fell into sin and then into the world. Many of us have an inaccurate concept that God saved us only from sin. However, those who are saved by God from sin are also saved from the world. If a person has fallen into sin, he surely has fallen into the world, because sin and the world are inseparable. The world is the sphere of sin, and sin is the content of the world. A person who has not been redeemed surely has the world as the sphere of his living and sin as the content of his living. Therefore, to be in the sphere of the world is to be in the content of sin, and to be in the content of sin is to be in the sphere of the world. In other words, all those in sin are in the world, and all those in the world are in sin. Thus, in order for God to save us out of sin, He must save us out of the world. In the Bible Noah is the first person who typifies a saved one; Noah was saved not only from sin but also from the world. When it comes to God’s saving of Abraham, it is the same. With Abraham, God used the water of the great river Euphrates to separate him from the world of Babel, cutting him off completely from Babel (Josh. 24:2-3). Later, God used the waters of the Red Sea to save the children of Israel from Egypt, cutting them off from Egypt (Exo. 14:21-30). This shows that God saves those who have fallen into the world.
Both in Babel and in Egypt, men were making bricks and building cities. This indicates that man’s work in the world is a matter of making bricks and building cities. This is a work of human labor with earthly material. Building cities involves man’s own effort to create a living outside of God. In other words, building cities is for maintaining a livelihood, for making a living. If the children of Israel in Egypt had not built cities, they would have starved. Their living in Egypt depended on making bricks and building cities. We should never think that the Bible speaks of this matter casually. Rather, the Bible purposely speaks of the condition of the children of Israel in Egypt in order to show the original condition of the called ones.
Just as those in Babel were making bricks and building a city, those in Egypt were also making bricks and building cities. Just as those in Babel were using human labor with earthly material to create a living for themselves apart from God, so also were those in Egypt. Just as the men in Babel did not want God, the men in Egypt did not want God. Apparently, the men in Babel took the initiative to build a city, whereas the men in Egypt were forced to build cities. Actually, the making of bricks and the building of the city of Babel were also forced upon man by the invisible, evil one, that is, the ruler of this world, Satan, who compelled them from behind.
Exodus speaks of the matter of making bricks and building cities to show that the condition of man before being redeemed is the same as his condition before being called. Please consider your condition before you were redeemed. Where were you at that time? What were you doing? I believe we would all answer, “At that time I was in the world, busy making a living.” This is human labor with earthly material, making bricks and building cities. Today every redeemed person is saved by God from a place where people make bricks and build cities. We must apply this word to ourselves. Were we not like this before we were saved? We all were called in a place where people make bricks and build cities. God called us from a godless living, a living of human labor with earthly material. A brother may say that he was called in Szechuan, another may say that he was called in Anhwei, and yet another may say that he was called in southern Fukien. But we were all called in Babel and in Egypt, in places where people make bricks and build cities.
Concerning God’s redemption, the third crucial point is the Savior. In Exodus 3:8 God said, “I have come down to deliver them.” This word is very special. In order for God to save those who have fallen into the world, He must come down to the world. Because we fell into a sinful world, God came to this sinful world by humbling Himself to become flesh (John 1:14). God came to the place where we had fallen. God could not save us from high in the heavens; God had to “come down” in order to save us. This coming down was God’s coming to the earth from the heavens to be man’s Savior. Moses typifies the incarnated Christ who came down from the heavens to be man’s Savior. God was with Moses, so Moses became the savior of the children of Israel (Exo. 3:12); similarly, God was with the Lord Jesus, so the Lord Jesus became our Savior (Matt. 1:21-23).
Concerning God’s redemption, the fourth crucial point is Satan’s usurpation. While God wants to save us from the world, Satan wants to usurp us and to keep us from leaving the world. In leading man to salvation, the greatest difficulty is not the problem of sin but the problem of the world. When we preach the gospel to people, the most difficult thing to deal with is the usurpation of the world. The usurpation of the world comes from Satan. Pharaoh’s enslavement of the children of Israel symbolizes and typifies Satan’s usurpation of man through the world. Today Satan usurps us through the world. Pharaoh also usurped the children of Israel by giving them hard labor.
The first step that Pharaoh took to usurp the children of Israel was to give them the hard labor of making bricks and building cities, making them work for their livelihood (Exo. 1:11, 13-14). Today when we preach the gospel and exhort people to believe in the Lord, they often ask, “Does Jesus provide meals?” Both those who are uneducated and those who are highly educated ask this. These simple words point out a truth concerning our human living. Although we may speak with high-sounding words, such as, “I serve society to benefit people,” in the end we are still taking care of our livelihood. Using a more colloquial expression, we can say that our intentions are a matter of our stomach. If a person would starve by serving, would he still be willing to serve? Some university professors once asked, “Mr. Lee, you exert so much effort in preaching. You preach so desperately. What does your preaching have to do with human life? You exhort people to believe in Jesus, but does Jesus provide meals?” Their concern was related to the question of livelihood. This shows that Satan usurps us by utilizing our need to maintain our livelihood and by making us work hard for our living.
Satan also usurps us by utilizing matters and things created or arranged by God. In the garden of Eden, Satan seduced Adam and Eve through the serpent, which was a living creature created by God (Gen. 3:1). Similarly, working and eating were originally arranged and ordained by God, but today Satan usurps us through them. After Adam fell, God said, “By the sweat of your face / You will eat bread” (v. 19). To work for a living is something arranged by God. Today everyone should work diligently in order to eat. Lazy people who neglect work not only are indebted to God and people, but they also are indebted to themselves. Everyone should labor and work because this is God’s arrangement. However, Satan is crafty. He hides himself behind the matters and things arranged by God and utilizes them to usurp us. This is the reason that people often ask, “Does Jesus provide meals?” This is also the reason that many have heard the gospel but are not willing to believe. When we invite people to hear the gospel, they often reply, “I have no time. I am busy making a living. Wait until I earn enough money to secure my livelihood; then I will believe in Jesus.” When we hear this kind of excuse, we should realize that this is the usurpation of Pharaoh; this is Pharaoh putting them under hard labor. It is as if Pharaoh were telling them, “If you do not work, you cannot live. You should be dutiful to fire bricks and build cities.” If the Lord opens our eyes, we will see that the whole world is under Satan’s hand and is living a life of making bricks and building cities every day.
Today when we preach the gospel, people who are usurped by Satan often think that we are speaking nonsense. The Pharaoh in their heart tells them, “Do not listen to or believe what this preacher is saying because his words are false. Only ignorant, old women believe them. These women have nothing to do, so let them hear the gospel. But you are young and strong, and you bear the burden of the family. Do not listen to this speaking. Focus on your studies and business. Work hard and secure your livelihood. You have never seen Jesus, and the kingdom is too far from you and too abstract. You should be practical!” Many parents are their children’s “Pharaoh.” When they find out that their children have gone to hear the gospel, they say, “These preachers really waste people’s time! It is a big waste of time to ask people to sit for two hours each night. Those who believe in Jesus neglect their work and even ask others to neglect theirs.”
After the children of Israel heard the gospel that God had visited them and would lead them out of Egypt, Pharaoh treated them even more harshly. Pharaoh thought, “If the children of Israel receive the gospel and leave Egypt, who will build cities for me?” Thus, Pharaoh doubled the work of the children of Israel, requiring them to make the same amount of bricks but without giving them any straw. They had to find straw for themselves. His intention was to make their life more bitter so that they would not be able to listen to God’s word. Pharaoh said to Moses and Aaron, “Why are you trying to release the people from their work? Get back to your burdens” (Exo. 5:4). Pharaoh also commanded the taskmasters of the people and their officers to lay the work more heavily upon the children of Israel so that they would “not pay attention to false words” (v. 9). As hard work increases, the environment changes. Originally, a business may be making a profit, but as the environment changes, the business will begin to lose money. Previously, the work was smooth; soon it becomes problematic. Originally, the children of Israel were given straw for making bricks; now they needed to find their own straw (vv. 7, 10-11). Even though they saw that they were in trouble (v. 19), they did not feel that it was Pharaoh who was afflicting them. Rather, they complained to Moses and Aaron and murmured against them, saying, “You have made us odious in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants so as to put a sword in their hand to kill us” (v. 21). Today many are like this, saying, “If you had not preached the gospel to us, our lives would have been better.” We earnestly exhort people to believe in Jesus, and people may nod their head in agreement, but at this juncture Pharaoh, who is Satan as the ruler of this world, comes with hard labor to usurp them. Almost all the people know that they should believe in Jesus, yet they are not willing. The greatest reason for this is the usurpation of the world; they have been detained by Pharaoh through hard labor.
Of course, God would not tolerate Satan’s usurpation and detaining of His people. Hence, God came to fight with Satan, striking Pharaoh with ten plagues until he loosened his grip. In order to save us, God will always fight with Satan in the environment. God often uses something to strike the “Pharaoh” in our situation. In fighting with Satan, God does not strike Satan himself but Pharaoh as the embodiment of Satan.
For example, when we were an unbeliever and our wife wanted to believe in the Lord, perhaps we were our wife’s “Pharaoh.” Likewise, when a wife is an unbeliever but her husband wants to believe in the Lord, the wife may be her husband’s “Pharaoh.” Pharaoh always uses hard labor to hinder people from believing in the Lord, but God always has a way. Whenever a wife wants to believe in the Lord and her husband rises up to oppose her, God will raise up an environment to strike the husband. If a husband wants to believe in the Lord but his wife opposes him, God will raise up an environment to strike the wife. If the children want to love the Lord but the parents are “Pharaohs” to them, God will raise up an environment to strike the parents. Often, after such a striking by God, no one in Egypt will have any peace. After Moses and Aaron preached the gospel to the children of Israel, the whole land of Egypt lost its peace. Eventually, all the Egyptians were stricken by God to such an extent that they said, “Forget about it. Forget about it. Let them go.”
Some people say that if a person hears the gospel, he will have peace. But in many cases, after a person hears the gospel, there is no peace in his environment. In order to save him, God strikes Pharaoh, even to the extent that things are turned upside down. Children get sick, jobs go wrong, offices shut down, companies collapse, banks close down, loans default, and so forth. Thus, the whole of “Egypt” is ruined. This is the process that many brothers and sisters experienced before they believed in the Lord. When a man wants to believe in the Lord and Pharaoh opposes it, God will raise up an environment to strike, and frogs, lice, flies, hail, and darkness will come. God raises up all kinds of environments in order to strike Pharaoh. Some saints have testified that they were once “Pharaohs,” but God struck them in order to turn them around. Our fear should not be of a hardened heart but of God not striking us. Man is so corrupt that unless he is struck to the point of losing his “firstborn son,” he will not let go.
The goal of God’s fighting against Satan is to save us from being under Satan’s hand. When we read Exodus, we should pay attention not only to the passover but also to the fight between God and Pharaoh. In order to save us from the world, God put forth His hand to fight for us and to strike Pharaoh over and over again. A brother who was working as a clerk in a shop before he was saved had a deep affection for his shop. For a long time he was bound and usurped by his job and could not believe in the Lord. Later, under God’s wise hand, the shop caught fire. He lost his job and had no choice but to stop working. When he became idle, he finally believed in Jesus. The exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt was the result of God striking Pharaoh. This is why many people will turn to God only after passing through many such experiences. Thank God that His hand changed our environment. God fought with Satan and released us from Satan’s usurpation, delivering us from the hard labor that Satan put upon us.
The second step that Pharaoh took to usurp the children of Israel was to deny God. In Exodus 5 Moses and Aaron said to Pharaoh, “Thus says Jehovah the God of Israel, Let My people go that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness” (v. 1). Pharaoh responded, saying, “Who is Jehovah...? I do not know Jehovah” (v. 2). If we recall the days when we were “Pharaohs,” we probably said the same thing. At that time, perhaps our wife said, “We should believe in Jesus and repent to God,” and we may have said, “Jesus? Serving God? Where is God? I do not know God.” The first step of Satan’s work is to usurp men with hard labor; the second step is to deny God’s existence, to deny God’s sovereignty. The portrait of redemption in the Bible is quite realistic. When we first heard the gospel, our response to God was exactly the same as Pharaoh’s. In today’s terms, Pharaoh first says, “Does Jesus provide meals?” and then he says, “Who is God? Where is God? I do not know Him.”
When Pharaoh denied God, God struck him with the plagues of blood, frogs, lice, and flies (7:15—8:24). God kept striking him until he could no longer bear it. He called for Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God in the land” (v. 25). By this, Pharaoh meant, “If you really want to believe in God, and if you really want to serve God, then do it here.” Pharaoh was willing to allow the children of Israel to believe in God and serve God as long as they stayed in the same place; this means that Satan is not concerned about our believing in Jesus as long as we do not change our position and environment.
Many people know that once a person believes in Jesus, he is changed and transferred. From the first day, Moses spoke clearly to Pharaoh, saying, “Let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to Jehovah our God” (5:3). The number three signifies death and resurrection. Taking a three days’ journey means passing through death and resurrection to put off the old creation. All our relationships in the old creation need to be cut off. Hence, Satan’s work on man follows these steps: first, he gives man hard labor; second, he denies God’s existence; and third, when he is struck by God to the point that he has to give in, he says, “Okay, you can believe in Jesus, but do not change your original status or leave your original condition. Originally, you were sinful, so keep sinning. Originally, you loved the world, so keep loving the world.” Today we see Christians like this everywhere, that is, Christians who stay in the same place. Although they believe in the Lord and have been baptized, they do not leave the condition that they were in before they believed in the Lord. They still live under Satan’s hand. However, Moses did not comply with Pharaoh. Instead, Moses said, “It would not be right to do so...We must go a three days’ journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to Jehovah our God just as He commands us” (8:26-27). Since we have received the Lord’s salvation, our old living should be completely put off. In order to serve God, we must leave behind our old manner of living and take a “three-day” journey.
The fourth step that Pharaoh took to usurp the children of Israel was to not allow them to go far away. When Pharaoh and the whole land of Egypt were struck by God with plagues of blood, frogs, lice, and flies, Pharaoh said to Moses, “I will let you go that you may sacrifice to Jehovah your God in the wilderness; only you shall not go very far away” (v. 28). He seemed to be saying that they could leave Egypt but that they could not go too far away so that he could call them back at any time. If they went too far away, Pharaoh could not have called them back. Pharaoh was not willing to let the children of Israel go far away from him.
Some brothers and sisters live on the border between Egypt and the wilderness. They are in the wilderness, but if they took just one step back, they would be in Egypt again. They are “gray” Christians, being neither white nor black. Regarding both “white” things and “black” things, these Christians have compromised. They are compromised Christians. They seem to be in the wilderness, but they are very close to Egypt. People often say to us, “Do not be too extreme or too obsessed with being a Christian. Others also believe in Jesus, but they are not obsessed like you. Smoking, dancing, and watching a movie are not big sins or great crimes, but after you believed in Jesus, your recreation is gone. You are too obsessed with believing in Jesus. For three hundred sixty-five days you have not watched even one movie. This living is pitiful.” Such people are Pharaoh’s spokesmen, telling us not to go too far or to do too much but to simply be a compromising Christian.
Perhaps some brothers and sisters said the same thing when they were “Pharaohs.” For example, when an unbelieving wife suffers some blows in her environment and becomes very depressed, she may say to her husband, “All right, believe in the Lord but do not be too much. Since you are not going to be a pastor or a preacher, there is no need to be so obsessed.” This is similar to Pharaoh when he said, “You shall not go very far away.” The biblical record is altogether a realistic picture, portraying a compromising attitude toward the gospel. Hence, God still needs to come and strike. If God had not struck, the children of Israel would not have come out of Egypt; if God does not strike, man cannot be absolute in taking God’s way.
After God removed the plague of flies, Pharaoh hardened his heart again and did not let the people go. Thus, God struck Pharaoh and the whole land of Egypt with the plagues of pestilence, boils, hail, and locusts (9:1—10:15). God struck them to such an extent that Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the men go that they may serve Jehovah their God. Do you not yet realize that Egypt is destroyed?” (v. 7). So Pharaoh said to Moses, “Go, serve Jehovah your God. But who exactly are going?” (v. 8). Moses then said, “We will go with our young and with our old; we will go with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds, for we must hold Jehovah’s feast” (v. 9). Pharaoh responded, saying, “No! Go now, but the men only, and serve Jehovah” (v. 11). Pharaoh seemingly was saying, “You can go to serve your God, but do not bring your children with you. It is sufficient for your strong men to go. The old and young ones should not go.” Not only do unbelieving ones say this kind of word to their spouses, even many saved ones often fall into Satan’s scheme and speak this kind of word for him. Some brothers and sisters say, “My mother is too old to understand the gospel, and my children are too young to understand. It is good enough for me to believe in the Lord.” Pharaoh said this very thing, that is, that it was not safe for the old and the young ones to leave Egypt and that only the strong men should go. This is the scheme of Pharaoh. He knew that if the wives and children of the Israelites stayed in Egypt, then at a certain point, the husbands would come back without Pharaoh even needing to call them.
How could the husbands leave Egypt when their wives were still there? If their parents and children, the old and the young, were all in Egypt, then their exodus would have been the same as not having an exodus. Thus, to listen to the words not go very far away (8:28) is to compromise on locations, and to listen to the men only (10:11) is to compromise on persons. Regrettably, many Christian families today stay in Egypt, within the reach of Pharaoh’s hand. God does not want compromising people; He wants absolute people. Therefore, God must come to strike Pharaoh again.
Since Pharaoh’s heart was hardened and would not let the children of Israel go, God continued to strike him by bringing the plague of darkness over the land (vv. 20-23). Being compelled to give in, Pharaoh called Moses and said, “Go, serve Jehovah; only let your flocks and your herds be detained. Your little ones may also go with you” (v. 24). This time Pharaoh was willing to let all the children of Israel go, but he would not allow them to bring their possessions. The people could go, but he wanted to detain their flocks and herds. Pharaoh was quite crafty. Where a man’s treasure is, there will his heart be also (Matt. 6:21). Pharaoh understood this. He knew that as long as the children of Israel’s possessions remained in Egypt, their hearts would still be in Egypt. Therefore, God needed to strike Pharaoh once more so that all the children of Israel along with all their possessions would be allowed to come out. God needed to strike Pharaoh until the children of Israel, both male and female, old and young, together with their flocks and herds, as well as all their treasures, could come out of Egypt.
Today there are a few types of Christians. Some Christians are in the same place that they were before they were saved, and other Christians have not gone very far from the world. Some Christians are in their prime years, but they still have unbelieving parents and children; and some Christians have believed in the Lord, but their possessions are in Egypt and have not been brought out to serve God. In response to Pharaoh’s request, Moses said, “You must also let us have sacrifices and burnt offerings so that we may sacrifice to Jehovah our God. So our cattle also must go with us; not a hoof must be left behind, for we must take some of them to serve Jehovah our God” (Exo. 10:25-26). Moses clearly said that their cattle were for burnt offerings. The children of Israel had to go out with all their possessions in order to serve Jehovah God.
Moses wanted the children of Israel to go out with everything that they had in order to serve God, but Pharaoh’s heart was set on detaining them. Pharaoh must have thought, “Even if I cannot detain their persons, I will detain their hearts. As long as I can detain their flocks and herds, even though they leave, their hearts will still be here, and one day they will return.” Today’s Christians also are in these conditions: some stay in the same place, some go halfway, some have led only those in their prime years to salvation, and some leave their treasures in the world. All these conditions speak of Satan’s usurpation of man. Apparently, today’s Christians do not seem to be fully usurped, but they are. If we are to come out of Egypt, we must come out in a full way, including all our person and possessions, just like all the children of Israel, both male and female, old and young, with all their flocks, herds, and possessions, came out of Egypt (12:35-38).
Regrettably, many people today have compromised and remain under the usurpation of Satan. Some are usurped by hard labor, some are usurped by denying God, some are usurped by staying in the same place, some are usurped by being compromised Christians, some are usurped because their families are detained in Egypt, and some are usurped because their possessions are detained in Egypt. However, God’s salvation is absolute, and everything related to our position, person, and possessions must come out of Egypt to be wholly gained by God. This is the background of God’s salvation. God wants to save us from the world, rescuing us from Satan’s usurpation. We fell into the world of making bricks and building cities, using human labor with earthly material to create a godless living for ourselves. We fell under Satan’s usurpation, but God came to rescue us. May every one of us receive the grace to become one who comes fully out of Egypt.
