V1 – After they talked to the people and the people now understood what God wanted to do, Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh. The message was that God wanted the people to go and worship Him.
We are set free not because being free is the end in itself, we are set free so that we may freely worship Him.
V2 – Pharaoh mocks the Lord and refuses to let the people go.
Our sins and captivities are never willing to let us go. If it were up to the flesh and the enemy, the devil, we would never be free to worship the Lord.
Thank God it’s not up to them but up to the Lord. The flesh and the devil do not have to agree, they are forced to see God’s will unfold in front of them.
Salvation is up to the Lord, He only wants our willingness, faith, trust and obedience.
John 3:16 Living Bible – For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son so that anyone who believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Ephesians 2:8-9 NLT – God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
V3 – Moses and Aaron say that if they don’t go to the wilderness and worship the Lord, He will kill them with a plague or with the sword.
A question comes up? What happens when people refuse or do not worship the Lord as He has commanded? Why did Moses and Aaron say this?
I think it’s because they understood what happens when people fail to voluntarily (with joyful willingness, not out of compulsion) worship God and glorify Him. At its core, failing to worship is disobedience. The command from God is that we are to worship Him, serve Him and He alone is to be our God.
Luke 4: 8 ESV – And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’”
And so, when we disobey and do not worship Him willingly and joyfully, what happens? We become these people talked about here:
Romans 1:18-32 NLT – But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles. So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved. Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.
When you refuse to acknowledge and worship God, then He lets you over into your sinful and evil desires, and in the end, you reap what you deserve: death (eternal separation from Him). And out there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Romans 6:23a KJV – For the wages of sin is death…
The portion in Romans 1:18-32 NLT above has shown us how it all happens:
- You first ignore GOD, yet He has always revealed himself to all people.
- You refuse to give him thanks and to acknowledge him as your God.
- You come up with your own ideas of what God is like and start creating idols. (wealth, entertainment, power, gods made of metal/wood/bronze, etc. and so on)
- You start worshipping the things God created instead of worshipping God.
- God abandons you to your shameful desires.
- Your life becomes full of every from of wickedness.
- You suffer God’s justice.
Acknowledge the Lord and worship Him. Man is bound to worship other things, including self, if He/She does not worship the true God. This happens because when a person refuses to acknowledge God, their mind becomes dark and cannot understand. They walk in darkness, coming up with their own ideas of God.