Egypt has now experienced six plagues, and as the number of plagues increased, so do their intensity. This is the seventh plague. The other six were not nice, but now God says that He will strike at the heart of the nation. (vs. 14) We can see this as in a battle where some wounds are superficial, while others are fatal—like the difference between being hit in the arm, or being hit in the heart. God is going to make an example of Egypt, that they, as well as the world, would remember throughout history. Egypt was a great nation at this time. History shows it would never regain it’s stature in the world, “thou shall be cut off from the earth.” vs. 15
God does not hide the fact that we, as His people, will have a hard time of it. We can see nation after nation rise up against His people—Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, and in our history, Nazi Germany, just to name a few. In our daily news, we still have the threat of war in the middle east, and it happens every day outside our news in countries like North Korea, China, Indonesia, India, etc. Christ’s people are being persecuted. But through it all, many are being saved; maybe I should say, because of it all. When people see that Christians are different, that they have something the natural man doesn’t, many will desire to have it. Even in ancient Egypt, we see some that are starting to fear the Lord. “He that feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the houses.” vs. 20
~ Jim Frantz
