Pharaoh not only enslaved the children of Israel, but also sought to kill all the baby boys born to the Hebrew women (1:15-19). Verse 22 says, “And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive.” According to the Bible, the male life is for God’s purpose; and, especially among the fallen people, the female life is for man’s pleasure. What Pharaoh did in Egypt is exactly what Satan is doing today: Satan is killing the life that is for God’s purpose and preserving the life that is for man’s pleasure. As believers in Christ, even we ourselves may be used by Satan to kill the male life, the life for God’s purpose, and to preserve the female life, the life for man’s pleasure. Every believer has both kinds of lives. If we do not have the Lord’s grace, daily we shall be a Pharaoh killing the life for God’s purpose and keeping the life for man’s pleasure. For example, on the Lord’s day many Christians have no heart to attend Christian meetings. Instead, they spend that day enjoying sports, entertainments, and amusements. However, on the Lord’s day the believers should come together to worship the Lord, to listen to His Word, and to serve Him. Yet on the Lord’s day many believers slaughter the male life, but keep the female life. In regard to worshipping the Lord on the Lord’s day, they are deadened, but in regard to partaking of various worldly entertainments and amusements, they are active and very much alive.
Satan is always looking for opportunities to kill the life that is for God’s purpose and to preserve the life that is for man’s pleasure. Have you ever considered why it is so much easier to gossip than to pray? To pray is to exercise the male life, but to gossip is to exercise the female life. Perhaps even today you have been one with Satan in killing the life in you that is for God’s purpose. When the Lord stirs us to pray but we indulge in gossiping instead, we are being utilized by Satan to kill the male life and to preserve the female life. This indicates we are doing the same thing today that Pharaoh did in chapter one of Exodus. Do you live by the life that is for God’s purpose or by the life that is for man’s pleasure? Perhaps part of the time you are a Pharaoh enthroning the self and killing the life that is for God’s purpose, but preserving the life that is for your pleasure.
In Genesis 3:1-6 we see that Satan used Eve, the female life, to deaden the male life. This means that Satan uses the life that is for man’s pleasure to kill the life that is for God’s purpose. However, God also uses the female life to accomplish something for Himself. At the beginning of the Old Testament, Satan visited a female, Eve, and used her to kill the male life, but at the beginning of the New Testament, God visited the virgin Mary and used her to bring in His salvation. Satan’s visitation of Eve caused the fall, but God’s visitation of Mary brought in His salvation. In the same principle, in Exodus 1 Pharaoh sought to utilize the midwives to kill the male life, but God used them to keep alive the life that is for God and for God’s purpose.
It may be easy for the sisters to be used by the enemy, but it is also easy for them to be used by God. Whether the church will be deadened or delivered depends on the sisters. The sisters need to be today’s Marys. In the New Testament there is more than one Mary. At the time the Lord Jesus was conceived and brought forth, a Mary was used. When the Lord was crucified and buried, at least two Marys were present. Furthermore, on the morning of His resurrection, the Lord Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene. All these Marys were used by the Lord for the fulfillment of His purpose.
What is true of the sisters in the church life is also true of the women in a nation. When the females are used by Satan, the country will be corrupted. But when they are used by God, the country will be preserved.
According to history, it is when the condition of things related to God is wonderful—in the garden of Eden, at a time of revival, at the highlight of a glorious time—that Satan comes in to usurp the females to damage the situation. Seldom is he able to utilize a man in such a way. However, it is in the time of degradation, of desperate need, that God comes to use the female life to rescue the situation and bring in His salvation. Such was the case in Exodus 1. Satan comes to the females in the high times because he knows that they are the weaker vessels. By also coming to the females, the Lord puts Satan to shame. There is a strong indication in the Word that the sisters were present at every time of urgent need. On both the positive and the negative side, history bears out this principle. Therefore, the sisters need to be careful in the wonderful times, but they also need to be ready to stand on the side of the Lord, as the midwives did, and be used by Him in times of degradation and urgent need to rescue the situation and fulfill His purpose.
The key to the second part of Exodus 1 is not with the male life; it is with the female life. Pharaoh, the embodiment of Satan, sought to use the female life, the midwives, to destroy the male life, but God came in to use these midwives to preserve the male life. The principle is the same both in the case of the midwives and in the case of the virgin Mary. They all were used by God to bring in salvation. This principle also applies in the church life today. Whenever the sisters are used by Satan, there will be corruption in the church. But whenever they are used by the Lord, there will be salvation. We look to the Lord that He will again use the female life to rescue the situation in the church life today!