In this verse God responds to Moses. Moses had lamented the lack of action on the part of God with respect to the misery Pharaoh had inflicted upon the people of Israel. Moses had delivered God’s word to Pharaoh, yet Pharaoh seemed to prevail. He decreed Israel to make bricks without being given the straw needed. It was an impossible order, yet he punished them when they failed.
Israel’s condition was terrible. Moses asked God why in his sovereignty he had brought this misery upon Israel. God responds: “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh, for with a strong hand he will send them out, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.”
The Lord means that he is about to move against Pharaoh. Before he is finished, Pharaoh will be compelled to not only let Israel go, he will insist they go with whatever they can carry of Egypt’s wealth. Pharaoh will have the mindset toward Israel of “Go quickly, take whatever, just please go.” Let’s look at two principles we can extract from this.
The first is man’s dependence upon God. This would seem an obvious conclusion. We can’t breathe or even exist without God’s power. Yet men have little gratitude or thoughts of glorifying God. God has chosen Israel to be his people. He has directed the course of events in Egypt to the point where Israel is emptied of all hope in themselves. He is directing them to look at him rightly.
God has placed Israel in such extremity that they will be forced to see that only God can deliver them. This is what God does for his people. If a man learns of God’s glory, his dependence upon God, and desires communion with God, then he will be truly alive and happy. Our sinful condition necessitates that God show us the extremity of our condition in order for us to look to him for salvation.
As Israel was dependent upon God for every step of their deliverance, so we are dependent upon God’s power every step of our redemption. We are dependent upon the power of God to convert us and give us faith in Jesus Christ. Unless the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sinful condition, we will not see the value or greatness of the salvation offered in Christ.
Men are slow to believe their dependence upon God. They look for something that can exalt them above another man. Death is the supreme indicator that we are helpless in our extremity. Things in this world are not right. We need God’s help. His help is in Christ, a deliverer for his people. Our dependence upon Christ is absolute.
The paradox in the Christian life is the more a soul believes he is dependent upon Christ, the more devoted he is to glorifying the Lord. The less dependent he believes he is, the less consecrated he will be to the Lord. Like he did with Israel, there are times the Lord will leave one of his people in distress and not immediately relieve him, so that he might remember his deliverance from sin and his dependence upon the Lord.
The second thing we learn here is man’s accountability to God. Pharaoh doesn’t believe it because he is so powerful, but he stands guilty before God. We not only need a deliverer because we are helpless, but because we are guilty. Pharaoh will continue his defiance toward God even to his death, despite plagues and misery.
Jesus warned people of the ability to see the signs in the sky and predict the weather, but not be able to see the reality of his presence indicating man’s accountability to God. One thing that is inevitable for you is that you will give an account to God, and it will be soon. Jesus would not have offered himself as a sacrifice for sin if all was well between men and God.
People worry about so many things, because there are so many things to be worried about. Yet how often do you really worry about giving an account to the Lord? The Lord has transcendent mercy. He has proven this in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. God must do all or we are undone. In Christ he does all, yet we must regard ourselves as completely helpless and in absolute need of him.
Therefore, we have cause to think deeply on these lessons from Scripture. Israel suffered so they would learn of God. It was God’s mercy to show them their extremity, their great need.
