Ryken: ... a man who opposes God ultimately oppresses God’s people.

Phil Ryken draws the close parallel between our response to God and how it will reveals itself toward God's people.

Although Pharaoh was an extreme case, his example shows that a man who opposes God ultimately oppresses God’s people. Unbelief is partly an intellectual problem: The unbeliever does not know the Lord’s name. It is partly a spiritual problem: The unbeliever refuses to obey the Lord’s will. But often it is also a social problem: The unbeliever does not care for the Lord’s people.

This explains why Christians often are persecuted. Jesus told his disciples to expect to be mistreated: “All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved” (Matt. 10:22). Sometimes persecution takes the form of brutal violence, such as Israel suffered in Egypt. But usually the attacks are more subtle: Christian ideas are excluded from public education. The church is misrepresented by the media. Christians are mocked by their coworkers in the marketplace. The underlying reason for all this malevolence is unbelief. What makes non-Christians uncomfortable is not so much Christians or even Christianity, but Christ.

Ryken, P. G., & Hughes, R. K. (2005). Exodus: saved for God’s glory (p. 146). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

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John Stott on the "old man" and the "body ruled by sin" in Rom 6 v 6

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