By Gabriel Agbo
Article Word Count: 991 [View Summary] Comments (0)
We saw how Jesus went through the midnight battle and came out victorious. Now, let's see the role midnight played in the deliverance of the children of Israel from Egypt. Because of Pharaoh's obstinacy in releasing the children of God to proceed to the Promised Land, as demanded by Moses, God decided to visit that land with different plagues. Moses and Aaron performed signs and wonders, released plagues upon the land of Egypt, but still, Pharaoh refused to let them go. There were plagues of frogs, turning Nile into blood, flies, lice, cattle murrain, boils, hail, locust, and darkness. All these could not change Pharaoh's heart. Rather he arrogantly asked Aaron, "Who is that your God that I will obey him. I will not listen to that your God - story, and I also will not let Israel go. And mind you, I don't want to see you people (Moses and Aaron) in my palace again. The day you come here again, I will kill you. Is that understood Moses?" And Moses said, "Very well. I will never see you again." And left.Now God told Moses that He was going to send just one more disaster on Pharaoh and the land of Egypt and after that, Pharaoh will be begging the children of Israel to leave Egypt. God told Moses that He was going to institute an ordinance called Passover for their sake. And it will be done in the night. He said that after they would have performed the ordinance that night, He (God) would pass through the land of Egypt killing every firstborn son of man and beast, while executing judgment against all their gods. And that is exactly what God will do for you at midnight. He will judge your enemies and their gods.
Now my interest here is that God brought out his last joker for Pharaoh, to make him allow Israel out of Egypt, and that He chose to do it in the midnight. He told them specifically to perform the sacrifice in the night and also to be ready to leave that country. And truly, He eventually came at midnight. "And at midnight the LORD killed all the firstborn sons in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne to the firstborn son of the captive in the dungeon. Even the firstborn of their livestock were killed. Pharaoh and his officials and all the people of Egypt woke up during the night, and loud wailing was heard throughout the land of Egypt. There was not a single house where someone had not died." (Exodus 12:29-30). Yes, God struck the pride and strength of Egypt - their first sons.
Please before we continue with what happened at that night of Passover, there is something I want us to note here. The plague of killing the firstborn of Egypt unlike others was extraordinary and strange to the Egyptians. They had somehow seen these other nine that came earlier, but the last one (death of all the firstborn) was not known to them before this time. To the Egyptians, plagues are neither improbable nor unusual. They are part of their local colour. The water of the Nile 'was turned to blood'. 'And the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt '. 'Flies appear', 'Lice', 'cattle murrain' and 'boils'. Finally 'hail', 'locusts' and 'darkness" (Ex 7-10). These things, which the bible described, are still being experienced by the Egyptians. For example, the 'red Nile '. Deposits from the Abyssinian Lake often colour the floodwaters with dark reddish-brown, especially in the upper Nile. That might well be said to look like 'blood'.
At the time of the floods, 'Frogs' and also 'Flies' sometimes multiply so rapidly that they become regular plagues on the land. Under the heading of 'Lice' would come undoubtedly the dog fly. These often attack whole areas in swarms, affect eyes, nose and ears, and can be very painful. Then, Cattle pest is known all over the world. The 'boils' which attack human beings as well as animals may be the so-called ' Nile heart' or 'Nile-itch'. This is an irritating and stinging rash, which often develops into spreading ulcers. This horrible skin disease is also used as a threat for punishment by Moses in the course of the Journey through the desert. The same could be said about 'Hail storms' and 'darkness'. Only the death of the 'firstborn' is a plague for which there is no parallel. It was designed to be the last straw that will break the Carmel 's back. And Pharaoh immediately caved in.
Now back to the Passover night. God told the Israelites that what they were doing that night was going to be an ordinance for the rest of their life. They should observe it every year, and also pass same to their children. That is exactly the way I see midnight prayers. Decrees made while praying in the midnight are always very strong and bring great results. Most times, they bring about generational breakthrough and blessings; which will out-live you. And we must also ensure that we pass this same practice to our subsequent generations. Then, it is also in the midnight that most of the satanic ordinances are set against us, against our families, towns, churches, etc. So, when we pray in the midnight, we destroy such ordinances and set up fresh and favourable ones that will begin to speak for us all the rest of our life.
