Exodus 5:1-23

¹ Afterward Moses and Aaron went and said 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.’” ² But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.” ³ Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.” ⁴ But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people away from their work? Get back to your burdens.” ⁵ And Pharaoh said, “Behold, the people of the land are now many,^[a] and you make them rest from their burdens!” ⁶ The same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their foremen, ⁷ “You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as in the past; let them go and gather straw for themselves. ⁸ But the number of bricks that they made in the past you shall impose on them, you shall by no means reduce it, for they are idle. Therefore they cry, ‘Let us go and offer sacrifice to our God.’ ⁹ Let heavier work be laid on the men that they may labor at it and pay no regard to lying words.”

¹⁰ So the taskmasters and the foremen of the people went out and said to the people, “Thus says Pharaoh, ‘I will not give you straw. ¹¹ Go and get your straw yourselves wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced in the least.’” ¹² So the people were scattered throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. ¹³ The taskmasters were urgent, saying, “Complete your work, your daily task each day, as when there was straw.” ¹⁴ And the foremen of the people of Israel, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten and were asked, “Why have you not done all your task of making bricks today and yesterday, as in the past?”

¹⁵ Then the foremen of the people of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh, “Why do you treat your servants like this? ¹⁶ No straw is given to your servants, yet they say to us, ‘Make bricks!’ And behold, your servants are beaten; but the fault is in your own people.” ¹⁷ But he said, “You are idle, you are idle; that is why you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.’ ¹⁸ Go now and work. No straw will be given you, but you must still deliver the same number of bricks.” ¹⁹ The foremen of the people of Israel saw that they were in trouble when they said, “You shall by no means reduce your number of bricks, your daily task each day.” ²⁰ They met Moses and Aaron, who were waiting for them, as they came out from Pharaoh; ²¹ and they said to them, “The Lord look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.”

²² Then Moses turned to the Lord and said, “O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? ²³ For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.”

At the end of Exodus chapter four, we find Moses reunited with his brother Aaron, and his people Israel, in the land of Egypt. God had been preparing Moses and Israel for the coming clash of rivals—Yahweh, the self-existent God against the Serpent-King of Egypt, who, as we will see in this chapter, is exalting himself as a god. Moses had doubted Israel would believe he had brought a message from Yahweh. But God had promised Israel would believe him and receive his message, and they had. In chapter four, we saw that obedience changes the world. In chapter five, we see their faith will be tested as they encounter adversity at the hands of a rival to God.

What will Israel do in the face of adversity?  God had warned Moses that He would harden Pharaoh’s heart, and there would be a confrontation between God and Pharaoh. The clash of rivals plays out in chapter five as Pharaoh shows his unwillingness to surrender his authority to the “God of the Hebrews.” The great question in this chapter is what the people of God will do when facing hardship after initially believing God’s promise to deliver them from their burdens. Whom will they serve?

This chapter has four sections. Verses 1-9 are what I call ‘The Clash of the Gods’—the first of many confrontations between God and hard-hearted Pharaoh. Verses 10-14 are ‘The Wrath of Pharaoh’, where he lashes out against the Israelites caught up in the great struggle. Verses 15-21 raise the question, ‘Whom Will You Serve?’ Will you believe God and seek to serve Him, or will you forsake eternal rest for worldly comforts? The final two verses are ‘Moses’ Plea to God’.

The Clash of Gods

In chapter four, verse twenty-three, God tells Moses his message to Pharaoh, “Let my son go that he may serve me.” That same word, “serve” from chapter four, is translated as “work” in chapter five. This sets up the rivalry between Yahweh and Pharaoh. The Hebrews have been serving Pharaoh in slavery, but God is now asserting His claim upon them and will have them serve Him instead.

The passage begins with Moses and Aaron bringing God’s message to Pharaoh. They had been warned that God would harden Pharaoh’s heart and should have known this first meeting would not go well. They stated God’s demand to Pharaoh straightforwardly. This is the first time the prophetic phrase “Thus says the Lord” appears in the Bible. The prophets will use this hundreds of times throughout Scripture. They tell Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.’” (v. 1) Moses and Aaron use this phrase, as the later prophets, to convey their message is not their own, but God’s voice, conveyed through his servants. This demand that Israel offer sacrifice to Yahweh helps us see what it means to serve, or work for Him. It means to worship.

No natural man likes to have the demand of a higher authority, especially of the Divine, placed upon them. The first response of all men, apart from the working of the Holy Spirit, is to question the authority or even existence of God, making a claim upon them.

The demand itself may have surprised you, especially if you’re already familiar with the story of the exodus. God’s demand is not that Pharaoh let Moses take the Hebrews out of Egypt forever—but only that they be able to “hold a feast…in the wilderness.” Pharaoh’s response helps us to see that this demand is much greater than it may seem.

Pharaoh, like every unbeliever, rejects the premise of the demand: “Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice?” His response is like the Pharaoh in chapter one, “who did not know Joseph.” (Ex. 1:8) The Pharaoh of chapter one enslaved the Hebrews, preferring not to remember the way Joseph had not only saved Egypt in the face of a seven-year famine, but had also been greatly enriched and his power expanded. This current Pharaoh refused to acknowledge the authority and significance of the LORD, who was making demands of him.

Pharaoh recognized that God was claiming not only authority over the Israelites, but over Pharaoh himself. If you are required to obey another, you are acknowledging the legitimate claim of authority they have over you. When we pay our taxes, we are acknowledging the legitimate authority of the United States government, the Minnesota state government, and our county governments. When Christians submit to water baptism, we signify that we are slaves of Jesus Christ—He is now our Lord, and he is putting His mark upon us. For Pharaoh to release the Israelites to hold a feast in the wilderness is to acknowledge two things. First, that Pharaoh is under the authority of Yahweh, and secondly, that Israel is God’s people and not his.

God is forcing Pharaoh’s hand and demands that he acknowledge the authority of Yahweh. But the hard-hearted Pharaoh, like the hard-hearted unbeliever, replies, “I do not know the LORD, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.” This is not going well. Moses and Aaron were told it would not go well, but it is easy to think that they were likely bitterly disappointed.

Moses and Aaron have a reply ready, and it is an interesting one. They say, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.” There are more details in this second appeal. First, they say that they have met with God. This is true. Moses met God in the burning bush at the Mountain of God. They then elaborate upon the demand to go into the wilderness to hold a feast for God. This isn’t simply a Thanksgiving picnic, but a sacrifice to the Lord. Sacrifices are made to those greater than you—to those who have a claim upon you. Again, to serve God means to worship Him. 

Moses and Aaron revealed to Pharaoh that he is not their Lord—Yahweh is. If Pharaoh consents to let them go to offer sacrifice to Yahweh, he is implicitly acknowledging they are God’s people, not his. The final clause is also very revealing. The Israelites are God’s people, and God’s people serve and worship God. But they have not been able to worship the LORD in Moses’ lifetime. If they do not serve and worship the LORD as commanded, they know the LORD will bring further judgment upon them. They fear the LORD will fall upon them “with pestilence or with the sword.” This is a well-grounded fear as both will come upon them throughout their desert wanderings.

In chapter four, Moses narrowly escaped death himself after failing to circumcise his son, as the covenant required him to do. In chapter three, he had met the LORD at the burning bush that was not consumed by the fire. He heard the voice of the Lord and experienced his anger after making excuse after excuse in order not to do what the LORD had commanded him. Moses is well acquainted with the holy anger of the LORD. He knows that the LORD’s wrath will be upon Israel if they do not worship him as they ought.

The issue is whether the Israelites are God’s people or Pharaoh’s. They belong to whom they serve. God is at last asserting his claim upon the Israelites, and Pharaoh is counterclaiming them for himself. Whom will Israel serve? Whose people will they be?

Moses and Aaron rightly fear the consequences for their people if they fail to serve and worship Yahweh.  But there is an implicit threat against Pharaoh if they are not permitted to sacrifice to the Lord. In Matthew 18, Jesus warns that “whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” (Matt. 18:6) God will, in fact, “fall upon” Pharaoh and all of Egypt “with pestilence” and “the sword” when they fail to release the Israelites. Pharaoh will, in fact, be drowned in the depths of the Red Sea.

Pharaoh’s response makes it clear that he is causing Israel to sin by preventing them from offering sacrifice to God in the wilderness. Pharaoh’s response shows that his claim upon the Israelites is total. He asks Moses and Aaron, “Why do you take the people away from their work? Get back to your burdens.” (v.4) The LORD is seeking to give Israel rest from their burdens, but Pharaoh will not relinquish them. He is strengthening his claim on them and further burdening them.

Pharaoh is exerting the ungodly authority of deluded civil rulers—rulers who believe their own rule to be absolute and unrivaled. One commentator summarizes Pharaoh as “a picture of all totalitarian rulers, states, or individuals.” This is the perennial temptation of all in authority, whether it be rulers, pastors, parents, or managers. All such rulers are tyrants: ruling without the restraint of law or authority outside of themselves. Such men endorse the first half of Romans 13:1, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities.” But they don’t want anyone to hear the second half of the verse, “For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.” Just a few verses later, in verse four, Paul calls rulers “God’s servant for… good.” No tyrant will ever acknowledge himself to be anyone’s servant—even God’s. Nor will he allow anyone outside of himself to define what is “good.”

There are many such tyrants in the Bible. The Pharaoh of chapters one and two was a tyrant when he enslaved the Hebrews and later demanded that all male babies be thrown into the Nile.

When Balak, king of Moab, hired Balaam to curse Israel as they camped in the plains of Moab (Numbers 22), he grew angry with Balaam for blessing Israel three times. He expected Balaam to obey him, and not the LORD, who prevented Balaam from cursing Israel. Balak was a tyrant, unwilling to acknowledge authority outside of himself. 

King Nebuchadnezzar, of Babylon, was a tyrant when he set up a golden image and required all his officials to “fall down and worship the golden image” at the “sound of” any instrument” and “every kind of music.” (Dan. 3:1,5) Disobedience was punished by being “cast into a burning fiery furnace.” (Dan. 3:6)

King Herod was a tyrant when the birth of the prophesied Messiah threatened his rule, “and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under.” (Matt. 2:16)

The sea and land beasts of Revelation 13 are also expressions of this same tyrannical impulse to rule without restraint and act lawlessly against those who will not honor Christ above earthly rulers. History is replete with such tyrannical rulers. 

Every government has systems in place to restrain the impulses of such rulers, or they are themselves manifestations of that tyrannical ruler acting without restraint. Our founders sought to create a system of checks and balances that would restrain each branch of government from exercising unlawful authority. But no system of law can truly restrain the corruption of rulers when they refuse to acknowledge authority outside of themselves. 

All who are in authority: elders, husbands, fathers, mothers, employers, managers, civil magistrates, must remember that we are under the authority of God. Our authority is derivative, not ultimate.

Tyrannies are established when the law of men is enshrined over the law of God. God is the lawgiver, and our rights are derived from Him, not man-made law.

When I first began studying this chapter, I was surprised by the parallels to COVID that jumped off the page. I missed them five years ago. In fact, I don’t recall this passage ever being raised when discussing government mandates to close churches and limit the size of corporate worship gatherings. I don’t want to dwell on this for long, but three observations from the text are in order, given that COVID is fresh in our memory.

First, corporate worship is much more important than we want to believe. God created man to worship Him. It is our highest purpose in life. To Moses and Aaron, it was a matter of life and death. They feared “pestilence” and “the sword” if they tarried in going to worship God. Are we properly prioritizing worship ourselves? This isn’t a question just for those who take church attendance casually, but for all of us. Why are you here? Are you truly serving the LORD this morning in worship? Are your heart, soul, and mind all engaged in worshipping the Lord? (Matt. 22:37) 

Second, the threat Moses and Aaron feared regarding “pestilence” or “the sword” (v. 3) applied equally to Pharaoh, the one who prevented their worship of the LORD. It is a fearful thing to have the wrath of God hanging over you. Pharaoh did not take this threat seriously and would pay dearly for it. The authority and responsibility to lead in worship belong to the elders of the church and no one else. No one, even civil rulers, should prevent God’s people from worshipping Him. Christians are God’s people and not the state’s or anyone else’s.

Third, God is gracious and patient when his saints are prevented from worshipping Him. Moses and Aaron feared God’s judgment, but it was long delayed. When it came, it came not upon Israel, but upon Pharaoh and the nation of Egypt, who bore the guilt of preventing God’s people from serving Him.

Hopefully, we will never face anything like those years again in our lifetimes. But the church must learn its lessons from history to prepare for future challenges. We need to remember the whole counsel of God is given to us and to consider all of it when formulating doctrine and practice, not just the passages that seem to deal most directly with a situation, as Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2 did with COVID.   Much more could be said of the COVID years, but not today. Let’s return to the text.

Pharaoh has exalted himself to the status of a god, ruling without restraint. Tyrannical rulers are a danger to the liberty and well-being of their citizens, church members, or family members, but the true threat we must see is the danger of rival authority. The danger lies in their demand for allegiance. Like the True God, they are jealous and will not allow dual allegiances. Like the True God, they demand, “You shall have no other gods before me.” (Ex. 20:3) Pharaoh will not make any allowances for the Israelites to worship Yahweh, because he believes he is their master and they are his servants.

Having dismissed Yahweh’s claims upon Israel and upon himself, he announces his judgment. Not only will he not allow Israel to go into the wilderness and sacrifice to God, but he is going to punish the people for asserting their allegiance to Yahweh. “The same day, Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their foremen, ‘You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as in the past; let them go and gather straw for themselves. But the number of bricks that they made in the past you shall impose on them, you shall by no means reduce it, for they are idle. Therefore they cry, ‘Let us go and offer sacrifice to our God.’” (v. 6-8)

The Israelites now find themselves having to meet the same output of work, but will now have to gather the straw for themselves, compounding the amount of work needed to make the same number of bricks. One commentator notes four things Pharaoh’s edict would accomplish: First, “…it was to discourage Moses and Aaron from challenging his authority as a divine master… Second, it was an effective means of alienating the people from these two leaders… Third, the Pharaoh would be able to reduce the costs of construction…” and “Fourth, the slave population would be scattered, thereby, reducing the potential military threat to Egypt.”

Notice the repetition of ‘burdens’ in verses four and five. This is the same word used in chapter 1, verse 11, when the Israelites were first enslaved “with heavy burdens” by the Egyptians. It was bad for them before, but Pharaoh is making it even worse!

The Wrath of Pharaoh (5:10-14)

In the second section, verses 10-14, “the taskmasters and the foremen of the people” bring the news of Pharaoh’s wrath upon the Israelites. It is easy to miss, but notice their first words, “Thus says Pharaoh.” (v.10) This is the exact phrase with which Moses and Aaron began their message to Pharaoh, in verse one, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel.” (v. 1) Pharaoh is as God to “the taskmasters and the foremen of the people.” (v. 10) This is a critical detail because it helps us to see what is at stake in this clash between God and Pharaoh. Another commentator summarizes the situation well when he writes, “YHWH, the God of the Israelites, and Pharaoh, the divine king of Egypt, are set in opposition to one another. Whereas at this stage the Israelites are under the authority of Pharaoh and must obey his every command, YHWH comes not merely to free them from such tyrannical control, but to offer himself as an alternative sovereign.”

Imagine reporting for a long day of slave labor, hearing your boss demand, “Go and get your straw yourselves wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced in the least.” (v.11) They’ve been accustomed to having straw brought to them to mix with clay to make bricks. But now they must produce the same number of bricks while gathering one of the process’s primary inputs! 

The demand would have seemed intolerable! The Israelites “were scattered throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw.” Have you ever worked with straw—perhaps for gardening? Each year, I put down a bale of straw on my strawberry bed. I set it down on the mulch next to the bed of strawberries and grab bunches of straw, spreading it over the whole bed, to give the strawberries a clean cushion of mulch. When I’m done, there is a remnant of small, broken pieces along with flakes of straw—this is the stubble. It is so little and difficult to gather that I just leave it there. Imagine having to carefully pick it all up and transport it to your clay pit? Imagine the frustration and tedium! 

Not only that, but the “foremen of the people of Israel” were beaten by their Egyptian taskmasters because they had fallen behind their brick production quota! What do you suppose they would resort to to motivate their Israelite work crews? 

Whom Will You Serve? (5:15-21)

The situation is desperate! What are the people to do? This leads us to the third section, from verse 15 to 21: “Whom Will You Serve?” The “foremen of the people of Israel” have been beaten for the lack of production from their brick-making Israelite slaves. They sought relief from Pharaoh—hoping their cries would elicit mercy. They blame Pharaoh’s “own people,” hoping that he will reduce their burden.  

Three times they refer to themselves as Pharaoh’s “servants” in verses 15 to 16. Here is the dilemma—whom will the people of Israel serve? Are they the LORD’s servants, or Pharaoh’s? Each is claiming the Israelites as his own, and the Israelite foremen seem to prefer Pharaoh, offering themselves to him three times. 

The Israelite foremen “cried to Pharaoh”. Earlier, in chapter 2:23, the people of Israel “cried out for help” … “and God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant.” But Pharaoh is a merciless god, as all false gods are. He tells them they are lazy and shifts the blame to Moses and Aaron. The contrast is stark. God has heard his people’s cry and promised salvation. Pharaoh has ignored their cry—yet the people are still serving him and appealing to him. Whose people are they? Whom will they serve?

Pharaoh’s plan is working. He has alienated the people from Moses and Aaron. The people are scattered and weak. There is a contagion of strife among the people. A commentator on Exodus reminds us, “God’s people must not assume that carrying out his commands will increase their own comfort.” Verse 19 states the situation very simply, “The foremen of the people of Israel saw they were in trouble.”

The foremen realize they are in trouble but cannot see the situation clearly. In verse 22, they call upon the LORD to judge Moses and Aaron, blaming them for their current situation. They believe God is on their side, but they don’t sense that have already declared themselves to be on Pharaoh’s side. They cannot have it both ways! They are self-deceived—not only in trouble, but on the wrong side of God himself!

Moses’ Plea to the Lord (5:22-23)

The chapter ends with Moses’s plea to the LORD. He “turned to the LORD and said, ‘O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.”

Moses seems to believe his mission has failed. He came to Egypt and delivered God’s message to Israel and to Pharaoh. But it has only brought calamity upon the people. There has been no deliverance at all. One commentator states the situation well. He writes, “God’s timing only sometimes coincides with our expectations, and his idea of the hardships we need to go through only sometimes coincides with our idea of how much we can take.”

We have all probably felt that way, haven’t we? We pray and wait. We groan and labor in prayer. And we see nothing happening. God seems silent and far off. We think we cannot wait any longer. It is hard to remember what is true in such times. It is difficult to remember “that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (Rom. 8:28) Those words seem so trite. We want to believe that is true, but when you’re suffering or watching others suffer, it doesn’t seem to be enough.

In Moses’s frustration, he does turn to the LORD. This is the opposite of what we see the “foremen of the people of Israel” do in verse 15. They cry out to Pharaoh and call themselves his servants three times. But Moses turns to the LORD. He turns to the LORD in prayer. He prays with frustration, yes. But he prays with expectation. He knows the LORD will hear him, and he believes he will act. His prayer is a prayer of faith.

If you look ahead to chapter six, you’ll notice that the LORD does not rebuke Moses in any way. Instead, he reminds Moses of his covenant promises. We’ll save that for next time. What I want us all to feel in this moment is the story’s tension. Whom will Israel serve? I want to make it clear that neither I nor the text condemns the people for working as slaves to Pharaoh. We have no reason to believe they should have gone on a strike and refused to work for Pharaoh. That isn’t the message of the text. The focus of the text is on who the people are turning to, who they are worshipping—whose people are they? The answer seems to be that they are willing to serve whoever lightens their workload. They were willing to hear Moses’s promise of liberation from slavery. But when he fails to give it, they turn back to Pharaoh to lighten their burdens. It is Moses who stands alone, who turns to the LORD.

Conclusion

As Pastor Colin likes to ask, “So what?” What does the Israelite’s plight have to do with us? At the end of chapter four, when Moses and Aaron brought God’s message to the people, they believed and “bowed their heads and worshiped. Now that Pharaoh has rejected their plea and increased their labors, they have turned away from Moses and the LORD.

In the face of adversity in Egypt, Moses remained faithful to the LORD. He remembered what God had promised him and turned in expectation for the LORD to fulfill His word. The foremen of the people of Israel are the opposite. They are following the one who will make their lives easier—the one who will lighten their burden. As Pastor Dave would say, they are “unbelieving believers.” Their belief is an easy belief. It is a belief that cannot endure hardship. Moses brought good news of salvation, yet when he failed to deliver it at first, they turned back to Pharaoh, turning their backs on Moses and Aaron.

In Luke 14, Jesus tells his followers, “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?” (Luke 14:27-28) He is warning his followers that it will cost much to follow him. He tells them, “any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:33) Christ demands our all, and to follow Him, we must be willing to count the cost and be ready to pay it.

Pharaoh was not willing to surrender his authority over his Hebrew slaves. The kingdom of darkness is not willing to surrender its authority over its slaves to sin either.  Pharaoh was a symbolic head of the kingdom of sin and darkness. The true enemy is the satanic kingdom of darkness ruling over its slaves, whose oppressive burdens weigh them down. They need a Savior to liberate them from their enslavement to sin. 

The New Testament writers repeatedly remind their readers that they have been freed from the power of sin and darkness and are to walk in the light of Christ.

“So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.” (Rom. 13:12)

“…what fellowship has light with darkness?” (2 Cor. 6:14)

“…for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.” (Eph. 5:8)

“For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness.” (1. Thess. 5:5)

“God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” (1 John 1:5-6)

“…the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.” (1 John 2:8)

There are more. But what I want to help you see this morning is that there are only two sides in our spiritual battle. There is the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the words of Jesus, from Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.” It is either Christ or the darkness. Whom will you serve? 

Jesus is the true Moses, freeing slaves of sin, unburdening his people, and giving them true freedom—making them citizens of a new, heavenly kingdom. We are new creatures, walking in the light and having no part in the works of darkness. 

The kingdom of darkness has set up many rivals to play upon our fears, worries, and weaknesses, seeking to regain our allegiance. There are false ideologies, false religions, false heroes, false saviors, false creeds, and false gods. We must sharpen our “powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.” (Heb. 5:14)

One of the things we need most is to be reminded of what Jesus has done, who we are in Christ, and what Christ has promised for our future. We live on the other side of the cross. Jesus has already defeated the kingdom of darkness. Believer, salvation is yours. You have already been declared righteous. Light has dawned upon the world, and each day brings us closer to the fullness of Christ’s victory.

I ask you: when adversity comes, whom will you serve? When your marriage is struggling, what will you do? Will you follow worldly ways, looking for worldly relief? Or will you turn to the LORD, ready to acknowledge your share of the sin, ready to repent, and ready to forgive? When you have trouble with your kids, will you labor for their eternal good, or will you settle for temporary peace—risking their souls? When the lusts and desires of this world tempt you, will you surrender to them and satisfy them? Or will make no provision for the flesh, living out the freedom you have in Christ? When a rival god demands your allegiance, will you recite their creed, or will you confess Christ? Will you serve rival gods for worldly comforts, or will you turn to the LORD? Whom will you serve?

Paul tells us in Ephesians 6:12 “…we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” Pharaoh is a type of this ruler and authority. But as Paul also writes in Colossians 2:15, God “disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them” in Jesus.

We find ourselves in a much better position than the Israelites in Exodus 5, who must live by faith, believing that God will deliver them from Pharaoh. But we live by faith, believing God has already delivered us from the kingdom of darkness. We must daily remind ourselves of that victory and “take up the whole armor of God” that we “may be able to withstand in the evil day…and to stand firm.” (Eph. 6:13)

We must anticipate hardship, for it will surely come. We must entrain ourselves to remember what Jesus has done, who we are in Christ, and what He has promised for the future. Let us be like Moses, who turned to the LORD and sought Him in our hardships. So, in the words of Psalm 100, may we: 

“Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the LORD, he is God!  It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.”