Good Morning.
So Moses and Aaron came in to Pharaoh and said to him, “Thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, that they may serve Me.'” (Exodus 10:3)
Pride is a very powerful thing; it pushes you to save face even when you know in your heart that you are outmatched and destined for defeat. It can convince you that, somehow, some way, you can outlast God and defeat His will. That is, apparently, what Pharaoh was thinking and I believe it is because he was listening to another who is also persuaded he can go the distance with God — I’m speaking of our adversary, Satan.
But as Pharaoh learned — and as Satan will, in time, learn — God will not be mocked. To the contrary, He mocked the arrogance of Pharaoh and his presumed power and authority. As for the Egyptians, with each and every plague that afflicted them, He made a mockery of their gods and their perceived “power.” When Pharaoh was ultimately destroyed in the sea, God demonstrated just how feeble he and the gods of Egypt really were. Likewise Messiah did this to Satan when He was resurrected. Paul said that being risen from the dead, Messiah “Disarmed principalities and powers (and) made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it” (Colossians 2:15).
Messiah not only mocked the power and authority of principalities and powers but, in His resurrection, mocked the power of death, triumphing over it as well. He did this that we could truly KNOW the Father through Him and that we would have hope that death nor hell can have a lasting grip upon us. All who are in Him have the promise that they will be raised to life eternal at His coming. And so it seems appropriate to conclude today’s devotion with the passage quoted by Paul in his letter to the believers at Corinth:“
“O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” (1 Corinthians 15:55)
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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