Here, as in a glass, we see the evil of sin, and the misery of man. The greatness of the disorder may be rationally inferred from the greatness of the means necessary to remove it. Would we learn the depth of the fall of man, let us consider the depth of the humiliation of Jesus to restore him. Behold the Beloved of God, perfectly spotless and holy, yet made an example of the severest vengeance; prostrate and agonizing in the garden; enduring the vilest insults from wicked men; torn with whips, and nails, and thorns; suspended, naked, wounded, and bleeding upon the cross, and there heavily complaining, that God had for a season forsaken him. Sin was the cause of all his anguish. He stood in the place of sinners, and therefore was not spared. Not any, or all, the evils which the world has known, afford such proof of the dreadful effects and detestable nature of sin, as the knowledge of Christ crucified. Sin had rendered the case of mankind so utterly desperate, that nothing less than the blood and death of Jesus could retrieve it. If any other expedient could have sufficed, his prayer, that the bitter cup might pass from him, would have been answered. But what his enemies intended as the keenest reproach, his redeemed people will for ever repeat as the expression of his highest praise, “He saved others, himself he cannot save.” Justice would admit no inferior atonement, love would not give up the cause of fallen, ruined man. Being therefore determined to save others, he could not, consistently with this gracious design and undertaking, deliver himself. —John Newton, Works
Author: Josh King
Darkness for Light and Light by Darkness (Exodus 10:21–29)
Why all this darkness? For light. This is a darkness that foreshadows. It foreshadows a greater darkness by which came the great light.
While there is darkness in Egypt light shines upon God’s people. God makes distinction. In covenant love He has chosen Israel. By this darkness, light is shed. By this darkness, the gospel is proclaimed.
Following this wonder, God again hardens Pharaoh’s heart. Why? For another darkness. A deeper darkness. Why? For greater light. God wanted to crest with the death of the firstborn (Exodus 4:21–23). This would be a darkness that not even His people were immune to. They were not immune, but they were provided a substitute. By this darkness, light is shed. By this darkness, the gospel is proclaimed.
On a dark night the disciples partook of the Passover. Jesus changed the liturgy to speak of His broken body and his spilled blood. During darkness, light is shed. During darkness, the gospel is proclaimed.
The next day the sky turned black as the substitute Lamb’s body was broken, as His blood was poured out to ransom His people. By that darkness, light is. By that darkness, the gospel is.
The ninth plague foreshadows. The light for the shadow casted came from the future, and that light came out of darkness. Three hours of darkness at the cross gave way to three days of darkness in the grave, but the Son rose on Resurrection morn as the Light to unfailing shine upon His people. Darkness for light and light by darkness.
So that You’d Have a Story to Tell (Exodus 10:1–20)
Many try to float about as if they’re contextless, story-less, detached from the narrative of their parents, ignorant of their ancestors, their national history, their ethnic identity, and the big story we all find ourselves in. No one ever told them their story. Few probably every read them a story. They had history teachers who hadn’t read a history book in so long that it would take a vigorous historian to unearth when. To such teachers, history wasn’t a passion, it was a job. The story of Washington wasn’t told well, so lesser stories crowded in to fill the gap, stories with sponges named Bob.
Thus a generation grows up with the gumption to declare, “We determine meaning. We write our own story. We determine our destiny.” So they float out there, rootless, pretending to be god, creating their own world. “The page is blank, and we write the tale.” We certainly write, but who gave you the paper? Who taught you to write? Who manufactured the pen? Who discovered ink? Are you writing your story with the Roman alphabet? The canvas you paint on is given to you, with thousands of years of grand patina. You’ve inherited far more than you’ll ever bequeath. The palate of colors you work with, they’re predetermined, and costly.
Not a one of us understands the breadth of beauty and pain necessary for us to have this grand canvas, these rare paints, these costly tools. Why are you painting in Oklahoma? Why are you painting in 2015? Why are you painting with automobiles, the internet, and air-conditioning? That pen that you hold in your hand may be cheap, but how many hours, how many years of effort over the pen and ink led to the tool you have in your hand? The man who holds a 99¢ Pilot G2 is a wealthy steward. To whom much is given much is required. Our best efforts at being grounded must sound as trite to an omniscient God as “In fourteen hundred ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” We know a small slice of the backstory, but how profoundly do we sense its significance. Nonetheless, there’s all the difference between a person who knows that an ancient flood, Pyramids, Solomon’s wisdom, Vesuvius, Constantine, WWI, and the attraction of a man and a woman led to their existence, than one who just thinks they’re a random accident of the cosmos, a product of “Boom!” We deny the Author to write our own story, recasting ourselves as demiurges.
We may try to float, but we’re grounded. We move, but only because we have roots. We didn’t just spring up out of nothing. Even Adam was rooted, made from earth, planned in the heart of an eternal God, and made in His image.
Why the exodus? Why all the show? So that we’d have a story to tell—a family story.
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may show these signs of mine among them, and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and of your grandson how I have dealt harshly with the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them, that you may know that I am the LORD.”
Moses isn’t to go to Pharaoh because he’s astonishingly still hard and a bigger hammer is needed to crack his heart. God wants to use the bigger hammer, one that’ll make Mjölnir look like a Fisher Price toy. Multiple wonders are not a have-to because of Pharaoh’s hard heart. Pharaoh’s heart is hardened by God because multiple wonders are God’s want-to. Why is Pharaoh’s heart hard? Because God wants to show. But that is only half the reasoning. This is show and tell. God wants to show so that they’ll have something to tell. “Gather round kids, listen to what God did for us.”
This is part of your story. You’re rooted in this. This is your God. This is how He redeems—big. You’re not story-less. Your ancestry is rich. Envy no epic tale, no masterful film. Yours isn’t simply a good story, it is part of the glorious story—the tale of God’s glory. This isn’t a fish story, it’s a whale of a tale, and like Jonah’s, it’s true. You don’t have to write something epic, Jesus has. You don’t have to be the hero. It’s futile. You were a villain like every other fallen son of Adam. Jesus is the hero. You’re rescued. Tell the tale. Gather the children. Tell them how God destroyed a Pharaoh as part of your salvation.
Wrath and Redemption for Renown (Exodus 9:13–35)
If the Exodus is simply about redemption, then God is terribly inefficient. The point isn’t simply redemption, but renown. God could’ve taken Pharaoh out with one punch, but He reserves His strength for ten blows, so that He might more fully display his power.
For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth. But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth (Exodus 9:15–16).
In a boxing match if some no-name opponent is knocked out with one blow, the crowd might think it was owing more to the weakness of the loser than the strength of the winner. But if some unknown boxer waits patiently for the “greatest” to climb to the pinnacle of his career, and then, having challenged him, slowly defeats him, one punch each round, while never suffering a blow himself, then his supremacy is fully demonstrated.
God raised Pharaoh up for this purpose. This is why Pharaoh exists. You can’t soften the meaning.
For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.’ So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. You will say to me then, ‘Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?’ But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, ‘Why have you made me like this?’ Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory (Romans 9:17–23).
God’s redemption is for renown. God’s wrath is for renown. God purposes to be glorified in all: vessels of mercy and vessels of wrath. But, the supreme way God intends for His glory to be communicated is in redemption. Wrath falls “in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy.”
It is a proper and excellent thing for infinite glory to shine forth; and for the same reason, it is proper that the shining forth of God’s glory should be complete; that is, that all parts of his glory should shine forth, that every beauty should be proportionably effulgent, that the beholder may have a proper notion of God. It is not proper that one glory should be exceedingly manifested, and another not at all; for then the effulgence would not answer the reality. For the same reason it is not proper that one should be manifested exceedingly, and another but very little. It is highly proper that the effulgent glory of God should answer his real excellency; that the splendour should be answerable to the real and essential glory, for the same reason that it is proper and excellent for God to glorify himself at all.
Thus it is necessary, that God’s awful majesty, his authority and dreadful greatness, justice, and holiness, should be manifested. But this could not be, unless sin and punishment had been decreed; so that the shining forth of God’s glory would be very imperfect, both because these parts of divine glory would not shine forth as the others do, and also the glory of his goodness, love, and holiness would be faint without them; nay, they could scarcely shine forth at all. If it were not right that God should decree and permit and punish sin, there could be no manifestation of God’s holiness in hatred of sin, or in showing any preference, in his providence, of godliness before it. There would be no manifestation of God’s grace or true goodness, if there was no sin to be pardoned, no misery to be saved from.
How much happiness soever he bestowed, his goodness would not be so much prized and admired, and the sense of it not so great, as we have elsewhere shown. We little consider how much the sense of good is heightened by the sense of evil, both moral and natural. And as it is necessary that there should be evil, because the display of the glory of God could not but be imperfect and incomplete without it, so evil is necessary, in order to the highest happiness of the creature, and the completeness of that communication of God, for which he made the world; because the creature’s happiness consists in the knowledge of God, and sense of his love. And if the knowledge of him be imperfect, the happiness of the creature must be proportionably imperfect; and the happiness of the creature would be imperfect upon another account also; for, as we have said, the sense of good is comparatively dull and flat, without the knowledge of evil. —Jonathan Edwards
The Penning Pastor: If His Yoke Isn’t a Joy, It’s not His Yoke
Concerning Matthew 11:30:
This verse alone, if seriously attended to, might convince multitudes, that though they bear the name of Christians, and are found among the Lord’s worshipping people, they are as yet entire strangers to the religion of the Gospel. Can it be supposed, that our Lord would give a false character of his yoke? If not, how can can any dream they are his followers, while they account a life of communion with God, and entire devotedness to his service, to be dull and burdensome? Those, however, who have made the happy trial, find it to be such a burden as wings to a bird. Far from complaining of it, they are convinced that there is no real pleasure attainable in any other way. —John Newton, Works
Man Can’t Frankenstein Spiritual Life (Exodus 9:1–12)
Pharaoh’s wealth (livestock) and health were stripped from him. Job’s wealth and health were stripped from him. Only one of them worshipped. What made the difference? God. God hardened Pharaoh (Exodus 9:12). Implicitly, He softened, regenerated, and saved Job.
You can’t make a spiritual man by beating his flesh to death. God may, and often does, use means. He may strip a man of wealth and health in bringing him to life, but unless the Spirit works within, it matters not what happens without. If this was just a matter of getting the right physical leverage, then we could make the difference. But as Jesus said, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all (John 6:63).”
We cannot beat spiritual sense into one worldly wise.
We cannot create faith in God by evidencing the hopelessness of idols.
We can’t bring a dead man alive by beating him.
Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one (1 Corinthians 2:12-15).
The determinative factor is unseen.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit (John 3:6–8).
Man can’t Frankenstein spiritual life. The Spirit must blow on a valley of dry bones and make them live. Unless God works within, it matters not what happens without.
The Penning Pastor: Strong Sovereignty for Weak Evangelists
The Divine Sovereignty is the best thought we can retreat to for composing and strengthening our minds under the difficulties, discouragements, and disappointments which attend the publication of the Gospel. —John Newton, Works
Symphonic Cacophony (Exodus 8:16–32)
Organized chaos, symphonic cacophony, constructive destruction: that is what the wonders of judgment that befall Egypt are. Creation is unraveling for the purpose of new creation. Judgment is falling for salvation.
If you’re a buck private on the front line, things might seem chaotic, but for the general who can see the whole war, there’s order to the madness. When Joshua attacked Ai the second time he divided his forces, sending a division behind the city to ambush it. Once Joshua came against the city with the remaining troops, Israel fled as in the previous battle, pretending defeat. The men of Ai thought this was a good kind of chaos and pursued. The Israelite ambushers then set fire to Ai. Now the men of Ai were in chaos. Organized chaos. Israel’s pretend chaos was the plan. Ai’s genuine chaos was the plan.
We know the story. We know the strategy. We know that from the chaos of the cross new creation burst forth. Every millimeter of chaos is ordered. Not one particle of violence falls to the ground unintended. Something beyond laser-guided accuracy sends forth every bolt of lightning. Earthquakes rattles this earth with a precision that would make a brain surgeon envious. Our God is so big, He is Lord over the smallest details. The chaos stirs up a lot of dust, but not one mote floats through the air unguided.
Skyscraper implosions are amazing. Organized chaos, for the purpose of rebuilding. God implodes stars, and with atomic accuracy for purposes beyond us. But His greatest marvel is redemption. From the chaos of the judgment of the plagues come redemption and new creation. From the chaos of the judgment of the cross come redemption and new creation.
The Penning Pastor: How to Search the Scriptures
[T]he Scriptures, when properly searched into and compared do clearly and in every part testify of Christ, that he is the end of the Law, the sum of the Prophets, the completion of the promises, the scope of the types and ceremonies, and the great object of the whole Old-Testament dispensation. —John Newton, Works
Idols Croak (Exodus 8:1–15)
Frogs! Everywhere! That’s funny (when the joke isn’t on you). It’s also meaningful. “In jest, there is truth,” wrote Shakespeare. There is always a grain of truth in humor. This wonder is more than a humiliating joke and contains more than a grain of truth.
By these wonders, God was executing judgment on the gods of Egypt (Numbers 33:3–4). Heqet was a goddess who had the body of a woman, and the head of a frog. She was the spouse of Khnum, the protector of the source of the Nile who recently fell asleep on the job. Together they were responsible for human life. Khnum fashioned the bodies, Heqet breathed life into them. When the Nile would flood, it would teem with frogs, a symbol of the fertility Heqet gave the Egyptians. Frogs thus were a protected species. Protected not like bald eagles in the States, but similar to a brahma cow in India. They were religiously protected. Egypt is made to hold her gods in contempt.
Recall why Israel was oppressed. They multiplied (Exodus 1:7–10). Yahweh multiplies in faithfulness to His covenant to Abraham. Yahweh causes frogs to swarm, and then kills them. Heqet smells like death (Exodus 8:14). Behold a proper monument to the honor of Heqet: a pillar of rot, stench, and death. Yahweh gives life and takes it away. He has multiplied Israel. He will kill Egypt’s firstborn.
All man’s idols are frogs; not one is a prince, and by no magic we can conjure can we make then so. Frogs they will always be. So many of the ancient gods seem ridiculous to us today. We laugh at Heqet, Khnum, Osiris, and Hapi—and they are laughable—but we too are blind, fashioning our own gods. We just think we’re better craftsman.
Who fashions a god or casts an idol that is profitable for nothing? Behold, all his companions shall be put to shame, and the craftsmen are only human. Let them all assemble, let them stand forth. They shall be terrified; they shall be put to shame together. The ironsmith takes a cutting tool and works it over the coals. He fashions it with hammers and works it with his strong arm. He becomes hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water and is faint. The carpenter stretches a line; he marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes and marks it with a compass. He shapes it into the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house. He cuts down cedars, or he chooses a cypress tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it. Then it becomes fuel for a man. He takes a part of it and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Also he makes a god and worships it; he makes it an idol and falls down before it. Half of it he burns in the fire. Over the half he eats meat; he roasts it and is satisfied. Also he warms himself and says, ‘Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire!’ And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, and falls down to it and worships it. He prays to it and says, ‘Deliver me, for you are my god!’ They know not, nor do they discern, for he has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their hearts, so that they cannot understand. No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, ‘Half of it I burned in the fire; I also baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat and have eaten. And shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?’ He feeds on ashes; a deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, ‘Is there not a lie in my right hand?’ —Isaiah 44:10–20
How lame the created god. How awesome the creator God.
Laugh at the idols lest the joke be on you. Ridicule them, mock them, destroy them. Take your cue from Elijah. When the prayers of the challenged prophets of Baal met deaf ears he mocked saying, “Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened (1 Kings 18:27).” Elijah then has the offering to Yahweh soaked with water, three times, till the trench about the altar is filled. Fire falls consuming the offering, wood, stones.
Mock the idols. Repentance is sacrilegious. Repentance profanes and defiles the gods of this world. Repentance desecrates the idols as gods, and turns in faith to the one true God.
No Other Boast 