WHEN PHARAOH CRIED AT MIDNIGHT
Part 5
Exo. 12:29-36
Morning Meditation 11/5/16
Verses 29-36 says, “And it came to pass, that at midnight the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle. And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead. And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve the LORD, as ye have said. Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone; and bless me also And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We be all dead men. And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneadingtroughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders. And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: And the LORD gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required. And they spoiled the Egyptians.”
Pharaoh cried at midnight. God is no longer appealing to the will of Pharaoh. His warnings are history. Judgment time has arrived. There are many today in the same condition as Pharaoh. They are ignoring God’s warnings. They live as though God were not speaking today. Israel has been in Egypt for 430 years (12:41). God has warned in the past few months through Moses and the judgments that have been manifest to Pharaoh. The time has arrived for God to bring His people back into the land that He had promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
This final judgment, the killing of the first born, will be the one that really gets Pharaoh’s attention. Our text tells us that there was not one home in which God’s judgment did not fall. Verse 29 says, “ . . . from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle.”
Why the firstborn? The firstborn represents Adam and all his descendants. Sin has infected the whole human race. Romans 5:12 says, “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” This verse clearly teaches that sin is hereditary. It has “passed upon all men.” The word “passed” translates “dierchomai” which means, “to go through, pass through.” The idea is to pass through Adam to Cain and to pass through Cain to his sons until finally it was passed to everyone that has been born on the face of the earth. The tense of this verb is aorist active indicative. The aorist tense is a point of time and the point of time is at conception. Man is born physically alive and spiritually dead with the nature to sin. He does not have to be taught to sin. He comes here doing it as natural as a bee can find water and make honey. The bee never goes to school to receive a degree in honey making! Neither does a man born a sinner have to go to school to learn to sin. This is not up for discussion. It is God’s Word on the matter.
God’s judgment came upon the firstborn of all the land of Egypt (a type of the world). God’s judgment will come on all of Adam’s race. There will not be one escape. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Heb 9:27). There was no one who escaped the judgment of God against the firstborn in Egypt.
Judgment is final. It is awful. Even as wicked as Pharaoh and Egypt were in all their idiolatry and mistreatment of the Jews, one has to feel for them in the universal loss. Verse 30 says, “And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead.” Pharaoh rose up in the night. We do not know how he knew. It would be easy to assume that Egypt went to sleep the night of the passover and the firstborn died in his sleep without a struggle and it was only discovered when the family woke up in the morning. But that is not how it happened. When the death angel came through and did his work of judgment, there may have been screams of torment as people died. I do not know. But I do know that Pharaoh discovered it in the night: “And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead.”
Pharaoh may have hated the Jews but he loved his son. His loss was due to his own stubbornness. He hardened his heart against God until he stepped across God’s deadline. When he did that, God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. There was no turning back for Pharaoh after that. I believe that is where the world will be at the time of the rapture. Men of our generation have heard the message over and over again. Paul says that after the Man of sin is revealed, which is after the rapture, that “ . . . God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thess. 2:11-12). There is a line over which men can step beyond which there is no return.
Someone will say, “If this is true, then why did God not judge the firstborn in the nation of Israel?” He did. This is what the selection of the lamb, the death of the lamb and the application of the blood was all about. From the time of Adam’s sin, God has taught the doctrine of the substitutionary atonement. God rejected the fig-leaf clothes of Adam and Eve after they sinned. But with His rejection, He offered to clothe them in the skins of an animal (which I believe was a lamb; Gen. 3:21). They accepted them, and in doing so, accepted God’s remedy for their sin. They could have rejected it. Cain did, but to his own eternal punishment. Men may argue with God and reject His ways, but they can’t win.
When Jesus died on the cross He ended the Adamic life for those who receive Him as a personal Saviour. Jesus didn’t come to mend the Adamic life, He came to end it. This is taught in Romans 6:6: “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” The believer died in His death, was buried in His burial and was raised in His resurrection. He does not only believe this, he demonstrates this belief in his baptism after he is saved. Romans 6:4 says, “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”
Salvation is passing from death unto life while you are still alive in this life. Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24). Now lets look at this verse. “Verily, verily, I say (present tense) unto you, He that heareth (present tense) my word, and believeth (present tense) on him that sent me, hath (present tense) everlasting life, and shall not come (present tense) into condemnation (a definite promise), but is passed (perfect tense) from death to life..” The perfect tense is completed action in the past having present results, i.e., We are in present possession of eternal life that we received in the past when we heard the Word (as is described in this verse) and believed it.
Pharaoh cried too late. I trust that the Lord will allow us to reach many before they step across God’s deadline. God’s grace is free for the taking. We must preach while it is day for eternal night is coming for those we cannot reach.
May God bless these words to our hearts.
In Christ
Bro. White
