Exodus 10

¹ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may show these signs of mine among them, ² and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and of your grandson how I have dealt harshly with the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them, that you may know that I am the Lord.” ³ So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me. ⁴ For if you refuse to let my people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country, ⁵ and they shall cover the face of the land, so that no one can see the land. And they shall eat what is left to you after the hail, and they shall eat every tree of yours that grows in the field, ⁶ and they shall fill your houses and the houses of all your servants and of all the Egyptians, as neither your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen, from the day they came on earth to this day.’” Then he turned and went out from Pharaoh. ⁷ Then Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not yet understand that Egypt is ruined?” ⁸ So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. And he said to them, “Go, serve the Lord your God. But which ones are to go?” ⁹ Moses said, “We will go with our young and our old. We will go with our sons and daughters and with our flocks and herds, for we must hold a feast to the Lord.” ¹⁰ But he said to them, “The Lord be with you, if ever I let you and your little ones go! Look, you have some evil purpose in mind. ¹¹ No! Go, the men among you, and serve the Lord, for that is what you are asking.” And they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence. ¹² Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, so that they may come upon the land of Egypt and eat every plant in the land, all that the hail has left.” ¹³ So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind upon the land all that day and all that night. When it was morning, the east wind had brought the locusts. ¹⁴ The locusts came up over all the land of Egypt and settled on the whole country of Egypt, such a dense swarm of locusts as had never been before, nor ever will be again. ¹⁵ They covered the face of the whole land, so that the land was darkened, and they ate all the plants in the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Not a green thing remained, neither tree nor plant of the field, through all the land of Egypt. ¹⁶ Then Pharaoh hastily called Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against the Lord your God, and against you. ¹⁷ Now therefore, forgive my sin, please, only this once, and plead with the Lord your God only to remove this death from me.” ¹⁸ So he went out from Pharaoh and pleaded with the Lord. ¹⁹ And the Lord turned the wind into a very strong west wind, which lifted the locusts and drove them into the Red Sea. Not a single locust was left in all the country of Egypt. ²⁰ But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the people of Israel go. ²¹ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness to be felt.” ²² So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was pitch darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. ²³ They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days, but all the people of Israel had light where they lived. ²⁴ Then Pharaoh called Moses and said, “Go, serve the Lord; your little ones also may go with you; only let your flocks and your herds remain behind.” ²⁵ But Moses said, “You must also let us have sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. ²⁶ Our livestock also must go with us; not a hoof shall be left behind, for we must take of them to serve the Lord our God, and we do not know with what we must serve the Lord until we arrive there.” ²⁷ But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let them go. ²⁸ Then Pharaoh said to him, “Get away from me; take care never to see my face again, for on the day you see my face you shall die.” ²⁹ Moses said, “As you say! I will not see your face again.”

 

 

The first church I ever pastored was just above the Red River, the border between Texas and Oklahoma.  It was a little white church and used to serve the area as the old one-room schoolhouse.  It was a beautiful church sitting in the middle of rural, southern Oklahoma.  The members were farmers, primarily.  My wife and I think back on that seminary pastorate with very fond memories.

I recall, on one occasion, leaving the church after morning services and driving to the Hicks’ family farm.  As we turned up the dirt drive leading through their fields to their home, something hit our windshield.  Then something else.  Then many something elses!  I thought for a moment that it might be hail, but the sky was clear above us.  Finally, one of the objects got stuck in our windshield wiper and I was able to get a look at it.  It was a large grasshopper, bigger than the ones I had ever seen before.  They were jumping out of the grass as we drove, pelting our windshield and car in wave after wave.  It was all very unnerving.  I had never seen so many grasshoppers! When we got to the house, we cautiously stepped out, only to find farmer Hicks chuckling at the alarm of the pastor and pastor’s wife.  He picked one of them up and showed it to me.  What was surreal and frightening to me was of no concern to him at all.  It was just a way of life to him, something that happened at certain points throughout the year.  It certainly was not a plague, but to my city boy eyes it seemed like one.

I think I may have felt like Laura Ingalls Wilder once felt, though she had real reason to feel so!  Listen as she describes a strange and terrifying event that occurred around their prairie home in Minnesota.

Plunk!  Something hit Laura’s head and fell to the ground.  She looked down and saw the largest grasshopper she had ever seen.  Then huge brown grasshoppers were hitting the ground all around her, hitting her head and her face and her arms.  They came thudding down like hail.

            The cloud was hailing grasshoppers.  The cloud was grasshoppers.  Their bodies hid the sun and made darkness.  Their thin, large wings gleamed and glittered.  The rasping whirring of their wings filled the whole air and they hit the ground and the house with the noise of a hailstorm.

            Laura tried to beat them off.  Their claws clung to her skin and her dress.  They looked at her with bulging eyes, turning their heads this way and that.  Mary ran screaming into the house.  Grasshoppers covered the ground, there was not one bare bit to step on.  Laura had to step on grasshoppers and they smashed squirming and slimy under her feet…

            Grasshoppers beat down from the sky and swarmed thick over the ground.  Their long wings were folded and their strong legs took them hopping everywhere.  The air whirred and the roof went on sounding like a roof in a hailstorm.

            Then Laura heard another sound, one big sound made of tiny nips and snips and gnawings…The grasshoppers were eating…You could hear the millions of jaws biting and chewing…Day after day the grasshoppers kept on eating.  They ate all the wheat and the oats.  They ate every green thing – all the garden and all the prairie grass…The whole prairie was bare and brown.  Millions of brown grasshoppers whirred low over it.  Not a green things was in sight anywhere.[1]

That is a chilling image, and one that many people throughout history have experienced.  It is safe to say, however, that no people experienced such to quite the extent that the Egyptians did.  Their tragedy was their sin, and the plagues were the escalating punishments that should have driven them into the arms of God.

I. Sin Blinds Us So Badly That We Mistake Our Savior For Our Enemy (v.1-11)

Pharaoh’s blindness is a recurring theme in Exodus.  He was blind and his heart was hard because he had sinned against God and rejected the truth of God.  Also, in ways that we do not fully understand, there was a divine hardening of his heart as well.  Regardless, the sin was Pharaoh’s and the rebellion was Pharaoh’s.  It took him to tragic extremes.

¹ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may show these signs of mine among them, ² and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and of your grandson how I have dealt harshly with the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them, that you may know that I am the Lord.”

We saw last week that the primary intent of the events of the Exodus was God’s glorification of Himself through the dethroning of a self-proclaimed god and the deliverance of His people.  Here He speaks of the trans-generational transmission of this great theological truth:  God alone is God and He is worthy to be praised.  The people of Israel will have a story to tell their children and grandchildren.  I would simply point out that this passing on of the story reaches us as well and must continue through us.  It is our privilege to speak to those who come after us of the mighty works of God.

³ So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me. ⁴ For if you refuse to let my people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country, ⁵ and they shall cover the face of the land, so that no one can see the land. And they shall eat what is left to you after the hail, and they shall eat every tree of yours that grows in the field, ⁶ and they shall fill your houses and the houses of all your servants and of all the Egyptians, as neither your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen, from the day they came on earth to this day.’” Then he turned and went out from Pharaoh. ⁷ Then Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not yet understand that Egypt is ruined?” ⁸ So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. And he said to them, “Go, serve the Lord your God. But which ones are to go?” ⁹ Moses said, “We will go with our young and our old. We will go with our sons and daughters and with our flocks and herds, for we must hold a feast to the Lord.”

Pharaoh’s servants have long since grown tired of this exhausting and dangerous cycle.  They see that the God of the Hebrews has power and strength, and that standing against Him is not a good idea!  Yet, even now, Pharaoh is parsing words and negotiating:  “But which ones are to go?”  Even now, Pharaoh hesitates at the threshold of true and complete repentance.  Moses says that they must all go to hold a feast to the Lord.  In other words, there will be no compromises.  Pharaoh must relent before the will of God.  In Exodus 8, Moses had already said that such a feast would necessitate them leaving Egypt:

²⁵ Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God within the land.” ²⁶ But Moses said, “It would not be right to do so, for the offerings we shall sacrifice to the Lord our God are an abomination to the Egyptians. If we sacrifice offerings abominable to the Egyptians before their eyes, will they not stone us? ²⁷ We must go three days’ journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God as he tells us.” ²⁸ So Pharaoh said, “I will let you go to sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness; only you must not go very far away. Plead for me.”

Thus, to tell Pharaoh they needed to have a feast was to tell Pharaoh that they needed to leave Egypt.  Pharaoh, however, will have none of it.  He responds with indignation and scorn.

¹⁰ But he said to them, “The Lord be with you, if ever I let you and your little ones go! Look, you have some evil purpose in mind. ¹¹ No! Go, the men among you, and serve the Lord, for that is what you are asking.” And they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence.

What is truly amazing at this point is that Pharaoh accuses Moses of having “some evil purpose in mind.”  Pharaoh, whose mind was firmly in the grip of Satan’s power, calls gods plan “evil.”  So blinded was he that he mistook his savior for his enemy.  What cruel irony.

This has been the case throughout human history:  men calling evil what God calls good and men calling good what God calls evil.  In John 8, for instance, Jesus is accused of being demon possessed.

⁴⁸ The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” ⁴⁹ Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. ⁵⁰ Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge. ⁵¹ Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” ⁵² The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon!

Furthermore, in Matthew 12, Jesus speaks in no uncertain terms against the sin of ascribing demonic power to the things of God.

²² Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. ²³ And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?” ²⁴ But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.” ²⁵ Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. ²⁶ And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? ²⁷ And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. ²⁸ But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. ²⁹ Or how can someone enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house. ³⁰ Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. ³¹ Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. ³² And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

Yes, it is a grievous thing indeed to look at the work of God and ascribe it to the devil.  It is the ultimate sign of complete spiritual self-delusion.  It is a wicked blasphemy revealing that the person committing it no longer knows up from down.  Pharaoh’s great tragedy was that he reached the point where he mistook his savior for his enemy.  When we reach this point, disastrous results are sure to follow.

Let me tell you about Edmond Safra.

Edmon Safra was a Lebanese-born billionaire banker who founded the Republic National Bank of New York.  In 1999, Mr. Safra was 67 years old and sealed a multi-billion-dollar deal to sell his banking empire in preparation for his retirement.  He was going to receive almost three billion dollars from the British bank HSBC.

Safra had homes in Paris, Geneva and New York, but in December of 1999 he was in the penthouse of his favorite residence overlooking Monaco’s yacht-filled harbor in the Mediterranean.

Safra felt safe in this home and even sent his bodyguards home at night.  On one particular night in early December 1999, however, something happened that frightened Safra.  There might have been a couple of burglars somewhere in the house, nobody knows.  Regardless, Safra fled with a nurse into the bathroom where he locked the door.  Also, somewhere along the line, the penthouse was set on fire.

When the police and the firefighters arrived, the floor was on fire and Safra was locked in the bathroom.  The firefighters were making a great noise trying to put out the flames.  In a state of fear, he heard the noise and took it to be the burglars trying to get in to kill him.  The bathroom was slowly filling up with smoke.  Safra refused to open the door.  He made some cell phone calls to his wife, who begged him to come out, but he refused.  She told him that there were no burglars.  She told him that it was the police and the firefighters.  She told him that the ones he feared were the ones who were there to save him.  Still, in fear, he refused to come out.

And there, in a smoke-filled bathroom, as the blaze spread through the ceiling and reached the bathroom, billionaire Edmond Safra and his nurse, Vivienne Torrent, died a horrible death. 

All he had to do was open the door and come out.  The sound that frightened him so badly was only his salvation:  firefighters fighting the blaze that threatened his life.  He refused to open the door, and so he died.  The article from which this story came was entitled, “Banker hid too long, paid with his life.”

How often have we feared the sound of the One who wants to save us?  How often have we too refused to open the door for fear of what we might lose?  This was the mistake of Edmond Safra.  This was the mistake of Pharaoh.  This, too, is oftentimes our mistake.[2]

II. True Repentance Worships God In Pleasant Times as Well as in Painful Times (v.12-20)

If mistaking your savior for your enemy is a sign of a sin-blinded heart, so is fair-weather repentance.  By that I mean “repentance” when it is expedient to repent.  One of the signs of true repentance is that it worships God in pleasant times as well as in painful times.  This degree of repentance was certainly absent from Pharaoh’s heart.

¹² Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, so that they may come upon the land of Egypt and eat every plant in the land, all that the hail has left.” ¹³ So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind upon the land all that day and all that night. When it was morning, the east wind had brought the locusts. ¹⁴ The locusts came up over all the land of Egypt and settled on the whole country of Egypt, such a dense swarm of locusts as had never been before, nor ever will be again. ¹⁵ They covered the face of the whole land, so that the land was darkened, and they ate all the plants in the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Not a green thing remained, neither tree nor plant of the field, through all the land of Egypt.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization notes that locusts can travel up to sixty miles per day, reaching densities of two hundred thousand insects per acre.  It further states that they can move in swarms comprised of billions of locusts and that locusts can eat their own body weight (0.07 oz.) each day.[3]  Locusts have also been known to cover up to four hundred square miles in some severe plagues.[4]  This gives us a bit of a picture of what Egypt was experiencing in this plague, though it was even worse than this!

¹⁶ Then Pharaoh hastily called Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against the Lord your God, and against you. ¹⁷ Now therefore, forgive my sin, please, only this once, and plead with the Lord your God only to remove this death from me.” ¹⁸ So he went out from Pharaoh and pleaded with the Lord. ¹⁹ And the Lord turned the wind into a very strong west wind, which lifted the locusts and drove them into the Red Sea. Not a single locust was left in all the country of Egypt. ²⁰ But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the people of Israel go.

This plague of locusts is interesting in the ways that it foreshadows the coming final plagues.  Peter Enns notes that it anticipates the final plagues and the crossing of the Red Sea in four ways:

(1) The locusts come on the land by an east wind (v.13), an east wind also causes the Red Sea to part (14:21)…(2) The fact that the locusts meet their demise in the Red Sea clearly alludes to the drowning of the Egyptian army in 14:28.  Even the language of 10:19 and 14:28 is similar, for both include the phrase “not one survived.” (3) The “deadly plague” from which Pharaoh asks Moses for relief (v.17) foreshadows the tenth plague, the death of the firstborn.  (4) The blackness…caused by the locusts in verse 15 anticipates the plague of darkness that soon follows.[5]

Also, we once again see the vacillating “repentance” of Pharaoh.  The truth is, if repentance vacillates it is not really repentance.  True repentance worships God and gives mind and soul to God.  True repentance does not simply turn to God when the locusts are present, only to recant when they are absent.  True repentance turns to God daily, always, with no wavering.

Let me offer you an example of what real repentance looks like.  While a bit lengthy, St. Francis of Sales’ (1567-1622) “hearty Protest made with the object of confirming the Soul’s resolution to serve God, as a conclusion to its acts of Penitence” (in Chapter XX of his Introduction to the Devout Life) is a stunning and beautiful statement of repentance.

I, THE undersigned ______ —in the Presence of God and of all the company of Heaven, having considered the Infinite Mercy of His Heavenly Goodness towards me, a most miserable, unworthy creature, whom He has created, preserved, sustained, delivered from so many dangers, and filled with so many blessings: having above all considered the incomprehensible mercy and loving-kindness with which this most Good God has borne with me in my sinfulness, leading me so tenderly to repentance, and waiting so patiently for me till this—(present) year of my life, notwithstanding all my ingratitude, disloyalty and faithlessness, by which I have delayed turning to Him, and despising His Grace, have offended Him anew: and further, remembering that in my Baptism I was solemnly and happily dedicated to God as His child, and that in defiance of the profession then made in my name, I have so often miserably profaned my gifts, turning them against God’s Divine Majesty:—I, now coming to myself prostrate in heart and soul before the Throne of His Justice, acknowledge and confess that I am duly accused and convicted of treason against His Majesty, and guilty of the Death and Passion of Jesus Christ, by reason of the sins I have committed, for which He died, bearing the reproach of the Cross; so that I deserve nothing else save eternal damnation.

But turning to the Throne of Infinite Mercy of this Eternal God, detesting the sins of my past life with all my heart and all my strength, I humbly desire and ask grace, pardon, and mercy, with entire absolution from my sin, in virtue of the Death and Passion of that same Lord and Redeemer, on Whom I lean as the only ground of my hope. I renew the sacred promise of faithfulness to God made in my name at my Baptism; renouncing the devil, the world, and the flesh, abhorring their accursed suggestions, vanities and lusts, now and for all eternity. And turning to a Loving and Pitiful God, I desire, intend, and deliberately resolve to serve and love Him now and eternally, devoting my mind and all its faculties, my soul and all its powers, my heart and all its affections, my body and all its senses, to His Will. I resolve never to misuse any part of my being by opposing His Divine Will and Sovereign Majesty, to which I wholly immolate myself in intention, vowing ever to be His loyal, obedient and faithful servant without any change or recall. But if unhappily, through the promptings of the enemy, or human infirmity, I should in anywise fail in this my resolution and dedication, I do most earnestly resolve by the grace of the Holy Spirit to rise up again so soon as I shall perceive my fall, and turn anew, without any delay, to seek His Divine Mercy. This is my firm will and intention,—my inviolable, irrevocable resolution, which I make and confirm without any reserve, in the Holy Presence of God, in the sight of the Church triumphant, and before the Church militant, which is my mother, who accepts this my declaration, in the person of him who, as her representative, hears me make it. Be pleased, O Eternal, All-Powerful, and All-Loving God,—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, to confirm me in this my resolution, and accept my hearty and willing offering. And inasmuch as Thou hast been pleased to inspire me with the will to make it, give me also the needful strength and grace to keep it. O God, Thou art my God, the God of my heart, my soul, and spirit, and as such I acknowledge and adore Thee, now and for all eternity. Glory be to Jesus. Amen.[6]

This is one example of what true repentance looks like.  Pharaoh was far from this kind of humility, however.  Thus, hard times were coming.  Terrifying times were coming.  But first, darkness.

III. True Repentance is Complete Repentance. (v.21-29)

The plague of darkness reveals once again the sham repentance and degenerate heart of Pharaoh.

²¹ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness to be felt.”

This image of “a darkness to be felt” is a frightening image.  Who has never “felt” the darkness around them?  Robert Alter called it “the claustrophobic palpability of absolute darkness.”[7]  Even so, Douglas Stuart suggests that “a darkness to be felt” is mistranslation, and that a better translation might be, “a darkness that will require groping around.”[8]  Some have even proposed that the image of “a darkness to be felt” suggests a Khamsin, a massive sandstorm.  Such sandstorms were regular features in Egypt in the spring.  Regardless, the image is intended to communicate complete, devastating darkness.[9]

There is also an unmistakable theological point to this darkness as well.  The dominant god of Egyptian theology was Ra (or Re).  To the Egyptian mind, he was understood as having three main qualities:  he is “the creator god, he is the divine king, and he is the paradigm for the cycle of birth-life-death-rebirth.”  The Egyptians understood him to be the king of the gods.  It is also telling that “almost every pharaoh from Dynasty 4 through Dynasty 30, the last native Egyptian dynasty, selected a royal name which was a compound using Re; for example Khafre, Menkaure, Sahure, Meryre, Kheperkare, Menkheperre, and Usermaatre.” The link between the Pharaoh and Ra was great.  Pharaoh was seen as the son of Ra, or even the incarnation of Ra.  Thus, the blotting out of the sun was a final, devastating blow to the Egyptian spiritual worldview.  It revealed that there was literally no God above the one true God.  Indeed, there is not God but the one true God.

²² So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was pitch darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. ²³ They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days, but all the people of Israel had light where they lived. ²⁴ Then Pharaoh called Moses and said, “Go, serve the Lord; your little ones also may go with you; only let your flocks and your herds remain behind.”

Amazingly, even now, after suffering all that he has suffered, Pharaoh does not offer complete repentance.  He tells Moses that the Hebrews can go worship, but their flocks and herds must stay.  Victor Hamilton summarized Pharaoh’s position in this chapter in these terms:

Worship God, but keep a lid on it.  Worship God, but leave your children out of it.  Worship God, but keep your possessions out of it.[10]

Here we see the dodges of a man who has yet to reach the end of himself.  True repentance is complete repentance and Pharaoh is exhibiting nothing like true repentance.  He continues to wrangle with God.

²⁵ But Moses said, “You must also let us have sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. ²⁶ Our livestock also must go with us; not a hoof shall be left behind, for we must take of them to serve the Lord our God, and we do not know with what we must serve the Lord until we arrive there.” ²⁷ But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let them go. ²

Moses’ exchange with Pharaoh ends on a chilling note, dripping with irony.

⁸ Then Pharaoh said to him, “Get away from me; take care never to see my face again, for on the day you see my face you shall die.” ²⁹ Moses said, “As you say! I will not see your face again.”

Yes.  Hard times are coming for Pharaoh and Egypt, harder times than Pharaoh can imagine.  The final plague will break the backs of the apostate nation.  When looking at Pharaoh, I am reminded of what Solzhenitsyn said about human evil and crossing the line of no return.

Evidently evildoing also has a threshold magnitude.  Yes, a human being hesitates and bobs back and forth between good and evil all his life.  He slips, falls back, clambers up, repents, things begin to darken again.  But just so long as the threshold of evildoing is not crossed, the possibility of returning remains, and he himself is still within reach of our hope.  But when, through the density of evil actions, the result either of their own extreme degree or of the absoluteness of his power, he suddenly crosses that threshold, he has left humanity behind, and without, perhaps, the possibility of return.[11]

Church, may we beware of delaying genuine repentance.  May we beware of hardening our hearts through the stubborn, prideful refusal to fall on our faces before a holy God and say, “You win.”