Pharaoh was
a type of Satan, and Egypt was a type of the world. Just as Pharaoh was the
ruler of Egypt, so Satan is the ruler of this world (John 12:31). God is still
seeking to deliver His chosen people out of the usurping hand of Satan and out
of the tyranny of the world. As God’s called ones, we need a clear view of what
the world is. The world is not a source of enjoyment; it is a
place of tyranny. In the world Satan is keeping God’s chosen people,
those destined for the fulfillment of God’s purpose, under his usurping hand.
Every aspect
of the world is a form of tyranny. In Exodus Pharaoh kept the children of
Israel under tyranny by forcing them to do hard labor. The same principle
operates today. As people work, they
suffer under various forms of tyranny. Even making a long drive to work on a
crowded freeway is one kind of tyranny. Likewise, the competition for promotion
and the insecurity about losing a job are also kinds of tyranny. Nevertheless,
anyone who does not labor for Pharaoh in the world will not receive the supply
of the Nile....Shopping is another form of the world’s tyranny. Many young women are held in tyranny in a
subtle way through shopping for the latest fashions.
Recently some
saints told me that they do not have the time to pray or read the Bible. I pointed
out that they have plenty of time to make telephone calls or to read the newspaper.
This indicates that even the telephone or the newspaper may be a means of
tyranny.
For us to live for Christ, we need to exist. Without
our human existence we cannot live Christ. But
today those in the fallen world care for nothing but their existence;
they do not care for the purpose of
their existence. To exist is one
thing, but to exist for the divine purpose is another thing. The purpose ordained by God for our existence is to
live Christ, to live God out, and to have God’s testimony. But the people of this world have only their existence; they have no
purpose. Eventually they make their existence itself the
purpose of their existence. They know nothing
but existence. Satan picks up the existence
of human beings or of human living and uses this existence to usurp people so
that today the whole world cares only for existence, not for God’s purpose in
existence.
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