A people oppressed by cruel taskmasters are freed from oppression by the mighty acts of God: Israel’s Exodus from Egypt. Who has not been moved by the recounting of it?

But many scriptures in both Old and New Testaments point out a greater significance. By the Exodus our God has shown how He will eventually deliver His church and the world of mankind from the bondage of Satan, sin, sickness, and death.

Summarized below are the principal features of the Exodus and their significances. While detail has generally been minimized or omitted, somewhat more attention is given to things which affect us today. Principal scripture references have been retained, though references to Christian writers are mostly absent. This introduction suggests lines of further Bible study in connection with several of the topics.

EXODUS

One of the three longest types in the Bible is the Exodus picture, chapters 7-15. (Only Ezekiel’s Temple and the Tabernacle are comparably long.)

That it is a type is shown by many scriptures, such as the seven last plagues in Rev. 16. Again,

“Is it not thou (arm of Jehovah) that driedst up the sea … that madest the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over” (Isa. 51:9-11).

First (1 Corinthians 10:1-2, 11) says the Israelites “were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea … Now these things happened unto them by way of type; and they were written for our admonition.” (Also Psa. 106:7-12, Psa. 105:25-45, Psa. 78:42-53, etc.)

To review the Exodus: Moses comes to Egypt and demands the Israelites go three days’ journey into the wilderness. Pharaoh refuses. There are several plagues, and then the firstborn of Egypt are slain, while the firstborn of the Lord’s people are passed over. Then for a few days the Israelites journey toward the wilderness (desert), free of Egyptian influence.  Next, Pharaoh pursues, the Lord delivers all His people across the sea, and the Egyptian army (including Pharaoh) is destroyed in the sea. Thereupon the Israelites sing a beautiful song of thanksgiving for their deliverance.

Finally, they do what they were called for, they go three days’ journey into the wilderness to serve the Lord their God.

THE SYMBOLS

First, who does Pharaoh represent, the oppressor whose heart was hard? Yes, Satan (Ezek. 31:18). Who does Moses represent, the leader of the Lord’s people? Yes, Jesus Christ (Heb. 11:24-27).

Who does Aaron represent, the spokesman for Moses? Aaron would represent the true church, who speak for Christ (Mat. 5:14, reflecting John 8:12). Then the Israelites are the Lord’s people, and the Egyptians are the people of the Adversary.

The period of the first three plagues (which are evils) would picture this present evil world, particularly this Gospel Age feature of it (beginning when Moses arrives, or at Christ’s First Advent). The deliverance of the firstborn of Israel and the destruction of the firstborn of Egypt would picture the completion of the church of the firstborn (the heirs of Jehovah’s Kingdom) and the destruction of the heirs of Satan’s Kingdom (by virtue of destroying the kingdom of this world, leaving nothing to be inherited).

When the Lord’s people leave Egypt they are released from the influence of Pharaoh. That is, during the Millennial Age – the Restitution Kingdom – the Lord’s people (the resurrected world) will be released from the influence of Satan, because he will be bound. But some time later Pharaoh pursues them. Revelation 20 tells us that Satan will be loosed for a little season at the end of the Millennium. But the Lord will deliver His people – the regenerated world – while Pharoah/Satan will be destroyed once and for all.

Then the Israelites sing a beautiful song of thanksgiving for their deliverance. Imagine what rejoicing there will be when Satan, sin, sickness, and death are destroyed once and for all! And then they go three days’ journey into the wilderness to serve the Lord their God to picture for us the perfect ages of eternity. (End Exodus 15:22.)

SOME LESSONS

Two lessons may be drawn from the Exodus picture thus far, and a third may be drawn from what will follow.

• The firstborn of Israel are delivered when the firstborn of Egypt are slain. Therefore, the firstborn will not be complete until the heirs of Satan’s kingdom are being destroyed-until Armageddon is in progress.
• Pharaoh oppresses the Lord’s people until the Exodus commences (Exod. 9:34-35; 10:3-4, 7). Therefore, Satan will not be bound before Armageddon, though his kingdom may be in disarray.
• The Lord has several (7) different and successive works to do between His return and the establishment of His Kingdom on the earth.

MORE DETAILS OF THE GOSPEL AGE

The first three plagues of blood, frogs, and lice fall upon both the Egyptians and Israelites. Then in Exodus 8:20-23 the Lord puts a division between the peoples, so that no more plagues fall upon the Israelites in Goshen.

Moses does not administer any of the first three plagues, but in each case he is told, “Say unto Aaron” do this or do that (Exod. 7:19; 8:5, 16). In the administering of the seven last plagues, Moses takes the dominant role.

Viewing the reality, Jesus’ active role is connected with the beginning of the separation work. That is, Christ’s return begins the harvest work of separation, as shown in Revelation 18:1-5.

This division of the 10 plagues into 3 + 7 is also shown by the “seven last plagues” in Revelation 16:1.

PHARAOH’S FOUR COMPROMISES

The Lord said, “Let my people go that they may serve me.” During the first three plagues Pharaoh flatly refuses. But after Jehovah makes a distinction between the peoples, from time to time Pharaoh offers compromises: Go sacrifice to your God in the land, or I will let you go … only you shall not go very far away, or Leave your children behind, or Leave your sacrifices behind. To the Christian during the harvest time the danger of these compromises has special significance:

1. Go sacrifice to your God in the land (Exod. 8:25). That is, Go sacrifice to your God in the denominations. But the word of our Lord in Revelation 18:1-4 is “Babylon is fallen … Come out of her, my people” (The concept is also shown in Lot being called out of Sodom, and Elijah being called out of the cities before being taken up.)
2. I will let you go … only you shall not go very far away (Exod. 8:28). That is, If you leave the denominations, take some of the denominational spirit (or spirit of Satan) with you. But the word of our Lord in Revelation 18:1-4 continues, “Come out of her my people that ye be not partakers of her sins.” Do not return to any form of sectarianism. “Remember Lot’s wife.”
3. I will let you go but not your children. “Let the Lord be so with you as I will let … your little ones go.” (Exod. 10:8-11). That is, No public witness, no new converts, not even your children. You may believe the truth all you want, but you may not teach it. When you die let the truth die with you. But the word of the Lord in Exodus 10:1-2 is “that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son’s son.”
4. Go ye … only let your flocks and your herds be stayed (Exod. -24). You may believe the truth and even talk about it, but sacrifice is forbidden. Advanced technology, communications media, material possessions, etc., are not to be used. But the word of our Lord in Exodus 10:25-26 is, “Thou must also give into our hand sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice unto the LORD our God.”

In resisting these four compromises of the Adversary is the completeness of our consecration during the harvest period illustrated: We are to come out of denominationalism, we are to leave its spirit altogether behind, we are to teach the gospel truth as far and wide as we are able, and we are to use everything at our disposal to do it!

THE PLAGUES

What are the major events represented in the plagues?

The first three plagues, which occur before the harvest/separation, are given only in Exodus. The following suggestions appear reasonable:

1. Waters turned to blood. Christianity overthrew Heathendom. Christianity, born in a small conquered nation and rejected by the people of its origin, peacefully spread the word of the gospel and thereby destroyed Satan’s 2000-year old religion, backed by all the might of the most powerful empire of this world. Having tasted Christian doctrine, heathen doctrine could not satisfy – could not be drunk.
2. The Reformation damaged the Papal Roman Empire. Reformers, true and false (shown by frogs), entered into every facet of life.
3. The French Revolution shook Christendom. The absolute monarchies gave way to limited monarchies to stem the flood of peoples (as in Revelation 12:15-16). The damage to Papal government made possible the Bible societies and their work in mass distribution of the Word of God throughout the earth. This the magicians (e.g., priests of the mass) could not counterfeit.

The seven last plagues are given in both Exodus and Revelation (Exod. 7:14-12:33, Rev. 16:1-21). The Exodus account of them shows us the major world events after Christ’s return, while the Revelation plagues reveal the effects each is to have on a Christendom whose professions and practices do not match.

The return of Christ does not immediately put the world on trial for life -not until the priesthood are all in heaven (Isa. 1:24-26, Rev. 20:6). The period of Christ’s Second Presence until the church is complete restores the Jews to Israel and progressively destroys the ecclesiastical and political systems of this present evil world (Mat. 24:3, 21-22, Dan. 12:1).

Following Christ’s return about 1874 the following identifications are suggested for the plagues:

1. The call to come out of Babylon sapped the spiritual strength of Protestantism, reducing it towards the level of Catholicism. (Rev. 18:1-5. Similarly in Gen. 19:1-26, 2 Kings 2:1-11.) The harvest message proclaimed that this present evil world is doomed, and that Christ’s Kingdom will entirely displace it. The end of Gentile Times was declared due in 1914.

2. Murrain killed the cattle – the first destructive plague. World War 1 spelled the end for most of the kings of Christendom. The war also permanently eliminated the monetary standards of Europe in August 1914 (Ashby Bladen, Forbes, Dec. 22, 1980, p. 72).

3. The next major world event was the Depression. Its influence on fundamentalist Protestantism was disastrous. Louis Cassels writes, “By the early 1930s, the modernists seemed to have won the fight. Fundamentalism was relegated to the fringes of Protestant life. Major denominations and theological schools came under virtually complete sway of liberals” (Fundamentalism Rising Under Another Banner, United Press, ca. 1958). Fundamentalists, who had called the truth “heresy,” were now heretics in their own denominations; hence Rev. 16:4-6.

4. Hail – the second destructive plague, which destroyed two of Egypt’s four crops. The next major world event was World War II. (Hail seems particularly appropriate to the extensive aerial bombing of this war.) The war was inconsistent with the liberal theology of a world evolving into a great society; so Cassels continues, “There are few modernist theologians left to uphold the ‘winning’ side of the 30-year old debate.” These preachers had been scorched by the sunlight of Bible prophecy (Rev. 16:8). (Liberalism of the Harry Emerson Fosdick type was displaced by “neoorthodoxy.” Hence Revelation 16:9 allows that they may have changed their ways, but not in ways that glorified )

5. Locusts – the third destructive plague, brought in by an east wind, and afterwards driven out by a mighty west wind. The locusts ate up the other two crops of Egypt (Exod. 10:1-20). Since World War II the world has been locked in an East vs. West struggle. Locusts suggest the tribulations of communist origin, with the resultant military arms race and foreign “aid” which drain the civilian economy.

The mighty west wind shows the growing dominance, especially economic dominance of the West. In retrospect, the collapsing of the eastern bloc has come in a way similar to the earlier fall of many once pro-western countries into the eastern orb -with localized battles and revolutions. As communist parties are being outlawed in their home countries, we watch now to see how complete it will be that “there remained not one locust” in Christendom (Exod. 10:19).  Let us also be vigilant as Pharaoh’s heart hardens again (Exod. 10:20).

The fifth Revelation plague was upon the seat of the beast – upon Rome, upon the Vatican (Rev. 16:10-11). Roman Catholicism claimed to be built equally upon scripture and tradition. Bible study shows it was not built upon scripture. And under pressure from communism worldwide, we saw the tradition being swept out from underneath the Roman Church. A Pole was elected pope to stem the tide, but their priests are running in many different directions. Their kingdom has been filled with darkness.

6. Darkness, so thick that no Egyptian left home during the three days it lasted (Exod. 10:21-29). The Revelation plague dried up the river Euphrates, around which the Babylonian economy was built (Rev. 16:12-16). These two descriptions may suggest a great depression will take away the wealth of Roman Catholicism (and other denominations that serve mammon). All this prepares the way for the kings from the sunrising – for the Kingdom of Christ and His church.

7. Death of the Egyptian firstborn – the ultimate destructive plague. The collapse of the kingdom of this world leaves nothing for its political and economic heirs to inherit; thus as heirs they die (Exod. 11:1-10, 12:29-36). The Revelation plague (Armageddon) is poured out into the air – upon the spiritual powers of this world (Rev. 16:17-21). “It is done” (like our Lord’s words, “It is finished”), implies that the church of the firstborn is complete around the beginning of the final overthrow of this present evil world. Then Jezebel’s eunuchs – her own celibate priesthood – take the lead in throwing her down (Rev. 2:20-23, 2 Kings 9:30-37).

THE SEVEN LAST PLAGUES
Event	Effect on Christendom	Effect on Fleshly Israel
1. Early harvest 1874-1914	Called the faithful to come out; proclaimed impending destruction of Christendom.	Berlin Congress of Nations (1878) legalized immigration to Palestine.
2. World War I 1914-1918	Removed long-standing royal support (Also damaged Western economies.)	Balfour Declaration (1917) made Palestine a homeland for the Jews.
3. Depression 1929-1939	Devastated Protestant Fundamentalism.	Economic pressures and rise of Hitler increased Palestine immigration.
4. World War II 1939-1945	Devastated Protestant Liberalism.	Vastly increased Palestine immigration from Central Europe.
5. Communism 1945-1989	Devastated Catholic Traditionalism.	Increasing Israel immigration from the East.
6. Depression	To destroy denominational wealth.	To increase Israel immigration from the West.
7. Armageddon	To destroy denominations.	Final assault, and Jehovah’s victory, to fulfil Ezekiel 38-39.

 

TIMING OF PHARAOH’S COMPROMISES

The times at which Pharaoh proposes his compromises are interesting. They appear to correlate with times of special activity by the Lord’s people. The first two are in conjunction with the first plague after the harvest separation begins, which by interpretation would be between 1874 and 1914:

1. Go sacrifice to your God in the land (denominations) suggests the resistance the Lord’s people met to the call, “Come out of Babylon up to World War 1.”
2. Go, but go not far away, suggests that not a few unregenerate also came out. Pastor Russell’s public meetings drew thousands after 1902. When Satan could not keep them in the denominations, his second attack was to pour tares into the new fellowship. Thus, when C.T. Russell died, J.F. Rutherford brought the Lord’s people into a new bondage, and Pharaoh “did not let the people go.” (Exod. 8:32, 9:7).

In connection with the fifth of the seven last plagues,

3. The families, especially young ones, are forbidden to go, though not the sacrifices. This proposed compromise suggests a peak in Bible Student activity following World War II. Since World War I, some non-Watchtower groups actually opposed public witness (as being out of date); understandably most have faded. Parents today should be wary of their children being diverted by this world’s allures, or even destroyed by mindless cults or drugs. But we should use modern technology in fulfilling Matthew 24:14: radio, satellite TV, tape recorders, modern printing, rapid travel, etc. Yet Pharaoh still will not let the Lord’s people go (Exod. 10:20).

Finally, just before the last plague,

4. Leave your sacrifices behind. It suggests one more period of Bible Student activity. At some time yet future personal sacrifice may become difficult, especially with use of high-technology media. (Perhaps governments’ ownership or control will follow emergence from depression.) Again the plague ends with Pharaoh refusing to let the Lord’s people go (Exod. 10:27).

EFFECTS OF PLAGUES ON CHRISTENDOM AND ISRAEL

The systematically detrimental effects on Christendom of every major world event since about 1874 have been detailed above. Side by side, a parallel may show how each event has been systematically beneficial to the restoration of the Jews to Israel. This parallel can also demonstrate how coming out of denominationalism makes one immune to its plagues (Rev. 18:4).

– James Parkinson

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Notes

1. The significance of the church of Christ being represented by Israel’s firstborn (Heb. 12:23) extends beyond the concept of heirship and birthright. The firstborn were dedicated to God in Exodus 13:2. They were exchanged for the Levites in Numbers 8:5-26, showing that the Levites also represent the church. The Levites were given no inheritance in the land, showing that the church all have the heavenly hope, and no earthly hope (Num. 18:20, Deut. 14:28-29, Joshua 18:7).

Two groups are shown in Revelation 7, the 144,000 and a great crowd (great multitude, great company). The 144,000 are with their Lord (the Lamb) in heaven in Revelation 14:1-4. In Revelation 19:1 one hears “a loud voice of a great crowd in heaven” showing that theirs is also a heavenly hope. Together, these two groups are “the church.” (Note the contrasting of these two groups in Ezekiel 44:10-16, though both will serve in the sanctuary, both will go to heaven.)

2. The background for seven events in the Last Day is found in Joshua 6. The seven priests with the seven trumpets march around Jericho on seven successive days. On the last day they march seven times. The former, which divides the entire Gospel Age into seven periods, gives the setting for the seven trumpets, Revelation 8:2-11:19, the seven seals, Revelation 6:1-8:1, and the seven letters, Revelation 2:1-3:22 (some would add also the seven parables of 13). The seven circuits on the last day give the setting for the seven last plagues of Exodus and Revelation.

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