The Perplexities of the Plagues
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Our last time together before Christmas we toggled our studies between the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Exodus. In our last study in Exodus we studied the second plague, the plague of frogs. This morning we skip to the final plague, the death of the firstborn of all Egypt.
Our time together in Exodus has been so theologically rich and applicable to daily living. We realize that God is at work in the lives of His people, Israel. In the same way God is at work in our lives of His NT Christian followers.
There are times we question if God is engaged in our lives. We may wonder “Lord, where are you when I need you.? For no apparent reason it seems that God is dormant on a matter we are facing.
We learn from the study of Exodus that the collective affairs of life have many moving parts. God’s divine hand is at work in every aspect of our life working for His good, our good and sending messages to the world.
When you are encountering a family dynamic that is a struggle and it seems dire and you ask, “will this ever change?” God is at work. We must ask the question, “God, would you reveal Yourself to me?” “God show me what you are teaching me through this?” “Lord, how am I to conform to Your will in this process?”
There are times we face health crisis' or job struggles or relationship dynamics that God is working in multifaceted ways.
His ways are higher than our ways and He is creating a fine tapestry of influence in our lives to accomplish His will.
I assure you from the study of Exodus, God is at work. Our aim is to see where He is working and get on board with His will and wishes for our welfare.
Furthermore, when we micro in on the life of Moses, one called out to serve the Lord that God can mold and make you with your insecurities and you even sense your incompetence in a given area. With time and trust and God right in the center of following His will, God can move mountains in your life. Amen? And guess what, you will grow in your relationship to Him as you are exposed time and again to the might and power and His handiwork in your life.
Lastly, when we look at this saga of Egypt and Pharaoh, Egypt represents the world. Egypt represents the fallen world that we are called to navigate each day. Egypt represents the chaos we are both studying tonight, the series Love in Chaos with Bob Goff and Wednesday nights in our study of Daniel, Heavenly living in Hostage times. God is using you and me to do His work in a dark world.
This morning as we cover the final plague, the plague of killing the firstborn of Egypt, let’s look at what God is teaching us from the plagues at large.
Turn in your Bibles this morning to Exodus 11:1-10.
Exodus 11:1-10
Exodus 11:1-10
1 And the Lord said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. Afterward he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will surely drive you out of here altogether. 2 Speak now in the hearing of the people, and let every man ask from his neighbor and every woman from her neighbor, articles of silver and articles of gold.” 3 And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants and in the sight of the people.
4 Then Moses said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘About midnight I will go out into the midst of Egypt; 5 and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the female servant who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the animals. 6 Then there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as was not like it before, nor shall be like it again. 7 But against none of the children of Israel shall a dog move its tongue, against man or beast, that you may know that the Lord does make a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.’ 8 And all these your servants shall come down to me and bow down to me, saying, ‘Get out, and all the people who follow you!’ After that I will go out.” Then he went out from Pharaoh in great anger.
9 But the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not heed you, so that My wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.” 10 So Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh; and the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go out of his land.
Prayer
Message
In the study of Exodus and the journey of Moses as God’s deliverer, we address the final plague, the death of the first born, we see forces at work.
In the 9th plague, the plague of darkness, in Chap. 10 the Bible states that the darkness:
read it with me.
Exodus 10:21–23 (NKJV)
21 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, darkness which may even be felt.” 22 So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. 23 They did not see one another; nor did anyone rise from his place for three days. But all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.
Yet another god had to be addressed and to prove who ruled. By bringing darkness, God proved He was over the god of Re, the Egyptian God.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
Dearly beloved, let’s get into it.
Read verse 5 closely with me. When there are the plagues of our lives, whether they are directed toward us or we are innocent bystanders of the plagues of life, you will not comprehend the full ramifications of all that God is working to accomplish.
God uses plagues to draw people nigh to Him.
For the people of Israel, Moses was called God’s deliverer for His people. Jesus is our deliverer of a people that were enslaved to sin and God’s Holy Spirit sought us and Jesus bought us with His redeeming blood and we are gloriously saved. Amen?
Pharoah and the people of Egypt represents Satan and the influence of the world on us before we came to know Christ and the downward spiral spiritually speaking of one who is hardened to the things of God is a picture of the progression of the plagues.
Interestingly, in the progression of a hard hearted rebellious person against the things of God, plague #9 was darkness and a person becomes spiritually darkened as we see in the life of Pharaoh. Ultimately the person that chooses to deny Christ will experience what is the 10th plague, death. Eternal separation from God and an eternal life in hell.
The Timeliness of making God Honoring Decisions
The Timeliness of making God Honoring Decisions
We learn in:
40 Now the sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years.
Furthermore, God’s prophesied with certainty certain things that would happen with every plague.
Follow me for a moment by looking with me at these plagues and I will reference the verses on the screen:
1 So the Lord said to Moses: “See, I have made you as God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet. 2 You shall speak all that I command you. And Aaron your brother shall tell Pharaoh to send the children of Israel out of his land. 3 And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt. 4 But Pharaoh will not heed you, so that I may lay My hand on Egypt and bring My armies and My people, the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. 5 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out My hand on Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from among them.”
This morning I will not get into the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart other than to say God is sovereign. We have discussed this in depth at a prior message in Exodus.
Isaiah 55:9 “9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.”
In this one verse of the Bible that was a foreshadow of the plagues that start in Exodus 7:14, we see that God had multiple objectives He was working to accomplish.
-I will harden Pharaoh's heart-the Sovereignty of God-Election
When every one of these prophesies comes to past revealing God’s omniscience, Moses and the people of Israel’s faith will be deepened.
-multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt-reveal His glory, his power, His majesty, His ability of overcome
-Pharaoh will not heed you, so that I may lay my hand on Egypt and bring My armies-God’s justice
“Judgment is mine saith the Lord.”
-Egypt shall know that I am God-Evangelism at work. They were serving polytheistic gods as God brought the plagues to address each of the gods they worshipped by the plague brought and we addressed those specific gods in the first two plagues.
-Water becomes blood, frogs, lice, flies, livestock diseased, boils, hail, locusts, darkness, and death of the firstborn.
God was at work addressing every false god the Egyptians were serving and He was revealing Himself to a lost people.
-”stretch out My hand on Egypt and bring out the children of Israel among them.” God revealed His omnipotence with each of us as He acts and we encounter deepening faith.
Exodus 10:1–2 (NKJV)
1 Now the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh; for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his servants, that I may show these signs of Mine before him, 2 and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and your son’s son the mighty things I have done in Egypt, and My signs which I have done among them, that you may know that I am the Lord.”
God was going to use these signs to deepen the faith of the next generation.
Everything the Lord revealed to Moses turned out true. And so, there is a timeliness in our lives to make God honoring decisions.
Exodus 11:1 (NKJV)
1 And the Lord said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. Afterward he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will surely drive you out of here altogether.
Obviously, if you are one here today that has never surrendered to Christ and turned your life over to Him, we must understand that:
2 Peter 3:9 “9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”
Why the many plagues? Why not one big blow of judgment on Egypt? Because God loves you. God is longsuffering toward you. God does not want to see you perish. God wants to see you repent and to be drawn to Him.
Many people state:
“As bad as this world is today, Lord when are you going to give us some relief and for those of us that love and follow you, when are you going to bring us home?”
He wishes that no one would perish and that all would come to repentance.”
Listen to me closely. God still uses plagues today. Either one or two things can happen. We are either innocent bystanders in the plague as Israel was or either we are the culprit, God is bringing a plague on us to change us.
Let’s address the first:
In this timeliness of making correct decisions that are God honoring and God led we realize from Solomon in Ecclesiastes that there are seasons:
1 To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven:
There are times we are to be patient and submissive because God is working on the fringes of our lives to change the atmosphere upon which we operate.
God is bringing His plagues on the office pool, the household, your marriage, your friendships because the Lord is culling some gods out of the other person’s life.
Write this down:
When we think God is exercising great procrastination, or patience, it may be that God is purging.
There are times that God is not working in our timing, but then. But then. The God of judgment, the God of justice, states enough is enough. No more. You have been faithful, you have been steadfast, you have been as the Scriptures state immovable and I will remove this burden from you. I will rid this problem. This problem is now mine and you are off assignment.
“he will surely drive you out of here all together.”
God was speaking of Pharaoh. All the prior times “his heart was hardened and refused to let the people go. On this time, He would actually drive you out of their lives.
Let me ask you a question. Are you experiencing a plague and maybe you are fulfilling the role of Pharaoh? “I am fighting this to the bitter end. I will not let this go. Maybe today, God is asking you to let go of whatever it is you are holding on to and to turn it over to the Lord.
Do you heed the nudges and the direction of God in your life when He is at work?
Ill. Story of dead battery and Jane’s dad’s truck. Clark.
The story of the timeliness continues as God states:
speak now.
The Crowns that Come in Trusted Deliverance VV. 2-3
The Crowns that Come in Trusted Deliverance VV. 2-3
2 Speak now in the hearing of the people, and let every man ask from his neighbor and every woman from her neighbor, articles of silver and articles of gold.” 3 And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants and in the sight of the people.
This is a story of God’s people that had been enslaved for 430 years. Talk about patience. They had learned humility, they had learned perseverance. They learned to trust God in the midst of insurmountable circumstance. They had learned to work in God’s timing and they learned to cry out in anguish to God when it was beyond bearable.
Exodus 3:7 “7 And the Lord said: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.”
Dearly beloved, listen to me. God is not so concerted and directed in His ideal mission for the world that you will become collateral damage or inconsideration along the way. God loves you. God hurts when you hurt. He mourns when you mourn, He cries when you cry. God is a God of compassion.
And when we are battling this life and attempting to honor God (we are sinners) but we are truly trying to live a life pleasing to Him and consider Him in all of the issues this life brings, God will reward you with crowns along the way.
For those that are found faithful, God brings blessings following His will for your life. Note something. When Moses surrendered and trusted God there were struggles along the way.
Exodus 6:12 “12 And Moses spoke before the Lord, saying, “The children of Israel have not heeded me. How then shall Pharaoh heed me, for I am of uncircumcised lips?””
As the Israelites were going to be set free in short fashion from Egypt in our story line, the Lord was going to bless them for the journey.
Articles of silver and gold represented the economic help the Israelites needed to start a new life. Oh dear brother or sister, if you will leave a former life of sin and give your life to Jesus, I promise you that God will bring blessing after blessing along the journey to affirm your faithfulness.
Exodus 3:22 “22 But every woman shall ask of her neighbor, namely, of her who dwells near her house, articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing; and you shall put them on your sons and on your daughters. So you shall plunder the Egyptians.””
I do not necessarily mean that God will give you this prosperity gospel that is being taught today, but He will bless you in ways unfathomed in your life in Christ.
May I blow your mind for a second?
I want you for a moment to think about the most severed, fragmented, struggling relationship you have right now. In your mind there are no answers to the situation. The people of Israel were enslaved by the Egyptians for 430 years. They were enslaved maids, worked in the fields, butlers, yard people, possibly concubines, who knows what all. Strained, stressed, tainted, fractured relationships. Let’s just be honest. The Israelites would have had animosity toward the Egyptians. And look what the Lord did:
“and the Lord gave favor in the sight of the Egyptians.”
The term could be that the Israelites looted the Egyptians, but that is not the way the Scripture reads:
“they asked for the articles of God and silver” and the Egyptians responded. I want to believe they lavished them with gifts.
Dearly beloved, only God could do that.
Listen to what the psalmist states:
Psalm 106:46 “46 He also made them to be pitied By all those who carried them away captive.”
Only God can change the hearts of the most fragmented relationships.
You may have a situation this moment that is so dire. May I ask you-have you given it over to Deity?
The New King James Version Chapter 11
Moreover the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants and in the sight of the people
Maybe you are fairly new to the Christian life. You are making some decisions and making some choices to act in a way or do some things that you sense God is asking you to minister to that has definitively pulled you out of your comfort zone.
God, what you are asking me to do is strange? This is against the grain. Lord, you want me to do what?
Let’s go back to Exodus 2 at the Burning Bush. Lord, you want me to do what? Lord, I can not speak. Lord, why will Pharaoh listen to me? Lord, the people will not listen to me, let alone Pharoah. Lord, you know I killed a fellow Egyptian. You know if I go back my life will be taken from me. And, the very people that Moses rebelled against, left Egypt and surrendered to the One true God, Yahweh, at the back of the desert, he was humbled from a Prince to a shepherd. With all the hurdles, with all this calamity, with all of this stress and strain, struggle and insecurity, listen to what the text states:
“the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servant and in the sight of the people.”
Dearly beloved, I do not know that I will ever fully understand why God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. But, I do understand that regardless of how muddy the road you travel, the finish line can be amazing. Moses’ in his humility, his insecurity, but in his unadulterated trust of God was found victorious as God’s tool to deliver His people. As we live in a fallen world, God will bring plagues along the way, but if we keep our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, we will see the prize before us.
1 Corinthians 9:24 “24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.”
The Comprehensiveness of God’s Handiwork in our Lives VV. 4-8
The Comprehensiveness of God’s Handiwork in our Lives VV. 4-8
4 Then Moses said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘About midnight I will go out into the midst of Egypt; 5 and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the female servant who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the animals. 6 Then there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as was not like it before, nor shall be like it again. 7 But against none of the children of Israel shall a dog move its tongue, against man or beast, that you may know that the Lord does make a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.’ 8 And all these your servants shall come down to me and bow down to me, saying, ‘Get out, and all the people who follow you!’ After that I will go out.” Then he went out from Pharaoh in great anger.
When the Lord declared the death of the firstborn of Egypt, that decision represents prophetically the death plague on the world that denies Christ as Savior. Dearly beloved there are not multiple ways to God, only one.
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
Also, as you read the comprehensive nature of the death plague. There was no one in standing including the highest earthly leader of Egypt, Pharaoh that would not incur loss. He lost his first born son to death. There were no prejudices of the death plague on Egypt. From the most important, the highest rank, the wealthiest to the most insignificant, one who worked the handmill.
We see the justice of God and we see the compassion of God’s mercy in the same few verses.
God’s death angel will pass over each one of us one day unless He calls us home first.
27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Read Exodus 11:6
6 Then there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as was not like it before, nor shall be like it again.
That is a sad verse of the Bible.
There is another ugly place in the Bible.
Matthew 13:42 “42 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”
Speaking of the saddest words or actions that can be said. I’ve heard this statement in church circles.
“Certain people in that church will have to die before that church will ever grow.” That is the most harsh statement I have ever heard and maybe I’ve ever said in church life.”
Pray tell, that is not the case here. And I pray God’s hand to keep that atmosphere out of this body of believers. People in the church that have the attitude of Pharaoh. I will not let go. We are going to keep things as they are. I like our small intimate congregation. I do not want change. Oh dearly beloved, may it never be said of you or me, that one would think we would need to die if this church were to grow.
Are you in such a bad place today that you say God could never ever overcome my sin situation.
2 Corinthians 5:17 “17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Or, maybe today you have been in a life situation that has been so hairy and with such moving parts and you have fatigued from it all. God wants you to cry out to Him and you are just about driven to your knees over the situation, you are just right for God to take a hold and take the wheel and allow you to see Him at work in your situation.
Remember, there is a perfect timing, His timing to respond when He calls you to make a decision for Him. Secondly, remember the crowns He has for you when you trust Him, and lastly, understand that in this life with anything you are confronting, God’s comprehensively at work to accomplish His will for His good, your good and to bring about change in the world you live in.
What matter do you need to lay at His feet today?
Let’s pray.