10 Vivid Pictures of the True Nature, Meaning, and Issue of the Life in the World

A picture is worth a thousand words, and when we see the clear picture of the world in the ten plagues God sent upon Egypt in Gen. 7-12, we will hate the world and desire to be rescued from it to be part of God’s people building up His dwelling place.

In this portion of Exodus God sent Moses and Aaron to Pharaoh to ask him to let His people go and hold a feast for Him in the wilderness (Exo. 5:1). In the beginning, Pharaoh hardened his heart and wouldn’t listen, and then change his mind; then, God hardened his heart so that he would be for the manifestation of God’s power and glory.

God sent ten plagues not only to punish the Egyptians and cause them to let His people go but also to clearly show the Israelites that life in Egypt is terrible, full of frogs, lice, pestilence, boils, darkness, and death.

All these plagues happened in Egypt and not in Goshen, the place where the people of Israel was; God made a clear difference between His people and the world. With the world there was judgement and death, and with God’s people there was the light and revelation of God, the presence and purpose of God, and they had a future full of God and God’s supply.

As God’s people today in the world we are not OF the world but we live IN the world; as such ones, we need to see a clear vision of the world by studying the vivid pictures of the ten plagues.

Only by receiving a revelation of the nature, significance, and result of life in the world, and by clearly seeing a revelation of God’s attitude toward such a life can we truly be detached from the world and hate the worldly life (see 1 John 2:15-17; James 4:4).

God hates worldliness more than He hates sinfulness since worldliness is against His holy nature. If we see a detailed vision of the world we shall truly know what is God’s attitude toward it and we will spontaneously cease to love it.

10 Vivid Pictures of the True Nature, Meaning, and Issue of the Life in the World

Let us now consider the ten vivid pictures of the true nature of the life in the world, the true meaning of life in the world, and the true issue of life in the world. Remember, God’s intention in giving His chosen people such a revelation is to cause them to hate and become disgusted with the world as they see it for what it truly is, to leave the world and to be separated from the world to God for His dwelling place.

1. Water becoming blood (Exo. 7:14-25) – the nature and result of life in the world with all its entertainment and amusement is death. We may think that entertainment and amusements are not that evil, they make you feel happy and cause you to forget your problems and troubles, but in God’s eyes they result in death. The true nature of life in the world is death. The water which is supposed to give us life, the joy and amusement in this world, is actually giving us death.

2. Frogs everywhere (Exo. 8:1-15) – life in the world is a life of nuisance and unending troubles. There’s no real relaxation and rest in the world; wherever we go and whatever we do, there’s unending trouble and nuisance. We may buy certain things because we like them or we think we need them, and they become such a nuisance to us. We buy a new phone, and it becomes a nuisance, distraction, and unending trouble.

The frogs in Egypt were everywhere: in their house, their bed, the oven, etc. Our life in the world is not a life of enjoyment but a life of trouble and much nuisance. These frogs don’t kill people – they are just troublesome, and they are everywhere!

3. Dust becoming lice (Exo. 8:16-19) – the source of the supply of our living in the world eventually becomes a great discomfort and a cause of extreme irritation. The dust is the earth, and it is supposed to cause life to grow and nurture life; but under God’s judgement, the real source of life in the world becomes a great discomfort to us.

We think our new job will make us happy but it becomes a discomfort to us, tiring us out, and irritating us. The source of our living was designed by God to give us life and make us happy, but Satan took it over and usurped it to use it for his evil purpose.

4. Swarms of flies (Exo. 8:20-32) – the moral atmosphere of the world has been polluted, having been filled with all manner of unclean and evil things. If you read the newspapers or the “breaking news” on your phone you will realize that immorality, crime, and evil things are prevalent in the world, and even the moral atmosphere has been polluted. Even good moral people commit all kinds of unclean and evil things. The air is supposed to be clear and allow us to see God on the throne, giving us life as we breathe it, but the atmosphere in the world is polluted, corrupted, and unclean.

“I will put a redemption between My people and your people” (Exo. 8:23) Since sin entered into the world, all humanity and creation is under God’s judgement. The whole world is being judged by God. Although the whole world is being judged by God, He will not change concerning His purpose for His people, which is to have a dwelling place among men in them.

He will fulfill what He is after, and even though His people are fallen human beings, He views them under the redemption of Christ which has been accomplished before the foundation of the world. In Exo. 8:23 God put a redemption between His people and the Egyptians based on the redemption of Christ.

In His sovereignty He chose us, redeemed us, and saved us, and now He is making us His habitation. As for the world, the reason God is judging the world is to still give people time to repent, showing them how evil and polluted the world is so that they would turn to Him and receive Him.

5. Grievous pestilence upon all the Egyptian livestock (Exo. 9:1-7) – the means of transportation and the way of eating in the world are judged by God, and His righteous judgement deals with the implications of a sinful situation. The cattle didn’t do anything wrong: why did God judge them? Here we have the principle of implication: horses, donkeys, camels, herds, flocks, etc are under God’s judgement because they are being used by the Egyptians for their evil purposes.

The animals are not sinful; they belong to Pharaoh and his people, and therefore they were judged. The means of transportation and the way of eating are not sinful in themselves, but because they are owned and used by the people in the world under Satan, they are under God’s judgement. But if we love the Lord, enjoy Him, and serve Him, we will be under God’s blessing and everything and everyone related to us will also be blessed. All that we have and all our relatives, friends, workmates, and neighbours will be positively implicated in the blessing upon us. We can be a factor of blessing on the society!

6. Ashes becoming fine dust to cause boils on men and beast (Exo. 9:8-12) – anything remaining of our fallen human life must be dealt with by God. The water in the world is blood giving us death. Frogs are everywhere, and the dust becomes lice. There are swarms of flies in the air, polluting everything. There’s pestilence upon the cattle. All these are very bothering and a big nuisance; but there’s more: anything that remains of our fallen human life is dealt with by God.

How we need to NOT remain in the world or live in our natural human life but come out to the Lord and let the word of God operate in us to make us His dwelling place!

7. Hail mingled with fire (Exo. 9:13-35) – if we are stubborn or rebellious, our relationship with God is destroyed, and He alters the spiritual function of the rain by sending hail upon our spirit and fire with the hail to cause severe damage. May the Lord save us from being stubborn or rebellious!

If our relationship with the Lord is proper, He will send spiritual rain upon us to water the garden of our spirit and quench our thirst. But because the people of the world are stubborn and rebellious before God, the water which is supposed to produce life becomes a damaging factor to them. Two opposite things, fire and water, are mixed together to produce damage instead of giving life. This is what life in the world is like.

Why was Pharaoh’s heart so hardened toward God? In the beginning he hardened his heart toward God, but then later God hardened his heart. Pharaoh would not submit to God’s dealing, even though God did a lot of extraordinary things. In Rom. 9:14-17 we see that God is sovereign. He has the right to harden people and deal with them, and we have nothing to say about this. We need not question God’s love but recognize His sovereignty. We simply need to ask the Lord to make us sons of mercy for His dwelling place, not those hardening our heart like Pharaoh.

8. The wind bringing locusts (Gen. 10:1-20) – Satan eats up the supply of man’s life and of everything related to man as he lives in the world under God’s condemnation. Man works so hard to plant trees, grow vegetables, till the ground, and do things to maintain his living. But Satan comes as swarms of locusts in wave after wave to eat the supply of man’s life and everything related to man.

There’s no blessing or increase in a positive way in the world, and all those who live in the world are under God’s condemnation and Satan’s consuming and eating up. Oh Lord Jesus!

9. Thick darkness over all Egypt (Gen. 10:21-29) – the worldly life outside God’s presence is filled with terrible darkness. In the world today there is no light; there is such a thick darkness that “people can’t even see their hands”, and no man-made light can cut through the darkness.

Outside of God’s presence there’s only darkness and death, and “blind guides the blind”, people going places and being drawn to do things they have no idea about. When we are in God’s presence, we have light, and we see all things clearly. In God’s presence we enjoy God’s light and life can grow in a normal way.

10. God’s judgement upon all the firstborn in Egypt (Gen. 11:1-10) – everything that is related to Adam, the first man as the firstborn, is condemned by God. Not only things and animals and matters related to man, but everything of the old Adam is under God’s condemnation, and death will eventually come in to strike even the strongest among men. From the youngest to the oldest, no matter how many or how few sins men in the world committed, they are under God’s condemnation if they are not in the second man, Christ, the new creation.

God Hates Worldliness; We must Know the World and the Element of the World must be Purged from our Being

It is only by receiving a revelation of the nature, significance, and result of life in the world and a revelation of God’s attitude toward such a life that we can truly become detached from the world and hate the worldly life (1 John 2:15-17; James 4:4). Quote from, Witness Lee

The ten plagues sent by God upon Egypt (typifying the world) give us vivid pictures of what the nature, significance, and result of the life in the world is.

When we see such a revelation we will realize what God’s attitude toward such a life is, and we will truly become detached from the world and hate the worldly life (see 1 John 2:15-17). We will realize that friendship with the world is enmity with God (James 4:4).

To God worldliness is worse than sinfulness; sinfulness is against God’s righteousness and can be dealt with by the blood of Christ, but worldliness is against God’s holiness, which is higher than His righteousness. If the Lord is merciful to us to show us a detailed vision of the world, we will know God’s attitude toward it, and we sill spontaneously cease to love it.

Even more, we will seek to be God’s dwelling place on earth and cooperate with the Lord to have the element of the world purged out of our being (see Rev. 2:12-13, 17). If we would be God’s dwelling place on earth, we must know the world in a thorough way and see it as He sees it, and the element of the world MUST be purged out of our being.

Lord Jesus, grant us a clear revelation of the nature, significance, and result of life in the world. May we see that life in the world is full of death, discomfort, irritation, unending trouble, and nuisance. May we realize that the whole moral atmosphere in the world has been polluted, and even the things people in the world use are under Your judgement. Lord, save us from being stubborn or rebellious against You as You deal with us. Purge out the element of the world from our being. Lord, save us from the world and make us Your dwelling place on earth! May we see a detailed vision of the world, know Your attitude toward it, hate the world, and come out to You to be Your people, Your corporate dwelling place on earth!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Albert Lim’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Exodus (msg. 18), as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Heavenly Vision, week 5 / msg 5, The Vision of the World (you can buy this morning revival book here).
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Oh, may Thy living light, Lord, / Scatter all my night, Lord, / And everything make bright, Lord, / For this I pray to Thee. / I long to be unveiled, / In everything made clear, / No more to be deceived / Or to my pride adhere. (Hymns #426)
  # See the vision of Christ and the church; / Count the cost; reckon all things as loss; / Pay the price. The prize to gain Christ, / Burn the bridges; leave the world behind; / On God’s economy your heart be set / To live a life. (Song on Paying the Price and Gaining Christ)
  # I’ve turned my back upon the world / With all its idle pleasures, / And set my heart on better things, / On higher, holier treasures; / No more its glitter and its glare, / And vanity shall blind me; / I’ve crossed the separating line, / And left the world behind me. / Far, far behind me! / Far, far behind me! / I’ve crossed the separating line, / And left the world behind me. (Hymns #438)