The Pharoah Who Knew Not Joseph

[Barbara]

Cont'd...

Ezekiel 20 tells us the reason the people did not desire to leave was because they had these abominations before their eyes, worshipping the idols of Egypt, everything about Egypt was important to them. When they were in the wilderness they cried out for the leeks and the garlics and all the different 'things' that they had in Egypt and they loathed the bread that God gave them in the wilderness - and indication that Egypt was in them.
    In Ezekiel 20, God, through the priest Ezekiel, speaks to the elders of Israel who had come to inquire of the LORD, and tells them, (paraphrase) 'When you were in Egypt, I had to make Myself known to you.' And the reason that He had to make Himself known to them was because they didn't know Him. They knew about Him, but they didn't know Him. In fact, when Moses was on the being told by God that he was going to go down and speak to Pharoah and the people of Israel, he asked, 'Whom shall I say sent me?' And God said, "I AM THAT I AM" Why would Moses have to know this? Because they only knew ABOUT HIM, they didn't REALLY KNOW HIM.
    If they had known Him truly, would they be polluting themselves with the idols of Egypt? Definately NOT.
So in Ezekiel 20, He says 'I declared that I AM your God, you're My people, I made myself know to you, and I told you to put away the abominations which were before your eyes and to not defile yourself with the idols of Egypt...'

                                          Cont'd...

[Barbara]

Cont'd...

Once again, He would not have had to tell them that, if they weren't doing that. But then He also says, 'But you rebelled against Me and you wouldn't stop these things and so I poured out my fury on you in the midst of the land of Egypt.'
  My opinion is that occurred when the first 3 plagues came. Because AFTER the first 3 plagues God sent a distinction between Israel and Egypt. That would infer that the first 3 plagues affected everyone, AT LEAST everyone who was holding fast to the idols and gods of Egypt.
   After Moses speaks to Pharoah, he says he doesn't know this God. And now he's going to make their burdens even heavier. They're going to have to fetch their own straw for the bricks. Once Israel hears of this they go to Pharoah and ask him to relent on this order - he does not - and so they go to Moses and Aaron and say, 'What have you done but to put a sword in the hand of Pharoah to slay us'.
    It becomes very apparent to me that the elders of Israel are mad at Moses, they're mad at Aaron, and possibly even at God. But we see in this is they ARE NOT MAD AT PHAROAH. They are intimidated and scared of Pharoah, and Pharoah, keep in mind, was a god in Egypt.

                                Cont'd.....

[Barbara]

Cont'd...

And so, at this particular time, who are the elders of Israel more afraid of and fear more? The god of Egypt or the God of Israel? The one who can destroy the body, or the ONE who can cast both body and soul into hell? And it seems very obvious they were more intimidated by the god of Egypt.
    And so, ladies and gentlemen, what happens next - 3 plagues that affects everybody that is holding fast to the god of Egypt including those amongst His people.
    In the rest of Ezekiel 20, God does bring them out into the wilderness, He does give them His statutes and His laws and they rebel against it and, in short, they did in the wilderness what they did in the land of Egypt. Then He says 'I'm going to talk to your sons and daughters and make My covenant with them', but they did the same thing their fathers did.
Ezekiel 20:27, (keeping in mind that Ezekiel is speaking to the elders of Israel who have already been scattered at this time and are in exile) "Therefore, son of man, speak to the house of Israel, and say to them, Thus says the LORD GOD; Yet in this your fathers have blasphemed me, in that they have committed a trespass against me. (28) For when I had brought them into the land, for the which I lifted up my hand to give them, then they saw every high hill, and all the thick trees, and they offered there their sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of their offering: there also they made their sweet savour, and poured out there their drink offerings.
                           Cont'd...

[Barbara]

Cont'd...

Ezekiel 20:29, "Then I said to them, What is the high whereunto you go? And the name whereof is called BAMAH to this day."
   In Hebrew, what He asked is 'what is this HaBamah to which you go?...to this day it's called BAMAH.'
    Now that's interesting for obvious reasons. But the point is this. God says you're doing the same thing today, that they did way back in Egypt. And you're going up to these high places and you even have one that is called BAMAH.
So here's what He says - I'm going to get your attention. Just as He got the attention of Israel who were living in the midst of the land of Egypt, by allowing a new king to arise over Egypt who knew not Joseph. By allowing, if you will, BAD THINGS TO HAPPEN.
    What was His purpose? To cause His people, to provoke them to return to Him, to purge themselves of all the things of the Egyptians, all the comforts, all the luxuries, all the things that tied them to Egypt. He allowed, quote, unquote, BAD THINGS TO HAPPEN so they would return to Him WITH THEIR WHOLE HEART.
   And so, in the end, those BAD THINGS, according to the way the flesh perceives it, are actually GOOD THINGS when they provoke God's people to fall in line with His purposes.
                                Cont'd...

[Barbara]

Cont'd...

So, ladies and gentlemen, we'll close with this. It's pretty obvious what I think and what I feel, in that I believe that we are seeing in our country, and not JUST in our country but across the world, that a new king has arisen over Egypt who doesn't know Joseph, who has no regard for Joseph, and he sees God's people as a threat to his kingdom. So he is instituting policies that are intended to restrict and restrain God's people, to keep them from multiplying and growing, and to bring them under his subjection.
     He's going to be very subtle, very shrewd, he's going to say things one way while his intent is another. Many people will be deceived by this, and probably will find themselves in the 'wrong place at the wrong time' before they realize what's going on.
   However, in the end, we understand that our Father is Sovereign. And in the end the adversary unwittingly ends up serving God's purposes. And so, I believe there is a king who has arisen over Egypt who knew not Joseph - but I also believe that as these policies which are intended to bring God's people under his subjection and to restrict them from serving God's purposes - in the end those policies are going to be the very things that call God's people back to Him with THEIR WHOLE HEART. Because in the end, He's said that He's going to gather His people unto Himself.
   In short, we are about to see another Exodus, and this one will cause the first one to pale in comparison!!!!!!!
But that story is for another time, and another teaching.....

END

[nChrist]

Very Interesting! - Thanks Sister Barbara.

I think that the time is short. I'd love it if the Rapture was tonight - or Right Now.

Love In Christ,
Tom

1 Corinthians 15:50-58  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.  51  Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,  52  In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.  53  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.  54  So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.  55  O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?  56  The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.  57  But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  58  Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.


1 Thessalonians 4:13-18  13  But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.  14  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.  15  For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.  16  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:  17  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.  18  Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

[Barbara]

Amen, Brother Tom,

I'm ready to go now, also!!

I think Obama and all that's going on is a sign, not that he is the antichrist, but a sign from God to be ready -- to get ready by immersing ourselves in His Word!

As we heard someone say, 'Obama's probably not the antichrist, but he sure looks like the 'Employee of the Month'! 

[Soldier4Christ]

Amen, Brother Tom,

I'm ready to go now, also!!

I think Obama and all that's going on is a sign, not that he is the antichrist, but a sign from God to be ready -- to get ready by immersing ourselves in His Word!

As we heard someone say, 'Obama's probably not the antichrist, but he sure looks like the 'Employee of the Month'! 

Now that is an accurate way of putting it.

[nChrist]

Amen, Brother Tom,

I'm ready to go now, also!!

I think Obama and all that's going on is a sign, not that he is the antichrist, but a sign from God to be ready -- to get ready by immersing ourselves in His Word!

As we heard someone say, 'Obama's probably not the antichrist, but he sure looks like the 'Employee of the Month'! 

I can certainly agree with that. Obama is just one of many signs around the world that the time is short. I, for one, think we are on the brink of seeing huge and horrible events if Christians are still here to see them. We've already been here long enough to see and hear things that are almost beyond imagination.

Love In Christ,
Tom