THE TENTH PLAGUE

Almighty God had poured out nine devastating plagues, leaving the land of Egypt in ruins. Dead livestock decayed in the scorching sun, polluting the air with a heavy stench. Once green and lush farmland was sparsely dotted with shredded twigs. Death was everywhere.

Pharoah sat high upon his ornate throne, smarting from the boils and spewing venomous but powerless threats against Moses and the Hebrew slaves. His attendants hung their heads in fear… not fear of Pharoah, but fear of the vengeful God of the Hebrews… the God they called Jehovah.

That’s when Moses strode through the door.

“Pharoah,” Moses boomed. “Every firstborn male in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne to the firstborn of the servant girl who is at the grindstones… Then there will be a great cry of anguish through all the land of Egypt such as never was before or ever will be again” (Exodus 11:5-6).

Death would soon visit the Pharoah’s family… every family. No exceptions.

Death. The penalty for rebellion against God is … death.

That was the penalty for the original sin. Adam and Eve, our most ancient ancestors, had rebelled against God and the penalty meted out upon them was death. They might have lived forever in the perfectly utopian garden, walking, talking, dwelling in the presence of the Living God. But they rebelled. Justly, God declared, “You are dust, and you will return to dust” (Genesis 3:19).

It is still true today. The price of rebellion against the Holy God is death. “The wages of sin is death!” (Romans 3:23).

“… think on these things” (Philippians 4:8, KJV).