Admitting Is Not Enough

Then Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron,

and said to them,

'I have sinned this time;

the LORD is the righteous one,

and I and my people are the wicked ones.' 

Exodus 9:27

In the midst of the seventh plague, Pharaoh admits he has sinned against the Lord. He calls out to Moses and Aaron and asks them to go before God on his behalf and ask for the thunder and hail to cease. He proclaims that the Lord is righteous and he and his servants are wicked. Could it possibly be that Pharaoh is beginning to get it?  

Sadly, no, Pharaoh still is not getting it. Moses goes before the Lord to ask Him to stop the thunder and hail, but it will be so that Pharaoh will know that the earth belongs to the God of the Hebrew slaves. Before Moses asks for this seventh plague to cease he looks at Pharaoh and assures him that he knows that this profession of his sin and wickedness is empty words. Moses is well aware that Pharaoh and his servants do not yet fear the LORD God.

Oh precious one, it is so much more than just admitting that we have sinned and that God is righteous.

Some will look at themselves and admit that they are sinners and then use this admittance to justify their sin. They will then point their finger in the face of God and claim that He has no right to judge them because it's His fault that they are a sinner to begin with. They claim He made them this way. The arrogance of man unrestrained by the Spirit of God has no bounds.

When we look at the many religions in the world, very few profess man as originally good. Most openly declare man as wicked and their god as the one who is the judge of his goodness. In most of the religions of the earth man must work to gain his goodness in order to please his god or, at the very least, to please the men around them who also serve his god. So for Pharaoh to proclaim himself wicked, to admit that he has sinned, does not mean that he is choosing to bow the knee to this righteous God.

Some can see the obvious power of our Creator and submit immediately, others eventually, yet there are and will be many who refuse to the end. They are unwilling to deny themselves and surrender to God's authority.

At the end of the age God will once again display His power through plagues and judgments upon the earth. Just as He did in Egypt, the plagues will begin small and will increase in intensity. God's desire is not for mankind to be destroyed but for mankind to repent and turn to Him and be saved. However, just as in Egypt, many will refuse until the very end and their opportunity will be gone.

In Revelation 6:15-16 we read how the kings of the earth, the great men, the commanders, the rich, the strong, the slave, the free, all hide themselves from God after they have seen His display of power through the breaking of the first six seals.

They could have came to Him in repentance and cried out for His mercy and grace, but instead they hid and cried out to the mountains and the rocks of the earth. We hide from God when we know we have sinned and we do not want to stand before His righteousness. Just acknowledging our wickedness is not repentance.

In Revelation 9:20-21 we read once again how mankind refuses to "repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold, and of silver, and of brass and of stone, and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorcereries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts." This refusal comes after the plagues within the six seals, and after the plagues within six of the seven trumpets that are within the seventh seal.

Twelve plagues later God is still giving mankind an opportunity to repent and be saved. The gospel of God is still being preached. The one-hundred and forty-four thousand sealed from the tribes of Israel are still preaching salvation. Yet, mankind will not submit to the authority of their Creator God. They still will not fear the word of the LORD.   

Pharaoh and his servants still would not fear God. Seven plagues behind them and still they shake their fist in the face of God. Why will they not humble themselves? Why do they refuse to honor this God?

They refuse because it would mean that they would have to exalt Him above themselves.

My friend, the root of sin is not evil acts.

The root of sin is self.      

Oh Father,

How very stubborn we can be. In Proverbs 18:14 your Word declares, "The spirit of a man can endure his sickness, but as for a broken spirit who can bear it?" We can endure our sin when we have pride to stand on. Our strong wills can hold our fist up high and tightly balled for the fight when we refuse humility. Oh, but Father, when you finally choose to break our spirit, to bring our pride crumbling down around us, this we cannot endure. Here is the point we often must reach before we finally willingly submit to Your authority. How thankful I am that You chose to break me.

My Jesus, I love You and it's in Your name I pray,

Amen