… there shall not a hoof be left behind; for thereof must we take to serve the Lord our God; and we know not with what we must serve the Lord until we come thither. Exodus 10:26.
This verse occurs at the conclusion of the devastating plagues that came to judge Egypt. The tenth was to be the Passover night. God had repeatedly hardened Pharaoh’s heart that He might bring judgment against Egypt, a major world power at that time. She was brought down by the plagues and never rose again.
Picture it: the plagues had come, one after another, Passover was approaching, and Pharaoh was at the bargaining table. Management and labor—Pharaoh and the slaves which comprised his labor force—were having it out. Management was just about to see the biggest walkout ever. Pharaoh had proposed several compromises, but the final answer was given: …there shall not a hoof be left behind; for thereof must we take to serve the Lord our God; and we know not with what we must serve the Lord, until we come thither. The approach to the Passover in the house of each Israelite was one of total commitment. They were facing the unknown; they had no idea what God was going to require of them.
Let’s review the compromises that were offered because of the plagues. The water had been turned into blood (Exodus 7); then came the frogs; next, the lice (Exodus 8). The magicians could turn water into blood and conjure up frogs, but they couldn’t make lice out of dust thrown in the air, because that was an act of creation. The devil can imitate, but he can’t create; he is death, not life. After the plague of flies came the first compromise offer. By this time Pharaoh was ready to bargain.
And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land. And Moses said, it is not meet so to do; for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the Lord our God: lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and will they not stone us? We will go three days’ journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the Lord our God, as he shall command us. And Pharaoh said, I will let you go, that ye may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness; only ye shall not go very far away: entreat for me. Exodus 8:25–28.
But Pharaoh changed his mind and hardened his heart,…and he did not let the people go. Exodus 8:32b.
The first compromise he proposed was, “I’ll let you go, but not very far: don’t get out of the land, stay close as you can.” That is the problem today. Many will listen to this truth as a wonderful word, but they don’t want to really get out of their old bondage; they hang on to denominationalism and its methods. We go along with them and help them, but too often they are hanging onto bondages from which they need to be loosed.
Other plagues followed: the murrain of beasts (all the Egyptian cattle died); boils; hail. Everything that was left was wiped out. Then, another compromise was suggested. And Moses and Aaron were brought again unto Pharaoh: and he said unto them, Go, serve the Lord your God; but who are they that shall go? And Moses said, We will go with our young and with our old; with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will we go; for we must hold a feast unto the Lord. And he said unto them, So be the Lord with you, as I will let you go, and your little ones: look to it; for evil is before you. Not so: go now ye that are men, and serve the Lord; for that is what ye desire. And they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence. Exodus 10:8–11.
The second compromise was, “We’ll let you go and do anything you want to do. But just the men: no one or nothing else goes,” so Moses sent the locusts to them, then the plague of darkness. Pharaoh was bothered and wanted another compromise. And Pharaoh called unto Moses, and said, Go ye, serve Jehovah; only let your flocks and your herds be stayed: let your little ones also go with you.… But Moses replied, Our cattle also shall go with us; there shall not a hoof be left behind; for thereof must we take to serve the Lord our God; and we know not with what we must serve the Lord, until we come thither. Exodus 10:24, 26.
The Hebrews were prepared for any sacrifice, for anything God wanted them to do. Basically, they were going out in that wilderness to worship God. When they decided that, they wouldn’t compromise to go a little way or to send only the men; they would not even leave the flocks behind. Each compromise suggested by Pharaoh is like what Satan has suggested to us: it would mean no deliverance at all. If we don’t get out of the land of bondage, what purpose does compromise serve? We have to shake loose our limitations and restrictions. That is why we become violent in our absolute rejection of anything of the old order that holds us back. Any response in our nature, anything in the old life or of the old flesh must go. We refuse to be held bound in the land; we must be loosed to go out and serve the Lord like He wants.
Notice this compromise: “Leave everything else behind, but the men can go.” If a man would accept a thing like that to save his own skin, he wouldn’t be accepting the spirit of deliverance, because God wanted those men to go out and become the spiritual heads of their families. He wanted them to teach their little ones and raise them in the ways of the Lord.
“All right, take all your children, but leave your flocks and herds behind.”
“We can’t do that. We would be serving the Lord with empty hands. We would have no resources to give Him, and God wants something He can add His miracle power to.” When the Lord wanted to feed the five thousand, He looked around and said, “We have to do something for the people. They are hungry; they are faint from being in the wilderness all day. What do we have to feed them?” One of the disciples said that two hundred pennyworth would not be enough for everybody to have even a little crumb. Finally the word got out, and a little boy came to them with five loaves and two small fish.
When you start out, give all into His hand. It may not be much, but He will feed the world with it. We may not be much in the way of numbers and finances, but as we lay everything in His hand, He will bless it and break it to feed the churches everywhere.
“But we will run out. Five loaves and two fish wouldn’t even feed Peter, let alone the rest of the disciples. In fact, the little boy can eat that all by himself. What are we to do?” It is all right, give it into the Lord’s hand. Don’t worry about how little it seems, just give it to Him. Moses was saying, “We may be poor slaves coming out of Egypt; the cows may look lean and the sheep may be skinny, but whatever we have goes with us.” And down the road they went, with all that was left packed on their backs. Chickens, ducks, lambs, goats, camels—all came out. Everything. They were all leaving.
It doesn’t take great resources, but you have to give it into His hand. You have to be ready for the Lord to use it. The one sin that broke the fellowship in the early church was a desire to hold something back. Ananias and Sapphira sold their land, but they hid some away: “We don’t know how this move of God will turn out. “You may think, “But we don’t know what will happen: this is a new move of God on the earth, untried and it’s unproven. What if trouble comes?”
Burn your bridges behind you. It will work only for those who put all they have into it—and that is little enough, because it is what God puts into it that really makes the difference. Lay it all in His hands. Ananias and Sapphira held back when they could have laid it all in the hand of the Lord. God wouldn’t accept it then, and He won’t accept it now. We know not with what we must serve the Lord. There will be those of our number who will be martyrs; those who will be beaten, persecuted and harassed. We know not what we shall have to give.
There are people in this walk who are seeking the Lord for deliverances in their circumstances. They don’t have them yet because God is letting them sit in their shame until they are ready to make a total commitment to the Lord—submitting everything they have and ever will have, everything that they are and ever will be, and saying, “Whatever He wants, He is going to have.” They will not get by with anything less. He will let them rot in Egypt unless they want deliverance to do the will of God and nothing else.
One day the disciples said, “Lord, we’ve left all to follow You. What will we have therefore?” He told them, …ye who have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And…shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit eternal life. Matthew 19:28b, 19a, c. They had left everything behind and counted the cost dear. That’s hard.
We make one uncompromising, total commitment to the Lord in this walk and that is all we are able to do. The Israelites did this, and on the eve before that Passover feast came, they were ready. We want to say in our hearts like Paul did, Howbeit what things are gain to me, these have I counted loss for Christ. Yea verily, and I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I suffered the loss of all things. I have suffered the loss for all things, and do count them but refuse, that I may gain Christ. Philippians 3:7–8.
What does this walk mean to us? The ones who have a hard time in it are people who don’t know whether or not they really want to get deeply involved with God. God is going to get right down to everything that we are and everything that we have. This is the basis of the Feast of Passover. This is the key. God demands this, and don’t pretend you haven’t thought of it, for we are always fighting the demands of the Lord. Reluctantly, a little bit at a time, we give Him more.
The Old Testament had a lot of types. One was the way the children of Israel carried the Lord (the ark of the covenant) with them wherever they went. But one day, when David was bringing the ark up to Jerusalem, they did the wrong thing and the Lord smote Uzzah. David was displeased with the Lord and said, “How shall the ark of the Lord come to me? I have to find a place here to leave it.” (II Samuel 6:9). “I can’t bring a thing like that to me. It’s that deadly.” They were carrying the ark a new way—on a new cart with oxen. They wouldn’t carry it the old humble way; they wanted a new way. The oxen hit a rough place and Uzzah grabbed the ark to keep it from tipping over.
You can’t do things your way. You have to do them God’s way. When the Lord killed Uzzah, David couldn’t take it. Things happen in this walk that are difficult to take, too. God starts dealing and He deals deeply. This thing is total—and it is deadly to you. Run now or get involved all the way, but don’t play with it. You can’t be halfway halfhearted, lukewarm. Enter into it with all your heart. You had better say, like the Israelites did, “Everything we have is heading in one direction: to do the will of the Lord.”
In the New Testament, the Macedonians were an example of this. Paul wrote, how that in much proof of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. For according to their power, I bear witness, yea and beyond their power, they gave of their own accord, beseeching us with much entreaty in regard of this grace and the fellowship in the ministering to the saints: and this, not as we had hoped, but first they gave their own selves to the Lord, and to us through the will of God. II Corinthians 8:2–5.
Ministries of giving do not always occur among the wealthy. Sometimes they occur among the very poor; God makes grace abound toward it. These people in Macedonia had a real key, yet some of the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem were still feeling they were special because they were Jews in Jerusalem, where the temple was. Suddenly, God let a famine hit the place, and those who had tried to get the Gentile Christians circumcised (Paul upbraided them in the book of Galatians, because they were trying to put the Gentiles under bondage to them) were hungry.
Who fed them?—the poorest Christians to be found. The Macedonians’ giving, caused Paul to say, “I expected you to be generous, but I never expected you to feed your brethren in Jerusalem. You gave your very selves to God and to us, to do the will of God.” They gladly gave themselves and their possessions. That is the way we are to be. Like Israel of old we must say, “We don’t know what the price will be to serve the Lord, but we know that as we leave old Egypt behind, we’re taking everything with us.” And we are not saying, “Lord, You can’t have it all.” Everything we are and have will belong to the Lord.
The longer you live, the more you realize everything that you hang on to is a big headache. The Lord’s instruction to the disciples wasn’t just fancy words. “Go sell all you have; give to the poor. Come and follow Me. Your victory is in heaven.” You can’t find Christians in this century believing that is the way we should live, but those in this walk have the same spirit of the Macedonians. They don’t have to be urged to give, they are eager. For the first time there is real honesty; there is no financial program because when people come into this walk, you hear the ducks quacking behind them, the cows mooing, and the sheep bleating. You say, “What’s that?” They reply, “Oh, we’re all coming. Not a hoof is to be left behind. We don’t know what it will take, but here we are, a family.”
When you start out to serve the Lord and go through one problem after another, it is still your business to say, “I know not with what I must serve the Lord. If the Lord requires even the ones I hold most dear, I’ll not withhold anything.” The Lord said, “If you’re going to follow Me, you’ll have to deny yourself and take up your cross” (Luke 9:23). “Unless you’re willing to leave all, you cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:33). You have to love Him above everything else.
You don’t have much to leave behind—all you have in your hand, five loaves and two small fish. What are you saving it for? Give it into the hands of the Master; let Him have it. It is an hour of deliverance, and there are areas in your life to be delivered. That precious blood of the Lamb is going to wash away afresh those restrictions and limitations in your life.
Many times the pressure will be on. Caesar’s army, when they crossed the Rubicon River to face the fierce Gauls, had the order to burn all of their bridges behind them. You too will face the enemy, and you will either take them or you will die, because there is no retreat. You can’t play around when you serve the Lord, it is life or death. Go after it, determined that Christ be magnified in your body, whether it be by life or by death.
“We know not with what we must serve the Lord.” We don’t know the price to be paid. We are confronted with prophesies that throw us into total commitment: we can do nothing else. The discipleship demands and New Testament standards are revived in this day, because God is going to have a New Testament Church.
Have not the days befallen you that the prophets saw of old, that the apostles viewed in the spirit, that the Lord spoke of in the days of His return? The Lord hath not brought thee into a day that thou shalt hope for, a day yet to come; behold, the day befalleth thee now. It is happening to you now. It is not afar off, nor a thing that thou shall say, “When shall it be?” But behold, thou shalt say in thine heart, “It is here. That which our hearts have yearned for hath come.” Ye shall not say in your heart, “When shall these things be?” and be unperceptive and unaware that these are days of visitation, and know not that the Lord hath come in thy midst in such a mighty way.
Let thine heart be in full awareness. Thou shalt not stand in the service and worship in this hour casually or as in days before, but thou shalt worship the Lord with full expectation and with a complete awareness that the Lord is in thy midst. Thou shalt not even look to thyself in condemnation, but let there be an exceeding great joy, an overflowing joy, inasmuch as the Lord hath taken thee, little flock, and given thee so much. The Lord hath taken thee, O thou weak ones, that through thee He confounds the mighty. But in this day when men labor and the labor cometh to naught—yea, they labor and behold, they put that which they earn in a bag of holes, where the Lord bloweth upon it and bringeth it to naught—yet thou hast expended but a little labor, and already principalities and powers are trembling.
Thou hast but given a little, and the Lord hath multiplied it and made it much. The Lord hath given thee a word and it has sounded forth from thee until men’s hearts shall be blessed and they shall be stirred. Oh, prepare ye for the presence of the Lord and walk ye in it. Yea, let there be an awareness in thee that the Lord draweth nigh unto thee, and that He blesseth and He leadeth thee. It is the day of His Lordship. It is the day of His strength. It is the day in which the battle is turned, and though a host come against thee, these are the days that the Lord prophesieth that He shall be glorified in thee, O saints of the living God. He shall be magnified in thee, O people of the Lord. He cometh forth within thee to magnify His name, so let thine whole heart continually be in expectation for thy Lord. And say not, “The day is yet to come.” Behold, the day even now befalleth thee.
Already doth the rain fall, O ye vineyard of the Lord. The days of thy fruitfulness shall spring forth speedily, for hath not the great Husbandman of the earth looked for the fruit of the earth and had long patience for it? But the rain cometh; the early and the latter rain cometh unto thine heart to refresh thee and cause thee to spring forth in the sight of the Lord, and to bear that fruit which He had ordained that thou shalt bring forth. For it is the hour when thou shalt not say in thine heart, “Yet another day.” Thou shalt open up to the rain of heaven, to the word of the living God. Thou shalt prepare thine heart in this hour, for the days of fruitfulness have come, and the Lord shall expect and demand great things of thee.
Hath He not pruned thee and purged thee well, vineyard of the Lord? Hath He not dealt with thee grievously until thou hast marvelled and wondered as though a strange thing had happened unto thee? Hast thou not been partakers of His sufferings? Hath not the Lord come unto thee and purged thee that you should bear much fruit before the sight of the Lord? Now prepare thine heart, for before thee are the days of fruitfulness; before thee lieth that which shall be a pleasure unto thy Lord. He bringeth forth from thee that for which His rain descendeth upon thee. For thou shalt bring forth a blessing, not a cursing. It is needful, O Remnant, on whom it does rest, that thou shalt glorify the Lord. Oh let thine heart be open, let thy spirit be open before the Lord.
Let there be nothing within thee that shall draw back from the Lord. Thou shalt not stand before thy brother with a wall; thou shalt not come before the Lord with a restraint. Thou shalt be open to thy brother and thou shalt be open to the Lord, and thou shalt receive the rain of the Lord, and thou shalt receive the ministry that cometh from thy brother. Thou shalt be altogether given unto this; and the Lord shall make thee exceedingly fruitful in His sight.
Behold, a stench of death is on the land. A stench of death is in Zion and there is no soundness from head to foot. But is not the Lord the One that is the Healer of His people? Is there not a Balm in Gilead, and hath not the Lord sought to restore? And behold, He shall regenerate His people and bring them forth in newness of life. Hath He not raised thee up, O thou Remnant of the Lord, that thou shalt be a troubling unto the people of the Lord? Thou shalt trouble them on the right hand and on the left, and thou shalt rise up to rebuke the death and the stench of death that is upon the people of the Lord. Thou shalt proclaim unto them the ways of the Lord and prepare their ways before the face of the Lord, for behold He cometh; He cometh swiftly.
Thou shalt not doubt nor draw back in thine heart. Thou shalt not be a part of Babylon. Thou shalt not look upon her evil. Thou shalt not look upon the slain of the Lord and the stench of death that is in the land and be indifferent to the thing; but thou shalt rise up in the spirit and thou shalt rebuke this thing that cometh to pass. And thou shalt believe, for the cry of the Lord shall be, “Come out of her, My people. Come out of her; be not a partaker of her judgments.” How swiftly shall the judgment fall. How quickly shall the Lord make a full end of these things that He hath begun in the earth. And thou shalt rise up and say, “It is the time for me to possess the thing that God has set before me, and to walk in all the words that He hath given me.” It is not reserved for a day that is distant, but now it is sprung forth and thou shalt walk in it.