13 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Get up early in the morning, confront Pharaoh and say to him, 'This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me,
14 or this time I will send the full force of my plagues against you and against your officials and your people, so you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth.
15 For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth.
16 But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.
God told Moses to tell Pharaoh that He (God) raised him up for this very purpose? What purpose was that? Keep reading - that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.
God raised up Pharaoh for the explicit purpose of squashing him and his Army like a man would squash a cockroach. It makes no difference what anyone thinks the Pharaoh may have wanted to do, God directed his heart like he directs every river (Proverbs 21:1). God directed his heart - in his youth, in his education to be the leader of Egypt, and as Pharaoh. The result was that God’s Name might be proclaimed in all the earth. I also mentioned this in Bible Truth #142.
Paul writes in Romans that God takes lumps of clay and out of one He fashions a vessel of honor (for noble purposes), and out of the other He fashions a vessel of dishonor (for common use) - Romans 9:21. But why would God create Pharaoh and direct his life (Proverbs 16:9, 21:1) for the sole purpose of smashing him and sending him to Hell? The answer is just as easy as it is obvious - look at Romans 9:22-23. He did it to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy (His Elect), which He prepared beforehand for glory.
God had a purpose, and He executed His purpose according to His will (Lamentations 2:17, Ephesians 1:11).
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