Exodus 10:12-20
The Plague of Locusts, Part II
In 2013, the most recent major plague of locusts filled the Middle East. It wasn’t by any stretch comparable to the plague described in the Bible or some other plagues which have come about in recorded history, but photos from it still showed an impressive amount of locusts suddenly showing up in various places.
Over Egypt, they estimated an infestation of about 30 million locusts. Just before the Passover in Israel, a portion of them flew over the border and covered about 2000 acres in the south of the land. With modern pest control, the infestation quickly died out, but it made for great new stories, especially because it occurred so close to Passover.
In our ongoing look into the plagues on Egypt, we’re also getting closer and closer to the first Passover. Seven plagues are behind us and the eighth is just about to start. And despite it being the greatest plague of locusts ever to come upon the earth, it will still not have a permanent effect on Pharaoh.
When reading Exodus, he sounds like a nut job because he keeps refusing to yield to the Lord. When you read it, it almost seems impossible that someone could act this way. And yet, Pharaoh is simply a picture of any one of us or any group of people at any given time.
We can laugh at the stupid man because we see the whole story in front of us, but he was really no different than Israel. They got many of the same punishments as Pharaoh and they still wouldn’t yield to the Lord. And really, how much worse was this when they were the Lord’s people and had the Lord’s word right there in front of them!
Text Verse: “I blasted you with blight and mildew.
When your gardens increased,
Your vineyards,
Your fig trees,
And your olive trees,
The locust devoured them;
Yet you have not returned to Me,’
Says the Lord.” Amos 4:9
The words of Amos go on citing the measures the Lord took to get Israel to repent. And yet time and again, they wouldn’t listen. Eventually, the sobering words of the Lord show the utter frustration He had at their continued rebellion as He cried out, “Prepare to meet your God, O Israel!” (4:12)
I can’t think of a more terrifying thought, and yet every person on earth will eventually hear the same words. Some will be ready and some won’t, but we will all be meeting our God someday. The terms on which we meet Him depend solely on our relationship with Jesus Christ.
For Pharaoh, the Lord will continue to demonstrate that He alone is God and that the gods of Egypt are merely false gods. And for us, He has proven this so powerfully through His word that we are simply left without excuse if we ignore it and turn our hearts away from Him.
And so let’s not do that. Instead, pay heed to His superior word. In order to do that, we need to know it. And so let’s turn to that precious word once again and… May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.
II. The East Winds Brings Destruction (verses 12-15)
12 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts,
In the previous verse from last week, Moses and Aaron had suffered the disgrace of being driven from Pharaoh’s presence. Because they are the representatives of the Lord, it was an act against Him. This is no different than treating an ambassador from another country with disgrace.
The treatment of the representative reflects upon the people or authority that the person represents. To expel an ambassador is thus intended as an action against the one whom the ambassador represents. To expel Moses and Aaron can only be viewed as a defiant action against the Lord.
Therefore, the Lord will now act once again, multiplying His wonders in the land of Egypt. And so He instructs Moses to “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts.” Mentally, we can picture what this would entail.
Moses would raise his arms to the heavens and draw them out in the direction of all four quarters as if beckoning the great army which God has prepared for the moment. It will be, as Pharaoh was already told, locusts.
To repeat so you remember, locusts are seen throughout the Old Testament and they are especially highlighted in the book of Joel. Their Hebrew name is arbeh. But the root of arbeh is what gives substance to their name. It is ravah and means “multiply.”
Thus, the very name, “locust” implies astonishing numbers. As we saw, in Joel the Lord calls them “My great army.” The great army of the Lord will now rain destruction from the heavens. Their devastating power will come heavily upon the land with the sole purpose of consuming everything they encounter.
12 (con’t) that they may come upon the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land—
Last week, in verse 5 it mentioned that the locusts “shall eat the residue of what is left” and it specifically mentioned the trees. Now it uses a general word to describe every green thing – esev. It is the same word which was used in the plague of hail. There it said –
“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt—on man, on beast, and on every herb of the field, throughout the land of Egypt.’ 23 And Moses stretched out his rod toward heaven; and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire darted to the ground. And the Lord rained hail on the land of Egypt. 24 So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, so very heavy that there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. 25 And the hail struck throughout the whole land of Egypt, all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail struck every herb of the field and broke every tree of the field.” Exodus 9:22-25
The plague of hail wrought its damage on the trees and herbs, and now these words are used again to show that although the hail did great damage, some plants survived. These will now be consumed by the grand plague of locusts.
The Hebrew word for “come upon” is alah. Here it gives the general idea of rising like clouds as they are carried in by the wind. From a distance, one would only see a great black cloud coming upon the land. If you didn’t know what it was, it would be a most terrifying sensation.
One might think some type of supernatural hostile force was coming upon the land or that the earth itself was rising like a black dust cloud to consume whatever was in its path. Even someone who knew what the cloud was would surely feel panic in the moment before it arrived. The cloud would come and the damage will be immense…
12 (con’t) all that the hail has left.”
The stretching out of the hands over Egypt was symbolic. It meant that there would be complete coverage of the country, just as there was with the hail. Whatever was spared in that plague will again be susceptible to further destruction. But because there was so much damage already from the hail, the locusts would have less to eat than they otherwise would have.
Because of this, what was left would be at even greater risk than by a normal plague, and Pharaoh has already been told that this will be greater than any other known plague up to that point. He should have heeded, but the hardened heart is like an iron wall. And Pharaoh’s heart was very hard.
Pharaoh’s heart is hard and his mind is fixed
And many pains he has brought on himself and his land
First he relents and then hardens, his actions are mixed
And so again and again he receives a punishing hand
First it was blood, then frogs, and then the lice
Those didn’t work, nor did the flies or the death of the livestock
And the boils and the hail could not have been nice
Now maybe the locusts will his heart finally unlock
They are coming and they will cover the land
What hasn’t been destroyed will now be chewed away
Another plague from God’s powerful hand
Another plague which for an end Pharaoh will pray
13 So Moses stretched out his rod over the land of Egypt,
As instructed, so Moses does. Like the plague of hail, Aaron isn’t mentioned. Instead it says that Moses took the action. There has been a marked shift in the initiation of the plagues, as least from how the Bible records them. Moses, whose name means “He who draws out,” will once again draw out a terrifying plague upon the land of Egypt.
13 (con’t) and the Lord brought an east wind on the land all that day and all that night.
Moses is very careful to describe the details of how the Lord worked this great miracle. Because locusts plagues are not entirely uncommon, this one is again natural enough to be dismissed as chance timing by a hardened heart, but it is supernatural enough to be seen as a true miracle by one who understands God’s foreknowledge of such events when they occur.
The true miracle is just that – the event was foretold by the Lord and it will come about exactly when He directs it to occur. The Pulpit Commentary notes that –
“Locusts generally come with a wind; and, indeed, cannot fly far without one. An east wind would in this case have brought them from northern Arabia, which is a tract where they are often bred in large numbers. Denon, the French traveller, notes that an enormous cloud of locusts which invaded Egypt during his stay, came from the east.”
Because the verse tells us that the wind blew all that day and all that night, it is telling us that the locusts could easily have been carried a very great distance without any trouble at all. There was a devastating date with destiny for these destructive demons and there was no delay in their duly-timed arrival…
13 (con’t) When it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts.
While speaking to Pharaoh through Moses, the Lord said this in verse 4 – “…if you refuse to let My people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your territory.” Exactly as prophesied, so it occurred. Only a truly hardened heart could continue to fight against such precise warnings with such devastating results.
Before we go on, I want to read you this entire verse again and then read you Exodus 14:21. There you will see the similarities in how God performs the miracles –
“So Moses stretched out his rod over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind on the land all that day and all that night. When it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts.”
“Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided.” Exodus 14:21
Both times an east wind is used to produce the miracle. God’s use of the east wind in the first instance was to destroy Pharaoh’s land of Egypt while continuing to work towards securing Israel’s freedom. His use of this same east wind later was to actually secure freedom for Israel and at the same time to destroy Pharaoh and the Egyptian people.
There are both similarities and contrasts, but in both the glory of the Lord is revealed.
14 And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt and rested on all the territory of Egypt.
The same word for “territory” which was used to describe the coverage of the plague of frogs is used again here. It is gebul and it means “borders.” In other words, the land within the borders is what was infested. Wherever anything green was within the borders it was plagued with locusts.
After their long flight, they are said to have rested there. This is the same word for “rest” as was used for example, after the flood of Noah. As the flood ended, the ark rested on the mountains of Ararat. In the same way, the locusts have been on a long, divinely-directed journey, and they too will now rest and reinvigorate themselves.
14 (con’t) They were very severe; previously there had been no such locusts as they,
In verse 6, Moses told Pharaoh this –
“They shall fill your houses, the houses of all your servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians—which neither your fathers nor your fathers’ fathers have seen, since the day that they were on the earth to this day.”
Exactly as had been prophesied, so it came about. In fact, the words used to describe the coming of the locusts are kaved meod – “very heavy.” The sheer numbers of them would have been such a weight and a burden on the already devastated land that it would simply groan from the arrival of this new plague.
But there is more than just a plague which had never been seen before. The Bible describes it as a plague which is unique for all time…
14 (con’t) nor shall there be such after them.
There is no reason to not take these words literally. The Bible says that this plague was immense and that there would never be such a plague like it again. It doesn’t specify only Egypt. It simply says that this is the big one for all time.
In Joel 2:2, it uses similar words, but the locusts referred to in Joel are metaphorically being used of men. The army of the end times prophesied in Joel will be comparable to the locusts of the book of Exodus. As often happens in the Bible, things from nature are used both literally and in metaphor for us to see how the Lord’s hand works in redemptive history.
As this is the greatest plague of locusts ever, then in order to understand how immense it must have been, we can read Benson’s comments on other plagues which have been documented in history –
“In the year 1527 great troops of locusts were brought by a strong wind out of Turkey into Poland, which country they wasted; and in 1536 a wind from the Euxine Sea brought such vast numbers into Podolia, that, for many miles round, they destroyed every thing. And “in the year 1650, a cloud of locusts was seen to enter Russia in three different places; and from thence they spread themselves over Poland and Lithuania, in such astonishing multitudes that the air was darkened, and the earth covered with their numbers. In some places they were seen lying dead, heaped upon each other to the depth of four feet; in others they covered the surface like a black cloth; the trees bent with their weight, and the damage which the country sustained exceeded computation.” Benson
If this plague upon Egypt is truly the greatest ever seen, imagine the horror of the devastation which must have been wrought.
15 For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened;
This verse could actually mean one of two things. It either means that as they arrived the entire earth was darkened by their blotting out the sun, or that when they arrived, the entire earth was covered with them. Actually though, both would be the case. Albert Barnes notes one example from history of the first case –
“Travelers mention a cloud of locusts extending over 500 miles, and so compact while on the wing that it completely hid the sun. This passage describes a swarm unprecedented in extent.”
Charles Ellicott notes one example from history of the second –
“The steppes were literally covered with the bodies of these insects. . . . The whole face of nature seemed to be concealed as by a living veil.”
The locusts over Egypt were numerous enough to blacken out the sun as they flew and they were numerous enough to cover the land completely as they rested. And the word used for “cover” in the Hebrew shows that either is possible.
When the flood of Noah covered the earth, the same word was used. Likewise, in the 147th psalm the word is used to indicate clouds which cover the earth. Therefore, this is certainly speaking of the entire cycle of the visit of the locusts, both over and on the land.
15 (con’t) and they ate every herb of the land and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left.
The Pulpit commentary notes that –
“….if these terrible columns stop half an hour on a spot, for everything growing on it, vines, olive-trees, and corn, to be entirely destroyed. After they have passed, nothing remains but the large branches and the roots, which, being underground, have escaped their voracity.”
The locusts in Egypt were certainly famished from the long flight and were thus ready to devour everything that they came to. I don’t suppose that unless we actually saw such a sight, that we could even imagine how utter the devastation must have been.
And as we think about it, we have to keep reminding ourselves that 1) this was purposed by God to show His power over Egypt and Egypt’s false gods, 2) that it was His intent through this to secure the release of His people, and 3) that it could have been avoided if Pharaoh simply yielded to the demand of the Lord.
And for each of these points, we can look both to parallels in the end times and what will occur there, and also to individual instances in every life on earth. God shows His power for exactly the same reasons in both of these.
What is amazing is that even though this is true, and we have the written record of it from the past, most people in the world fail to see it in themselves, and the world of the end times will collectively fail to see it as they head off to their own doom.
15 (con’t) So there remained nothing green on the trees or on the plants of the field throughout all the land of Egypt.
Verse 15 shows the victory of the Lord over the false Egyptian gods Nut, the sky goddess, and Osiris, god of crops and fertility. Nut was unable to stop the advance of the Lord’s locust army, and Osiris was unable to save the crops and the fruit trees from their complete devastation.
In chapter 9, the Lord said, “…at this time I will send all My plagues to your very heart, and on your servants and on your people, that you may know that there is none like Me in all the earth” (Exodus 9:14). The Lord spoke and He continues to demonstrate that His spoken word is true.
How can anyone be as obstinate as Pharaoh?
Who could continue to harm himself and not relent?
One plague after another, and he still won’t let Israel go
Will he continue until the Lord’s arrows are all spent?
His quiver is full and will never grow empty
And it is only we who suffer as we fight against His word
But He is gracious and forgives, hoping we will see
And acknowledge that He alone is the Lord
Let us not be like Pharaoh and continue to fight
But instead let us respond to His loving call
Take advantage of the day, for soon comes the night
Now is the time and in heaven there is room for us all
II. The West Wind Brings Relief (verses 16-20)
16 Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste,
Something new is added into this call. It reads that he called for them “in haste.” The word is mahar and it means “hurriedly” or “quickly.” Unlike the previous summons, there is a sense of true urgency in the action. It is as if he has finally been terrified enough to rush towards relief.
At this point he could only imagine what it looked like under the covering of the locusts, but he probably figured there was something left to save. Thus he sends for them hurriedly. He really has no idea just how bad it already was. This is important to consider later when he hardens himself again.
No matter what though, he now calls for Moses and Aaron. The Geneva Bible insightfully and correctly states that –
“The wicked in their misery seek God’s ministers for help, even though they hate and detest them.” Geneva
Maybe this has happened to you as well, but I cannot tell you how many times someone has emailed me with a request for prayers or advice who are either unsaved or who are believers who are not living for the Lord. Sure enough, when things go bad, the first thing they do is email or call, looking for me to intercede to God for them or to give them advice as to what they should do.
Very few, if any, ever accept the advice and act on it, and always they want to go back to doing exactly what they were doing before the troubles came. Literally, I don’t think I could count the number of times I’ve seen this. And frequently it will happen multiple times with the same person.
Jesus says that a dog will return to his own vomit, and that a sow will return to her wallow after having been washed. I’ve had both dogs and pigs and so I can say that’s true. And I’ve seen it in humans enough to know that His words are vindicated in the people He created.
16 (con’t) and said, “I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you.
His words here improve on what he said during the plague of hail. Then he said “I have sinned this time. The Lord is righteous, and my people and I are wicked.” Now he doesn’t try to blame anyone else. He is the leader and the responsibility for the sin is his alone.
He also notes the double fault. He sinned against the Lord by not obeying what he was commanded to do, even after having been given sure proofs of the Lord’s deity. And he sinned against Moses and Aaron for first promising action and then refusing to hold to his spoken word.
This is now the fourth time he has asked for a plague to be ended, but the Lord who reads the heart and who knows the man, already knows what the outcome will be once this plague is removed as well.
His words here are almost identical to those used in the Parable of the Lost Son in Luke 15. Let’s look at them side by side –
“I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you.” (Pharaoh)
‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ Luke 15:21
In both accounts, mercy is granted, but we can only hope that the end turned out better for the lost son than what we will eventually see in Pharaoh. The Lord is gracious and merciful, but He is not a cosmic pushover. All wrongs must be judged and a persistent belligerence towards him will eventually end badly for the offender.
17 Now therefore, please forgive my sin only this once,
This is now the fourth time that Pharaoh has asked for Moses to intercede to the Lord for him. So far he has yielded and asked for relief from the frogs, the flies, and the hail. Now the locusts have brought him to this point once again.
In his words, he says “forgive my sin only this once.” Sure enough, he is using his only free pass and he knows it. With just two plagues to go, he will never be recorded as asking for the removal of a plague again.
17 (con’t) and entreat the Lord your God,
Pharaoh again acknowledges the name Yehovah and that He is their God. And not only that, he acknowledges that He has the power to remove what has come upon him. In other words, he knows that the Lord is the initiator of the action and that He also has the power to end it.
In this is the implied understanding that the Lord has once again defeated the false-gods of Egypt. What is beyond odd is how he continuously vacillates between accepting this knowledge and then fighting against it. But it is, as I mentioned earlier, not that uncommon among many people.
They cry out for relief with the understanding that a higher power has the ability to fix the problem, and then they completely walk away from Him when the problem is solved. I see it so often that as I was typing this sermon, name after name and face after face came to mind of people who have done exactly as Pharaoh is shown to do here.
17 (con’t) that He may take away from me this death only.”
“This death,” or literally “the death” is a way of personifying the tragedy which surrounds him. The fruit trees are being destroyed, the crops are being destroyed, and in turn, the livelihoods and maybe even the lives of the people are being destroyed.
Death is permeating the land as a live force which, if not stopped, will eventually consume all life, either directly or indirectly. He feels certain that if this death is removed then life will be restored. If it is not, all will be lost.
18 So he went out from Pharaoh and entreated the Lord.
We should note here that no promise of release was given. Pharaoh simply asked for the ending of the plague and admitted his sin, but he never said to Moses that Israel will go. It may be that he was hoping Moses would simply believe this was implied, or it may be that he was so overwrought with the locusts that he just never brought it up.
Either way, Moses never asks for the release, knowing that such a promise wasn’t to be trusted anyway. He knew that the Lord had a plan and that the Lord would direct his steps through the execution of it. And so there was no need to belabor the point.
He therefore magnanimously turned away without any rebuke or accusation and complied with Pharaoh’s request. As John Lange says about this –
“It is, first, an expression of divine forbearance; secondly, the attestation of the miracle displayed in the plague of locusts.” John Lange
The Lord is again the great victor and he is also known to be the merciful pardoner of sin. As His representative, Moses simply went out from Pharaoh and entreated the Lord. And the Lord graciously responded…
19 And the Lord turned a very strong west wind,
By the direction of the Lord, an east wind blew them into Egypt and by the direction of the Lord, they are blown out of Egypt. The word translated here as “west wind” here is ruach yam; literally “wind of the sea.” A very strong sea breeze came up as directed by the Lord in order to effect His purposes…
19 (con’t) which took the locusts away and blew them into the Red Sea.
The wind was so strong that the locusts were literally licked up into it. With their bellies full and with nothing more to be eaten, they responded to both the divine call and the natural forces of the winds and they blew toward the Red Sea.
The Hebrew word for “blew” is taqa. It is a word which indicates a resounding thrust, such as a sword, or a noise such as a clap, a blow, or a blast. It is what a trumpeter would do when blowing out a signal on a trumpet. It is used to describe the noise of the trumpeters as they circled Jericho. In this, the symbolism is marvelous.
Just as armies are called to formation and led into or out of battle by such a blast, the Lord’s locust armies are also directed toward the ending of their mission with such a blast. And their final destination is the Red Sea.
Without a continued wind, the locusts will eventually drop into the sea, exactly as the Bible describes here. A man named Pallas notes that in 1799, “Great numbers of them were carried [from the Crimea] by northerly winds into the sea, where they perished, and were afterwards washed on shore in heaps.”
One mighty army has now met its end in the Red Sea. It is almost a foreshadowing of the destruction of Pharaoh’s own armies in that same place in their not too distant future. The patterns are rich and they are exciting.
19 (con’t) There remained not one locust in all the territory of Egypt.
As unlikely as this may seem, it is known that locusts travel in ranks and with this, combined with the immense west wind, the locusts would have risen together and departed to wherever they were being led. Confirming this, Solomon bears out the orderly nature of the locust in Proverbs 30 –
“The locusts have no king,
Yet they all advance in ranks.” Proverbs 30:27
There is no reason to assume that this is unreasonable.
*20 But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go.
The Hebrew reads, “And hardened the Lord the heart of Pharaoh…” Again as always, this needs to be evaluated from the surrounding narrative. One might assume that the Lord has actively hardened his heart, but there are a few things to consider.
The first is that Pharaoh would only now see that it was too late for the vegetation. By the time the call was made, everything was gone, before that though everything was covered with locusts. There would be no way to tell the extent of the damage until the locusts were gone.
Now that there were no more crops or trees or grass, Pharaoh would consider that there was nothing further which could be taken from him. So it didn’t matter if he kept the Israelites; he had nothing to lose. Thus, the action is active by Pharaoh and passive by the Lord.
Secondly, as we saw, there was no promise of release. Therefore, he couldn’t be considered as a liar once again when he said nothing one way or another. Again, it is an active hardening by Pharaoh and a passive one by the Lord.
And third, the very words from Pharaoh’s mouth acknowledged that the plague of locusts was from the Lord. It is he who is now rejecting what he already knows to do. This is exactly the same as those who would email or ask for prayers or advice from the Bible and then turn around and ignore one or both, even after things are resolved.
It isn’t the Lord who turns them away from Him, it is they who turn. The Bible says that exactly the opposite is true of the Lord –
“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9
It is impossible that the Lord would contradict Himself, even for a stubborn fool like Pharaoh. And so the hardening is an active one by Pharaoh in response to the Lord’s promptings, just as it is with all those who act in the same manner around us.
Even though the Lord knows how Pharaoh or any other person will respond, it doesn’t mean he is to blame for that response. It is up to us to open our hearts to Him and to be reconciled to Him. He has already made the offer in the sending of His Son. What more does He need to do? What He expects is that we now respond to that offer and receive that Gift. If you have never taken this most important step, please let me tell you what you need to know…
Closing Verse: “The end of a thing is better than its beginning;
The patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.” Ecclesiastes 7:8
Next Week: Exodus 10:21-29 (The Plague of Darkness)
The Lord has you exactly where He wants you. He has a good plan and purpose for you. Even if a deep ocean lies ahead of You, He can part the waters and lead you through it on dry ground. So follow Him and trust Him and He will do marvelous things for you and through you.
The Plague of Locusts
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand
Over the land of Egypt for the locusts, in this be deft
That they may come upon Egypt the land
And eat every herb of the land—all that the hail has left
So Moses stretched out his rod over the land of Egypt
And the Lord brought an east wind, on the land it was focused
All that day and all that night the wind whipped
When it was morning, the east wind brought the Locust
And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt that day
And rested on all the territory of Egypt; they were very severe
Previously there had been no such locusts as they
Nor shall there be such after them, in days distant or near
For they covered the face of the whole earth
So that the land was darkened; of light it was bereft
And they ate every herb of the land, bringing terrible dearth
And all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left
So there remained nothing green
On the trees or on the plants of the field
Throughout all the land of Egypt
The locusts continued, refusing to yield
Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron hastily it’s true
And said, “I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you
Now therefore, please forgive my sin, I’m such a clod
Only this once is my plea
And entreat the Lord your God
That He may take away this death only, from me
So he went out from Pharaoh and entreated the Lord
And the Lord responded to Moses’ entreated word
And the Lord turned a very strong west wind that day
Which took all of the locusts away
And blew them into the Red Sea
There remained not one locust in all of Egypt’s territory
But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart
And he did not let the children of Israel go
Just as the Lord knew from the very start
A process which you and I very well know
It is our hearts which condemn us when we fail to heed
When we hear but ignore God’s precious word
But if we at some point acknowledge our great need
That is when we will finally bow to the Lord
And He is merciful and will freely forgive
When we call on Jesus, He will save our wayward soul
At that moment is when we truly do begin to live
And we are inscribed on heaven’s glorious scroll
Thanking You Jesus for your gracious saving hand
And opening to us wide the gates of Your heavenly land
Hallelujah and Amen….