10:12
¶ And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch
out thine hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up
upon the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land, even all that the hail
hath left. 13 And Moses stretched forth
his rod over the land of Egypt, and the LORD brought an east wind upon the land
all that day, and all that night; and when it was morning, the east wind
brought the locusts. 14 And the locusts
went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the coasts of Egypt: very
grievous were they; before them there were no such locusts as they, neither
after them shall be such. 15 For they
covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they
did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail
had left: and there remained not any green thing in the trees, or in the herbs
of the field, through all the land of Egypt. 16
Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste; and he said, I have
sinned against the LORD your God, and against you. 17 Now therefore forgive, I pray thee, my sin
only this once, and intreat the LORD your God, that he may take away from me
this death only. 18 And he went out from
Pharaoh, and intreated the LORD. 19 And
the LORD turned a mighty strong west wind, which took away the locusts, and
cast them into the Red sea; there remained not one locust in all the coasts of
Egypt. 20 But the LORD hardened
Pharaoh’s heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go.
Obviously, this is an utter catastrophe
for Egypt and for this Pharaoh’s administration. The land of Egypt is
devastated yet again with this plague. Again, Pharaoh makes a false confession
of repentance to have this plague removed.
There is a plague of locusts at the end of
human-centered history, but these are spiritual beings with extraordinary power
unlike the creatures that infested Egypt here.
Revelation
9:1 ¶ And the fifth angel sounded, and I
saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the
bottomless pit. 2 And he opened the
bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great
furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the
pit. 3 And there came out of the smoke
locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the
earth have power. 4 And it was commanded
them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing,
neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their
foreheads. 5 And to them it was given
that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months:
and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.
6 And in those days shall men seek
death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee
from them. 7 And the shapes of the
locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as
it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. 8 And they had hair as the hair of women, and
their teeth were as the teeth of lions. 9
And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the
sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to
battle. 10 And they had tails like unto
scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt
men five months. 11 And they had a king
over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew
tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon. 12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two
woes more hereafter.
We know from previous verses that Pharaoh
has been prepared for this episode in history.
Exodus
9:16 And in very deed for this cause
have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power; and that my name may be
declared throughout all the earth.
And that the Holy Spirit prompted Paul to
mention this in reference to God’s control over human destiny under judgment
showing God’s rights over humanity.
Romans
9:14 ¶ What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? God forbid. 15
For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and
I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of
him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. 17 For the scripture saith unto
Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my
power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he
will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. 19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet
find fault? For who hath resisted his will? 20
Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing
formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? 21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of
the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? 22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and
to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath
fitted to destruction: 23 And that he
might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had
afore prepared unto glory, 24 Even us,
whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
Pharaoh, in his pride, denied God’s
authority over him and that God was worthy of being heard as Pharaoh’s creator.
By that refusal and by that denial Pharaoh was worthy of destruction. God will
harden anyone’s heart who consistently refuses Him until there are no more
possibilities for that person but death and Hell. At some point a person will
hear the gospel of Christ and because they are and have been unwilling will
then be unable to turn from sin and turn to God. Pharaoh’s statement at the
beginning of the plagues is worthy of mention again. God has the advantage of
foreknowledge to know that this or that person will never trust Him. He permits
the offer of the salvation to be made, though, showing us that His mercy was
extended but hardens the heart of the person who will never hear and obey.
Exodus
5:2 And Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD,
that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither
will I let Israel go.
Many people, particularly in Western
societies so ingrained with the modernist idea that if they can’t see it that
it can’t exist unless it’s a theoretical physics entity that explains something
without God hold the very idea of God in contempt in much the same way. “Who is
the LORD, that I should believe in Him and obey? I don’t know Him, neither will
I believe.”
This is a hard concept to accept for many
of us. We say that so-and-so has the opportunity to trust in Christ right up
until his or her death and that may be true, or their rejection of God’s free
offer of mercy and salvation may end in an inability to turn and repent.
Alluding to Isaiah 49:8, Paul wrote;
2Corinthians
6:2 (For he saith, I have heard thee in
a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now
is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)
We never stop “witnessing” to someone
while they are alive. We don’t know when they’ve gone too far. That is God’s
business and salvation or loss is in His hands.
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