What is True Salvation?

Exodus 9:27,30,34: "Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron. 'This time I have sinned,' he said to them. 'The LORD is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. Pray to the LORD . . . ' (Moses said) 'But I know that you and your officials still do not fear the LORD God.' . . . . When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had stopped, he sinned again: He and his officials hardened their hearts . . . He would not let the Israelites go, just as the LORD had said through Moses."

Here is a great example of a supposed penitent heart that (1) acknowledged that he had sinned and (2) confirmed that the LORD was right and (3) asked that Moses pray for him. Still what was lacking was a heart that was willing to submit to the LORDship of God.

The story involves the struggle between God's covenant people and the rule of the Pharaoh of Egypt. After years of slavery, the time had come for the Israelites to leave the bondage of the Pharaoh and make their way to God's promised land. Of course, Pharaoh and the Egyptians did not want to let the Hebrew slaves go; they profited greatly from the bondage of the Israelites. God had sent Moses and his brother Aaron before the leader of the Egyptians to tell him to let the Hebrews go, but the Pharaoh would not listen. God sent a number of plagues as punishment for the Pharaoh's rebellion; still, the Pharaoh would not repent. In response, God continued to send plagues of greater severity to the land of Egypt. In Exodus 9, he sent the plague of hail, which "struck everything in the fields-both men and animals; it beat down everything growing in the fields and stripped every tree" (9:25). For the first time, the Pharaoh admitted that he had sinned. He summoned Moses and Aaron and told them that the LORD was right and that he and his people (the Egyptians) were wrong. The Pharaoh asked that Moses and Aaron pray for him and his people so that the wrath of the LORD would be diverted, and he promised that he would let the Hebrews go in return.

Moses left the presence of the Pharaoh and spread his hands toward the LORD, asking for a reprieve of the plague that had been sent by God. God answered Moses and stopped the severe hailstorm that had left the land of Egypt a wasteland. It seems that all would be well as the Pharaoh would now keep his promise. Yet, when the tide of God's judgment turned, Pharaoh revealed his true heart . . . one that again desired to challenge the Lordship of God. The passage says that Pharaoh and his officials "hardened their hearts" (9:34). The Hebrew word for harden is the word "hiphil" which suggests that the Pharaoh "steeled his mind." When we think of steel, we are reminded of a non-pliable substance that is not willing to be bended into something other than what it already is. Pharaoh represents this rigid, hardened object in that he was unwilling to change his quest for ultimate lordship. To be sure, the Pharaoh put on a good show of sorrow when the plagues were devastating his people, but the Pharaoh never intended to surrender himself to the will of God. He ultimately wanted to be the lord of everything, and he was willing to challenge the rightful place of the One True God.

When man is obstinate, God's challenge against man's quest of lordship brings a hardening of the rebellious heart. Still, God will rightfully assert His Sovereignty as Lord of all.

We have only one of two options: surrender to His God's Divine Lordship or attempt to overthrow His Right to Reign. The latter will bring destruction to all who seek its path.