God is just and merciful

Exodus 11

God does not seek permission from man to do what He wants to do. He can do whatever He wants to do at any time and it will be perfectly righteous. In this chapter, God demonstrates His natures of justice and mercy towards Pharaoh and Egypt. Before punishing the wicked and sparing the just, He showed them mercy by telling Pharaoh so that he would repent and let His people go but he did not. No wonder 2 Peter 3:9 said that God does not wish that any will perish but all will come to repentance.

There are three lessons we can learn from this chapter:

#1. God announces His plans to His servant. (Exodus 11:1-3)

The first lesson we learn from this chapter is that God announces His plans to His servants. He revealed what He was about to do to Moses before He did it. He told him that He will kill the firstborn children of all people and animals belonging to Egypt and spare the Jews from this catastrophe. Moreso, He will favour the Jews through the Egyptians. This was a perfect and righteous judgment but He announced it to His servants to foretell them before it came to pass. You remember that God revealed His plans to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah to Abraham before it happened. He is not a hasty God. He is long-suffering for the wicked. He does not wish for them to die but their own deeds attract divine wrath.

#2. Moses announces God’s plans to Pharaoh. (Exodus 11:4-8)

The second lesson we pick is that Moses went to Pharaoh to announce God’s intention to him and his servants. He told them it will be a massive funeral and burial for the Egyptians that will cause people to weep and wail for their loss but nothing will happen to the Israelites. He knows how to punish evil and preserve the righteous. This is the same judgment He will issue out to the people of the earth when Christ comes as He said in Matthew 24. By announcing to Pharaoh, He was giving him an opportunity to repent from his evil heart. God has a big heart for evil people who work against Him. He knew Pharaoh will disobey Him yet He still gave him that opportunity by Moses announcing to him of impending death. God is indeed merciful and gracious.

#3. Pharoah refuses and God hardens his heart. (Exodus 11:9-10)

The nature of evil people who are children of Satan is to disobey. They reject God’s laws and do what pleases themselves. After all these plagues and warnings, Pharaoh still rejected God’s command to let His people go. God therefore hardened his heart. Romans 1 says God gives up children of disobedience to a reprobate mind to do what pleases them. He hardened his heart because that’s his nature. They suppress the truth of God in themselves.

God knows what to do for Pharaoh to let His people go. He declared it to Moses and the people. If the wicked refuse to obey God, they suffer His wrath.

Take Action: Are you on God’s side or Pharaoh’s side?