Exodus 5:2
Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go.”

 

PHARAOH CAME TO KNOW THE LORD…
but not in the way the LORD wanted!

 

First of all: Pharaoh hardened his own heart – God did not.
You need to study deeply the Bible: you can never understand it if you are not a child of God. The Scriptures are closed to all who hate Him. For those of you who love Him, love truth, I will give you a hint if you don’t already know this – go to the original Hebrew language and determine the true meaning. Learn and understand God didn’t harden Pharaoh’s heart. We all have free will…

Selah.

So: Pharaoh absolutely refused to fear God. He learned. But, he learned the hard way when it was too late:

 

Proverbs 16:18
Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.

 

Many people quote Proverbs 16:18 wrong, backwards. We are to reason with God. We must know Him to receive eternal life. We must know He does nothing evil: never has, never will. His ways are always perfect and

 

Isaiah 1:18
“Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.

 

After you have learned and revere the consummate holiness of the only true and living God – and He is the God of the Bible only – you are willing to admit sometimes you just don’t know. So you put it on the shelf or you seek out the answer. Either way, you know God is God and He is to be feared. He never misses it.

Selah.

NOW: let’s compare Pharaoh to Moses.

Moses murdered. But how did that sin end? Moses repented? Did Pharaoh? No. How did they die?

 

Psalm 136:13-15
to him who divided the Red Sea asunder
His love endures forever.
and brought Israel through the midst of it,
His love endures forever.
but swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea;
His love endures forever.

 

Numbers 27:12-17
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go up this mountain in the Abarim Range and see the land I have given the Israelites.  After you have seen it, you too will be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was, for when the community rebelled at the waters in the Desert of Zin, both of you disobeyed my command to honor me as holy before their eyes.” (These were the waters of Meribah Kadesh, in the Desert of Zin.) Moses said to the Lord, “May the Lord, the God who gives breath to all living things, appoint someone over this community to go out and come in before them, one who will lead them out and bring them in, so the Lord’s people will not be like sheep without a shepherd.”

 

Deuteronomy 34:1-7
Then Moses climbed Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab to the top of Pisgah, across from Jericho. There the Lord showed him the whole land—from Gilead to Dan,  all of Naphtali, the territory of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Mediterranean Sea, the Negev and the whole region from the Valley of Jericho, the City of Palms, as far as Zoar.  Then the Lord said to him, “This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not cross over into it.” And Moses the servant of the Lord died there in Moab, as the Lord had said. He buried him in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is.  Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone.

 

As we thank God for you, Israel, we remember the heroes you have given the world. The Jewish heroes of the Bible and of today are worthy to be listened to…

Pharaoh refused to listen to God, his Creator; he refused to listen to God’s messenger, Moses.

What do you expect?

Selah!

 

 

NOTE FROM MY OWN EXPERIENCE:
I actually had a false Christian in a leadership position ask me if I was going to obey him or God!
May I add: he said it very sarcastically?

I’ve always thanked God that at the moment in time I didn’t hesitate, I didn’t compromise. I had already chosen long ago: God comes first! Be like me and follow me as Paul tells you to follow him: as we follow Christ!

 

1 Corinthians 11:1
Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.

 

Exodus 14:13-14
Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SCRIPTURAL TRUTHS FOR THIS JOY STORY:

 

 

John 14:15-17
“If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

 

1 Corinthians 2:14
The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.

 

Isaiah 43:15
I am the Lord, your Holy One, Israel’s Creator, your King.”

 

1 Peter 1:16
for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

 

Revelation 15:4
Who will not fear you, Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will comea nd worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”