And I will put a division between my people and thy people: to morrow shall this sign be. Exodus 8:23
The late Gospel preacher Albert Ramsay had a story about a visit he and another Christian made to the Parliament buildings in Ottawa. As they made their way through the impressive hallways, security guards came along and told the visitors to stand aside while they conducted a group of visiting dignitaries on a priority tour. They referred to those dignitaries as VIPs – very important persons. As they watched the special visitors go past with their special treatment, Albert turned to his companion and reminded him, ‘Brother, they don’t realize that as far as Heaven is concerned, you and I are the real VIPs here’.
Our text is God’s message to Pharaoh of a difference between the Israelites and the Egyptians. The difference was not in their appearance, their lifestyles, or their behaviour, which might all have been very similar. No, the difference was in their birth, what family they belonged to, and God who knew the difference made a huge division between His people and Pharaoh’s. The Israelites were spared the horrors of the plague of the flies that swarmed the Egyptians. God has also put a division today between His people and the unredeemed of the earth. The division is just as real, although we may not always notice it. The protection and the preservation we enjoy as God’s people is also just as real.
You and I are spared from harms small and great as the holy angels fulfil our Father’s charge to guard us. Many of the things we are spared from we will never know. Every day those angels are there and every day we benefit hugely from being our God’s people. But as wonderful as this protection is in time, it is vastly more important in eternity. The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son shelters us forever from divine wrath, and marks us as residents of everlasting bliss in God’s presence. What a contrast to the unsheltered sinners who must plunge into everlasting flames.
The division is real. Our preservation is real. Our entrance through the gates of pearl is real. Thanks be to God! -Jim MacIntosh
Here is the link to the video of this message: https://youtu.be/TXnzpSNuwVw