The Way God works

Baptism Announcement

We have had some people let us know that they want to be baptized so at the end of July we will be doing baptisms again.

What Baptism is, is a public affirmation of what God has done in your life. It symbolizes a death to your old life and raising to life in a new life of following Jesus. That you have your faith in him and that you have started a new life with him

Multiply

Also Just a quick update, for those of you who are new or newer we have a vision here for the next couple of years that we are simply calling multiply. There are three areas where we are focusing

Worship

Facilities

Church planting

The idea is that we want to become a church that can multiply, start new communities of Jesus followers everywhere

Despite some of the negative press that has come out about churches in recent years, I am convinced that God’s plan to reach the world is through having communities of faith all over the world, thats going to take new churches.

So we have to get this facility to a point to where we have taken care of the deferred maintenance needs

This past week we had a huge crane here removing an old cell phone tower that has caused our building nothing but problems

Now we are working to schedule a parking lot overhaul

And there are a bunch of little multiply projects that we are working on.

So many of you give above and beyond to this project, thank you so much because this church is getting in shape due to your generosity.

ReCap

Well we have been on a series looking at Moses and the Exodus

Last week we looked at the 10 Plagues as 10 acts of de-creation…

We looked at the way that God judges sin of Pharoah…To allow the sin of Pharoah to come back on him and completely undo him

So before we get really into the scripture today…

I want us to think about the scenario that Israel is in...

They are slaves in Egypt…Their people have been there for 400 years.

Egypt has all kinds of gods and in fact their living god is the Pharoah.

Pharoah would have been known as god incarnate

Every day you would see the symbols of their gods...

Literally everything in Egyptian society was somehow holy, the nile the live stock…etc

But for the Israelites…They knew that they are people of one god…Yahweh...

But somewhere along the way of 400 years of captivity...

you might start asking the question…where is my God?

Are their god’s actually real? Are they more powerful than my God?

After a while you might believe that your god is gone…like he just doesn't care any more....and maybe you start buying the lie that maybe the Egyptian gods are actually stronger

So God needs to bring his people out…and as he does that, he wants to reveal some things about his character

Exodus 7:1–5 NIV

Then the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet. You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country. But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in Egypt, he will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites. And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it.”

Moses is made like God to Pharoah (Two gods face to face)

Moses is like god to Pharoah because he is obedient to God.

That’s it. God says he is going to do all of these amazing wonders and signs though moses and Moses is the one who is crazy enough to go do exactly what God says

But the plagues are this sever way in which Egypt will know that God is the Lord and god chooses to work though human partners

So Pharoah began to know what Yahweh is like because Moses was obedient in speaking God’s words to him?

Who knows that Jesus is Lord because of your life?

Who knows that Jesus wants to forgive them, make them new and have a relationship with them because of you...

It simply takes your obedience to Jesus…That’s it. When you live in obedience to him, God is freed up to use you…Because as we have talked about before, God wont bless disobedience.

God is freed to take you to greater and new

So then as these plagues start God says

“And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt”

So these plagues are not just to set Israel free…They have that effect...

But they are so that Egypt will know that Yahweh is Lord…In fact in the very last plague

The plague of the firstborn God says this

Exodus 12:12 NIV

“On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord.

So here is what we have to remember

Pharaoh had sarcastically asked Moses, “Who is Yahweh that I should listen to his voice to release Israel?”

His answer came in a series of horrible plagues. And what Exodus 12:12 tells us is that these plagues were aimed at Egypt’s gods

Before we look at these gods…I am afraid that at times we look at verses like this in the bible and think…yeah these are not actually anything just little stone or metal figures…just superstitions of Egypt…

See as Americans many of us are trained to be skeptical of the supernatural and this notion of other gods is just wild and out there because it doesn’t seem rational…or it seems like just an ancient superstition....

But we believe in Jesus, we believe in God, we believe that Jesus came as a man, died on the cross then rose again on the third day…

We believe that when you say yes to Jesus that the Holy Spirit dwells in your life...

Our faith is not natural but supernatural....

So who are these gods of Egypt?

Are they real beings with real power?

Now what we have to know is that ancient Bible readers would have had zero problem talking about the gods of Egypt as a reality

So let me get into some strange territory for a second that I think will help us understand the plagues....

We are just going to look at a psalms here

Psalm 82 NIV

A psalm of Asaph. God presides in the great assembly; he renders judgment among the “gods”: “How long will you defend the unjust and show partiality to the wicked? Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked. “The ‘gods’ know nothing, they understand nothing. They walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken. “I said, ‘You are “gods”; you are all sons of the Most High.’ But you will die like mere mortals; you will fall like every other ruler.” Rise up, O God, judge the earth, for all the nations are your inheritance.

So let me give you an ancient world view called the Divine Council worldview.

This is Psalm is a reflection on the way that God had ordered the world.

Today we might point out individuals and individual sin

But what this Psalm is saying, Oh lord the other gods that you have delegated authority to have become corrupt and are corrupting your people.

One of the things that you see a lot in the bible is this notion that God has other spiritual beings working for him

And I know it seems odd to us today...

And I want to be clear that the bible does not promote Polytheism, the belief in many gods, it is Monotheistic. Where We believe in the triune God, The father the son and the Holy Spirit....But that God has spiritual beings that he has created too and have used them to rule the world...

Why is this impotrant?

Because human sin isn’t the only source of sin in this world!

Genesis 6 is a “can of worms story” about “Sons of god finding the daughters of men beautiful and sleeping with them”

See just as there is a human rebellion, there is a divine rebellion too...

Some of these spiritual beings that God created rebel…And what is that story about...

Well human beings lost eternal life when they sinned in the garden

So these spiritual beings of Genesis 6 are now trying to bring eternal life back on their own terms, by procreating with humans…Its a picture of divine rebellion

I have mentioned this before but just as there is a human rebellion…There is a divine rebellion too

And the spiritual beings or god’s that god set over the nations rebelled

Its why the Apostle Paul says that our battle isn't against flesh and blood but against these dark powers and principalities....

The most ancient authors got that there was something supernatural at play

So what Exodus 12:12 is telling is is that the the plagues are judging the “gods” (or elohim) who had been given their authority by Yahweh and who were supposed to govern Egypt on his behalf.

I realize that for many of you this is brand new.

I started learning about the divine council just a couple of years ago....and I give this book on the divine council to a friend who is a scholar at Hebrew university…This is a guy who teaches Hebrew and who I really trust…And I just said to him…How come I never learned this in seminary? Is this reliable?

And he was like oh yeah this is totally common knowledge in the Hebrew bible community…It hasn’t translated into the church very well..

I felt so jipped that I didn’t learn this in seminary...

So now I want to show us why this is so key....not just for Moses but for the story of the whole bible.

Egyptian Cosmology

In the pantheon of Egypt, Pharoah is the divine representative of the gods, he is the son of Amon-Re the sun god

He was the image of Amon-Re on earth!

It was understood that Pharoah is the representative of the gods on earth and that through his policies and practices, he maintains all cosmic order.

So last week I showed you how these 10 plagues were God’s judgment…it was undoing creation

This week I want you to see that what else is happening

So in order to see these plagues rightly you need to see what I just laid out a minute ago…That this was a judgment of the gods and

Pharoah is the son of the Egyptian God Re

and

Israel is called God’s son!

Exodus 4:23

Exodus 4:23 NIV

and I told you, “Let my son go, so he may worship me.” But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.’ ”

So this whole business of the plagues is now a cosmic battle, between the Egyptian gods and their son Pharoah vs Yawheh and his son Israel

And incase you are not picking up what I am putting down....

There is another very important moment in the Bible where God and his firstborn son triumph over all of the powers of the world, both human and spiritual…and that moment happens on a cross…Where the whole business of sin and death gets defeated by the Son of Yahweh....

This whole story of the plagues is a prototype for what is to come!

So the point isn't that each plague neatly matches up with a judgment against a god of Egypt…But that it is total judgment over the whole cosmic system...

So I am going to just zoom through all of the plagues so basically I can spend the rest of the time on the 10th plague

Plagues & gods

Nile

Hapi or Apis was the bull god of the nile

Isis was also a god of the nile and

Khnum was the ram guardian of the nile...

When God turned the water to blood, he broke the power of 3 deities

Frogs

Hequt is the goddess of birth and it has a head that is a frog

Now for the next one gnats, flies, livestock, boils, hail and locust

There were a number of Egyptian gods that fit the bill here

Set: the god of the desert

Uatchit: A god pictured as a fly

Nut the sky goddess

Osiris the god of crops and fertility

Isis the god of healing

Then there is the plague of darkness:

and these last two I want to spend a few more minutes on

Exodus 10:21–23 NIV

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness spreads over Egypt—darkness that can be felt.” So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and total darkness covered all Egypt for three days. No one could see anyone else or move about for three days. Yet all the Israelites had light in the places where they lived.

So the main god of Egypt is the sun god Amon-Re.....Pharoah is the divine son of Re...

Every night in Egyptian cosmology when the sun set, the sun god was doing battle with death and every morning it rose victoriously!

But for three days this didn’t happen!

Come on now! Three days!

God is setting his people up for when he and his son do battle with death....

Jesus is in the tomb for three days then rises victoriously

But three days here signals the defeat of the sun god...

Three days where the father of Pharoah is not victorious

But the text will say, for the Israelites…they somehow had light!

Exodus 11 NIV

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. Tell the people that men and women alike are to ask their neighbors for articles of silver and gold.” (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.) So Moses said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘About midnight I will go throughout Egypt. 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. There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt—worse than there has ever been or ever will be again. 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. 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. The Lord had said to Moses, “Pharaoh will refuse to listen to you—so that my wonders may be multiplied in Egypt.” 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 in the 9th plague, the plague of darkness. Pharaoh’s father is defeated

And now this plague is coming straight for Pharoah

Pharoah is the firstborn of the god Amon-Re and you have to understand in the ancient world what it means to be the firstborn.

In the ancient worldview the firstborn is the natural leader of the family, it is the one to whom all power is delegated, it is the one who is the representative of the father.

In the Egyptian system, Pharoah was all powerful because he was the firstborn...

So with this Plague…Egypt is brought to his knees…And its not Pharoah that dies but his son

and that is where we get

Exodus 12:12 NIV

“On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord.

All of these plagues brought a sense of Judgment to the whole religious system of Egypt…on all of the gods...

It is no mistake at all that this is a plague of the firstborn...

In all the gospels, in Paul’s works, in the book of revelation, when Jesus is described he is called the first born over and over again

Here is my favorite verse on this:

Colossians 1:15 NIV

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

Everything about these plagues was done to show the power of Yahweh and his first born son Israel

Everything about this sets up the coming of God’s firstborn son Jesus who will triumph over the gods of this world on the cross

So you might be thinking…Pastor Dave this whole idea of the god’s is ancient history…Its not relevant any more...

Well let me end with two points that I think are very impotrant

Moses was called to speak truth to the prevailing culture.

Even though Pharoah didn't want to hear it and his heart was hard…He had to be a truth teller

So are we! Moses was God’s man that went to the king of Egypt and had to basically say to him your are not god..

You are ruining this world!

Now the truth is offensive a lot of times, we don’t have to add to the offense...

Part of the way that we live in truth is that we refuse to accept the lie.

This is what Moses did...He refused Pharaoh’s lies.

Church, you are called to embody the love and the truth of Jesus to a world that is in love with a lie...

Moses was called to confront the prevailing culture of false gods.

I am not trying to create a straw-man here, people believe that its no longer relevant…”the ancient idea of gods is just a relic of ancient superstitions” REALLY?

I would ask about what powers you think are in charge of:

The cult of hyper sexuality: where everything is seen through the lens of sex, orientation and gender…Its a false religion, that worships self desires....

The dogma of the hyper-sexuality people believe that fulfilling all your sexual desires leads you to the good life or the highest and truest version of yourself.

This is just as much for the pride crowd as the promiscuous crowd…Sex is a religion, I am not making this up,

there is truth that is unquestionable, there is a moral code and a set of terms that you have to buy into…There are powers behind this

In ancient Egypt there was a god for that…The god Min

The cult of Mammen: or money...Where what really matters, your worth in this world is actually your net worth…And it doesn't feel like a religion at first but your whole life becomes devoted to the dollar. With every fiber of your being, its all you think about, it is what you worship!

Quite literally there is an ancient god called Mammen that essentially is the god of money or material success....

Has money worship reduced in recent years? Do we have more or less of a problem with this in society

The cult of power: And I think this is the cult of Pharoah…Pharaoh represents political control and power…the hand of the gods....Now while in recent years we have secularized political power....Power is absolutely worshiped. Have you noticed that every 4 years all of your friends go nuts and sometimes so do you? in this cult what really matters in this world is that your guy, your party, your ideology is in-charge and in control…And you will do whatever you can to keep your hold on political power…This is the cult of Pharoah…Pharoah was a political/religious figure

But even more dangerously because its so subtle…The cult of self help Christianity... This is the therapeutic form of christianity that exists for you to fell better about yourself, where the chief aim is not about your discipleship to Jesus, but becoming a better version of yourself…This is the form of Christianity that is not about denying yourself and taking up your cross and walking with Jesus, but this is the form of Christianity that is about affirming yourself and feeling good about yourself…The self-help Christianity is more about a spiritualized way to look good in this world, it is a way of pretending to be about Jesus while the whole time its really just about you…About rooting out your own personal anxieties and suffering so that life is good.

Communion

There are some dark powers behind these worlds

These are the “powers that be”

And today as we take communion it is a proclamation that Jesus is king that he is God...

And when you eat at the kings table it means that he is the only king

This meal is a revolution because it means you forsake all other gods in this world

That Jesus is Lord and that you are not...

It means that the gods of sex, money, power and comfort are all confronted and cast out...

Taking this meal means that your life is submitted and surrendered to Jesus

On that night Jesus says: this bread is my body…given for you...

No Egyptian god does that they all take... But by Jesus giving himself and taking sin on in his body he breaks the power of sin!

Then Jesus passes the cup and says that this cup is somehow his blood its a new covenant made with humanity

Jesus wants to live in covenant relationship with you

Prayer Break the power that these “god’s” have over our world today