“And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, ‘Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let My people go, that they may hold a feast unto Me in the wilderness. And Pharaoh said, ‘Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go.'” Exodus 5:1-2
Pharoah
Through the Bible in a Year – 012713
Introduction of I AM
Exodus 1 – 18 (6:1-8; 3:113-15)
1. “LORD” is used 212 times in Genesis; 406 in Exodus; 1,890 times in the first five books of the Bible; “I am the LORD” is used 17 times in Exodus; the first 15 are in the first 16 chapters.
2. What is the significance of “…But by My name JEHOVAH was I not known to them” have in our text? (6:1-3)
A. JEHOVAH had never revealed Himself to so many in so powerful a way as He is about to do in Egypt.
B. Though the name was known, the character, power and glory was yet to be seen.
3. First Moses and the children of Israel would realize His power (6:6-8; 15:26; 16:12);
4. The Pharoah and the Egyptians will know that GOD is the LORD (7:5; 7:17; 8:22; 10:2; 14:4, 18; ).
-Tim A. Blankenship
God’s Word Today 081812
Therefore hear ye the word of the LORD, all Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt; ‘Behold, I have sworn by My great name, saith the LORD, that My name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, ‘The Lord GOD liveth.’ ‘Behold, I will watch over them for evil, and not for good: and all the men of Judah that are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until there be an end of them. Yet a small number that escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah, and all the remnant of Judah, that are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall know whose words shall stand, Mine, or theirs. And this shall be a sign unto you,’ saith the LORD, ‘that I will punish you in this place, that ye may know that My words shall surely stand against you for evil.’ Thus saith the LORD; ‘Behold, I will give Pharaohhophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of them that seek his life; as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, his enemy, and that sought his life.” Jeremiah 44:26-30 (KJV)
-T.A.
Day 60 – Knowing the LORD God
Reading the prophecy of Ezekiel can lead a person to only one good conclusion, and that is that GOD wants people to know Him. Some of the reading sounds harsh, deadly, and judgmental; however we are speaking of our Creator; and who are we to question how He works. Can the clay say to the potter, “You don’t know what you are doing”. Not at all. The God of creation has one thing in mind, and that is the glory of His name; and He will accomplish what He has started to do – that the people of the earth know Him.
My reading this morning was Ezekiel 24 – 37. I have mentioned it in passing, but today I will spend some time with the phrase, “…Know that I am the LORD”. In looking at this phrase and its use in Ezekiel we find it at least 24 times in today’s reading. I will only give you a few of those references.
First in today’s reading I read these words being spoken to Israel of Ezekiel’s service,
“Thus Ezekiel is unto you a sign: according to all that he hath done shall ye do: and when this cometh, ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.” Ezekiel 24:24 (KJV)
Ezekiel’s wife had died. He was not to weep or mourn publicly because of her death. By this Ezekiel was a sign for Israel and their captivity; no time for grief and mourning over the dead. The second time in my reading this morning is in verse 27,
“In that day shall thy mouth be opened to him which is escaped, and thou shalt speak, and be no more dumb: and thou shalt be a sign unto them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.” 24:27
Previously, Ezekiel had been unable to speak, but now the LORD was going to open his mouth, and he would speak, and by this the people would know that Jehovah/YHWH is the LORD. Remember the LORD is proper and just, Righteous, and holy and can do how He pleases to bring people to the one conclusion the human race needs to know; and that is that He is the LORD.
“And I will execute judgments upon Moab; and they shall know that I am the LORD.” 25:11
The LORD of hosts speaks these words through Ezekiel and to other people; not just to Israel. He desires the nations to know Him. He desires Moab to know that He is the LORD. One day at the final day of judgment the world will know that He is the LORD. That however does not mean, that all will be with Him in His glory.
To the land of Tyre [Tyrus] God says,
“And they shall destroy the walls of Tyrus, and break down her towers: I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock. It shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD: and it shall become a spoil to the nations. And her daughters which are in the field shall be slain by the sword; and they shall know that I am the LORD.” 26:4-6
Many an arrogant nation have exalted themselves over what GOD had for them. Many of these nations will be removed from the earth, their lands left desolate; and never restored. It is to the king of Tyrus that we find him to be filled with the evil of Satan himself (28:12-15).
The Nile River is a very important river in Egypt. However the nation’s leader had exalted himself to the point of being Egypt’s god, claiming to have made the river himself and it being his river. To this arrogance the Lord says, through the prophet,
“And the land of Egypt shall be desolate and waste; and they shall know that I am the LORD: because he hath said, The river is mine, and I have made it.” 29:9
God is especially grieved when His people; the one’s He has chosen to be His light, and the glory of His name; when we turn our backs on Him to other gods [idols made by the minds and hands of men in their own images]. This was the guilt of Judah and Israel. God says to Israel again,
“For I will lay the land most desolate, and the pomp of her strength shall cease; and the mountains of Israel shall be desolate, that none shall pass through. Then shall they know that I am the LORD, when I have laid the land most desolate because of all their abominations which they have committed.” 33:28-29
God will not leave His people without judgment. In fact He will judge His people first and foremost. The arrogance of Israel was so bad, so gross they had been secure in the temple, also made by the hands of men; in thinking and saying, “God will never destroy this nation, or this temple. It is the Temple of the LORD”. They found out differently. God is more involved and careful that we might know Him, than He is in our security, survival or success.
“Thus saith the Lord GOD; ‘I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them; I will increase them with men like a flock. As the holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts; so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men: and they shall know that I am the LORD.” 36:37-38
God will not leave His people without hope. In their captivity He continually reminds them of their return to the land. It will of course be after the land has been restored its sabbaths lost by the years of neglect of sabbaths by her people. A final promise I want to leave with you is that,
“And David My servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in My judgments, and observe My statutes, and do them. And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob My servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children’s children for ever: and My servant David shall be their prince for ever.” 37:24-25
“David My servant” is none other than the King of kings, born in Bethlehem, died on a cross in Jerusalem, buried, and bodily raised from the dead; justifying all who will believe in Him. The world will know that Jesus Chirst is LORD. Bow now; or bow later. It is your choice.
-Tim A. Blankenship
Day 3 – Destiny of a Nation
Many trust in what is called fate. Some trust in faith as though faith has power of its own. “Just have faith” is what is heard quite often. What is the difference in “fate” and “faith”. Fate is events guided by events to the best of my knowledge; “What ever will be will be” mentality. Faith is belief in something or someone to have power of guiding events or times or things even; but “faith” in what or whom? It does make a difference what you believe.
As we continue at reading the Bible through in these next 87 days we will find that there is a Person; a divine Individual who is guiding the events and times of our lives.
That is evident in the life of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We can see it in the life of Joseph as well.
God told Abraham back in Genesis 15:13-14,
“And He said unto Abram, ‘Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; and also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.”
Then as we read today in Genesis 29 – 42 we find one of Jacob’s children, a younger son, is sold into slavery by his older brothers due to their jealousy, and Joseph ends up in Egypt, in prison and eventually the Pharoah’s second man ruling the nation.
Joseph was a man of dreams, and passion for God, His promises, and His Word. Joseph dreamed that all his brethren would one day bow down to him,
“And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more. And he said unto them, ‘Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed: for, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf.’ And his brethren said to him, ‘Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us?’ And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words. And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, ‘Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.’ And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, ‘What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?’ And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying.” Genesis 37:5-12 (KJV)
I tell this because it was by his faith in God Joseph was able to deal with the betrayal of his own brethren, the selling into Egypt, the false accusation of Potiphar’s wife, and his imprisonment. Through it all Joseph kept God as his guide, his comfort and his strength. Believing that God would bring about what He had shown him in his dreams.
After Joseph has arrived in Egypt and imprison; in prison Joseph continues to say and believe,
“Do not interpretations belong to God?” Genesis 40:8 and,
“It is not in me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace.” 41:16
The Psalmist even mentions Joseph in the 105th Psalm,
“Until the time that his word came: the word of the LORD tried him.” (v.19)
Faith that God is guiding the affairs of His people to be a great nation was a part of Joseph’s life. He believed God, and though it does not say it by verse, and words; it says it by implication; “It was counted to him for righteousness.
God not only guides and directs nations; he directs individual lives. He prefers to use you for good and His glory. He will do that through your faith in His Son Jesus; as you humbly bow before Him as your own personal Lord and Savior; believing that Jesus died on the cross for your sins, was buried, and rose from the dead; and that He is eternally alive; and through Him you will live eternally.
Believe/Trust and be saved.
-Tim A. Blankenship
The Fire and Hammer 