Long before the exodus of Israel, and before the judgment of Jehovah fell upon Egypt, that land was in what would be now called a high state of civilization, when a nation has a firm system of government, an army, judges, and polite society, it is called civilized―that is, the skill of its people has enabled the whole nation to work together for the common good. The greatest wonders of ancient Egyptian civilization were connected with religion. The ruler was priest as well as king―indeed, he was a kind of god in the eyes of his people. This is not surprising, since Egypt was a land of idols; the sun in its cloudless sky, the Nile, watering its rainless earth, and the very beasts of the field being objects of adoration. To their gods the mightiest buildings were erected and the greatest statues fashioned, which the world has ever seen. Civilization and religion went hand in hand in ancient Egypt; but theirs was a religion of lies, and a worship of gods which are no gods. The true God was unknown, and His power was despised.
For some hundreds of years the people of Israel were settled in this land of idols. The Israelites knew of the true God, and some of them knew Him as their own God. It is the same today. In the midst of people who really do not know who God is, people who profess His name are to be found, but His children alone know Him as their God and their Father.
Such of you as have seen―perhaps on the Continent―a religious procession in honor of some “saint” will be interested in our picture, which gives a general idea of an Egyptian religious procession. We could not give a picture of one of the very grand processions, for thousands of people took part in them. But you can see a boat or ark, in which is an idol carried under its canopy, and following it some great person, having in his left hand a censer, and in his right a vase. Priests bear the ark on poles, while a chief priest walks by their side, clad in leopard’s skin. Players on instruments of music precede the idol, and the whole array glides into a temple on the bank of the river. As we think of these heathen processions of hundreds and hundreds of years ago, and consider the religious processions of our day, the outward show of the old idolatry seems strangely like that which has crept into christian countries.
It may have been when engaged in some religious ceremonial that Pharaoh went out to the river, as we read in Ex. 7:1515Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning; lo, he goeth out unto the water; and thou shalt stand by the river's brink against he come; and the rod which was turned to a serpent shalt thou take in thine hand. (Exodus 7:15) and 8:20. At the river’s brink Moses met him, declared to him Jehovah’s word, commanding the liberty of the Israelites, and then Aaron with the rod of judgment smote the waters in the sight of the king and all his servants, and before their astonished eyes the sacred Nile became blood.
The last days of Israel’s bondage in Egypt had come, for Jehovah had begun to work for their deliverance. Had He so willed it, Israel might have gone out free at once, but He had His own purposes both in respect to them and their oppressors, and His purposes took some months in their accomplishment. But when God begins to work He goes on to the end, even though it may seem at times that He has stayed His hand. The Lord had promised Israel liberty and a land flowing with milk and honey, and He is not slack concerning His promise as some men count slackness. Now, how true is this of our times I With Him a thousand years are as one day, and one day as a thousand years. (2 Pet. 3:88But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. (2 Peter 3:8).) He has said that judgment is coming on this world, and therefore come it will. He has said, His people shall be delivered from the coming judgment, and therefore delivered they will be. No one, nothing, can stay the word of God.
How strangely must the tidings have fallen on the ears of the little children of Egypt when their parents first told them of the Hebrew prophet Moses, who had dared bid their great king Pharaoh to let the Israelites go! No doubt many a smile went round the elegant rooms and palaces of those long bygone days. What would the priests of the great temples think of the Hebrew prophet’s word? But the day of judgment for Egypt came, and the firstborn of those beautiful houses died, and the priests of those great temples lived to see Jehovah’s judgments executed against their gods.
What occurred in those days―the voice of warning against the world and the promise of freedom for God’s people―is occurring now: only now the promise for God’s people is deliverance from the world before the judgments are executed on it. The day is near at hand. “Yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry.”
The Lord will soon call His people to their home.
Religion and civilization will continue for a season after the Lord’s people are gone, but the judgments that are declared against the world will fall upon it, and all the boast of this day and all its greatness will perish.