The psalmist warns us: “He will not always chide: neither will He keep His anger forever.”
Exodus 11 begins like the sound of a pealing bell, ringing out across the countryside: “And the Lord said to Moses, ‘I will bring yet one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. Afterward he will let you go from here’” (v 1). What kind of dynamite will God have to use to finally blast the children of Israel free? In fact, added the Lord, “When he lets you go, he will surely drive you out of here altogether.” These pharaohs were worshipped by the Egyptians, considered by them to be the greatest deity of all. It was believed that Pharaoh was actually the son of the sun, Ra manifested in the flesh. But, if the truth were known, this God-defying, stubborn, pompous pharaoh was actually just six feet of clay, his heart pumping only because the Lord was giving him one beat at a time. And yet the God whom he defied had taken him very seriously. He had big plans for this man, if only he had cooperated. Listen to the Lord’s words, which we read almost 20 lessons ago: “For this purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth” (9:16). So here’s the question, answered in Romans 9-11. If a man like Pharaoh resists God’s plan, does God’s plan fail? Oh no! It actually advances His plan! When people fail, God doesn’t fail. He turns curses into blessings. The martyrdom of Christians actually spreads the gospel! When Israel rejected and murdered their Messiah, what happened? The death of the Nazarene became the Sacrifice offered to the whole world. So in preparation for this final plague, the Lord told the Israelites, “let every man ask from his neighbor and every woman from her neighbor, articles of silver and articles of gold” (Ex 11:2). It’s payday for centuries of slavery! Now what?