Timely and Inspiring Prophetic Analysis so you can Prepare.

By Pastor Hal Mayer

Dear Friends,

Welcome to Keep the Faith Ministry. I’m so glad that you joined us today because we’re going to look at another chapter in the Exodus story of the deliverance of God’s people. We need to contemplate the connections between the Exodus story and the deliverance of God’s people at the end of time.

As we begin, let us bow heads in prayer. Dear Father, we are such small human beings compared to Your might and power. The Exodus story shows that power in a dramatic way. But it also shows Your love for Your people. And as we study this story today, we pray that You will send the Holy Spirit to teach us how we can rely on You for everything. As the world is being made ready for the final conflict, we pray that we can be ready as well, only to fight for truth on the Lord’s side. Come Holy Spirit; join with us today as we study. In Jesus name, amen.

Turn with me in your Bibles to the 8th chapter of Exodus. Here is described the next plague of the lice. Apparently, these were not ordinary lice. They were something more annoying, something more hurtful. We will read verses 16 and 17.

“And the Lord said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust of the land, that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt. And they did so; for Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, and smote the dust of the earth, and it became lice in man, and in beast; all the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt.”

The word for lice is rendered in the Septuagint as mosquitoes. Some commentators call them gadflies. But the weight of evidence is in favor of rendering the original Hebrew word as mosquitoes. There are accounts of the annual great mosquito pest of Egypt, especially in the fall, usually in October, when the receding waters of the Nile leaves pools of water over the lowlands. The mosquitoes produced themselves in great numbers, and they molest especially beasts like oxen and horses, flying into their eyes in nostrils, stinging them in the most sensitive parts and driving them to madness and fury, and sometimes even torturing them to death. Just imagine what they would do to human beings if the hand of God directed them towards the people themselves. This must have been a powerful plague, for when the hand of God is against you, the effect is devastating.

Listen to this from Patriarchs and Prophets, page 266, “‘When pharaoh saw that there was a respite, he hardened his heart.’ At the command of God, Aaron stretched out his hand, and the dust of the earth became lice throughout all the land of Egypt.”

God did not instruct Moses to give Pharaoh any advanced warning of the plague of lice. He had already warned him by the last plagues. And his heart was still hard. Likewise, with the plagues at the end of time, the wicked will not be given warning in advance. Only by the word of God, will anyone have a notice of the plagues beforehand. They will come as a surprise upon the world. With increasing severity, the people will groan under the pressure of the plagues.

Pharaoh had been given a respite to allow him time to affect the release of the Israelites, but this respite he abused and hardened his heart. The respite given to him should have, itself, been a warning to expect another plague. For if the removal of an affliction causes us to harden our hearts, we should conclude that it goes away with a purpose to return, or to make way for something worse.

Notice how this plague was inflicted upon the Egyptians. The frogs were produced out of the water, but the lice were out of the dust of the earth; For out of any part of creation God can fetch a scourge, with which to correct those that rebelled against him. He has many arrows in his quiver. Even the dust of the earth obeys him. These lice, no doubt, were extremely irritating to the Egyptians. These tiny insects got in their hair, their eyes, their noses, and probably even inside some of their clothing. They were so numerous that they ended up in the bread dough, in their soup, and especially in the meat that they ate. They scratched the skin aggressively when they were bitten, and soon they had open sores from all the scratching. It was miserable.

Even Pharaoh’s servants who fanned him to keep him cool couldn’t operate the fans correctly because of all the lice attacking them. And Pharaoh spent all day swatting at them. He could hardly take care of matters of state. And his aides were swatting them too. And the pain and itching was excruciating.

This plague was a severe blow to Egyptian idolatry for while it lasted no act of worship could be performed. “No one could approach the altars of Egypt upon whom so impure an insect harbored, and the priests, to guard against the slightest risk of contamination, wore only linen garments, and shaved their heads and bodies every day.”

Now let us read Exodus 8:18, 19, “And the magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not: so there were lice upon man, and upon beast. Then the magicians said unto pharaoh, This is the finger of God: and pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them; As the Lord had said.”

At Pharaohs instruction, the magicians tried to do the same miracle by their enchantments. But the magicians were baffled by the plague of the lice. They could not imitate it, though they tried. When their attempts to imitate the lice failed, no doubt, they tried to remove them. This didn’t work either. Thus, they were forced to admit that they had been overpowered by the power of God. “This is the finger of God,” they said, referring to the God of heaven. In this way the work of God was thus shown to be superior to that of Satan.

God has the devil under control. He limits him both as a deceiver and as a destroyer. In other words, God sets the devil’s boundaries. Job 38:11 says “Hitherto shalt thou come and no further: And here shall thy proud waves be stayed.”

When Satan overwhelms by a flood of temptations, and his attacks on you seem almost unbearable, God knows how much you can bear. And he puts up a barrier and Satan can go no farther.

For God says in 1 Corinthians 10:13, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”

It’s a wonderful promise. It is just as powerful today, and even more so, than when it was given in scripture. This restraint put upon the devil is necessarily a divine power, because it was obviously more powerful and limiting to the magicians. They had to admit that they were beaten. The devil’s agents when God permitted them could do great things; but when He prevented them, though but with his little finger, they could do absolutely nothing. The magician’s inability, in this lesser instance, showed where they had their ability and power in the previous instances in which they seemed to have greater power. They had no power and could do nothing but what God allowed them or authorized them to do. Their power was from beneath. Satan inspired them and empowered them to imitate that which God had done and take credit for it diminishing God’s reputation. This was blasphemy. Satan always wants to diminish or destroy God’s reputation. He wants to turn people against Him. He also wants to be seen as the source of power. But God will only tolerate that so long. Now God had set their boundaries.

Also note that God will force, even from His enemies, sooner or later, to own their sin and their rebellion. They will acknowledge His sovereignty and overruling power. Even those who deceived Pharaoh now said enough to undeceive him, and yet he grew more and more obstinate. Those that are not made better by God’s word and providences are commonly made worse by them.

From the book Great Controversy, page 662, we read the following about the final judgment at the end of the Millennium. “Every eye in that vast multitude is turned to behold the glory of the Son of God. With one voice the wicked hosts exclaim: “Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord!” It is not love to Jesus that inspires this utterance. The force of truth urges the words from unwilling lips. As the wicked went into their graves, so they come forth with the same enmity to Christ and the same spirit of rebellion. They are to have no new probation in which to remedy the defects of their past lives. Nothing would be gained by this. A lifetime of transgression has not softened their hearts. A second probation, were it given them, would be occupied as was the first in evading the requirements of God and exciting rebellion against Him.

“…Satan sees that his voluntary rebellion has unfitted him for heaven. He has trained his powers to war against God; the purity, peace, and harmony of heaven would be to him supreme torture. His accusations against the mercy and justice of God are now silenced. The reproach which he has endeavored to cast upon Jehovah rests wholly upon himself. And now Satan bows down and confesses the justice of his sentence.

“‘Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? for Thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before Thee; for Thy judgments are made manifest.’”

Exodus 8:20, 21, “And the LORD said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh; lo, he cometh forth to the water; and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Let my people go, that they may serve me. Else, if thou wilt not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thy houses: and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground whereon they are”.

Appeal and warning were ineffective, so God inflicted still another judgment on Pharaoh. This time Pharaoh was given warning that it might not be said to have come by chance.

Moses is directed to rise early and meet Pharaoh when he comes forth to the river to do his oblations and devotions.

Those that want to do great things for God must rise up early in the morning as Moses did. This is the best time to commune with God and receive instructions from His word. Once the day is started, our attentions are placed on other things that we must do. And the time that it takes to spend with God to learn of His will is gone. We need the time in the morning, for that sets the whole tenor of the day. Because we spend time in the morning with God, our minds are open to His impressions throughout the day, to say or not say this or that, or avoid any pitfalls that the enemy may place in our way.

If Pharaoh could be up early to do his superstitious devotions at the river, Moses could be up early enough to be there when he gets there. Likewise today, to meet the devils work head on, God’s servants must be up early. Why should we slumber when God calls us to stand for truth at a time when deception is everywhere?

Also, those that would prove themselves faithful to God must not be afraid of the face of man. Moses stood before proud Pharaoh, and told him that which was in the highest degree very humbling. He challenged him to let God’s people go, and if he refused and continued his obstinance he would be called upon to engage with an army of flies, which would obey God’s orders, when Pharaoh would not. The proud Pharaoh would be humiliated by humble flies, millions of them. God has infinite resources at his command to serve His purposes. All nature, that does not question or cavil, is ready to obey. God can call upon one element of nature to act, and then another.

Isaiah 7:18 says, “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.”
These flies were not ordinary houseflies. And they were of various types of flies. Psalm 105:31 tells us that, “He spake, and there came divers sorts of flies.”

But the important thing to note about them was that they were: “Large and venomous, and their bite was extremely painful to man and beast.” Patriarchs and Prophets, page 266.
They must have been like horseflies, only worse, much worse. They filled the houses of the Egyptians, and Pharaoh’s palace was no exception. They swarmed on the ground. The Egyptians suffered much from these flies. The flies were looking for flesh to bite. Imagine having a swarm of flies land on you with many of them successfully biting you. Imagine large, painful boils erupting after a bite.

Now verses 22-24, “And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there; to the end thou mayest know that I am the LORD in the midst of the earth. And I will put a division between my people and thy people: tomorrow shall this sign be. And the LORD did so; and there came a grievous swarm of flies into the house of Pharaoh, and into his servants’ houses, and into all the land of Egypt: the land was corrupted by reason of the swarm of flies.

In this plague the Israelites were distinguished from the Egyptians. The remarkable difference made a huge impression on the Egyptians. It was like a wall was placed around the land of Goshen that the flies could not or would not enter.

This extraordinary provision was amazing to the Egyptians. God can instruct flies to do His will; to swarm and corrupt one place, and avoid another. The carve out gave the Egyptians a message that they could understand in very practical terms. If they were going to continue in their rebellion against God, they would be targeted by the flies or any other natural phenomena. Pharaoh must be made to know that God is the Lord in the midst of the earth; and by this it will be known beyond dispute.

Swarms of flies, which seem to us to fly at random, but were manifestly under the control of an intelligent mind, a mind that was above the direction of any man. Moses declared that the flies would come directly at the Egyptians, but they would specifically avoid the Israelites. The flies were under the direction of an infinite power, and this demonstration confirmed to Pharaoh that the God of the Israelites was serious about His demand to let the people go. It also said that God is not a Being to be trifled with.

Listen to this from Great Controversy, page 627, “The plagues upon Egypt when God was about to deliver Israel were similar in character to those more terrible and extensive judgments which are to fall upon the world just before the final deliverance of God’s people.”

The seven last plagues described by John the Revelator, will not fall upon the righteous. They will be sheltered by God. Though they will be distressed, they will not suffer under the plagues that God pours out upon the wicked. In other words, it is a different kind of stress than the wicked experience in the last days. The people of God will anguish over weaknesses because they don’t want to misrepresent Christ at the crucial hour. But the wicked suffer the just penalty for their mistreatment of God’s people.

Listen to this from Great Controversy, page 692, “The people of God will not be free from suffering; but while persecuted and distressed, while they endure privation and suffer for want of food they will not be left to perish. That God who cared for Elijah will not pass by one of His self-sacrificing children. He who numbers the hairs of their head will care for them, and in time of famine they shall be satisfied. While the wicked are dying from hunger and pestilence, angels will shield the righteous and supply their wants. To him that ‘walketh righteously’ is the promise: ‘Bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.’ ‘When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.’ Isaiah 33:15, 16; 41:17.”

Aren’t those wonderful promises! The only shelter in that day will be the angels who will protect those who are righteous.

From Early Writings, page 44, we read, “Satan was trying his every art to hold them where they were, until the sealing was past, until the covering was drawn over God’s people, and they were left without a shelter from the burning wrath of God, in the seven last plagues. God has begun to draw this covering over His people, and it will soon be drawn over all who are to have a shelter in the day of slaughter. God will work in power for His people; and Satan will be permitted to work also.”

Notice that the seven last plagues are described as a “day of slaughter.” There will be a lot of dead bodies. These plagues poured out in the last moments of history will be more deadly than those of Egypt.

The servants and worshippers of the great Jehovah; the keepers of His law and the Sabbath, will be preserved from sharing in the calamities that will fall upon the wicked. The plagues which annoy their neighbors and anger them, will not approach them; And this shall be incontestable proof that God is the Lord in the midst of the earth.

The experience of the Israelites in Egypt, and the experience of God’s people at the end of time, when put together appear that the eyes of the Lord run to and fro through the earth, and through the air too, to direct that which to us seems most casual, to serve some great designed end, that He may reveal himself as strong on the behalf of His people.

2 Chronicles 16:9 says, “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.”

God will make it abundantly clear before He delivers His people, as He did in Egypt, who are the ones He has set apart for himself. Though now the wheat and the tares, the sheep and the goats, are presently co-mingled, they will not always be so.

Notice, Malachi 3:18, “Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.”

Before the end, though they may not recognize it, the whole world will be given evidence of who are the Lord’s possession.

In ancient Philistia and in Greek literature Beelzebub means the lord of the flies or the god of flies. And in Egypt, which predated both Philistia and Greece, Beelzebub was specifically the fly-god and was revered and reverenced as the protector from ravenous swarms of insects which infest the land at certain seasons. In other words, Satan is said to control the flies and pests of the world. The prince of the power of the air has glorified in being Beelzebub — the God of flies; but in Egypt God proved that even in that he is a pretender and a usurper, for even with swarms of flies God fights against his kingdom and prevails. This plague demonstrated the impotence of the fly-god to protect the Egyptians and proved the superiority of the God of heaven. So, by the fourth plague, Pharaoh and the Egyptians should have sued for peace.

Well, Pharaoh did sue for peace, sort of. But his offer was not good.

Listen to it from Exodus 8:25, “And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land.”

Pharaoh tried to enter into a treaty with Moses. He did not offer to surrender his captives. He offered to let them serve God and make sacrifices in the land of Egypt. He could have saved himself and his nation a lot of trouble. But his heart was obstinate. He was only willing to comply with what he could get away with.

Does that sound familiar? Many times, we want to know what is the least that we have to do to make it into heaven. We are not wholehearted in our devotion. We try to make a bargain with God. If God will do this, we will do that. But God does not bargain, At least not in matters of salvation. He requires singleness of heart, wholehearted devotion.

Pharaoh is very reluctant to let the Israelites go. I suppose he suspects that they will not come back. But Moses rejected the offer and restated his demand.

Verses 26 and 27, “And Moses said, It is not meet so to do; for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the LORD our God: lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and will they not stone us? We will go three days’ journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the LORD our God, as he shall command us.”

Note that God can extort a toleration of his worship, even from those that are really enemies to it. Pharaoh, under the smart of the rod, is willing that they should do sacrifice, and will allow liberty of conscience to God’s people, even in his own land. But he is not willing to let them do all that God has commanded.

It’s much the same today. Satan will let people be Christians and have liberty within a secular world, but he doesn’t want them to keep the Sabbath. So he’s organized an alternate day for them to worship. This substitute day will actually become the final test between those that are loyal to God and those that are loyal to the enemy. People worship on Sunday. And they think they are worshipping God and obeying Him. But they’re really worshipping the enemy and obeying him.

But Moses could not accept Pharaoh’s concession; he cannot do it because God has commanded something else. This was a salvation by works plan. Likewise, God’s people cannot accept this plan, because God has commanded something else, a salvation by faith plan.

It would be an abomination to God if the Israelites should offer the Egyptian sacrifices. And it would be an abomination to the Egyptians should they offer to God their own sacrifices, as they were commended.

From Patriarchs and Prophets, page 266 we read the following, “The animals which the Hebrews would be required to sacrifice were among those regarded as sacred by the Egyptians; and such was the reverence in which these creatures were held, that to slay one, even accidentally, was a crime punishable with death. It would be impossible for the Hebrews to worship in Egypt without giving offense to their masters.”

This judgment is aimed at the entire system of Egyptian brut-worship as representatives of the sun, moon, and stars. They worship the bull, apis. The calf, heifers, rams, goats, and other animals. The Israelites were especially a pastoral people and the severance of the land of Goshen was an evidence to Pharaoh that it was a divine judgment demonstrating the superiority of Jehovah over the gods of Egypt. So, it was impossible that they could sacrifice in the land of Egypt without incurring the displeasure of either God or their taskmasters. Therefore, Moses insisted that they go three days journey into the wilderness as God commanded them.

It’s important to note that those who would offer an acceptable sacrifice to God must, in doing so, distinguish themselves from the wicked and the profane; for we cannot have fellowship both with the father of lights and with the works of darkness, both with Christ and with Belial.

2 Corinthians 6:14, 15 says, “Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light and darkness? And what concord have Christ with Belial? Or what part has he that believeth with an infidel?”

To worship truly means that they must retire from the distractions of the world and get as far away from its noise and clamor. Israel cannot keep the feast of the Lord either among the brick-kilns or among the fleshpots of Egypt. They have to go away from it so they can concentrate on God and His service.

Though the Israelites were in the utmost degree of slavery to Pharaoh, yet in the worship of God, they must observe His worship, not Pharaoh’s. In this Pharaoh is a type of Satan who has enslaved the human race in sin. Satan has his own plan of worship. But God’s true people cannot accept Satan’s plan. So, Satan offered another alternative to what God says. And true to the pattern of typology, so did Pharaoh.

Let’s read it from verse 28, “And Pharaoh said, I will let you go, that ye may sacrifice to the LORD your God in the wilderness; only ye shall not go very far away: intreat for me.”

The enemy offers an alternative to the sinner too that’s not very far away from the truth. He offers Sunday worship instead of worship on God’s holy Sabbath day. Again, this is not what God requires. Most Christians today are not very far away from God’s plan. But it still isn’t what God asks of them.

But Moses could not accept this plan either. Do not go very far away means that it will be easy for Pharaoh’s armies to reach them and fetch them back again. Remember, Pharaoh still has the flies that are stinging him and buzzing around his ears. He asks Moses to take them away. But Moses will not take them away unless he consents to all that he demands. So, Pharaoh is anxious to get rid of the flies, but he is not as anxious to get rid of his slaves. He is just reluctantly accommodating Moses to get relief. He is not sincere in his obedience. He is not willing that the Israelites should go out of reach.

But isn’t the sinner that way also? When a sinner is struck with the pang of conviction, he will part with his sins, yet he is loath to go very far away; for, when the fright is over, he will return to them again.

We observe a struggle here between Pharaoh’s convictions and his corruptions. Pharaoh’s convictions said “let them go;” but he sided with his corruptions against his convictions, and this was his ruin.

Verse 29, “And Moses said, Behold, I go out from thee, and I will intreat the LORD that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people, tomorrow: but let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the LORD.”

Notice how ready God is to accept the sinner’s change of heart, even though less than sincere.’ Even though Pharaoh is regretfully weak, he still humbles his heart. God readily accepts this as his best effort. After all He wants to encourage Pharaoh to further repentance. He also wanted to show Pharaoh that the plague was not designed to bring him to ruin, but too bring him to repentance.

Moses warned Pharaoh not to deal deceitfully with him. This is done because those that deal deceitfully are justly suspected of it. They must be cautioned not to return again to their folly, after God has once more spoken peace. Be not deceived. God is not mocked. If we think to cheat God buy a counterfeit repentance, and a fraudulent surrender of ourselves to him, we actually prove, in the end, that we have fatally cheated ourselves.

Verse 30, “And Moses went out from Pharaoh, and intreated the LORD. And the LORD did according to the word of Moses; and he removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people; there remained not one.”

Miraculously the flies disappeared. This shows how thoroughly God removed the plague that brought Pharaoh to humility. He graciously removed all of the flies. There was not one left in all of Egypt. The pain that the plague inflicted was gone.

Verse 32, “And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also, neither would he let the people go.”

So, Pharaoh, in his perfidy and rebellion, returned to his hardness of heart, and would not let the people go. Somehow, he thought God would tolerate his obstinance and let go of the matter.

Pharaoh’s pride would not let him part with such a feather in his cap, or in this case his crown. After all, the other nations would love to have a body of slaves to work for them. This was a sign of his power among the nations around Egypt. Also, his dominion over Israel was very useful to him. And his covetousness with this branch of his revenue as their labors provided was just too much for him to let go. It would mean a restructure of the whole society of Egypt.

When a man’s lusts reign over him, they breakthrough the strongest bounds, and make men impudently presumptuous and scandalously perfidious. Let not sin therefore reign; for, if we do, it will betray and hurry us to the grossest miscalculations and absurdities. If man persists in his sins, and doesn’t seek reconciliation with God, God will eventually have to pour out the plagues on him. He will whet his sword. But this also implies mercy and favor if he turns from his sins.

Now let us read Exodus 9:1-4, “Then the LORD said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me. For if thou refuse to let them go, and wilt hold them still, Behold, the hand of the LORD is upon thy cattle which is in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the sheep: there shall be a very grievous murrain. And the LORD shall sever between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt: and there shall nothing die of all that is the children’s of Israel.”

Moses gave Pharaoh a warning of the next plague, even predicting the disease that was to befall their sacred animals. Pharaoh should have known that Moses could arrange with God to send another plague. But the greed of gain had a strangle hold on him, and his heart was hardened time and time again. Egypt would be decimated by this next plague. In those days wealth was reckoned mostly in livestock. When this disease would strike the animals, Egypt would be wiped out economically.

Pharaoh had seemed to relent under the former plague, but it was fake. Even though God was merciful to him and turned the flies away he had turned on his promise and proven himself unworthy of trust. And now Moses’ announcement would remind him of the former plagues, and hopefully, he would relent and let the people go.

“Let my people go.” This was still the demand. God will have Israel released; even though Pharaoh opposes it, and the test is whose word shall stand. Pharaoh thinks his own word will stand. He doesn’t seem to realize that he’s up against Jehovah God whose word cannot fail to stand. See how jealous God is for His people. He will give Egypt for their ransom. And that Kingdom shall be ruined, rather than Israel not be delivered. Whatever God calls for, it is but his own. They are His people, and Pharaoh cannot hold them. He has to let them go. And he will let them go in the end. But at what cost?

Moses tells Pharaoh that if he refused the hand of the Lord, immediately, without the stretching out of Aaron’s rod, will be upon the cattle of all kinds, should die by another pestilence. Pharaoh knew the economic implications of Moses’ threat.

Egypt had made Israel poor. And now God would make the Egyptians poor. The hand of God is to be acknowledged even in the sickness and death of cattle. But as further evidence of the hand of the Lord, and as evidence of the special protection of God in it, and of His particular favor to His own people, he declares that none of their kettle should die, though they breathe the same air and drank of the same water as the Egyptian’s cattle: the Lord shall sever the land of Goshen so that the Israelites would not be touched by the plague. Thus, the Providence of God is to be acknowledged with thankfulness in the life of the cattle, for he preserves the earth, man and beast.

Exodus 9: 5, “And the LORD appointed a set time, saying, To morrow the LORD shall do this thing in the land.”

To make the warning more remarkable, the time is fixed: tomorrow it shall be done. We know not what any day will bring forth or what we might expect, and therefore we cannot say what we will do tomorrow. We can conjecture and say what we think we’re going to do, but our plans can easily change by unforeseen events or interruptions or other things. But it is not so with God. His word cannot fail even in regard to the time.

Verse 6, “And the LORD did that thing on the morrow, and all the cattle of Egypt died: but of the cattle of the children of Israel died not one.”

The Egyptians worshiped the cattle. As we noted, they represented many different gods. It was in Egypt, that the Israelites learned to make a god of a calf. They also learned to play and to dance in Egypt as part of the sensual Egyptian worship. Now you see what an abomination it was for the Israelites to make a golden calf at the foot of Mount Sinai and act out around it.
Verse 7, “And Pharaoh sent, and, behold, there was not one of the cattle of the Israelites dead. And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go.”

According to the word of God not one of the cattle of the Israelites died. Pharaoh sent messengers to Goshen to find out if God’s word actually came to pass. And it was true. The Israelite animals were just as content as they were before, while all the Egyptian cattle died. But this was written in the word of God for us, that trusting in God and making Him our refuge, we may not be afraid of the pestilence that walketh in darkness, when thousands fall at our side. Ps 91:6, 7.

Friends, the whole world is going to oppress God’s people in regard to worship. It will likely be worse than it was for Israel in Egypt, but it will be for a shorter period of time. God will send seven plagues that will cause a lot of pain and death upon the wicked and will reveal His protecting care for His persecuted people. He will deliver them by the brightness of His second coming. It is not a good thing to fight God.

Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, thank you for Your protection for Your true people. When it is darkest and seems the most hopeless, that is when You will work to deliver Your people. But we have to be patient and expect delay. Help us to remember that “He that endures to the end the same shall be saved.” Go with us today, guide our thoughts and actions, and make us ready for heaven and for the trials that will come upon God’s people before the end. And we will thank you and praise you in heaven throughout all eternity. In Jesus name I pray, amen.