"Let My People Go"

[dave c]

simpletruth #138o Revisited 02May10 salicart@msn.com

HOSEA 10:12—Part Fifteen: “Let My People Go”

by rev. dave c

Hosea 10:12, Sow for yourselves righteousness; Reap in mercy; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the LORD, Till He comes and rains righteousness on you (NKJV).

The Greek word translated mercy six times in Romans 9:13-23, is eleeo (Strong's #1653, from GSN1656); and means to be compassionate (by word or deed, specially, by divine grace): KJV--have compassion (pity on), have (obtain, receive, shew) mercy (on). Regarding God’s compassion for humanity, Paul asks the Romans in Chapter Nine, 14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15 For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." 16 It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden (NIV).

As quoted above, verses 15 through 18 refer, of course, to the story of Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt. In Exodus 3:7-10 we are told that the Lord spoke to Moses saying, "...I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey.... And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt" (NIV). Exodus 4:21 continues, The LORD said to Moses, "When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go." (NIV).

But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. God is BIG and He can, and does, whatever He wills...but to understand this verse within the context of the revealed nature of God, we need to take a closer look at what actually transpired between God and Pharaoh later in the story. Nine times the King of Egypt is said to have hardened his own heart (Ex. 7:13&14, 22; 8:15, 19, 32; 9:7, 34&35)—and nine times God is said to have hardened it (Ex. 4:21; 7:3; 9:12; 10:1,20, 27; 11:10; 14:4&8; and Ro 9:17&18). What is particularly significant is that we are told that Pharaoh hardened his own heart during the first five plagues, and finally we are told that God hardened the King’s heart during the sixth plague. In the same way God knew that His man Job would hang on to faith despite all the trials and tribulations, the Lord knew that Pharaoh would harden his own heart despite the promises of God if he would but repent.

Some 1,200 to 1,500 years later, God the Father again heard the cries of His people who were slaves of a wicked king in a country that was not their home. He again came down to set them free from bondage and to lead them into the Promised Land. This time, however, He came Himself to once and for all defeat Satan, break the chains of sin and death, and open the door of Christ’s body so that His children might join Him in a new Heavens and a new Earth through the power of the Holy Spirit. For 2,000 years we have been experiencing God’s mercy in the face of generations of willful rebellion. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance (2Pe 3:9; NIV).

Second Timothy 2:20 In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. 21 If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work. 22 Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. 23 Don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. 24 And the Lord's servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. 25 Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and that they will come to their senses [ref. ‘The Prodigal Son’ Lu 15:17] and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will (NIV).

God repeatedly and with great patience speaks to us about iniquity in our lives—however, if we, like Pharaoh, continue to close the eyes and ears of our heart to His Word through disobedience, we eventually become unable to see and hear the Lord in our daily lives (Ac 28:25-27, & Ro 1:28). The writer of Hebrews exhorts us in Chapter Three, verses 5-13, Moses was faithful as a servant in all God's house, testifying to what would be said in the future. But Christ is faithful as a son over God's house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast. So, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert, where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, 'Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.' So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.'" See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness (NIV). Amen.