The Point of No Return

God's program for redemption contains three essential elements. First, redemption is by a divinely sent deliverer. Second, redemption is by blood. Third, redemption is by power. We are nearing the completion of the first phase of the redemption of the children of Israel and beginning the second phase.

Moses has been sent by God to redeem the children of Israel from the slave market of Egypt. Moses is a kinsman with the children of Israel but is himself free from the bondage of the people. Moses has the credentials of his commission. God authenticates his message with miracles. His own nation receives him the second time he presents himself to them, but Pharaoh rejects him. Because of the rejection of the person and word of Moses, Pharaoh and the Egyptian suffered the judgment of the plagues.

These plagues were a contest between the powers of darkness and Satan and the power of God. Each plague was directed against some god or gods of Egypt which were worshipped, and which were recognized as providing protection against the scourges that periodically came upon these people.

God shows in these plagues that the earth is the Lord’s (Exodus 9:29), and that He controls everything. These plagues are in His hands, not in the hands of Satan. He is able to bring them and He is able to stop them. It is the Lord and He alone that has supreme power and is to be worshipped and glorified. He is the sovereign ruler of Egypt and of the entire world. Pharaoh (and Satan behind him) is only a usurper on the throne.

We need to pause to remind ourselves that though Egypt and the world learned this lesson at this time that God was in sovereign control of all the elements of the earth, the Israelites failed to remember it through their history. Notice what the Lord did to his people as is recorded in Amos 4:6-11.

Amos 4:6–11 NASB95

“But I gave you also cleanness of teeth in all your cities And lack of bread in all your places, Yet you have not returned to Me,” declares the Lord. “Furthermore, I withheld the rain from you While there were still three months until harvest. Then I would send rain on one city And on another city I would not send rain; One part would be rained on, While the part not rained on would dry up. “So two or three cities would stagger to another city to drink water, But would not be satisfied; Yet you have not returned to Me,” declares the Lord. “I smote you with scorching wind and mildew; And the caterpillar was devouring Your many gardens and vineyards, fig trees and olive trees; Yet you have not returned to Me,” declares the Lord. “I sent a plague among you after the manner of Egypt; I slew your young men by the sword along with your captured horses, And I made the stench of your camp rise up in your nostrils; Yet you have not returned to Me,” declares the Lord. “I overthrew you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, And you were like a firebrand snatched from a blaze; Yet you have not returned to Me,” declares the Lord.

The phrase is repeated five times: “yet you have not returned to Me, declares the Lord.” Since they had refused to be moved by the scourges of nature, recognizing that it was God who was operating in them, then nothing was left but total judgment (Amos 4:12).

Amos 4:12 NASB95

“Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel; Because I will do this to you, Prepare to meet your God, O Israel.”

Today we have grown too scientific to recognize the hand of God in the problems of droughts, pestilences, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes and the like. We have forgotten that is the Lord who is in sovereign control of these things to our own destruction. So when God does send a hurricane upon New Orleans or the coasts of Texas or the beaches of Florida, yet there is no repentance. People go right on sinning as if nothing happened. But there comes the time of no return when all that is left is total judgment. America is swiftly heading for that day. You cannot defy God and come out on the winning side.

A. Pharaoh’s rejection of God’s messenger, 10:27-29.

Pharaoh is willing to compromise but he is not willing for God's will to be done and for the Lord to be glorified. When Moses rejected the fourth compromise of Pharaoh (Exodus 10:24-26) then the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart and he would not let them go (Exodus 10:27). God made Pharaoh's heart strong and firm so that he dared to do all that was in his heart.

In 10:28, we see Pharaoh has rejected God's man, and has therein sealed his judgment. There will be no more opportunity to change; he has had his last chance. He has come to and passed the place of no return. Judgment is final.

Pharaoh has rejected God's word and God’s man. He has defied God and he is sealed all avenues for mercy, for he personally had called Moses before to relieve him from the plagues and their suffering. This cannot be done anymore. Pharaoh has set his own judgment.

Now, in 10:29, Moses has the last word, but he is not through speaking yet . He does not leave until Chapter 11, verse 8, where Moses records concerning himself: “and he went out from Pharaoh in a great anger.” Chapter 11, therefore, should be connected with chapter 10. There is no break from the standpoint of his speaking with Pharaoh. So what Moses is doing in 11:1-3 is to go back and give the background of what the Lord had previously told him in order to fill in the reader with this needed information. Chapter 11:1-3 is parenthetical; Nevertheless, it begins the second phase of God's program of redemption, redemption is by blood (Exodus 11-13).

B. Announcement of the 10th plague, 11:1-10.

1. The directions to the Israelites, 11:1-3.

In 11:1, the first part of this verse may be read: “Now the Lord had said to Moses,” pointing to a previous time in other words. The Hebrew verb merely indicates that it was said, the context alone telling you when. In this case, it was before Moses appeared before Pharaoh.

God has been working everything toward this one end. He had told Moses from the very beginning after his first encounter with Pharaoh:

Exodus 6:1 NASB95

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for under compulsion he will let them go, and under compulsion he will drive them out of his land.”

Pharaoh is not only going to let all of you go, he is going to do more. He is going to force you to leave. All that the Lord has been doing is to bring this to pass.

So it is that the Lord has a plan for our lives, and He is working first this way and then that way as it appears to us, and yet the Master Weaver knows exactly the plan He is programming. All He asks us to do is leave the pattern and plan in His hands and for us to be submissive and walk by faith in His perfect will, and He will bring it to pass.

What Moses is doing then in Exodus 10:29 is giving a prophecy. The reason he can say this is because God has told him there will be only one more plague and then they will be forced to leave.

The Hebrew word translated “borrow” in verse 2 is used 168 times in the Old Testament, and 162 times it is translated “ask, beg, or require.” It should be translated here this way. The Lord wants His people to collect their wages. They have earned this, and He predicted He would do this for them (Genesis 15:14; Exodus 3:22). The reference in Exodus 12:35-36 seems to indicate only that it had to been done previous to that time. Moses had told the people to do this as the Lord said, and they obeyed.

The Egyptians bestowed gifts of jewels and gold upon their own gods, why should they not bestow them upon the people of the true and living God? The Lord will have the people use this in the tabernacle construction. After the contest between the man of sin and the Son of Man, the substance of the nation shall be given to the King of Kings (Isaiah 60:1-13). Here once again we see that this is only prophetic of the coming day of Israel’s redemption.

Verse 3 explains why this unnatural thing was done. There were two reasons. The Lord put it into the heart of the Egyptians to give and to give in abundance. This was first of all His work. This is the Godward side of it. But there was also the human side: Moses was greatly respected and admired. He was a great person and God had made him so in the sight of the people, and even Pharaoh’s servants. Moses was great because he lived uncompromisingly for the Lord. No one respects a Demas, or a Lot, or an Eli, or Ananias and Sapphira. People do respect the Pauls and Timothys, the Abrahams and Samuels, and the Barnabases. True respect is the by-product of a life lived for God. Do not fall into the trap of thinking you will be respected at school, kids, if you go along with the crowd. Lot had no influence over Sodom at all because he lived where the people lived. Do not be tricked!

Moses was very great, and the greater than Moses who will yet appear as Israel’s redeemer will be even greater. The Lord Jesus Christ is both the Apostle (sent one) and High Priest while Moses was only the sent one (Hebrews 3:1). Furthermore:

Hebrews 3:3 NASB95

For He has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house.

The architect of the house of Israel was Jesus Christ, and therefore He has more glory than Moses who was merely in the house. Finally:

Hebrews 3:5–6 NASB95

Now Moses was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later; but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house—whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.

As the Son has more glory than the servant, so the glory and greatness of Jesus Christ exceeds the glory and greatness of Moses. Jesus Christ will be highly exalted (Psalm 2:7-12).

2. The declaration of the 10th plague to Pharaoh, 11:4-8.

The parenthetical section is over. Moses now resumes his conversation with Pharaoh.

Now in verse 4, the question needs to be asked, “What midnight?” Is it this very night of the day Moses is appearing before Pharaoh, or is it the Lord speaking of some other midnight?

It seems from the text of Exodus that Moses is indicating that it was that very night. First of all, this is the force of the statement of verse 4. Moses leaves in a great anger (11:8); there is no reason to wait. Then the instructions of Exodus 12:1-20 have already been given to the people prior to this time, and are only recorded in their present place because this is the proper and logical place for them, even though it may not be chronological. When Moses leaves Pharaoh's presence, Exodus 12:21 continues the action of God’s man: “Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and take for yourselves lambs according to your families, and slay the Passover lamb.”

Thus, the text seems to indicate that it was this very midnight. Remember however, that the previous plague of darkness was over. The darkness only lasted three days and after it was over the Lord told Moses there would be only one more plague upon Pharaoh and Upon Egypt.

Verse 5 reveals that the firstborn were selected as the objects for this plague. They were preeminent in ancient times because of their position and they thus represented the elite of the nation. Even under the law, the right of the firstborn was to have a double portion of his father's inheritance. If the father had two sons, he would divide the inheritance into three parts, and the firstborn received two of the three portions, or a double portion. This was what Elisha was asking from Elijah. It was the firstborn’s portion of his spirit that he requested.

Now, if the Lord was able to slay the firstborn, he would have been able to slay all. They were then only representative of judicial judgement upon the entire nation. If God shows mercy on some; He does not have to show mercy on all; and if God shows judgment on some, he does not have to manifest judgment on all. We may say that the firstborn were like the firstfruit. They both were representative of all.

By slaying the firstborn, the Lord shows something of His omniscience, for He must know who the firstborn are from the highest to the lowest and even of the animals in order to do this. It also demonstrates His omnipotence to accomplish this feat all over Egypt. If He chose, he could have done this over all the world if that had been His program.

In the tribulation, the Lord will not single out those who are representative. Judgment will fall upon all. In one judgment, one-quarter of the population of the earth will perish (Revelation 6:8); in another, there one-third of the men slain (Revelation 9:18). These two judgments alone total over one-half of mankind. No wonder our Lord said that unless those days would be shortened, i.e. terminated, no flesh would be saved (Matthew 24:22).

It is interesting that the highest and the lowest are singled out for mention. Both are significant. The eldest son of Amenhotep II was slain by the Lord this night. Often the sins of the parents are visited upon the children because the children are just like their parents. The Lord says the slave girl grinding meal will also be affected. This signifies that the firstborn did not involve the men only but also the women. It is for this reason that there was not a house where there was not one dead (Exodus 12:30). The grinding of the meal was considered the lowest form of employment and this was normally done by female slaves. From the top to the bottom, all the firstborn will be affected, including all the firstborn of animals, many of which were worshipped by the Egyptians.

In 11: 6, similar language was used of the hail and of the locust, but now it is used of death. Such is the language of the Great Tribulation which is coming up on the whole earth (Jeremiah 30:7; Daniel 12:1; Joel 2:2; Matthew 24:21).

The wailing in the East for their dead is pathetic and bitter. With every home affected, there would ascend a great cry in the night. God is perfectly righteous to bring this upon all Egypt because those who will may believe (cf. Exodus 9:20) and offer a lamb, but the majority of the people as seen from Exodus 14:17 are unbelievers and when their heart is made strong and firm so that they manifest what is in it, it is against the Lord and His people .

The one thing that is repeated over and over again concerning the Lord in the tribulation is that He is just, true, righteous and holy (Revelation 15:3-4; 16:5-7; 19:2, 11) in all of His ways and judgments.

In verse 7 we see what a contrast between believers and unbelievers that the Lord makes in the end. The believer may think he has the hard way and the unbeliever the easy road, but such is not the case. When the final chapter is written the reverse will be the case.

Dogs are never treated in Scripture in any way but that of a nuisance or disdain. No city was free from them and they would normally create the most vigorous howl if there was any movement at night. This night would be different. With the Egyptians wailing and the Israelites moving out, not a dog shall move his tongue against any of the children of Israel. There will be no dogs howling that will strike terror into the hearts of the children of Israel. They shall move out in perfect peace and quietness. The God who is able to shut the mouths of lions is able to hold the tongues of dogs. He protects Israel from even the threat of danger.

Once again, we see the amazing truth that the Creator has no problem with the animal world. His problem and rebel in His universe is man. It is man that is uncontrollable and rebels against his Maker. The animal world always recognizes Him and is subject to Him.

The Lord does put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel. The Lord always puts a difference between believer and unbeliever. It is the devil who seeks to break it down and seeks to cause the child of God to live just like the children of the devil. Just as the Holy Spirit makes the unity in the body of Christ and we are to endeavor to keep it (Ephesians 4:11), so it is that the Lord makes the difference between the child of the world and His own. We are to seek to be different from the world, not like them.

The “me” and the “I” in verse 8 are now changed to that of Moses. This will be the result of God's working. Egypt will bow before Moses. The end result of God’s working in the tribulation will be that all will bow before the Lord Jesus Christ. Some bow before judgment and find mercy and salvation. Others bow in judgment but will be lost forever. Everyone at the Great White Throne Judgment will bow their knee, but not one will be saved. The day of salvation is over. They acknowledged Him too late.

“And he went out from Pharaoh in great anger.” The emotion or anger is not in itself a sin. The reason for the anger is what makes it sinful or not. We are to be angry and not sin (Ephesians 4:26).

Moses has been very patient with Pharaoh, but there is an end to patience. There is an end to exercising longsuffering. Moses has reached that place. His life has been threatened by Pharaoh, and he has been dismissed by Pharaoh as an unacceptable person when Pharaoh himself was the one who called for him (Exodus 10:24). He has been denied further access to Pharaoh as if Pharaoh controlled what happened. But most of all, the Lord has been defamed and dishonored. Pharaoh has defied the living God. Moses has great anger, not because of his honor, because of God's honor.

There is coming another day when the Son as the Lamb of God will have great anger. Then it will be that “the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” (Revelation 6:15b-17; cf. Revelation 11:18; 14:10, 19; 15:1, 7; 19:15).

3. The Contrast: Disobedience and Faithfulness, 11:9-10.

Verses 9 and 10 reflect back upon what has happened and forward to what will happen. Pharaoh has reached the point of no return. He has had his last opportunity. There will be nothing now but judgment. Moses has had the last word, now God will perform the last act. There will be the scream of death in Pharaoh's home this very night. This man has rejected God's man and there is nothing left but death.

I must be frank with you: if you continually reject the greater Moses, the Lord Jesus Christ, there will come to you the last opportunity you will ever have to be saved. After that there will be no more. If you reject Him and His word you shall die in your sins. There is a point of no return; there is a place where there will be no longer be the striving of the spirit (Genesis 6:3).

Every encounter with Jesus Christ produces some heart response. You either become softened or hardened. You either become more convicted or more defiant. You will react to him -- you must.

Whether if you refuse the only Savior of mankind beyond the day of salvation; There will be the screaming in your household of eternal death in being separated in the lake of fire forever and ever (Revelation 20:10-15). What a price to pay for being wrong; of being unwilling to change!