And Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go. Exodus 5:2
Is it actually possible that Pharaoh did not know about God? No, it is not. He could not have risen to the throne of Egypt without knowing about Joseph and the God he served to rescue Egypt from calamity a few generations earlier. So his bold statement in our text is not one of ignorance, but of defiance. It is the common stance of all of those who have thus far rejected the Gospel message. Sadly, it is the position that many Christians will take to begin their spiritual downfall.
Before we were saved, we knew about Jesus, but did not know Him as Lord. We rejected any claim of His authority on our lives, and we maintained that rejection until we were brought to repentance and faith in Him. Those of us brought up in Christian homes were limited in our scope of rebellion and defiance. But we were still rebellious and defiant, in reality far more responsible than those children around us who did not have godly parents to guide us or have the Word of God poured into our ears daily. We turned every one to our own way, and we ought to have left that way behind us when we trusted Christ.
If we follow the path of a Christian who has made shipwreck of their testimony, we will find a fork in that path in which the believer made the wrong turn, a turn that reflected the person’s decision to disregard the claims of Christ to satisfy the desires of self. The slippery slopes of that wrong path take their toll and eventually lead to open defiance of all that the Christian once believed and followed. It’s a heartbreaking story.
Deliberately deciding not to obey the voice of the Lord was Pharaoh’s worst mistake. Make sure it does not become ours, either. -Jim MacIntosh
Here is the link to the video of this message: https://youtu.be/QY_Kg5jX1Q4