The Curse of God on Satan's World

Well, we're going to look this morning at three chapters, very briefly, from Exodus 8 to 10, which is known as the plagues in Egypt. And I've given the title to this message, The Curse of God on Satan's World. That doesn't sound like a very encouraging title, does it? It sounds a bit negative. The Curse of God on Satan's World. You see, often God's message is soft and gracious and soothing, but at times it seems harsh. You know, if you're seeking popularity and if you're seeking numbers to come and love the environment and hearing these things, you probably wouldn't bring a message like this, but we're told to preach the whole counsel of God.

That's what Paul said he had done to the elders on the beach at Miletus. He said, I've not shunned to preach unto you the whole counsel of God. He says, he writes to Timothy in second Timothy chapter four and verse two, an instruction to the young preacher, preach the word, preach the word. Don't debate it. Don't, don't, hassle with it and fiddle with it, preach it, declare it, be instant, in season, out of season, when it seems suitable, when it doesn't seem suitable. And here's the message, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine.

You see, as I keep saying, the Bible is the revelation of God's salvation of his beloved multitude out of this sinful, rebellious world of unbelief. into his glorious kingdom. And that's its theme, from the book of Genesis, in the beginning, Genesis chapter 1, right the way through to the end of Revelation. The theme of it is God's salvation of his beloved multitude, his elect multitude. You say, is that all, just them? Yes, just them, but it is a multitude that no man can number, of every tribe and tongue and kindred. God is a God of sovereign grace, sovereign electing grace. That's its theme.

You see, Noah was taken out of this world. When the entire world was destroyed, apart from Noah and his immediate family of seven, he was taken out. Abraham was called out of his prosperous community in Ur of the Chaldees. Abraham was singled out by God and taken out. He takes his people out of this world and takes them to where he would have them.

Israel was chosen out of all the nations of the world to be symbolical of the people of God. In the days of Elijah, Elijah thought he was the only one that was left that knew the true gospel of grace. He said, I, even I only am left a prophet of the Lord. and God had to show him, it may feel like that, but you're not, and he has to show us the same thing. He has his 7,000, that's a symbolical number, but God has his perfect number that have not bowed the knee to the false religion of this world, that have not bowed the knee to the popular religion of this world, that have remained faithful so that they end up like Elijah, thinking that they're the only ones left.

But you know what the end of that journey is? The end of Noah being taken out, of Abraham, of Israel as a nation, of Elijah? It's eternal glory. That's the end of it. That's the end of the road is eternal glory. And those ones, that faith gallery, you know, you read the faith gallery in Hebrews chapter 11. where there are many, many of the saints of old, of Old Testament days, listed there as ones who saw the truth of gospel grace. And they are now there in glory. How do we know?

When Jesus took Peter, James, and John up the Mount of Transfiguration, this man who looked just like an ordinary man, and he was transfigured into a heavenly appearance before their eyes, They were just absolutely overwhelmed with what they saw. That this man, who was their friend, who was their teacher, who was their master, transformed into his... A bit of his heavenly glory shone there. And Moses and Elijah came and talked with him. And they saw them there. He's the God of the living. He's the God of the living.

Now you say, Yeah, but what about its relevance to me? Is this relevant to me? Well, I'll say this to all listening. You're mortal. You're going to die. Every single one of us are going to die. You cannot deny that. You know it's absolutely true. However young you are, the day will come when you will leave this life.

And you also, do you not, have a sense of eternity? In Ecclesiastes 3, verse 11, the preacher writes this, that God has set, and there's a word which is really hard to translate, but it means, it can mean the world, it can mean the universe, it can mean eternity. He set those things in the heart of man. a sense of the life of God, a sense of the depth of what this creation that we see is all about. He set the world, the universe, eternity in the heart of man, but he says, you still cannot fathom out the mystery of God and the mystery of life, because in and of yourself, you cannot do it. The truth is that we're all sinners. We're all the children of Adam. We've all fallen short of the glory of God. Sin and the divine justice of God bars us from all communication with God, from all communion with him, as we are.

But the message of this book is that God will have a people saved from sin. He will have a people qualified for his kingdom, though by nature none is qualified for his kingdom. He will take his people out of the kingdom of Satan, which is this world, and he will take his people into his glorious kingdom when he comes again, either when we pass from this life in our own death or when Christ comes again, to take his people to be with him. And the book of Exodus that we've been studying in recent weeks pictures that message vividly of God taking his people out of the bondage of this world into the promised land of his glorious kingdom. God intervenes in the affairs of this world. He orders the affairs of this world and directs the operation of the laws of this world to accomplish his purpose.

What do I mean by that? Well, when we come to chapter 8 of Exodus, and turn there with me now and keep your finger in that place, when we come to chapter 8, we come to the second of the plagues that God sent upon ancient Egypt, upon Pharaoh. to exert the power of God so that Pharaoh will let the people go, for the people must go to the promised land. They must go to Canaan, the land that God promised to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. They must go there.

The seed of the woman from Genesis 3.15, that seed who would come to reverse the curse of the fall for the people of God, that seed must come through that line, through those people in that place. But Satan would stop that seed from coming. The kingdom of Satan has all sorts of manifestations, and three and a half thousand years ago, Ancient Egypt, the Egypt of the pharaohs and the pyramids by the River Nile, that was the manifestation in those days of the kingdom of Satan. That empire was that manifestation.

And they had bound Israel, the people from whom the promised seed of the woman would come, they had bound them in cruel slavery. They had tried to kill all the male children as babies at the time of Moses. They had tried to kill them all so that that seed wouldn't come. You say they didn't know about that seed. No, I know they didn't, but Satan did.

Satan stood like that dragon in Revelation chapter 12, before the woman that was about to give birth to the child, for he wants to devour that child as soon as it's born. And that is Satan trying to have Christ destroyed before he comes. And one manifestation of it was this killing of the babies in Egypt at that time. So God performed miracles to display his supremacy over Pharaoh and the kingdom of Satan. and to accomplish his, God's, purpose.

He sent miraculous plagues. Why do I say miraculous plagues? Because they wouldn't have happened in the ordinary order of events. These are things that happened inexplicably according to the working of the normal laws of nature. And he did it so that there was no doubt that God was doing it, and to afflict Pharaoh and his Egypt until they facilitated Israel's exodus towards the Promised Land. Miracles? Miracles? I've told you before, I'll tell you again.

We read that God upholds all things. This is Hebrews chapter 1, verse 2 or 3. God, who upholds all things, the laws of science that govern the way everything interacts, gravity, light, electricity, all of these things. God upholds all things, all these laws, by the power of the word of his son, Christ, who is God manifest. He does that. It's active now. God actively does that now. He hasn't wound it up and let it go according to its own devices. He does it actively now. He's changed the normal, natural operation to achieve his end with these miracles.

He does it When he gives a man a message from God, he will give him a miracle, if it's appropriate, to authenticate that message. When he sent Moses from being a shepherd in the desert of Midian to go and tell the people of Israel that God was calling them out of that situation, he gave him a miracle.

Throw your rod down on the ground, that rod upon which you lean, that rod which is a picture of Christ, for thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. And it will become a serpent, for Christ was lifted up as a serpent. And it was to authenticate the message. And when you pick it up by the tail, it'll become a rod in your hand.

It was a miracle. It was a miracle. There was no other explanation for it. It was to validate the witness of Moses that I've been sent by God to give you a message. The miracle was undeniable. Everybody saw it. It was undeniable. It was inexplicable by natural means.

You know, miracles are very rare. That's what makes them miracles. People are always saying, oh, isn't it a miracle that this? Well, no, it isn't really. Miracles are very rare. Miracles are when God genuinely changes the laws of science to make things do according to his purpose.

So in Exodus, when the people of Israel are taken out of Egypt, out of the bondage, into the promised land. He sends these plagues miraculously on Egypt. And it's because of the plagues and the ultimate one, the one that we'll come to next week, that causes Pharaoh to drive them out from his presence.

The Red Sea parted. That was a miracle. You can't explain it in any other way. People try to rationalize it, that it was just a bit of a muddy paddle. No, it wasn't. It was a deep sea that was parted. It was miraculous. They were starving. A couple of million people in the wilderness with no agriculture, with no means of getting food. And he sent them manna from heaven for 40 years every morning. And he sent them quails so that they had flesh to eat. They were thirsty.

And he told Moses to take the rod and to strike a rock. And that rock was cleft, was broken, and water gushed out a picture of Christ. That rock was Christ. It was miraculous. They came eventually, after 40 years, to the River Jordan, to cross over into the Promised Land, to where the peoples were that they were to drive out. And the River Jordan was parted for them. It was a miracle.

And then when Joshua comes along and leads them in, Jericho, with its strong fortification, Jericho, that city, the walls thereof, thick walls, miraculously, God caused those walls to fall down. All resistance was gone. There are miracles, some, in the time of the judges, with the sun standing still, and Gideon, in the time of Samuel, the Philistines' god, Dagon. Without any natural force, Dagon constantly falling on his face, because they had the Ark of God, they'd taken the Ark of God. Miracles like that. Ordinary events are ordered to achieve God's objectives. All of the time, he causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.

Then, in the time of Elijah and Elisha, there were miracles, because they were alone, as I've already said, in the face of widespread idolatry and false religion. And God gave them miracles, raising of the dead and axe heads floating and things like that. In Babylon, in the Babylonian captivity, there were miracles when Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were thrown into the burning fiery furnace and yet they walked there with the Son of God and were not burned. And Daniel was put into the lion's den which, according to natural law, would have torn him to pieces and God stopped their mouths. And then in the time of Christ and the apostles, there were miracles of healing. There were miracles of the wind and the waves being still. There were miracles. They were signs of authentication, marks of authentication of the message of God. And there are those today who would say we should always look for miracles.

But as we read earlier on in 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse 19, we have a more sure word of prophecy to which we do well to take heed. Those who wave their hands in the air and think that they've got the Spirit of God amongst them, by their very actions prove that they do not have the Spirit of God among them. You see, we have a more sure word of prophecy, which is this book to which we do well to take heed.

This word of God, this word with its Mark's in Revelation, the seals, the trumpets, the vials, tells us that miraculous interventions are coming. They're already here to a certain extent, but they're coming to plague this world, this kingdom of Satan, to make this world less inhabitable, less suitable for comfortable life. It's all part of God's purpose. Under the just judgment of God, he will remove his beloved people to glory before the worst of it falls. Now you see, in Romans 15 verse 4, we have this verse. Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning. Exodus was written by Moses three and a half thousand years ago. It was written aforetime for our learning. Why? so that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope, that we might have hope in this life which is so ridden with hopelessness much of the time.

Exodus assures God's people that they will be taken to glory, and God will use miraculous means to curse the world of Satan, that his people are taken out of it. There are ten plagues, then. In Exodus chapter 7 and verse 12, Exodus 7 verse 12, there was the casting down of rods and them becoming serpents. But he gives 10 plagues, and 10 is the number of completeness.

We saw last week the water of the river Nile being turned to the blood of death. The curse of death was passed on Egypt's God, which was the Nile, which to them was the God that brought them life. The Nile was where their life came from, and that water of life was turned into the blood of death. That was the first one. But there were ten. The second one was, as we'll see soon, a plague of frogs from the River Nile.

The third one was a plague of lice, little wingless, creepy, crawly things that bite and make you itch and they suck the blood of people. Then there was a plague of flies. You know, You hate having flies flying around your house, don't you? You hate it. And some of us, like us, put chains up to stop the flies from getting in. This was a plague of flies where they were everywhere. They were in everything. You couldn't avoid them. Horrible, horrible flies. Dirt, death, horrible. Then there was a plague on the cattle, but only on the cattle of the Egyptians. It was a moraine. It's a deadly disease on them.

And then the dust of the furnace, whatever that furnace was, would produce boils all over the Egyptians, and even the Egyptians' magicians were in agony because of the boils all over them. And then God sent a fierce hail from heaven. that was so big it was like rocks. You see in parts of the world sometimes when you get an extreme hailstorm you get hailstones as big as golf balls coming down and breaking windows and denting cars. Well this was hail so big that if it hit you it killed you.

And then there was a plague of locusts. And then there was a plague of darkness for three days. So dark it was darkness that could be felt. And then finally, the tenth one was the death of all the firstborn. The angel of God, the slaying angel, went through the land and killed all the firstborn of all the Egyptians and of all of the Egyptians' animals. As long as Pharaoh stopped Israel leaving, life for Egypt would be made more and more intolerable.

You know, we live in a very narrow band of comfort, don't we? Here in the United Kingdom, in, well, Southern England particularly, in the last week, we had, was it three days, or maybe four days, of unusually high temperatures and humidity. And because in this country, generally speaking, we don't have air conditioning, because most of the time we don't need it, but it was incredibly uncomfortable. Sleeping was incredibly uncomfortable. It doesn't take much to make life very uncomfortable.

In return for obedience in the Garden of Eden, God promised Adam paradise, paradise. But he warned that disobedience would bring a curse. You can see it in Genesis chapter 3. Genesis chapter 3 and verse 17. You can read God's pronouncement. Unto Adam God said, Because you have hearkened unto the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree which I commanded you, saying, You shall not eat of it, Cursed is the ground for thy sake.

In sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Life is not going to be pleasant because of sin. In sorrow thou shalt eat of it all the days of thy life. It's not going to grow nice, comfortable, easy-to-eat plants. Thorns and thistles will it bring forth to you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. You see, that's the pronouncement. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground, to the dust. For out of it wast thou taken, for dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return.

You see, God poured his curse out on creation with thorns and labor and sweat of the brow and spiritual death. And Adam fell. We all live under that curse pronounced on him and those who came from him. That's all of us. So let's look, one by one, briefly, at plagues number two to number nine this morning and see what we can learn. You can dig deeper for yourselves. But in Exodus chapter eight and verse two, look what God says there. He says, go to Pharaoh and say, let my people go that they may serve me.

And, verse two, if thou refuse to let them go, if you, Pharaoh, refuse to let the people go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs, and the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly, and which will go into your house and into your bedchamber and on your bed, and in the house of your servants and nobody's going to escape even into your kneading troughs where you make your bread they'll be full of frogs frogs galore frogs in egypt were worshipped as deities as gods they were symbols of life because it you know the the the the idea of spontaneous...

Where does life come from? Oh, spontaneous generation. If you're trying to work out a way of life coming without there being God involved, then cultures have this idea that the things just produce life and they're their gods. Well, the river produced frogs abundantly. They were worshipped as deities. They were tokens of fertility. It was godless, godless, spontaneous generation ideas that were here. And in verse 7, the frogs came, but look, In verse seven, the magicians did so with their enchantments and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt. We've seen before, whether they just made it appear that they brought up frogs out of the river, or whether with the power of Satan and his principalities, they really did bring frogs out of the river. It looks like it really did happen. God allowed it. Satan's power accomplished it. But you know what?

The magicians didn't get rid of the frogs. I put a piece by Arthur Pink in the bulletin, which is worth looking at. The magicians were able to produce the frogs, with God's permission. The magicians were not able to get rid of the frogs, and so it is.

With the prince of this world, with the devil, with Satan, with all of his evil, he can only multiply the evil, he cannot reduce it. And so, in verse 8, Pharaoh says, okay, let them go, they can go. But then by the time we get down to verse 15, When Pharaoh saw that there was respite, when Pharaoh saw that the frogs had gone away, they were now all dead and in great big stinking heaps all around Egypt. When he saw that there was respite from the frogs everywhere, he hardened his heart and wouldn't let them go, as the Lord had said. So then next, verse 16. This time, a plague comes and there is no warning given. Moses and Aaron are not told to go and warn Pharaoh that this will happen. No warning is given. It's just straight away done.

In verses 16 and 17, the Lord said unto Moses, say to Aaron, stretch out your 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. Without any warning, the dust, the dust, God said, of Adam, you are dust.

From dust you were made, from the dust of the ground God made man. He said, dust you are and to dust you shall return, which is true of all of us. We're made of the elements of this world. We're made of the elements that you can dig in the ground. We're made from all of that. Dust we are and to dust we shall return.

The dust from which man is made in this miracle God turns it, at the hand of Moses and Aaron, into the curse of lice. What are lice? They're tiny, wingless, parasitic insects that feed on human blood and cause intense itching. Intense, you know that you you read of infestations of lice in in wooden ships, you know two or three hundred years ago they get lice and And everybody's nearly going mad itching with sores all over them because of the lice that spread and multiply The dust became lice But look the magicians tried the magicians tried verse 18 the magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice But they couldn't They couldn't. God had limited their power. So there were lice upon man and upon beast. God cursed the ground because of sin.

Here, it becomes lice. You know, it was in the dust. Do you remember John chapter eight, when they bring the woman caught in the act of adultery to Jesus? And they say, Moses' law says that she should be stoned. We caught her in the very act. They don't bring the men involved. They just bring the woman. And they say, what do you say?

And he stoops down and he writes with his finger, with the finger of God, he writes on the ground in the dust. And what does he write? No question. He writes the law of God. He writes the condemning, cursing law of God that curses us all for our sin.

And he says to them, okay, which of you that is without sin. If there is one of you, let him cast the first stone at her. And every one of them was convicted, because they knew that they had all fallen short of the glory of God. Then, the next one, number four, there are flies, which cause dirt and disease, and they love manure, they love falsehood.

You know, in Philippians chapter three and verse eight, when Paul says, you know, he was He was top of the class of the Pharisees. He was the award winner amongst the Pharisees. He absolutely nailed it as a Pharisee. And when he knew the truth of God, he said, all of that I count as the very stuff that the flies love.

I count it as manure. I count it as dung. Well, the flies were also revered by Egypt. They worshipped Beelzebub, which was the king of the flies, and God curses them with a plague of that false god that they worshipped. Life without God. But you know, it says in verse 23, I will put a division between my people and thy people tomorrow. There won't be any flies. It says, Egypt was covered, was corrupted by reason of the swarm of flies, but there was none in the land of Goshen. I will sever in that day the land of Goshen in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there. Verse 22.

To the end that you may know that I am the Lord. You see, God did all of this to demonstrate his power. But still, verse 32, Pharaoh wouldn't let them go. Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also, neither would he let the people go. So it goes on. Then the fifth one, the fifth one, there was this moraine, chapter nine and verse three.

Behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thy cattle, which is in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, the camels, the oxen, the sheep. And there shall be a very grievous moraine, which is a serious infectious disease of the Egyptians' cattle and their animals of agriculture.

And God made a difference again. Verse four, he shall sever between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt. There shall nothing die of that that is the children's of Israel. So he made a difference again. God cursed the Egyptians' prosperity, their agriculture. He cursed, you know, value in that society in those days, value was in animals. That was how the economy turned over. And he cursed the Egyptians' prosperity. Do you know he's going to curse this world's prosperity?

We won't do it now for the sake of time, but read again Revelation chapter 18. In Revelation chapter 18, there's a vision given there of the end of this world. when the ability to trade is taken away from this world and the merchants are crying and sobbing and committing suicide and running and fleeing because this world, all of its trade is ended. all of its merchant ships, all the value of its gold and silver, all that which makes the world go round, you know, money, money, money, as many of the songs say, all of that is coming to an end. God cursed the Egyptians, God is going to curse this world. Then, in verse 9 of chapter 9, Well, verse eight, the Lord said to Moses and to Aaron, take to you handfuls of ashes of the furnace and let Moses sprinkle it toward the heaven in the sight of Pharaoh.

And it shall become small dust in all the land of Egypt and shall be a boil breaking forth with blames upon man and upon beasts throughout all the land of Egypt. And he did so, it became a boil and the magicians couldn't stand, verse 11, The magicians couldn't stand before Moses because of the boils. And the boil was upon the magicians and upon all the Egyptians. And the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart. Whether this furnace was anything to do with the Egyptians' idolatrous sacrifices, I don't know. It could well be. But he took of the dust of it and threw it into the air, and God made it become a boil on all of the Egyptians, a painful boil, a serious boil. Life was made intolerably uncomfortable. But, verse 12, God, the Lord, hardened his heart. The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh. Why did he harden his heart? Because we read in, Romans chapter 9 and verse 17, God raised up Pharaoh for this purpose that he might show his power, that he might show who truly is God.

He pronounces the curse to show that God is over all. Verse 13, the Lord said to Moses, rise up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh and say unto him, thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, let my people go that they may serve me. For I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth. For now I will stretch out my hand, that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence, and thou shalt be cut off from the earth. In the very deed for this cause have I raised thee up. That's what it says in Romans 9, 17. For to show in thee my power, and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth, as yet exaltest thou thyself against my people, that thou wilt not let them go. God is over all. Then verse 18, verse 18.

Behold, tomorrow, about this time, I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof, even until now. They're always talking about record-breaking weather in these days, aren't they? Well, This really was record-breaking weather. There had never been a rain of hail quite so severe since the foundation of Egypt.

And all the way down there through down to verse 26, the hail comes down, and those that stayed out in the field were killed. And those that had some wisdom and feared the Lord, they moved all of their cattle indoors. But there was no hail in the land of Goshen. where the people of God are. And as this world goes on in its evil and rebellion against God, God protects his people. So he doesn't relent again.

And then verses 34 and 35, Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased and he sinned yet more and hardened his heart, he and his servants. And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, neither would he let the children of Israel go, as the Lord had spoken by Moses.

And then, locusts, chapter 10, this is the eighth plague, the locusts, in verse four. If you don't let them go, I will bring locusts into your coasts. Pharaoh's servants, he did that warning. In verse seven of chapter 10, Pharaoh's servants said unto him, how long shall this man be a snare to us?

Oh, come on, let them go, we've had enough of this, that they may serve the Lord their God. Knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed? Look at it, we've been buffeted by all of these plagues, and it's this man with his God that's calling them forth. Oh, let them go, the servants. He did the call, but in verse 11, what happens? Pharisee, yeah, all right then, but he says, You can go, but only the men can go and serve the Lord. And they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence. Only the men can go.

And then he changes his mind in verses 16 and 17. Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and said, I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. Now therefore forgive, I pray thee, my sin, only this once, and entreat the Lord your God that he may take away from me this death only. And he went out from Pharaoh and entreated the Lord. And the Lord took the locusts, as it was, away. But, verse 20, he still wouldn't let them go. And then, the ninth plague, the ninth plague, from verse 21 to verse 23, another one without any warning. The lice, there was no warning. This is without warning.

The Lord said to Moses, stretch out thine hand toward heaven. that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt. Even darkness which may be felt. Can you envisage the depth of that darkness? You know, you go into somewhere that you think is dark, but after ten minutes your eyes have got used to it and you can see light all over the place. Not so with this darkness. It was absolute thick black darkness that could be felt.

I guess the nearest I ever got to it was one winter's evening in a village in South Dorset, being with some colleagues, and we'd been to a restaurant to have some food, but the car had to be parked half a mile away. And the half a mile was a dark lane, and there was no moon, there was cloud cover. And I tell you, all of us said we had never felt experience, because after five minutes of walking, you still couldn't see anything. You had to walk with your hand in front of you, just in case you bumped into anything.

It was so dark, it was darkness that could be felt. This is a picture of this world's spiritual darkness. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. Okay, you can go, he says, verse 27. You can go, but don't take your animals with you. Leave your animals behind. He wouldn't let them go. He wouldn't let them go. And then the end?

Another plague to come. We'll look at that next time. As Romans 15 verse 4 says, these things were written for our learning. What can we learn from this very briefly in a couple of minutes that's left? As God cursed Egypt with plagues to bring his people to the promised land, God is cursing this world with increasing intensity to the end that he will bring his people out of this world into eternal glory. In the book of Revelation, you read of the seals, you read of the trumpets, you read of the vials and the things that come from them. There are grievous sores, the seas turn to blood, the fresh waters turn to blood, there is darkness, there is a scorching sun, there are unclean frog spirits, and more and more of that. It all speaks of God's curse of condemnation on this world of sin. There's a lesson for us. There's a lesson for all in religion that calls itself Christianity.

God does not call his church to make this world a better place. Oh yes, he says, do acts of kindness, do acts of charity wherever you see opportunity. But the mission of the church is not to make this world, as it is, a better place, to save it from its curse.

He calls us to know and to rest in the fact that here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come. That's what it says in Hebrews 13 verse 14. Here we have no continuing city. People of God here We have no continuing city. We just sojourn here for a while. We make use of the things that God gives us for our comfort for a while. But our eternal home is the city that we seek.

He promises to shield his people from the worst of these curses as he did the Israelites in Egypt. In the land of Goshen there was no darkness. In the land of Goshen there was no cattle disease. There was no lice. and he promises to take his people out of it.

It all speaks of the hope of eternal life, the hope of eternal life, the hope which is not a possibly maybe hope, but the hope which is the confident assurance of faith, that this is the possession of those who are in the Lord Jesus Christ. When we leave this life, come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Are you unaffected by this, like Pharaoh and the Egyptians? Or in these days of false warnings all around us of impending catastrophe, will you hear the word of God? Will you hear that and will you seek his truth? Will you seek his Christ? Will you seek his life eternal? For that's what he promises to those who believe him.

The Curse of God on Satan's World

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The Curse of God on Satan's World

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About Allan Jellett

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