And I say to you, Let My son go, that he may serve Me; and if you refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay your son, your firstborn. – Exodus 4:23, Amplified Bible

God was merciful to Pharaoh, warning him in Exodus 4:23 of the ultimate price he would pay if he disobeyed God. With his first “no,” however, Pharaoh brought upon himself and his people a series of plagues that devastated the nation. But even in these plagues, God was showing mercy. If Pharaoh had taken the opportunity of any of these plagues to repent and to obey God, he would have spared Egypt from its greatest tragedy. Unfortunately, Pharaoh did not heed the warnings, and Egypt suffered the death of its firstborn.

The path of today’s hard-hearted unsaved mirrors Pharaoh’s path to destruction. God sends a messenger to warn the unbeliever of the penalty for disobedience. The unsaved rejects the warning, and God in His mercy follows the warning with adversity. The purpose of the adversity is to bring the sinner to the end of himself and, thus, to repentance. But that outcome is not guaranteed, for the unbeliever may choose to become more resistant to God’s call with each passing trial. One day the last call will come, and the unrepentant sinner will, like Pharaoh, pay the ultimate penalty.

Throughout Pharaoh’s ordeals there were faithful messengers – Moses and Aaron – warning him of the next plague and pleading with him to obey God. God will offer such opportunities of salvation to today’s unbelievers as well, but He will only do so through the efforts of faithful messengers.

Soon God will tap you as His messenger to someone that needs Him. He will give you the same sober, unpopular duty that he gave to Moses and to Aaron – to warn a sinner of the wrath to come. When called, obey His voice. You have no idea if the message will be received or rejected. Regardless, fail not to deliver the message you have been given.