Something of which we need to remind ourselves is that the Bible is permeated with historical facts. The events of which we read in the Old Testament actually occurred. They are not religious fables. Yes, we read of miracles and many other things hard to believe or understand. But that is because we now live in a day dominated by sin and a well-hidden Satan. We are born skeptics and our society feeds that skepticism through a multitude of its own fast food outlets. We dine on diet of unbelief, and when we actually smell God’s manna, our stomachs turn, because they aren’t designed for it. But there remains plenty of physical evidence for the existence of Moses and this Egyptian Pharaoh. There is corroborating, archeological evidence for many of the details that we read in this book. Furthermore, the lessons contained in these early histories are as important today as they were back then.
Both Pharaoh and Moses departed this world a long, long time ago, but how did they depart? All people die, because death is now a fatal flaw in our sin-corrupted DNA. “It is appointed unto men once to die but after this the judgment (of Jehovah).” While everyone dies, how they die – the manner of their death – can be very revealing. Moses was apparently airlifted to Heaven, but this Pharaoh was drowned in the midst of a divine miracle. What was the difference between the two? For one there was the grace of God. For the other there was unforgiven sin, and specifically – the sin of rebellion incited by pride.
Let’s consider Pharaoh’s fatal flaw.
This man was the dictator over a relatively powerful nation about 1500 years ago. In the sight of men, he was a great and powerful king. And in his own sight he was even greater and more powerful. But in reality he was no more great and powerful than the Wizard of Oz. He didn’t have the ability to protect himself from the true King – the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He even had to have servants to isolate him from deadly serpents and scorpions. He was vulnerable. He certainly had no protection whatsoever against COVID or bacterial infections like pneumonia or cholera.
And yet for a while, along with his own people, he held the lives of millions of Hebrew slaves in his hands. With this and a few other things, he felt himself to be important. He was proud of his position and power. But then along came Moses, the ambassador of the God, Jehovah, demanding the release of those slaves. Pharaoh held the power to keep or release those people, and he chose to keep them. Time and time again, Moses shared with Pharaoh the command of God, and each time the man refused. On ten occasions Jehovah illustrated His authority and His power through mighty miracles, but Pharaoh would not budge.
Exodus 5 comes early in this conflict between Moses and Pharaoh; between Jehovah and Pharaoh’s gods. Verse 2 is a perfect reflection of the state of Pharaoh’s heart – “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.” For the next nine chapters, Egypt and her king were hit with the body-blow punches of the omnipotent God. Then finally, battered and bruised, Pharaoh told Moses take God’s people and get out of Egypt. Israel was ready and Moses gave the order, but it takes a long time to move so many people. And soon Pharaoh changed his mind, personally leading his army against the defenseless people of God. Ah, but then there was the Lord.
Please turn to Exodus 14 and follow along as I read beginning in verse 15 – “And the LORD said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward: But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gotten me honour upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.” As you know, Pharaoh and his men followed Israel into a deep canyon in the midst of the divided sea. And when Israel was safely on the opposite side, both walls of water came crashing down, drowning Pharaoh and his men.
I asked you to read with me, because I wanted you to see two things. In chapter 5 Pharaoh said, “WHO is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know NOT the Lord…” and here Jehovah said, “the Egyptians shall KNOW that I am the LORD.” The second thing – the primary thing I’d like you to recognize are God’s words – “I will get ME honour upon Pharaoh.” What was Pharaoh’s fatal flaw? What brought him to his violent and unusual death? It was that he refused to honor God, submitting himself to the Lord. And the cause of that failure was his pride.
Here is my subject for this morning. Here is the primary reason millions of people die violent deaths every year. And here is the reason billions of people have died, or will die, the second death, being cast into the lake which burns with fire and brimstone. They die those deaths because they are too proud to submit themselves to the Lord.
Think about the causes, manifestations and results of that pride. As I say, pride is the primary reason people like Pharaoh and like our neighbors refuse to bow before God. Pride lurks inside every heart in the same way the shingles virus resides in everyone who has ever had chickenpox. Just about every child of Adam can find reasons to become proud. And that pride creates a barrier which covers the face of God and also which refuses the grace of God. It is a cancer more deadly than any physical disease.
Briefly, what is the CAUSE of pride?
In any study, it is always good to be sure of the definition of the subject under consideration. When I looked up the definition of “pride,” I found that modern dictionaries are much more mild than Noah Webster was in 1828 when he expressed the common opinion of people of his day. Webster’s first and primary explanation of pride reads: “Inordinate self-esteem; and unreasonable conceit of one’s own superiority talents, beauty, wealth, accomplishments, rank or elevation in office, which manifests itself in lofty airs, distance, reserve and often in contempt of others.” Even if you aren’t intimately familiar with this Pharaoh, can’t you hear this definition in the words of our text? “WHO is the Lord, that I should obey his voice…? I know NOT the Lord…” He not only had contempt for Moses, but also for the God whom Moses represented. And he based that contempt upon what he thought of himself.
Generally speaking, why does one person look down on another person? Pharaoh on Moses, for example. Isn’t it because that person pictures himself as being superior? You can only look down from some sort of height. I will come back to this in regard to Pharaoh, but just consider it generally. Some people think that since they have more money than someone else they are better. Rich people are often proud. The Lord Jesus has told us “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” The difficulty is not in the wealth the rich man has. The difficulty is in his unwillingness to bow – to humble himself – and realize how small he really is. Like wealthy people, powerful people are often proud. And those who are physically beautiful often look down on the rest of us ordinary folk.
But here is my point: there is always someone who is superior to the people who think they are superior. The fashion magazines may declare that so-and-so is the most beautiful woman in the world. But I guarantee that at the end of 2023 those same magazines will declare some other woman the most beautiful. And Forbe’s, or some other publication, may print the name of the wealthiest person in the world. But the truth is, he is not wealthy enough to spare his life from cancer or heart disease. And the truth is he is not wealthy enough to pay a tithe on the tithe of the wealth which our God holds.
Why does pride exist in this world? It is because of the attitude: “WHO is the Lord, that I should obey his voice…? I know not the Lord…” Why is it that pride is among the sins most hated by the Lord? Again the answer is seen in the question: “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice…? I know not the Lord…” When people begin to learn about the Lord, they realize they have no reason to be proud before Him. The pervasive practical atheism which exists in the world and in every human heart is the source of the sin of pride. “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice…? I know not the Lord…”
But perhaps you deny that pride really is that pervasive or universal.
Let’s consider the way it EXPOSES itself.
Pharaoh pictured himself to be at the top of the heap – his position and power were greater than all others. Of course, you and I would never think like that, because we aren’t fools. We aren’t kings and queens. But we do sometimes think we are smarter than the “man,” breaking or bending the laws he has established. And don’t we often compare ourselves with others in specifically chosen ways, patting ourselves on the back for our few areas of supremacy? The Pharisee looked at his neighbor and said, “I thank thee God that I am not like other men.” I am better than this man. There is political or positional pride, and we all potentially can have it.
And then there is that pride which is tied to religion. Just as we hear as we visit door-to-door, “I’m not interested. I have my own religion,” Pharaoh had his own religion which he considered to be greater to that of Moses or anyone else. In fact, even though the Egyptians recognized that Pharaoh was human and subject to human weakness, at the same time they viewed him as a god, because the divine power of kingship was incarnate in him. This Pharaoh was not interested in Jehovah, because he was filled with self-imagined divinity. And isn’t that at the root of so much religion today? Don’t many people behave like little gods within the worlds of their own creation? Rabshakeh the military general of Sennacherib proudly defied Hezekiah to say that Jehovah was a greater God than that of the Assyrians. “Then the angel of the Lord went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand; when (Israel) arose early in the morning, behold (Assyrians) were all dead corpses.” As I said earlier, pride often determines how men leave this earthly life.
There were ten plagues that the Lord brought down on Egypt, gradually increasing in strength and terror. Most of them could have been explained away as natural phenomena, but when each was predicted and precisely controlled, it was hard not to consider the hand of God. But like a boxer going ten rounds with an opponent much tougher than he, Pharaoh endured each punch. He went down to his knees several times, but he got up, just to be knocked down again. And over the course of a few weeks, he became proud of his toughness, his durability. He reminds me of the man who comes to the house of God, hearing the message of his sins and of salvation in Christ, but he grows more stubborn and more proud of his ability to resist the conviction of God. “No matter what Christ’s qualifications and power are, I will not have this man to rule over me.”
There is intellectual pride which competes with Biblical faith. Someone says, “Only a fool would believe in divine creation and what Paul says about Christ the creator.” I would suggest that only pride would make a statement like that, because there is far more evidence for creation than for random evolution. Some other proud individual declares that it is illogical to say that the sacrifice of one man, Christ, could be considered to be sufficient for the salvation of another man. It is intellectual pride to affirm that there is no life beyond the physical life we now enjoy – or don’t enjoy. There isn’t a shred of humility in any modern criticism of the Word of God; it is all motivated by pride.
Job 21 describes another form of intellectual pride. “Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power? Their seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes. Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them. Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf. They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance. They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ. They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave. Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him? Lo, their good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me. How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and how oft cometh their destruction.”
I. The wicked man – the unbeliever – the openly sinful man – happens to be prospering in every way. His cattle are multiplying and so are his children. His bank account is growing and his taxes are shrinking. He looks around him and sees religious Job suffering the loss of everything. His mind takes a few turns around the block, and he says to the Lord, “Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. What is the Almighty, that we should server him?” and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?” Job comments in reply: “Lo, their good is not in their hand… How often is the candle of the wicked put out! And how oft cometh their destruction upon them! God distributeth sorrows in his anger.” Job reflects the rest of the Bible, pointing out that those wicked people are not in control – “their good is not in their hand.” When he speaks of their “candle,” he is using a metaphor for their lives – How easy it is to put their candle out. How often after years of prosperity does destruction come upon them? It eventually falls on every one of them. “God distributeth sorrows in his anger.” “It is appointed unto men, once to die – sometimes violently and painfully – but after this the judgment.”
But think about the RESULTS of that sinful pride.
Proverbially speaking, “Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”
Exodus 14:21 – “And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left. And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the LORD looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians, And took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the LORD fighteth for them against the Egyptians. And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen. And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them. But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left. Thus the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore. And Israel saw that great work which the LORD did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD, and his servant Moses.”
What prompted the deaths of Pharaoh and all his army? You can boil it down to the sin of pride. In Acts 12 Herod Agrippa became the Pharaoh over Israel, killing James the brother of John with the sword, “and because he saw it pleased the Jews he proceeded further to take Peter also.” It might be argued that there was no pride in these crimes, but just because it isn’t expressed, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t there, because we read on…. Acts 12:21 – “Upon a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon this throne, and made an oration unto (the people of Tyre). And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man. And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory, and he was eaten of worms…” Remember, the state of our heart may determine the variety of our death, and I’m not talking about high cholesterol and hyper-tension.
How does Acts 5 tell us that Ananias and Sapphira die? These professing Christians – they may actually have been truly born again… The pride of these professing Christians convinced them that they could deceive the Holy Spirit. They both died instantly when the apostles confronted them with their sins. We could talk about Judas Iscariot’s pride and of his death. The pride of Nebuchadnezzar is famous, and so is the grace of God in his case. And related to Nebuchadnezzar there is Belsshazzar who proudly and blasphemously was drinking alcohol from the sacred vessels of God’s house. “In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaleans slain” with blood by the swords of Dairus the Mede
What does pride do? Because it is so closely tied to an idolatrous heart, it alienates the sinner form God, unlike any other sin. Proverbs 6 tells us that it is among God’s most hated sins. He hates even the facial expressions of pride. And Psalm 73:6 describes pride as a chain preparing that sinner for God’s violence – judgment. James exhorts us: “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up,” and then Solomon adds, “a man’s pride shall bring him low.”
Conclusion
The Bible abundantly declares the absolute sovereignty, majesty and superiority of Jehovah over all things. In contrast to the holiness of the Lord, it declares that you and I are sinners in His sight. There is absolutely no room for pride in any of us, from Pharaoh to the poverty-stricken leper. And if we even hope for God’s blessing we must recognize and become the humble people we really are. “Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones” – Isaiah 57:15.
What is it to be contrite and humble before the high and lofty One? It begins with a recognition of our personal sin – our sin nature and our acts of sin. It involves a humble repentance before God with an admission of our true condition. And with that there must be the application of the blood of the Passover lamb – the Lord Jesus Christ. The people of God lived through the harrowing experience of the exodus, because they properly applied the blood which God prepared and required. And that is an illustration of the only way we can escape God’s judgment. Please, please, repent in humility before God and put your faith in the sacrifice of God’s lamb, the Christ Jesus.