EXODUS 7 TO 10
Jehovah said to Pharaoh, “I will at this time send all my plagues to thy heart, and on thy bondmen, and on thy people; that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth” (9: 14). But to Moses He said, “I will ... multiply my signs and
[p. 33] my wonders in the land of Egypt” (7: 3). In relation to Egypt God’s dealings were plagues, but in relation to the people of God they were signs. We might, therefore, expect to find them morally significant. It is by these “great judgments” that God would bring His people out of the land of Egypt. It suggests a course of moral instruction that issues in the deliverance of the people of God from the world. It seems to me that while the plagues were divine judgments, they were intended to be also “signs” of solemn import, the meaning of which has to be learned by the people of God. The instruction of these “signs” is more particularly for ourselves; it is intended to give us a moral judgment of what is found in the world, so that we may be brought out of it as discerning its true character before God. And the believer has necessarily to take it all up in self-judgment, because he finds all the elements of the world in his own heart according to nature and as in the flesh.
The plagues were preceded by a miracle which was a testimony to the presence and activity of divine power: Aaron’s rod became a serpent. The serpent being introduced suggests the acting of divine power in a form which is relative to what is evil. We are familiar with the thought of the brazen serpent as typical of Christ coming sacrificially into the place of sin. And Aaron’s rod becoming a serpent seems to speak of divine power manifesting itself in relation to the power of evil in such a form as to be a testimony before the world to the power of God in grace.
This scripture is distinctly referred to in 2 Timothy: “Now in the same manner in which Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, thus these also withstand [p. 34] the truth; men corrupted in mind, found worthless as regards the faith. But they shall not advance farther; for their folly shall be completely manifest to all, as that of those also became” (2 Timothy 3: 8, 9). God has brought in a testimony to Himself, and to His own power in delivering grace. The presence of the saints on earth — as characterized by life in Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 1: 1), faith and love which are in Christ Jesus (1: 13), the grace which is in Christ Jesus (2: 1), the salvation which is in Christ Jesus (2: 10), living piously in Christ Jesus (3: 12) — is a standing miracle and a continual witness to the fact that God has intervened in grace to deliver men from all the power of evil here. As saints walk in the power and vitality of what is in Christ Jesus, there is indisputable evidence of God having wrought for their deliverance from all that is evil here.
There are those on earth today who have come under the headship of Christ — who are in Christ Jesus. And God gives testimony to the world by the manner of life of His saints. In marked contrast to the mere imitators Paul could say, “But thou hast been thoroughly acquainted with my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings” (2 Timothy 3: 10, 11). The life of the saints becomes testimony to the grace in which God is working for the complete deliverance of men.
If such a testimony is brought in we may be sure that it will call forth two things — persecution and imitation. “All indeed who desire to live piously in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But wicked men and juggling impostors shall advance in evil, leading and being led astray” (2 Timothy 3: 12, 13). But what is of God in Christ Jesus will be sustained [p. 35] in the presence of persecutions and sufferings, and it will also prove its superiority to all imitations. Aaron’s rod swallowed up all the others.
The world scoffs at those of whom it speaks in derision as “saints”, but the very fact that there are such persons here is a divine testimony. It is not too much to say that if all saints were living piously in Christ Jesus, and on the line of faith and love in Him, strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, there would be such a testimony to the delivering power of God in grace as could not be gainsaid by anybody. And it would prove its superiority to every kind of religious imitation. Men may profess to deal successfully with what is evil; they may imitate what is of God, and deceive souls by the imitation; but there is no real power of deliverance for man save what is in Christ Jesus. And the folly of every imitation will be as fully exposed as was that of Pharaoh’s sages and sorcerers when Aaron’s rod swallowed up theirs.
The exercise and labour of Paul was that the saints might obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus, so that they might come out in moral superiority to every phase of evil here. They would then be a true testimony to God’s delivering power in grace. Eternal glory goes along with this salvation, but the salvation is in relation to the scene where all the evil is; it would secure the saints from all that is evil here; and eternal glory will be the fruition of grace in a scene where no evil can ever come.
Then it seems to me that the “signs” which follow are suggestive of different features which mark the world as under divine judgment. God would instruct us in the true character of the world that we might be stimulated to desire and go in for complete divine [p. 36] deliverance from it. It has often been remarked that nine of the plagues are divided into three sections with three in each section. The tenth stands by itself, as a final and conclusive judgment.
The first lesson we have to learn in view of appreciating deliverance from the world is that all that it regards as springs of life — streams, rivers, ponds, reservoirs, and all its vessels; all its sources of life and refreshment — are filled with what is morally death. They subsist in independence of God, and in man doing his own will in lawlessness, and seeking his own pleasure and glory without any reference of heart to God. The fact that Christ has died here has proved that there is no room for God in the world. The very life of the world in every aspect is lawlessness — sin — and where all is sin, all is morally death. Christ has died to sin; His death has severed all His links with such a scene; He lives to God in another sphere, and the true springs of life are there. If we have really learned this first lesson as to the world we see it to be a place from which we might well desire to be extricated. If God came into the world as it is, the whole system would fall to pieces. The whole character of its life depends on the exclusion of God; Christ has no part in it; He has died to it.
Then the frogs would appear to be figurative of the evil influences which swarm in the world — the product of the uncleanness of man’s heart. In Revelation 16 three unclean spirits as frogs go out of the mouth of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet. The heart of man — and the world has all been evolved, under Satan’s direction, from the heart of man — yields nothing but evil and unclean influences. We have found that out in ourselves. The experience of [p. 37] Romans 7 proves it; even when there is a desire to do good we have to learn that evil is present with us. This exhibits in a strong light the true character of the world, and intensifies the desire for deliverance from it.
In the third sign the dust of the earth became gnats. We cannot think of the “dust of the earth” without being reminded of the solemn sentence pronounced on man in Genesis 3: 19. “For dust thou art; and unto dust shalt thou return”. But in this sign we see life out of death — a striking figure of resurrection power, which even the scribes of Egypt had to own was “the finger of God”. Man’s history will not end in death. A dying man, when his friends exhorted him not to be afraid of death, said, “It is not death I am afraid of; it is resurrection”. The hour is coming when all who are in the tombs shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and shall come forth in resurrection. How solemn is the thought for those who are in the world and of it!
But there is One who has come by the grace of God into the dust of death (Psalm 22: 15), and in the resurrection of Christ we see resurrection power acting in the way of blessing to man. The resurrection of Christ is the supreme act of God’s power in favour of man. He was “delivered for our offences and has been raised for our justification”. This is the blessing side, which faith knows and values as the ground of peace with God, but for the world it is a very solemn thing that “the finger of God” has been evident in the resurrection of Christ. It proves that there is a direct issue between God and the world. The world put Christ in the place of death, but God has raised Him. And the finger of God in that resurrection power is solemn evidence of the state of the world and of its certain [p. 38] judgment. In having raised Christ from among the dead God has given proof to all men that He has set a day in which He is going to judge the habitable earth in righteousness by the Man whom He has appointed.
To the believer the finger of God in resurrection power secures justification by faith and peace with God, it secures righteousness to him in a risen Christ, so that he can receive the Spirit as the power of divine deliverance. It is noticeable that in Matthew 12: 28, the Lord says, “If I by the Spirit of God cast out demons, then indeed the kingdom of God is come upon you”. But in the corresponding scripture in Luke 11: 20, He says, “If by the finger of God I cast out demons”. Scripture thus gives us warrant to identify the Spirit of God with the finger of God. It is by the Spirit that life comes in morally where all was death. “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and of death”.
So that if in the first two signs we have the moral state of the world exposed, and the uncleanness of man as a source of what is evil, in the third we have clearly intimated the introduction of life morally by the Spirit of God, so that His people may be found here in separation from the world, and in freedom from the power of sin and death, so as to be practically on the line of righteousness and love. Therefore from this point the people are viewed in a distinctive position. “I will distinguish in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell ... and I will put a separation (literally deliverance or redemption) between my people and thy people” (8: 22). They are viewed as having learned typically the lessons of the first two signs, and as having the Spirit as life on account of righteousness, and being thus in separation [p. 39] from the world in the power of a divine deliverance, and under God’s protection. So that the import of the first three signs would correspond in a way with the teaching of Romans 6, Romans 7, and Romans 8. The result is that believers are distinctly marked off from the world. Goshen is typical of the place in which those are found who have taken account of themselves as dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God in Christ Jesus, who have learned their own weakness and the evil character of the flesh, but who have the Spirit as life and power.
The second series of signs begins, as each of the three series does, “in the morning”, and what is distinctive of this section is that the land of Goshen where God’s people dwelt was immune from the flies, the murrain, and the boils. So that these signs speak of things from which the people of God, viewed as in their normal place and condition as redeemed and delivered, would be free.
Flies are small things, but they are very irritating. The state of the world comes out in the innumerable small ways in which men and women become a trial to each other. Malice, guile, hypocrisies, envyings, evil speakings (1 Peter 2: 1), are well-nigh universal in the world. “We were once ourselves ... living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another” (Titus 3: 3). Petty envyings and jealousies and back-bitings are very characteristic of the world — a veritable plague of flies! They all serve to show what man really is, and the character of the world.
“I will distinguish in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no dog-flies shall be there; that thou mayest know that I Jehovah am in the midst of the land”. What a blessed evidence of [p. 40] the presence and power of God in grace amongst His people when all these sources of irritation have no place! Saints walking in the Spirit, and having their conversation by the grace of God, are in Goshen, and there are no flies there. It raises the question whether we have really reached experimentally that sphere under Christ’s Lordship where the Spirit is power to maintain practical deliverance from such things? Goshen represents a sphere on earth which stands in moral contrast to what obtains in the world. It is where such things as the flies typify have been laid aside, and the sincere milk of the word is earnestly desired, and the elect sojourners are found growing up to salvation. If we were maintained in the power of what the “finger of God” speaks of there would be no flies, nothing proceeding from the flesh in one to rouse the flesh in another. The absence of such things is the evidence that God in delivering power is in the midst of His people.
Then the plague on the cattle may serve to call attention to the fact that man uses all his possessions for himself and not for God. It may be that we are so accustomed to see this that it does not strike us as being particularly wrong, but it is a sad feature of the world, and will bring it under judgment. It is very interesting to see that all the cattle of the children of Israel were held for God. “Our cattle also must go with us: there shall not a hoof be left behind; for we must take thereof to serve Jehovah our God; and we do not know with what we must serve Jehovah, until we come there” (Exodus 10: 26). Hence no murrain came on the Israelites’ cattle. If the saints have really given themselves first to the Lord (2 Corinthians 8: 5), they necessarily hold all that they have for Him. The [p. 41] enemy will resist such a triumph of grace to the utmost of his power, but God will support and protect His people in their desire and purpose to hold all for Him and for His holy service.
The last sign in this series — the boils — would seem to speak of the coming out openly of the corruption that is in the heart of man. God has brought it all under judgment at the cross — there may be an intimation of this in the “ashes of the furnace” — but what God visited there with unsparing judgment is actually in the heart of man, and makes itself manifest openly. It comes out in the world, where man having turned away from God has been given up judicially to expose the wickedness and corruption of his nature (Romans 1). In the judicial ways of God He allows what has been judged at the cross to be realized to be corruption by coming out as such in the world. The corruptions that break out in men justify God in the condemnation which He has passed on the flesh. “That thou mayest be justified when thou speakest, be clear when thou judgest” (Psalm 51: 4). He allows the plain and palpable evidence of the corruption of the flesh to appear.
And if saints get careless, and do not walk in self-judgment, if they get away from Goshen, the corruption of the flesh may manifest itself in them, so that they may not be able to stand even before their brethren. In Goshen the flesh is known and judged in secret, in the light of God’s judgment of it at the cross; it does not come out in the walk and ways of the saints; no boils are there. It is not that the flesh in saints is any better than other people’s flesh, but it is judged in secret with God, and His grace and delivering power preserves it from coming out in an [p. 42] open way. But if we get away we may allow envyings and evil speakings; then we may use what we have for self and not for God; and, finally, we may expose in a public way the corruption of the flesh. But there is a sphere where none of these things is found in activity, and it is our normal dwelling-place as those separated from the world by a divine deliverance. God brings all these things before us to intensify the desire for complete deliverance. They instruct us typically in what is characteristic of Egypt, that we may appreciate the grace and power which are active to deliver us completely from it.
Then another “morning” introduces a last series of three signs. My impression is that in this series the plagues are suggestive of the future and final manifestations of evil in the world, and of God’s judicial dealings as we see them in the Revelation. God will deal with every element in the world, and He has given us prophetic light as to His dealings. The “very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since its foundation until now”, seems to carry a suggestion of those coming tribulation days when God’s forces will be marshalled against the hardened heart and will of man, and against those evil powers of which man has become the willing dupe and tool. He spoke to Job of “the treasuries of the hail, which I have reserved for the time of distress, for the day of battle and war” (Job 38: 22, 23). We may say with all solemnity that the time is drawing near when God will declare war. Today He is preaching peace by Jesus Christ, and His longsuffering is salvation, but He will ere long declare war. He will come out in His might to do battle with all the power of evil, and none but those who fear Him will escape.
[p. 43] We may see this in the Revelation, and also note the universal call to fear Him (Revelation 14: 7).
The plague of locusts would be a foreshadowing of a day when not one green thing will be left to men — not one thing that is really pleasant to the eyes or good for food. Men have dreamed for ages of a good time coming, and have laboured to bring it about, but the issue of things in man’s world will be that not one true comfort will remain to him. That will be the result of the working out of the evil principles which at the bottom really characterize the world — as to God lawlessness, and as to man utter selfishness.
Then the darkness speaks of the withdrawal of divine light. Man is busy today blocking up his windows to keep out the light. Almost every day we hear of some fresh piece of infidelity in religious high quarters. Man will eventually shut out the light of revelation, and the light of law, and even the light of nature, and nothing will be left but the darkness of apostasy. God will leave man for a season to the darkness that he loves, but will bring in His judgment upon it.
Some might perhaps be inclined to say, What is the good of all this to us? Well, it is a pity if it does not make us anxious to get completely clear of the Egypt world — the world that is around us, and is characterized by the moral features we have been considering. We may also take account of the people of God as in the wilderness; they are seen later in the book in this position. And they may also be contemplated as in the land of Jehovah’s promise. But viewed as in Egypt, the only place where there is divine protection is Goshen. There is light there in the dwellings of [p. 44] the Israel of God — the light of Christ, the One who has died to sin and who lives to God, the One who loves righteousness and hates lawlessness, the One known in resurrection outside the world altogether. Under His Lordship and Headship we can escape even now from the elements of the world, and are preserved for God in freshness by His Spirit, and kept in the holy light of the blessed God revealed in grace.
Goshen is where a holy people walk in the Spirit, and in the fellowship of God’s Son, and are preserved by the faithfulness of God. It is suggestive of the fellowship in which saints are privileged to walk together in the midst of surrounding conditions of evil. The darkness is deepening around, but there are dwellings in Goshen where things are viewed from the standpoint of Christ and His death. There is divine light there.
All that is written in the Revelation as to the future judgments which will come upon the world is written that the saints may be in moral accord with those judgments now. For example, if it is written that “Babylon is fallen”, it is that the whole system of human glory and corruption which is set forth in Babylon may be a fallen system for every saint now.
The plagues are suggestive of how God exposes, and deals with, what is in the world. What is a plague to the world is a sign to the people of God containing moral instruction so that we may realize the importance of getting completely clear of such a system. God is set to bring His people out of it that they may be for Him — for His pleasure and service.