AP

Exodus 5:1-2  Afterwards Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the desert.’”  Pharaoh said, “Who is the LORD, that I should obey him and let Israel go?  I do not know the LORD and I will not let Israel go.”

Here we have the beginning of a monumental and historical battle of wits and conflict of wills that will not end well for the powerful, confident King of Egypt!

Because we KNOW the end of the whole story, right up to the triumphant and glorious resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and the subsequent growth of his Kingdom and Church, it is good for us to learn from Pharaoh’s costly mistake.  The same LORD who spoke to Pharaoh through Moses and Aaron has also spoken to us through the Apostle Paul: “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone – an image made by man’s design and skill.  In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.  For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed.  He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.” (Acts 17:29-31).

Strong-willed people, like Pharaoh Ramses II, who want to remain independent from their Creator and be the masters of their own lives, might quite confidently declare: “Who is the LORD , that I should obey him?  I do not know the LORD and I will NOT submit to his command.”  But none of us can escape the inevitability of eventually having a conversation with Jesus, and we have the choice now of accepting him as our SAVIOUR and submitting to him as our LORD , or of finally standing helpless before him as our JUDGE.  I like the bumper-sticker that says: “Honk if you love Jesus, text while driving if you want to meet him.”  Let us all learn from Ramses’ foolish error of judgment.