THE TENTH PLAGUE – DEATH OF THE FIRST-BORN
Exodus 10:11,12
 

 

"And Jehovah said unto Moses, Yet one plague more will I bring upon Pharaoh, and upon Egypt; afterwards he will let you go hence (...) And Moses said, Thus saith Jehovah, About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt: and all the first-born in the land of Egypt shall die, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the first-born of the maid-servant that is behind the mill; and all the first-born of cattle (...) And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there hath not been, nor shall be any more (...) But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast: that ye may know how that Jehovah doth make a distinction between the Egyptians and Israel (...) And all these thy servants shall come down unto me, and bow down themselves unto me, saying, Get thee out, and all the people that follow thee: and after that I will go out (...) and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am Jehovah. And it came to pass the selfsame day, that Jehovah did bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their hosts."

Israelites received clear information, that tenth plague before of them will be already the last plague. To protect their first-born they sprinkled the door of their houses with a blood of the lamb and waited the midnight with the tension. Egyptians disregarded warnings completely, so they were unaware of events, which would have been occurred this night.

 

 

 

Tenth plague in Egypt, points out at the decisive breakthrough in today's world. At midnight the trial of life and death of the first-born of Israel ended favourably, whereas the putting to death of all the first-born of Egypt by an angel of the death began. With the coming of the dawn the children of Israel, with Moses in the lead, left the house of bondage.

 

 

 

The first-born of Israel. They are type of the "Church of the first-born" of Gospel age. During this age they were subjected to Second Death, having their trial for everlasting life or everlasting death in advance of the remainder of mankind, and they were passing from death unto life through the merit of the Redeemer's blood. (Heb. 12:23; James 1:18; 1 John 3:14.) These the first-born had become God's sons first, before whole world. (John 1:12.) They were prepared at the Christ's school of the character to the future function of "kings and priests" for the whole world. (Rev. 20:6.) All that time, the blood of God's Lamb, Christ protected their fallen nature against the Divine justice. (1 Pet. 1:18, 19; 1 John 1:7). At the end of Gospel age, this blood is not having to protect them already, because their earthly pilgrimage is over. From then on the old world is passing away rapidly in "the great tribulation."

The all mankind devastated by sin earnestly expects for "the revealing of the sons of God," that is spiritual class of the these first-born. (Rom. 8:19; Acts. 3:25.) These first sons of God, with the Christ (Moses) in the lead, will restore the all people of goodwill to their lost sonship. As the Scripture declares: "The creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God." (Rom. 8:21.) This next phase (after Church of Christ) of the restoring the mankind to earthly life will happen after this, when the kingdom of present-day Pharaoh, Satan, is overthrown and when is the fully beginning of the millennial Restitution. This wonderful process of Restitution is showed by pilgrimage of Israelites in wilderness to the land of Canaan. Human billions, being liberated from the bondage of sin and death, will enter ultimately the earthly Canaan – the Kingdom of God to live eternally as the one family of God, in happiness, peace and safety.

First-born Egypt represent the systems and functions absolutely indispensable for today's Pharaoh, Satan, in supporting of his kingdom of darkness. The deliverance of the mankind from this house of bondage will be possible only then, when the these first-born are removed.

First-born Pharaoh represents the Roman Catholic church, the most deceitful and criminal system in entire history of the world. This system is the real keystone of the whole devilish structure of the world based on errors, false teaching, ignorance, superstition and every evil. Owing to such characteristics it is the main support of power of the prince of this world, Satan. This church simply "sits on his throne" (Exod. 12:29).

The gods of Egypt represent all things, which stand between people and their only true God, Jehovah. Wealth, luxuries, fame, power, militarism, unbridled entertainments etc. are the idols of the present world. All these things are at the present time the most esteemed and desired by the people.

All the previous plagues brought the world gradually to the critical, a dead- end situation, when all ideological and financial measures of supporting of the existing order have been exhausted. This condition of general helplessness and fear was illustrated through the plague of darkness (1977–1981).
In this period, Satan, in the way completely unimaginable previously, managed to connect in the co-operation on the field of propaganda "peace and safety" the atheistic powers of communism and Roman Catholic church. The aim of these efforts there was the restoring his first-born, that is the papal system, to the power. In the book of Revelation, the papacy is showed in the ten-horned beast. The beast represents secular-religious government under the supremacy of the Roman Catholic church. Such mixed character of rules however, enjoyed great success through many centuries, began to weaken gradually in the result of Reformation work and of Napoleon's campaigns.

At the time of king Victor Emanuel II the political role of papacy had been quite diminished. According to Jasper Ridley, at the 1867 Congress of Peace in Geneva, Italian hero Giuseppe Garibaldi referred to "that pestilential institution which is called the Papacy" and proposed giving "the final blow to the monster." (Wikipedia). In 1870, the Papal States, at its height comprising territory of 40,000 square kilometres, it was reduced to small part of Rome, less than half of the square kilometre, where there is the Apostolic Palace and adjacent buildings. Pius IX announced the encyclical, in which he described himself a prisoner in the Vatican, he excommunicated the king and all perpetrators of his humiliation as well as he forbade the Catholics to participate in the political life of Italy. According to symbolic vision of Revelation, the papal beast has received a "death-blow by the sword" and has been thrown into "abyss" or into the political nonentity. (Rev. 13:3, 14; 11:7)
The secular leaders shortly managed to rule on their own during absence of this papal stabilizer of the public feelings; for the next 59 years only. The fear before anarchy prevailed and the rulers called Vatican for help. The stand-off was ended in 1929, when the Lateran Pacts created a new microstate, that of Vatican City, and opened the way for diplomatic relations between Italy and the "Holy See." "The Holy See" in turn recognized the Kingdom of Italy with Rome as its capital, thus ending the situation whereby the Popes had felt constrained to remain within the Vatican.
 

 

 

 

Vision of Revelation depicts the restoring of the union of altar and throne gradually as "the beast coming out of the abyss" (Rev. 11:7). The abyss symbolizes political nonentity of the church in the political life, whereas the coming out of it – the reactivating of secular-religious rules. After Italy, the next leaders of Christianity began to turn to Vatican for help. At last, to all world utter amazement, the close political co-operation established diametrically various systems, COMECON, that comprised ten "kings" of socialist countries, and Vatican. It should be noticed that the beast not only come out of the abyss, but also, out of the sea. (Rev. 13:1.) As a result of expansion of revolutionary ideology the world had been torn in two: conservative "earth" and socialist "sea." The papal beast had been led by Satan out of the "sea." Atheism contributed the most to social unrest there, therefore it was the place the most threatened with anarchy.

The short magnificence of the throne of first-born of present-day Pharaoh, Satan, is showed in 17th chapter of Revelation. Vision depicts there a woman being dressed like queen and bedizened with jewels, which is sitting on a ten-horned red beast. In such a way had been showed the last political love affair of the Roman Catholic church. This elderly harlot was committing for ages fornication with many kings, but at the end she began to work as a prostitute with ten royal lovers of communist block. These kings had been showed in horns, and their red flags gave the colour to the papal beast. The woman expresses the hopes of the Roman Catholic church, as follows: "I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall in no wise see mourning." (18:7). These hopes turned out vain. The Lord allowed the beast to triumph a very short time: for forty-two months (13:5) or 1260 days (42 x 30 = 1260). This period coincides with ninth plague, because only in the conditions of symbolic darkness there was possible elevation to great power and the unusual popularity of the system so much tainted with crime in the past, so cruelly bloody, so false and deceitful as the Roman Catholic church. "The whole earth [society] wondered after the beast” (13:3); "'the dragon [civil government] gave him his power, and his throne, and great authority" (...) "they worshipped the dragon, because he gave his authority unto the beast" (13:4,2).

Those 1260 days of the today's magnificence of the papacy began to go by from 1 December 1977, when secretary of Polish United Workers' Party, Eduard Gierek, arrived in Vatican as representative of ten socialist kings and he proposed to the pope close mutual co-operation. The proposal was received. With the passage of time, when the days of this co-operation were going by, socialist powers noticed, that their mistress is faithless, that she secretly inflames animosity of the society against them. They did not want earlier to remember, because of the political need, that the Roman Catholic church always was in the habit to use in her politics a dagger, poison, deceit and betrayal. The kings reminded about that, when it was already too late.

At last, the Divine clock of the history struck midnight, and the tenth plague of destruction of the first-born of Egypt began.

Pictures and prophecies of the Scripture, being supplemented with the understanding of biblical chronology, foretold the coming of the seven years of symbolic night (1977–1981–1984). This night was to bring prophetic events crucial for the world future. The waited events appeared indeed. Propaganda efforts in the political field of "peace and safety" filled up the first half of this night. In the spring of 1981 (midnight) the general fall started.

According to the Divine instructions of the Mosaic Law, the Jewish year had two beginnings: religious in the spring and civil in the autumn. The most important events in these beginnings were, accordingly: the Passover (14 Nisan) and the Atonement Day (10 Tishri).

Divinely appointed time – the day of Passover 1981 (18 April) was absolute breakthrough in the history of the world. The clock in present-day Egypt struck midnight. In less than a month later, 13 May, in Saint Peter's Square in Rome, there reverberated unexpectedly the pistol shots of Turkish assassin. They informed the world about the abrupt breaking off the political contract of the socialistic powers and Roman Catholic church. The attempt on the life of the pope has been done exactly 1260 days after Eduard Gierek's decisive visit at Vatican, in December 1, 1977.

 

 

 

(The calculation: From 1.12 to 31.12.1977 – 31 days, year 1978 – 365 days, year 1979 – 365 days, year 1980 – 366 days, 1.01 to 13.05.1981 – 133 days. In total – 1260 days)

Was there sheer coincidence? Not, it was not. Such precision clearly proves that an Angel of the death sent by God hit the first-born of "Pharaoh" so that God's Word will come true. The false charm of the papacy evaporated once again, for the last time. From the spring 1981 began the process of the final destruction of the Roman Catholic church, biblical Antichrist. At first, it seemed not very clear, however now it is more and more obvious. The Revelation describes the farther course of prophetic events, as follows: "And the ten horns (...) and the beast, these shall hate the harlot, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and shall burn her utterly with fire.” (17:16) This symbolic vision shows the attitude in the final times of both dethroned ten socialist kings (horns) and even the whole Catholic state (beast). They will not tolerate longer of abuses and deceitful practices of the Roman Catholic church. The process of discrediting and weakening leads to her total destruction in the symbolic fire of more and more intensifying anarchy.

As a result of breaking off of close co-operation of civil powers and church as well as the fall of communism in the final times, the world lost equilibrium. The additional illustration of these events contains a dream of king Nebuchadnezzar. He had vision of the Gentile powers, represented by a great image.

 

 

 

The vision showed a stone smiting the image on the feet, and as a result the utter wreck of Gentile powers, and that stone then expanding until it filled the whole earth. (Dan. 2:27-44). The clay element blended with the iron in the feet represents the mixture of church and state. The god of this world, Satan, restored this kind of mixed power desperately to save his empire from anarchy (years 1977–1981). With such responsible task he had charged the iron-powers of socialism (ten fingers) and added to them for the help the ecclesiastical clay. The clay, only imitation of the stone, does not enlarge of the strength of the iron in nothing of course, similarly the church only makes pretence that the entire structure of power have the divine authorization.

The real "stone" of God's Kingdom smashed this unfortunate mixture to debris during the next three years and a half (1981–1984). The feet of the image, mutual co-operation, had been crushed. In the spring of 1985 came to the power in the USSR Mikhail Gorbachov and he closed the communism era. Every statue devoid feet falls down inevitably. The most apparently Divine point of view on the Gentile powers is, as if their total fall occurred already in 1984. One could to recognize the condition of the world from this year as the interregnum, if it was not for chronological parallelism of the events of years 536 B.C and 1984 A.D. (2520 – 536 = 1984). In 536 B.C. the ancient monarch Cyrus issued famous edict of liberation. In 1984, invisible king of the world, larger than Cyrus, Jesus Christ himself, unlocked widely gateway to liberty for prisoners of today's Babylon, all mankind. (Isa. 44:28; 45:13)

 

 

 

Present history of the Jewish nation is one of very important proofs testifying that the freedom era is reaching culminant phase. This chosen nation is very small with regard to population, but it has the huge part to playing in God's Kingdom. God will make with them in their land soon the New Covenant. Therefore, it’s little wonder that almost one million of Jews left the USSR after 1984. Simply invisible "Cyrus" freed them out of the house of bondage, so that they can to return to their fatherland.

Both the getting the freedom as a result of Cyrus' edict and escape from Egypt as aftermath of tenth plague are the same lesson.

When were the feet of the image broken, what happened with it then? His real power was in the iron legs which supported the whole structure. When legs were cut, the whole statue collapsed, whereas the wind swept away remnants. The today’s statue of world’s power lost already its support as a result of crumbling its feet, mixed rules of socialism and clergy, by the triumphant power of God's Kingdom. At present, whirlwind of anarchy begins to sweep over the world to complete the work of destruction.

Without the support of these "legs" and their ideology the others rulers of the world, represented somehow in the statue, they do not possess great strength. Why?

They are very well equipped in the most modern weapon to the defense of their countries, against the external enemy. They are however practically helpless in the face of their own society to which they can not longer to make promises they can’t keep. Socialism deceived people the vision of workers' paradise, justice and equality. The clergy dazed the people their inventions and the threats of the infernal fire. These ideologies already stopped to work. In every country, in front of helpless power stands dangerous internal enemy, the working classes. The criticism and demands multiply dramatically, there is however no possibility to satisfy all of them. It is a dead-end situation, with which only the Kingdom of God on the earth will be able to manage.

Scripture declares, that the battle of Armageddon will be the social clash mainly. It will be struggle between camp of "all the kings of the world" (political, financial and religious) and army of all dissatisfied people in their own countries. (Rev. 16:13,14,16). The democratic countries, highly organized, they are the least resistant on the whims of the own society and the most sensitive on various crises, the stock panics, a shortages of food, supply of energetic media, etc. Apart from that, the powerful states of the West, high developed and industrialized, they are employing many of the workforce from the countries, to which Christianity did many harms. These harms were not forgotten.
 

 

 

 

The blow in the papacy is only the beginning of the plague of destruction of the all first-born of today's "Egypt." The Roman Catholic church, Antichrist, is not the individual but the whole system. Similarly others the first-born of "Egypt" are not individual persons, but they represent various prominent positions in political, social and religious circles, on which "Pharaoh," that is Satan, based his power. The ultimately overthrow of Pharaoh’s army by the Red Sea, corresponds to the fact that many of the present enslaving agencies will overthrown by anarchy in the great “time of trouble” (Heb. 11:29). They all have to fall in anarchy, and they will fall.
 

 

 

 

The fall of Pharaoh's power was accompanied by "a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there hath not been, nor shall be any more." (Exod. 11:6) Almost the identical form, in which our Lord foretold the fall of the old world – "tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, nor ever shall be." (Matt. 24:21) – is suggesting, that tenth plague of Egypt is important illustration of "great tribulation."

The process of taking over the power by the Lord Christ has the so drastic course because of human selfishness prevailing in the world. Notwithstanding, the perspective of intensifying anarchy (tenth plague, great tribulation) should terrify nobody, because it is the working of God friendly for the people. It is aiming at destroying power of the prince of this world, Satan, and is leading the mankind to the liberty.

 

 

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"The increase of knowledge in every direction awakens a feeling of self-respect among men, and a realization of their natural and inalienable rights, which they will not long permit to be ignored or despised; rather, they will go to an opposite extreme. Glance back along the centuries and see how the nations have written the history of their discontent in blood. And the prophets declare that because of the increase of knowledge a still more general and widespread dissatisfaction will finally express itself in a world-wide revolution, in the overthrow of all law and order; that anarchy and distress upon all classes will be the result; but that in the midst of this confusion the God of heaven will set up his Kingdom, which will satisfy the desires of all nations. Wearied and disheartened with their own failures, and finding their last and greatest efforts resulting in anarchy, men will gladly welcome and bow before the heavenly authority, and recognize its strong and just government. Thus man's extremity will become God's opportunity, and 'the desire of all nations shall come' – the Kingdom of God, in power and great glory (Hag. 2:7)". A266 (published in 1886)
 

 

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