Who Is The Lord?

“Who is the LORD?”

“And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness. And Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go.”

Exodus 5:1-2 KJV

I can remember, as a child, that there were times when we really tried our mother’s patience. Whenever we would get out of line by saying or doing something that mother deemed as being disrespectful to her, she would say something like: “Y’all must don’t know who I am!” That was mother’s way of warning us that we were about to go too far! Well, in our text for today, Moses and Aaron presented themselves before Pharaoh with a message from the Most-High God. The message was: “Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.” And it would seem that Pharaoh’s sarcastic and prideful response was his way of saying to Moses, Aaron and the LORD: “Y’all must don’t know who I am! And since you don’t know; you’d better ask somebody! I am the great and powerful Pharaoh! I am the ruler of all of Egypt! Who is the LORD that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I know not the LORD and neither will I let Israel go!”

Now, as we look at the response of Pharaoh, we must understand that Pharaoh didn’t ask this question in order to get information. Moses and Aaron had already told him that they had come as representatives of the LORD God of Israel. No! Pharaoh didn’t really want to know who the LORD was in regard to identity; he wanted to know who the LORD was in that the LORD has the right or the power to tell him what to do! And that, my brothers and sisters, has been the main problem with humanity every since Adam and Eve: Mankind has always had a problem with submitting to the authority of God. When the abortionists advocate a woman’s right to choose; they are asking: Who is the LORD to tell a woman she can’t have an abortion if she wants to? After-all, a woman has the right to do what she wants with her own body! It’s all about a woman’s right to choose! But what about an unborn child’s right to live? The Bible plainly states that murder is wrong! But then, who is the LORD that He has the right to dictate what’s right and what’s wrong? Those who are pushing for same-sex marriage are asking the same question! What’s wrong with two people committing their lives to one another and society accepting it? It doesn’t really matter that they are of the same gender! If they love one another and want to be together, that’s all that matters! Why should their lives be governed and dictated by an ancient religious book? Who is the LORD anyway, to say what a marriage is and is not? Well, the main fallacy of that argument is that one of the main reasons for marriage originally was for the purpose of procreation. Happiness was to be just a by-product of that process! But people have made the secondary the primary! And when you make something that was intended to be a by-product the main product, you negate or nullify the original purpose. Now since it was God who instituted marriage in the first place, then He is the only one who has the right to say what is right and what is wrong about what He instituted. But, who is the LORD that we should obey him and live our lives under the oppression of His rule?

It is that last statement, my brothers and sisters, that tells me that the devil doesn’t have any new tricks; he’s just recycling the ones he’s been using all of the time! Sinful humanity does not want to submit to the rule of God because they have bought into the devil’s lie that God’s rule is oppressive and unfair. Men today are falling for the same lie that Eve fell for in the Garden of Eden. You remember what the serpent said to her? The first thing he asked was: Has not God said. . .” You see, the first thing the enemy wants to do is to get you to doubt the integrity of the word of God. The issues that are being hotly debated today: abortion, gay-rights, and same-sex marriage, have clear directives in the Bible! It’s fairly plain what God has said on these issues. But there are those who suggest; “Yes! That may be what God said, but He really didn’t mean it!” Or “That was then, but we live in a modern world that should not be governed by ancient ideas!” All they are saying is: Who is the LORD that we should obey Him? Who does He think He is that He has the right to tell us who we can marry or tell us what we can and can’t do? Who is the LORD that we should obey Him? And then secondly, the devil lied to Eve when he implied that God was trying to keep something good from them by not allowing them to eat of that particular tree! That’s the way the devil is working today! He has convinced those who are in rebellion against the will of God that God is a party-pooper and He just doesn’t want them to have any fun! Who is the LORD that we should allow Him to place restrictions upon our freedom to pursue prosperity and pleasure? Who is the LORD that we should hear His voice and obey Him? Well, since the question is so central, I think we need to take the time to find an answer! In the context of the text, the LORD God answered Pharaoh with the ten plagues of Egypt. Every plague was a direct answer to Pharaoh and a polemic statement against the so-called gods of Egypt.