By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.

Faith in its proper application is inherently risky.  Christianity is the catalyst for the collision of two worlds, one Heavenly and one decidedly Not.  It is that force which compels the course of human history to be diverted headlong into contact with the presence of God, either for the redemption or the damnation of those involved.  From God’s eternal perspective things always turn out well, but as those who have weathered these storms we know that when the elephants fight the grass gets trampled.  And somehow we usually seem to be the grass.

If we were only called to be hermits and skulk around the outskirts of civilization, steering clear of other people and thus of most conflict, life would be pretty quiet for the believer.  We could munch our crusts of bread and read our Bibles and turn in our checks at about age 70, and go on to glory and all would be well.  But such is not the case.  We serve a master who said he was sent as the bread of Heaven to be the life of the world, and that he was not willing that any should perish.  In the Father’s eternal foreknowledge those who belong to Jesus are given to him, but in the message of the Gospel all people everywhere are to be commanded in his name: Repent and believe because of my resurrection, for I will someday judge the world in righteousness.

Needless to say, confrontations of this kind don’t sit very well with the powers that be.  Pharaoh knew that the Israelites had grown in number and that they rankled at the yoke of slavery he had put over them.  He knew that uprisings and desertion to join with enemy forces were entirely possible, and he took action to prevent this by ordering the wholesale slaughter of the Hebrews’ male infants.  By so doing he not only ensured that there would be no next generation of men in that nation to learn to hate the Egyptians, but also that the next generation of women would have to look elsewhere for husbands (Egyptian men were probably not interested, but any local pagan nation would do for Pharaoh’s purposes).  The children of this world are truly shrewd in dealing with their own kind.  And that was the law of the land.

What do you do when the law of the land is against the Law of God?  I know it is difficult for me to sort this one out in my mind.  It’s easy to think of Pharaoh’s decree as some obnoxious despot in ancient history who came out with a law so ludicrous that everyone knew it should not be obeyed.  But let’s move this to our own time and place, in our system of justice that as law-abiding citizens we have a deep-seated regard for, and see how it looks then.  You are a doctor.  What do you do if the law of the land says you must perform an abortion when you are asked to?  A precious new life hangs in the balance, and you could lose your practice and everything you have if you do not comply.  You are a soldier.  What do you do if the law of the land says you must put fellow Christians to death because those are your orders?  They are your brothers and sisters in the Lord, but court-martial and disgrace await you if you do not comply.  You are a bookseller.  What do you do if the law of the land says you must no longer permit the Bible to be sold on your shelves?  People are hungering and thirsting for the Word of God you have sitting in pallets in your warehouse, but you could be looking at jail time if you try to give it to them.

We all certainly bless God that we have not come to these extremes in our country.  It is legal here to raise a family Christianly, to live a quiet life and work with your hands, to worship God in the way you see fit.  But many Christians in past ages have lost these freedoms, and having gone head-to-head with persecution have had to choose: Should we obey man, or should we obey God?  Because I have not met the Christian who would say that we should perform an abortion without dire cause, or that we should strike anyone down in cold blood (least of all fellow Christians), or that we should withhold the words of life from people who are dying spiritually.  The decision we will be met with, then (and I firmly believe we will be met with it) is whom we truly fear.  If we truly fear God we will do what his Spirit instructs us to do, come what may.  If we truly fear man it is incredibly easy to justify taking the easy way out and compromising your faith.

But it was not for nothing that Christ said that before the Father and the holy angels, he would be ashamed of anyone who disowned him before men.  In saying this Jesus was not holding a threat over our heads, or trying to get us to compare the benefits of men thinking ill of you versus God thinking ill of you.  He was simply telling us the truth about the situation.  The edict of Pharaoh was not the only one extant, nor was Caesar the highest power, nor is the law of sin and death the last word on reality.  God has a statement to make as well, the final decree that will brook no argument and to which sinner and saint alike will bow the knee (albeit to different ends); and we hear that proclamation confirmed with a mighty voice by everything in Creation, swelling to the crescendo of eternity:

For behold, the wicked bend the bow; they have fitted their arrow to the string to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart; if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?  The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven; his eyes see, his eyelids test, the children of man.  The Lord tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.  Let him rain coals on the wicked; fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.  For the Lord is righteous; he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face.

Author: Jeremy Vogan

My name is Jeremy Vogan. I live in Staunton, VA with my wife and four kids. I love to write, and seek to honestly explore the intellectual and emotional implications of following Jesus as a deeply broken person in a twisted, cruel world that is full of veiled beauty and meaning. Writing is part of how I faithfully look for Jesus Christ to someday make all things new. I'd enjoy hearing your feedback! JV