Ten Times God Knocked on Pharaoh's Door

In Egypt lived a king called Pharaoh. And Pharaoh had a hard, hard heart.

Pharaoh had God's people, thousands and thousands of them. He made them work in the hot sun, building his cities, carrying his bricks. They were tired and sore, and when they cried out, nobody let them rest.

But God heard every cry. And God had not forgotten the promise he had given Moses only a little while before, when everything got harder instead of better: "I will take you to be my own."

So God sent Moses and Aaron back to the palace with his own words for Pharaoh: "Let my people go." He did not say please. He said it the way a father says it when someone is hurting his children. Let them go. They are mine.

But Pharaoh crossed his arms. "No," he said. "They are mine."

So God knocked on Pharaoh's door.

The first time, the river turned to blood. "Will you let them go now?" But Pharaoh said no.

The Egyptians believed a god lived in that river. And God was showing them, gently and plainly: that river cannot save you. Only I can.

So God knocked again. Frogs, everywhere. Then tiny biting gnats. Then flies in every corner. "Will you let them go now?" But Pharaoh said no, and no, and no.

The Egyptians had a god for the cattle, and the cattle grew sick. They had a god for the sky, and hail came roaring down. They had a god for the crops, and locusts ate every green leaf bare. One by one, God knocked on every false god Egypt trusted. And one by one they fell, because they were never really gods at all.

Then God knocked again, and darkness came. Thick, heavy darkness you could almost touch. The Egyptians worshiped the sun. And God reached out his hand and turned the light off for three whole days, as if to say: I am the one who made the sun. It shines because I tell it to.

Again and again God knocked. Again and again Pharaoh said no.

Now, why did God knock so patiently? Why not just snatch his people away in one quick moment?

Because God was not only freeing his children. He was showing the whole world, Egypt too, that he is the only true God, and that he loves with a love that will not quit. He kept knocking the way you keep calling a name in the dark until everyone is safe inside.

The strong one held the weak and would not let them go. That still happens. There are big, strong things that hold people, things you cannot see, like sin and death, and they say, "You are mine."

But there was coming a day when God would knock one last time, on a much harder door.

He would send his own Son, Jesus, to walk straight up to those strong, dark powers and say, "Let my people go. They are mine."

And this time, the door would open. Every chain would fall. And not one of his children would be left behind in the dark.

Nine knocks, and still Pharaoh said no. One knock was left, the tenth. And on that night, God would tell his people to mark their doors, and a lamb would stand in the doorway between them and the sorrow.