Both secular and Bible history tell us that the first Israelites spent time in an Egyptian prison. Their exodus or departure from Egypt – took place about 3,500 years ago. Even though hieroglyphics recount some of the material we have in the Bible – that event, so many millennia ago, has made it difficult to be sure which of Egypt’s Pharaohs were involved and when. The Pharaoh in Genesis 41, under whom Joseph became Prime Minister, was not ruling in Moses’ time. But who was the king in Exodus 1 who knew not Joseph, and was he the same Pharaoh of Exodus 5? Even if one man was Pharaoh in the first part of the book, who was the Pharaoh of the actual Exodus? The most common name is Ramses, but other historians speak of Amenhotep and Merneptha. Answers to these questions are really important to some people; especially to those who doubt the Bible. But Bible-BELIEVERS willingly move on to the important lessons, not worrying about details like these.
One of those important lessons is further expounded by the Apostle Paul in Romans 1. And Romans 1 explains why our world is in such a mess today. Part of that mess involves you, me and our neighbors, making the Pharaoh of the Exodus relevant to us. But we don’t have to know his name to learn from him. The Holy Spirit has recorded some material to expose nature of OUR society and why we need the Saviour. We will come back this in a few minutes, but Paul refers to the “foolishness” of humanity, when he could have mentioned the “foolishness of PHARAOH.” Romans 1:21 – “When (people like Pharaoh) knew God, they glorified him not as God. Neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themself to be wise, they became fools…” This is precisely what we see in Pharaoh. And this is still one of mankind’s greatest problems – “foolish wisdom.”
This morning, let’s begin by considering some of the FOOLISHNESS of PHARAOH.
In Genesis 37, Joseph, the son of Jacob, was sold by his brothers into Egyptian slavery. But by a miracle and the grace of God, Joseph became second in command under one of Egypt’s kings. That particular Pharaoh was forced to acknowledge the power and authority of the God of Joseph – Jehovah. About ten years after that, Joseph invited his father, Jacob – also known as “Israel” – to reside under his protection in Egypt. So Egypt and her Pharaoh were exposed to the truth about Jehovah-God, through Jacob and Joseph.
Let me stop right here and point out an important Biblical principle. Jacob, as the father of the nation of Israel, made a decision to move to Egypt, and when he did, every one of his descendants felt the effects of that decision. He was the “federal head” of his family. Over time, Israel became a nation of slaves to the Egyptians, because Jacob, their father, made that choice. And similarly, when Adam made the choice to sin against God, all HIS descendants became sinners, just as all Israel became slaves through Jacob’s choice. You are a sinner because Adam, your grandfather, chose to disobey God, putting sin into our spiritual DNA. Pharaoh was a sinner because he was a descendant of that same common grandfather, Adam. This principle applies to Israelites, Egyptians and even to Americans – it applies to all the children of Adam. And in another way – somewhat the reverse – this applies to all the children of God through Christ Jesus. Related to Adam – we are all sinners. But if we are related to Christ Jesus through faith and the new birth – believers are righteous in God’s sight.
About two hundred years after Joseph and Jacob, “there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph” or his God – Exodus 1:8. He seems to have been of a new dynasty with no affinity to the earlier king, but he did have access to the history of Joseph and thus to the history of God. And yet, in his secular wisdom, he chose to enslave Israel and to ignore what he knew of their God. At that point the Lord began to take steps to deliver His people, by raising up Moses and sending him to the Egyptian palace. “Moses and (his brother) Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith Jehovah, God of Israel, Let my people go…” “And Pharaoh said, Who is Jehovah, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not Jehovah, neither will I let Israel go.” Please remember this statement when we return to Romans 1 – “Who is Jehovah, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not Jehovah.” Pharaoh could have known the Lord. Jehovah had made Himself known throughout history. More specifically, the Lord made himself know to the Egyptians through godly Joseph. And God has made Himself known in our country as well – through His blessings for three hundred years and through the preaching of the Gospel here. But the Egyptians, like the Romans, and like most Americans, chose not to acknowledge Him. The problem was not a lack of information about the Lord; it was a rejection of that information.
That was when God began to take Pharaoh to school. It began with the battle of the staffs. Aaron’s rod – his mace – was a symbol of God’s authority. At the command of the Lord, Aaron tossed it down on the ground before Pharaoh, and it miraculously became a large snake. But the sorcerers of Egypt apparently duplicated the miracle, signifying that they too had power. However – the serpent/rod of Moses and Aaron, immediately attacked and devoured the serpent/rods of the Egyptians. It wasn’t even a fair fight, Aaron’s single rod killed and devoured several others. No one should imagine that any of the powers of man or demon are equal or greater to the authority of God. But was Pharaoh impressed? No. His pride wouldn’t permit it.
When Pharaoh – despite his initial fear of Aaron’s rod – rejected God’s demand for repentance and submission, the fight was on. It was not a fight between Moses and Pharaoh, but between Jehovah and the idol gods of Egypt. It was then that the ten plagues of God began to fall upon Egypt. Initially, they were lessons which the Lord had for both Israel and Egypt. Quickly Israel began to return to the old faith of Jacob and Joseph – Abraham and Isaac. But Pharaoh hardened his neck, refusing to acknowledge the obvious and continuing to cling to his false and imaginary gods. So, one after another, Jehovah showered His judgments down on Egypt, eating away and destroying that society. Eventually came the ninth plague – total darkness – which again takes us back to a statement in Romans. Despite the inability of the Egyptians to see across the room in the middle of the day, they remained blinded to the truth of God. And finally, God’s death angel visited the land, and thousands of young Egyptians died premature deaths. All of this was because Pharaoh refused to see the facts – “The Lord, he is God.”
The God of the Hebrews demonstrated His authority over creation and over the most powerful nation on earth. Jehovah proved that He is the Creator and sovereign king over frogs, locusts, skin diseases and even the weather. God controls the blessings of a pleasant spring time and the violence of a devastating tornado season. His voice roars out, as it did in Isaiah 46 – “I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me. To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like? They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, and hire a goldsmith; and he maketh it (an idol) god: they fall down, yea, they worship. Remember this, and shew yourselves men: bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors. Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel SHALL stand, and I will do ALL my pleasure…”
Over and over again, the Lord declared to Pharaoh, “I am God. Pay attention. Humble yourself before me.” But Pharaoh, in his pride and foolish imagination, thot he could successfully ignore or rebel against the Lord. However, Jehovah was not going to be stopped, and Pharaoh soon died in the midst of the Red Sea. The Lord is never going to cease to be God. He is never going to ignore rebellion to His authority or to turn a blind eye to people’s sin. He is not going to successfully be denied even by the most despotic king or president – or by you or me. If we don’t surrender, submit and repent… if we don’t bow before Him in humble faith, we will end up very much like Pharaoh.
Now, let’s consider more directly, the BOOK OF ROMANS chapter 1.
In verse 16, Paul begins where I would like to conclude in a few minutes. “The preaching of the gospel of Christ… is the power of God unto salvation.” Moses kept telling Pharaoh that Jehovah is God, and surrender to Him is essential to life. But the truth of that gospel is the power of God unto salvation, only to those who believe it and receive it. Our gracious and blessed Saviour is not going to save anyone against his stubborn will. The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek, the Egyptian, the Roman and the American. Pharaoh refused to believe, and that is the reason that he perished in the sea.
Specifically, Paul says in verse 18 – “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness.” Here is where we go back to Pharaoh and, at the same time, forward to the average American. Pharaoh died under God’s wrath because he held the truth, but he held it in unrighteousness and ungodliness He held the truth in the sense he was taught its principles, but he held it in unrighteousness by rejecting it. Again and again he saw God’s power over Creation – over water and blood, over flies and over disease. Pharaoh saw God’s sovereignty, but in his foolish wisdom, he chose to dismiss it.
Stepping back just a bit, verses 19 and 20 tell us that God has chosen to reveal different things about Himself. Even if someone chooses to reject the Bible, nature gives evidence of many things about the Lord. “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead.” How is it that there is such power in the tiny plutonium atom? God put it there. How is it that a tornado will destroy a dozen homes, but one in the middle of them all is untouched? Why is it that, of three people with the same cancer, one walks away and two are carried away? God’s will. President Trump says that it was by God’s will and grace that a bullet, meant to kill him only nicked his ear. I can’t argue against that. We could probably fill the hour with demonstrations and illustrations of God’s revelations of Himself. But I notice that Paul didn’t do that here, so I’m going to follow his lead.
In the midst of all that we do NOT know about God, and most of which we will never know… In the midst of what we do not know about the Lord, there are things which He has chosen to reveal. Pharaoh are you listening? Why won’t you learn the lessons God is trying to teach you?
Paul tells us why in the next two verses: “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools…” The problem Pharaoh had, and the problem which our world has today, is not what IS known about God, nor is what is NOT known about God. The problem is what is repressed; it is what is suppressed. It is not a lack of information about the Lord. The problem is sin – and specifically the sin of unbelief, followed by the sin of unthankfulness.
A recorded in Exodus, for some time, the God of the Hebrews and the gods of the Egyptians were in a battle. Nearly every one of the ten plagues was Jehovah’s attack on one aspect of the Egyptian’s religion. And as it began… when Moses said, “Thus saith Jehovah, God of Israel, Let my people go…” Pharaoh’s reply was essentially, “What a foolish request. I know not Jehovah. Don’t be a fool Moses, I will not let Israel go.”
Whether we are talking about Exodus or Romans 1, one aspect of the fight is over the definition of “fool.” Pharaoh thinks of Moses and Aaron as fools for following and worshiping Jehovah. And as God’s judgment continues to mount and Egypt continues to be destroyed, Moses could have replied – “Pharaoh, why are you such a fool to let this continue?” Professing himself to be wise, listening to his sorcerers, counselors, scientists and religious gurus, Pharaoh called the service of Jehovah a foolish waste of time. But Paul called him, and all those like him, “fools” for not submitting themselves to the Lord. It is a battle over the correct interpretation of “fool.” The Apostle wrote to the Corinthians saying, “Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be WISE in his world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise (in God). For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, he taketh the wise in their own craftiness.” Egypt was destroyed because of the foolish “wisdom” of Pharaoh.
Specifically, the Egyptians, “changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things” – verse 23. Do you remember what kind of menagerie those Egyptians worshipped? Cats, crocodiles, beetles, baboons, cows, the Nile river, the Sun, etc. etc. And Jehovah attacked and destroyed almost all of these with those ten plagues. But did Pharaoh listen? Did he learn? No, he so “wise” and proud in his personal religion that he proved himself to be a fool before the one true and living God.
That is exactly what we see in America. That is what we see in our neighbors. That may be your problem as well. The Lord in many ways is disproving many atheistic aspects of modern science and philosophy. But is America listening? We are listening as well as Pharaoh did.
And here is where the rubber meets the road. American society is falling apart at the seams. Why is there a shooting or murder nearly every week in the once peaceful city of Spokane? Why did I hear of reports of two babies nearly dying this past week from drug overdoses? Why is there such hatred between various groups of people; why are there so many gangs? Homeless? It is because God has deliberately permitted those people who have willfully denied Him to descend into the abyss where God-deniers naturally fall. “For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections” – verse 26.
“Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts to dishonour their own bodies between themselves.” I know that we aren’t supposed to talk or think this way, but is it still true that the majority of Americans think that homosexual behavior is unnatural? Furthermore, don’t most Americans think that male prostitution and homosexual procurement to be immoral and even criminal? Paul uses the word “unseemly” in verse 27. It is shameful and disgusting.
Do you know where that unseemly behavior originated? – where all unseemly behavior begins? It began in verse 21 – “When they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” If you are someone who holds the knowledge of God and his truth – in unrighteousness, you stand on the brink of serious sin and ALL of its effects. Oh, perhaps not homosexuality, but what about those things of verses 29 to 32 – fornication, general wickedness, covetousness (which leads to thefts) and simple maliciousness. Maybe you will never commit murder, but what of envy, debate, deceit, malignity, and gossip. Don’t most people hate backbiters and back stabbers? Don’t those kids at Walmart who are so disobedient and disrespectful to their parents disgust you? And how about promise breakers, stupidly stubborn people and those who are without mercy?
These things describe our society, and such things are getting worse. But here is the thing – they stem from holding the truth of God in unrighteousness. They come from rejecting what we know to be true of the Lord, just as Pharaoh did in his day. And that rejection ended up in the destruction of that society and the eternal death of thousands of people. What makes the pride and foolishness of the 21st century think that things will turn out differently for us?
There will be no difference at all between Egypt 3,500 years ago and the United States tomorrow, except…. Except for the grace of God through Christ and the message of the Gospel. “So,” as Paul says in verse 15, “as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you” who need it. “For it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” In the message of Christ on the cross there is deliverance – exodus – not only from the well-deserved punishment for our sins, but also from those sins themselves. “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God…” But “being justified freely by the grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,” there is complete and absolute deliverance. “Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.”
Let the Pharaohs of the world call us “fools” for believing what God has revealed to us. I would much rather be called “a fool” by Steven Hawking, Steven King, and Steven Seagal, than to be called “a fool” by God. The believer in Christ is NOT a fool. Even if he is only ten years old, that believing child is wiser than all the wise men of Egypt or academia.
I will close by paraphrasing Jesus’ parable in Luke 12 – “The ground of a certain Pharoah brought forth plentifully.” He was rich and perhaps the most powerful man in the western world. “And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.” He looked at his education, his attainments, his false religion, his human wisdom, and he said… “Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.” He said to himself, “The God of the Bible can’t touch you. And the people of God are fools.” You are more apt to judge others than you are going to be judged.” “But God said unto him, THOU fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?”
In his pride and foolishness, Pharaoh led his army straight into the belly of the Red Sea. Sure Israel made their way across. But, Pharaoh, doesn’t logic tell you the walls of your life are going to come splashing down at any second? Your health could crumble before a tiny virus. Your economy is being held up with plywood scaffolding. Your religion is nothing but imagination and lies? Come on you worship cats and beetle? The wheels of your chariot are already coming off in the mud of your sinful life. Your society is crumbling. You need a Saviour. You need the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Bow before Him. Repent of your sin before His holiness and reach out by faith to accept His free offer of deliverance.
Won’t YOU do that this morning? Won’t you trust Christ before it is eternally too late? Repent before God, believe on and submit yourself to the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no better place, there is no greater joy than to experience the freedom from sin in the gracious arms of the Saviour – the King of kings and Lord of lords.