Do You Not Yet Know That Egypt is Destroyed?

When Moses was pleading with Pharaoh to let the Israelites go, Pharaoh resisted, causing his people to endure 10 terrible plagues. He allowed everyone in his kingdom to suffer because of his selfishness and pride. Even his magicians, who were able to mimic the first few plagues,  acknowledged by the 8th plague that Pharaoh had no chance of stopping God from extraditing His people:

Exodus 10:7

Then Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the LORD their God. Do you not yet know that Egypt is destroyed?”

In our personal lives, we each have a stubborn person inside of us who is unwilling to see his faults and change his behavior.
Paul referred to this person as the "old man" (2 Corinthians 5:17). The events of the 10 plagues can be put in parallel with our own coming out of Egypt. Even though we grow in obedience to God according to the new creation that is in us by the Holy Spirit, the old man inside of us still rages against us, acting like he doesn't know that spiritual Egypt, his kingdom, has been destroyed. I would like to dwell on this comparison for a while to see what correlations may exist and what we might learn about our own "old man," whom we are putting to death in our flesh as we strive to live by God's Spirit. This will be the first of at least a two-part series on this idea.

The Court Magicians

If you read back through the story of the plagues, you might remember that Pharaoh had magicians in his court that mimicked the first few miracles that God performed. From the perspective of the Pharaoh, it was not God but Moses who was making these miracles happen. The magicians of the time supposedly worked by knowing the secret protocol to invoke the power of their gods, and Pharaoh thought that Moses worked in the same way. When Pharaoh saw Aaron throw down his rod and it turned into a snake, he attributed it to the skill of Aaron in invoking God's power rather than solely to God's power and will. In Pharaoh's eyes, there were other gods who all had powers that could be invoked by the right incantations, sacrifices, or other such rites. Therefore, Pharaoh did not acknowledge that the plagues and miracles were God's judgment, but rather the ability of Moses and Aaron to summon the power of their God, and this belief was further confirmed in Pharaoh's eyes when his magicians were able to reproduce the miracles that Moses and Aaron displayed.

As we first begin trying to follow God's way of life, the "old man" in us wants to believe that we can achieve godly behavior by our own power. Indeed, if you look at the general consensus of our society, people generally believe that any problem can be overcome through human willpower. Anyone whose ever tried to lose weight, stop smoking, or effect any other significant behavioral change has probably approached the situation with this kind of thinking, with varying degrees of success. It's not surprising then that when we first start to follow God's law that we think that it is simply a matter of willpower to keep ourselves from doing or thinking evil. In effect, we set up our own willpower as our court magician who is able to perform the things that God has said that He will do in us by His power. But does it really accomplish what God can accomplish?

Colossians 2:20-23
Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules:  “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”?  These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

It's not wrong that we want to use the human tools that we have in order to follow God's law - in fact, such is required on our part! What IS wrong is to believe that our human tools are sufficient to build godly character. If I physically train myself to not curse at the car who cuts me off in traffic but I still feel the same way inside, then I have accomplished nothing in God's view! Although someone observing me might not discern any difference, we know that God tests the hearts of men, down to our thoughts and emotions. If you insist that emotions and thoughts can similarly be brought into full submission to God by mere classical conditioning Pavlov-style, then you are denying the Word of God; for, He has said that these rules "lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence."

Drawing again from this parallel, we should realize fairly soon into our calling that it is the power of God that will cause Pharaoh, the old man, to let us leave spiritual Egypt - the magicians realized by just the 3rd plague that they could not reproduce the things that God was doing, acknowledging to Pharaoh that "This is the finger of God" (Exodus 8:19). There comes a time in our lives when we must realize that the changes that we see in our lives are not the result of anything that we could do ourselves - it is the finger of God upon us. This is such an important concept! Seeing God's work in our lives strengthens our faith, encourages us to work even harder to seek and follow God, and helps us to see our place, knowing that it is by God's might rather than our own that we are brought out of bondage from sin:

Philippians 1:6

being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

 Next time you see the old man, who struggles even still to gain power over you, ask him - Do you not yet know that Egypt is destroyed?