Judgement 5: Death’s Selective Consequences

Exodus 9:1-7 

1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and tell him, ‘Thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews: “Let My people go, that they may serve Me. 2 For if you refuse to let them go, and still hold them, 3 behold, the hand of the Lord will be on your cattle in the field, on the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on the oxen, and on the sheep—a very severe pestilence. 4 And the Lord will make a difference between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt. So nothing shall die of all that belongs to the children of Israel.” ’ ” 5 Then the Lord appointed a set time, saying, “Tomorrow the Lord will do this thing in the land.” 6 So the Lord did this thing on the next day, and all the livestock of Egypt died; but of the livestock of the children of Israel, not one died. 7 Then Pharaoh sent, and indeed, not even one of the livestock of the Israelites was dead. But the heart of Pharaoh became hard, and he did not let the people go.

This fifth plague of judgement went from swarms of living flies that reminded Pharaoh and his people of God’s ability to see and reach out His hand everywhere, to reaching only where He chooses to selectively touch and act in judgement.  The Lord told Moses to proclaim to Pharaoh that if he continued not to let Israel serve Him that He would reach down and bring a pestilence on all but His chosen people’s livestock.  None whom God chose would suffer loss, but those not His would reap the consequences of judgement for refusing Him.  He set a day, the next one, and acted as promised.  Even then Pharaoh hardened his heart even further in rejecting the only true God in His people.  We see the parallel in God’s chosen people who will not face the consequences of sin at the final judgement; they will find mercy as promised in Christ’s righteousness to escape eternal death.  Those set against God and His Christ will be hardened further, continuing to reject and facing eternal consequences. God chose who to suffer the just consequences and who to pass over in mercy by grace.  Thanks be to God who shows mercy by grace to call His people out of bondage, protecting them for eternity!