God's Mighty Hand

Prayer

A Mighty Hand?

I assume that most of you are at least familiar with the Marvel superhero group, the Avengers, especially from the movies, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.

But for those of you who aren’t, the main villain in the movies is Thanos, this super powerful being (he’s the big grayish purple guy with the huge chin) who’s convinced that the universe is vastly overpopulated and in order to save it, half of its population has to be eliminated.

He decides to take this on by acquiring the six infinity stones and utilizing the infinity gauntlet (a big gold glove) to wield these stones. Now I actually had to do a bit of research on this (you’re welcome) - according to Marvel lore, these infinity stones were created at the Big Bang, from six singularities (and I have no idea what that means, I suspect that the writers don’t, either, they just had to give it some semi-scientific language to explain it). But these stones each control one essential aspect of existence: space, reality, power, soul, mind, & time.

So with these stones, Thanos controls existence - everything (time, space, reality itself). He can essentially do anything and everything he wants - he becomes God wearing the infinity gauntlet. In spite of the Avengers’ best efforts to prevent him from getting the stones, he acquires them and at the end of Infinity War, he just snaps his fingers and half of the population of the entire universe just fades out of existence, dissipates into dust. Of course he could have just made the universe twice as big - seems like that would have been a better and less painful solution, but I guess that wouldn’t have made for as good a story.

And that’s kinda the point - don’t think about this too hard, it’s just a story, made up. This story about a villain who becomes Godlike because he obtains gauntlet filled with the infinity stones, his becomes the ultimate hand of power.

Which brings me to the main point I want to talk about this morning - because we’re going to talk about another hand that wields great power - God’s hand. In fact, the phrase used in this part of the story of Exodus is this, Exodus 13:9, For the Lord brought you out of Egypt with his mighty hand.

Before we get too far, let me recap what’s been happening in the story of Exodus so everyone is tracking along. We’ve been making our way through the story of the Old Testament, starting with Genesis, and we moved into Exodus a few weeks ago.

Exodus begins with the Israelites living in Egypt. When they moved to Egypt they were just an extended family who’ve been living on a promise, a covenant God made with them, that he would make them into a great nation with offspring too numerous to count, that he would give them land - the land of the Canaanites, and that they would be a blessing to all other nations.

While in Egypt they grew in number, and they keep growing over the generations - so much so that the Egyptians become increasingly concerned - fearful, and out of their fear they oppress the Israelites and enslave them, and even go as far as demanding that they kill their own baby boys.

The story then centers on Moses, a Hebrew baby who is set along the banks of the Nile River by his mother and there discovered by Pharaoh’s daughter who raises him as her son. As an adult, a series of events leads Moses to flee Egypt where he ends up living a quiet life as a shepherd among the Midianites. That is, until God comes to him in the burning bush and calls him to lead his people out of slavery, out of land of Egypt.

Last week we saw God displaying his power through the plagues he brought against Pharaoh because Pharaoh would not let his people go. Pharaoh’s heart was hardened against God - in spite of all the suffering God inflicted on them (plagues of frogs and gnats and flies and boils and hail and locusts…), Pharaoh wouldn’t budge.

This brings us to Exodus 11-13, what we’ll be covering today, we’ll be looking at the tenth and final plague, the one that finally delivers the crushing blow to Pharaoh’s resistance. It is the plague of death on the firstborn - and it’s a terrible one. Since that’s a lot of material, we’ll read through Exodus 11, and then comment on Exodus 12 & 13.

Interesting dynamic in these chapters - we see mixed instructions, instructions from God that jump back and forth. God is giving Moses instructions for what the Israelites are to do that night in order to be spared from the devastating aspects of the plague, but interspersed, God is also giving his instructions for the future for how the Israelites are to commemorate this event in the years to come, how they are to celebrate (essentially holiday instructions) - so they won’t forget what God has done.

God’s Mighty Hand at Work

Exodus 11...Now the Lord had said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that, he will let you go from here, and when he does, he will drive you out completely. 2 Tell the people that men and women alike are to ask their neighbors for articles of silver and gold.” 3 (The Lord made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and Moses himself was highly regarded in Egypt by Pharaoh’s officials and by the people.) 4 So Moses said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘About midnight I will go throughout Egypt. 5 Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the female slave, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well. 6 There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt—worse than there has ever been or ever will be again. 7 But among the Israelites not a dog will bark at any person or animal.’ Then you will know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel. 8 All these officials of yours will come to me, bowing down before me and saying, ‘Go, you and all the people who follow you!’ After that I will leave.” Then Moses, hot with anger, left Pharaoh. 9 The Lord had said to Moses, “Pharaoh will refuse to listen to you—so that my wonders may be multiplied in Egypt.” 10 Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go out of his country.

So we see here God telling Moses and the Israelites what he’s about to do - he’s going to inflict one more plague and after that, Pharoah, will drive the Israelites out completely - not only will they be driven out, but they will plunder the Egyptians by asking them for gold and silver, which they will gladly give to them.

Plague will be terrible - at midnight God will go throughout Egypt striking down the firstborn son of every single household in Egypt - from the home of the most humble slave to the royal palace itself. Wailing will be loud and long, like never before in the land of Egypt - or ever has been since. Except where the Israelites live. Their households will remain untouched - as long as they follow the instructions God gives them.

The Instructions are given in Exodus 12 & 13, and this is what they include:

Each household is to sacrifice a lamb, and take the blood from that lamb and using a hyssop branch, spread the blood over the doorframe - on either side and on top of the door. Then they are to go inside the house, and stay there, eating the roasted meat of the lamb together with unleavened bread (bread with no leaven, or yeast - it doesn’t rise, so it bakes much more quickly). And quickly is the name of the game - they are to eat the meal quickly, with their cloaks tucked in, staffs in hand, sandals on feet. Ready to go in a moment’s notice.

But the blood smeared on the doorpost - what’s that all about? It is the sign that protects the Israelites household. The angel of death, the destroyer, will make his way throughout Egypt - but the angel will pass over every household where the blood of the lamb covers that home. This is why the meal is known as the Passover meal, because death passed over their homes because of the blood of the lamb.

Israelites are saved because this innocent lamb is sacrificed, because the life of this lamb is taken. I hope you’re seeing the connection to Jesus, this story foreshadows what Jesus will do for us, his sacrifice for us, his blood covering over us.

John 1:29, John the Baptist sees Jesus and proclaims, “Look the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”

Revelation 5:9, John (one of Jesus’ 12 disciples) has a vision of heaven where he sees a Lamb that he describes as “looking as if it had been slain” (it’s Jesus), and all the heavenly beings are falling prostrate before Jesus, the Lamb, worshipping him in song, “You are worthy to take the scroll and open its seals because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.”

As I mentioned before, included in Exodus 12 & 13 are the instructions given to Israelites to gather every year, reenacting this meal, eating unleavened bread, lamb, sharing the Passover meal. It’s this Passover meal which Jesus and his disciples were sharing on the night of his last supper, the night before he’s to be crucified - he holds up the unleavened bread…this is my body, the cup of wine, this is my blood). Just like the Jews share the Passover Meal to remember God saving them through the blood of the lamb, we share the Lord’s supper - in order to remember the salvation God offers us through the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God.

Things play out exactly as God tells them they will - the Israelites gather in their homes whose doorframes are covered with the lamb’s blood - they stay safe while God strikes down all the firstborn in Egypt at midnight, wailing ensues, and that very night Pharaoh summons Moses and commands them to leave with everything. They do, this entire nation takes all their belongings, their livestock, gold and silver they’d gotten from the Egyptians and leave. They are free.

Here’s an important question to consider - and I mean this seriously - did this really happen? Did God bring the people out of Egypt with his mighty hand?

Did he truly send plague after plague, demonstrating his great power - until finally, with that 10th terrible plague, killed the firstborn son of every household in Egypt until Pharaoh finally cried, “Mercy!” - and drove the people out of Egypt after years and years of enslavement?

Or is it just a made-up story - maybe not as fantastical as the Avengers and Thanos and the Infinity Stones and the Gauntlet, but still made up?

Made up history that somehow got started among the Jews and kept getting bigger and bigger until it became part of their lore and they started celebrating every year. Maybe in the same way our Santa Claus Christmas is celebrated - that started with this small kernel of truth (a church leader, St. Nicholas, who shared gifts with the poor) turned into this celebration of a figure who magically gives toys to every good boy and girl throughout the world on a single night?

Part of the reason I raise this question is because when I was in seminary (pastor school), the historicity of the Exodus story was very much in question (which says a lot about the seminary I went to).

Argument was - there was no archeological evidence. So, it was made up. The most likely explanation was that the Israelites were a people group that just developed out of the Canaanite tribes - and what distinguished them was their growing theology, a belief in monotheism, one God.

Slowly and surely this belief in one God came to dominate - and somewhere along the way, some kernels of truth grew into larger and larger legends (though how that exactly happened is never explained very well).

But - the argument goes - what didn’t happen - the Israelites did not live in Egypt for hundreds of years, they were not enslaved - so no need to be freed. No great plagues, no Passover, no crossing the Red Sea, no wandering around in the wilderness for 40 years - because they’d been in the land of Canaan the whole time.

So then the question is (after all, I’m in seminary), why are we studying the Bible? Why am I learning to teach and preach these stories? Why read them at all, much less pass them on to others?

If they’re not true, what distinguishes the Bible from other books - from Marvel comic books for that matter? Response was - well, even if they are not true, they point us to truths about God, who he is, what he’s like.

Which to me is an awfully strange and really, nonsensical response - because if God didn’t actually do these things - if he did not act with his mighty hand, act in great power bringing punishment upon the Egyptians through the plagues in order to free his people, how do we really know that’s what God is like?

In other words - how can made up stories reveal who or what a person is? Typically, we make up stories about ourselves to make ourselves look better than we actually are. It seems to me that only true stories about actual events reveal who someone is, their character.

After all, if God didn’t really act in the lives of the Bible way back then, if all that’s just made up - why would I ever believe that he would act with his mighty hand in my life today? Why would I trust that? Let me just acknowledge that this is a really hard thing to believe or trust -that this is who God is - that is faithful to his promises, mighty in power, that he works in the world - active, engaged - and he works in our lives.

Why it was doubted in our seminary classes, I think they so wanted to be taken seriously by secular scholars as academics, embarrassed by the miracles in the Bible, explain them away (anti-supernatural bias).

But even back then, the Egyptians kept doubting it - especially Pharaoh (and they suffered greatly as a result, loud weeping and wailing).

But even the Israelites did, as we’ll see - they kept doubting it (we’ll see that when we pick back up in a few weeks when they cross the Sea of Reeds) and throughout their wanderings in the desert).

But on the other hand, what if God really DID bring his people out of Egypt with a might hand? What if this story - and all the other stories of the Bible - are true?

And by the way there actually is some remarkable evidence pointing to the truth of the Exodus - and the Bible as a whole. We’ve going through a number of them in our Unearthing the Bible. Because I want you to trust that this is who God is!

Whole purpose of the Bible is to reveal God to us - God, you really are like this! You really are all-powerful, a mighty hand. And you don’t need a special glove or magic stones - it’s you. You are the God of power and might. And you hear our cries. You hear our prayers. You know our pain, and our struggles. You save us. You can and do make us free. You give us life. You forgive our sins. You treat us with mercy and compassion.

British theologian by the name of J.B. Phillips wrote a book a number of years ago entitled, Your God Is Too Small. The whole premise of book is that the strength and vitality of our faith is directly related to how big our impression of God is. And the reason we often have weak faith - is that we don’t think much about God, we don’t take seriously who he is, his power, might, fullness of his grace and mercy, that he knows all things, that he is the Holy One, the God of all righteousness, the great Judge. As Phillips puts it, our God is too small.

Because we don’t expect much out of him, we miss so much of what God is doing - his mighty hand at work. What would it mean if we did take God seriously - if he became bigger in our eyes, if we recognized his mighty hand at work all around us, in us? If we saw his glory that, as the Bible says, fills the earth?

To the point that we would see - I mean really see, the wonders of his creation all around us. See the miracles he is doing every day around us. A pastor friend of mine spoke recently about miracles happening all time: every time a sin is overcome, every time someone trusts in Jesus, every time a bad habit is broken, a fear is faced, a relationship healed. That’s God’s mighty hand at work even today.

I’ll tell you what it would mean - you’d follow that God for the rest of your life. You’d praise him freely and willingly. Prayer wouldn’t be a burden but a delight. You’d willingly surrender yourself to him, obey him. You’d know greater peace in your life. Greater joy. That’s my hope and prayer - that you would know more and more how big our God is, the might of his hand.

At the end of every message, we offer a few ways to put into practice what we’re learning from Jesus into practice - take seriously that God’s word to us is not just meant to be heard, but lived out. We do this through spiritual disciplines or habits, soul-training exercises, that help us know and become like Jesus. Two examples:

Romans 1:19-20...since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made

Take this seriously, that God’s eternal power, his divine nature (Godness) is all around us. He’s made it plain. What we have to do is be intentional by taking time to be attentive to his creation all around us.

Sit quietly outside for half an hour, an hour, observing nature. Take a hike. On the drive…ponder what you see (trees - how functional they are, amazing variety, grow from just a seed / cone / acorn, beauty and majesty you experience - feel of breeze, color, smells, sounds of birds). If you have a journal, make notes. As you notice things, whisper a prayer of praise to God. Every day this week, take time to notice one thing in particular.

Session discussion, we were talking about leading worship and how worship comes out of an expectation of Jesus is present with us, that he is alive and active, guiding and leading us as we worship - if we’re open to it. In other words, Jesus is working in power through his Spirit - not just as we gather for worship, but all the time.

How might we cultivate an openness to that? An expectation that Jesus acting and working among us and through us? In how we pray (indeed, whether we pray), how we read Scripture (gloss over it, or do we marvel and praise God), in how we engage others…God you can bring them to faith, you can bring them peace…strength to endure...

Every week, before worship…Lord Jesus, I trust and believe you’re here…When you pray, sit in a chair - imagine Jesus sitting right next to you and speak to him…let’s do that now.