The second plague is frogs.
Frogs everywhere in the land. Why
would the magicians want to duplicate the plague? At any rate, they do, which suggests to
Pharaoh that this is nothing more than garden variety magic at work, neither
Moses nor his God have proven to be more powerful than Pharaoh's own
magicians. This is a serious
inconvenience but nothing much more. Even
when Moses asks Pharaoh to name the time the frogs will disappear the answer
isn't, "Immediately", it is "Tomorrow." There is no particular rush, wait a day. The real inconvenience comes with the dying
of all those frogs and their disposal, the whole land stank of death. Pharaoh is also like most of us. As soon as the emergency is resolved, he
reverts to the status quo ante. He hardens
his heart, disaster averted, no further reflection needed. Gnats are the first thing Moses can do that
the magicians cannot. That is somewhat
surprising given all those dead frogs isn't it?
The difference is that Moses is able to make gnats out of dust, not
something already living. Someone else
created life from dust once too didn't HE?
The magicians attribute this to one thing, "the finger of
God." Pharaoh perhaps finds this
plague relatively trivial after the first two and his heart remains hardened.
The rich young man wants to inherit eternal life but not at
the expense of giving up the inheritance he has already received. Until we come to the place where we recognize
the value of the kingdom, as the kingdom parables tell us, as surpassing anything
and everything else, we will fail to receive it. We have to come with open hands, allowing the
Lord to take what we already have from us in order to fill our hands with what
He offers. We have taught and many have believed
exactly the opposite in the church in the west, teaching that you not only can
but are intended to have it all, both kingdoms, in this life. That was never Jesus' teaching and it is a
lie. So long as you're seeking both
kingdoms you aren't ready to receive the kingdom of heaven. Believe me, I know.
The glory of Moses was a reflected glory from having been in
the presence of God, a God-tan, if you will.
On the mountain of Transfiguration there was a different glory, the glory,
as John says, of the one and only, a glory not reflected but from within the
being of Jesus. Moses had to veil his
face so the people wouldn't see the glory fading between visits with the
Lord. In the new covenant, the Spirit of
God lives within believers and His glory is meant to shine not under a veil or
a bushel basket, but through us. The pursuit
of the kingdom of God allows that glory to shine, we know what we are pursuing
and we have the witness within that we will reach our goal. We are to be to the world as the gnats were
to the magicians, a sign that true life has been given to this which is but
dust, done by the finger of God. To inherit
the kingdom of God means we let go of dust and receive life. To receive an earthly inheritance first
requires another to die and for us to be living. To receive the eternal inheritance requires
us to die along with Jesus.
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