The Power of God

I’d actually like to start today, not with Exodus, but with the book of Romans. Let’s look at Romans 9:15-24

Romans 9:15–24 ESV

For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?

This is one of the most difficult to accept passages in the whole Bible, because it says a great many things that make us uncomfortable. We will spend an awful lot of time in this passage next year, so I won’t preach a whole sermon in Romans 9, but I’d like us to look at two things in this passage that will help us make sense of our text for today.

First, Paul is quoting Exodus 9:16, a passage we will study today, that will show God’s purpose in raising up Pharaoh: that he might do two things - 1. to show His power in Pharaoh. God has, according to His Word, raised up Pharaoh for the specific purpose of displaying His power. But, lest we think that this is somehow pointless, we also have the second reason here: that His name might be proclaimed in all the earth. Mission accomplished. We are studying these plagues today as evidence of the fact that God has accomplished precisely what He set out to accomplish.

Second, why would God do this? Well, that’s where the other explanation comes in: what if God, desiring to show His wrath and make known His power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,” but there is a reason even for this - “in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory.” In other words, those who are destined for destruction, and are not rescued by the redeeming grace of God, still show the riches of God’s glory for those whom God will save. We will see this exact thing at work today in this passage, as we examine the power of God.

We like to think of God’s power in terms that are beneficial for us personally, but we often shy away from thinking that God is somehow more powerful than us, or our wills, or our “freedoms.” Today, I want us to examine the power of God in this passage, and I want us to see exactly how God is working out both these things that Paul is teaching us in Romans 9 - He is showing His power and proclaiming His name, and He is making His rich glory known to those who were prepared beforehand. And those who were prepared beforehand may be surprising to you, as we examine this passage together! Each plague will show us a different aspect of God’s power. Let’s study them together.

9:1-7 - God's power is careful

Jordan Peterson once said"A good man is a very dangerous man who has that under voluntary control" This is truth, but there is a spiritual and theological reason for it: when we as men have a voluntary control over the strength and power God has given us, we image God in a very unique way.

Over and over through the plagues we have studied together, we see God dropping smart bombs, if you will, onto Egypt. Each plague is intending to do exactly what God has ordained.

The fifth plague is no different. It will strike exactly as intended. Let’s look at the first four verses Exodus 9:1-4

Exodus 9:1–4 ESV

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. For if you refuse to let them go and still hold them, behold, the hand of the Lord will fall with a very severe plague upon your livestock that are in the field, the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the herds, and the flocks. But the Lord will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, so that nothing of all that belongs to the people of Israel shall die.” ’ ”

This is the first time “Thus says the Lord” is used in the Bible. Moses - I’m not making this up, or paraphrasing, this is exactly what The Lord has said!”

At first, it seems a bit arbitrary to strike the livestock, but remember each plague is making some specific statement about who the God of Moses is, and who Pharaoh and his pantheon of Egyptian gods are not.

this is a direct statement about the Egyptian gods. Almost every Egyptian god was represented by some sort of animal. Each of these gods was either a picture of life, or of death.

mon-Ra - chief god of all Egypt; represented by a ram

Atum - a manifestation of Ra; represented by a bull

Bastet - goddess of joy; represented by a cat. Look no farther to see how depraved Egypt must have been than to make the goddess of joy represented by a cat.

Hathor - goddess of love and protector of women; represented by a cow.

Khnum - god who formed humanity with a potter’s wheel; represented by a ram

Month - god of war, represented by a bull

At the temple in Memphis was a live bull that was said to always be a manifestation of one of the gods. Hence the expression “sacred cow.” That bull would then become father of a calf that would be considered to be sacred, that would always have an image cast made of gold.

Over and over again, Egyptian gods and goddesses were represented by livestock? Why? because livestock represented livelihood for the Egyptian, and so life.

The Egyptians were led to believe that these false gods were a source of life for them. They thought that worship of these idols would give them a good life. As an aside, we may not make gods out of bulls and rams, but don’t we often ascribe other things in our live as the source of life and hope? This is the very essence of idolatry - to look to something other than God to provide what only God can provide.

Exodus 9:5–7 ESV

And the Lord set a time, saying, “Tomorrow the Lord will do this thing in the land.” And the next day the Lord did this thing. All the livestock of the Egyptians died, but not one of the livestock of the people of Israel died. And Pharaoh sent, and behold, not one of the livestock of Israel was dead. But the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go.

This passage, as we said, is a warning shot and a statement. And God is very careful to do exactly what He said, in the way He said it. We will see God say a little later “I could have just wiped you out by now.” And He could have. But with each plague, a warning is being given not just to Pharaoh, but to all of Egypt, to know and trust the Lord. But He is also keeping His promises to Jacob and Joseph.

Look at Genesis 45:10

Genesis 45:10 ESV

You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, and your flocks, your herds, and all that you have.

the people will go out of Egypt with all they came in with, and then some. God is careful to preserve the livestock because God is careful to keep His promise.

So, just like the piles of rotting frogs served to show Egypt the futility of putting their trust in anything other than God, so now the dead livestock in the field point them to the fact that the God of Israel is not to be trifled with.

9:8-12 - God’s power is just

Pharoah’s heart is hardened again, this time after Pharaoh sent his servants out to Goshen, only to see cows and sheep and donkeys happily grazing in the field, while the livestock of Egypt is dead on the hoof. So, yet again, he does not let the people go, and this time, God acts without any warning to Pharaoh, just like he did with the gnats. Exodus 9:8-9

Exodus 9:8–9 ESV

And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of soot from the kiln, and let Moses throw them in the air in the sight of Pharaoh. It shall become fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and become boils breaking out in sores on man and beast throughout all the land of Egypt.”

Of all the work the Israelite slaves did, brickmaking was the worst. For the Israelite slaves, the day would begin with finding appropriate straw, and manure, to mix with the Egyptian mud to make the bricks. Men would haul mud from the banks of the Nile to the kiln area while the women usually drew water to mix and keep the mud wet. When all the resources arrived, the water would be added to straw, mud and manure, and children, usually from just old enough to walk, would walk in the mud over and over to mix everything together. When that was done, the bricks would be arranged in squares to dry in the sweltering Egyptian sun.

Meanwhile, a whole separate group of slaves would be working on yesterday’s bricks, which had dried and hardened. They took them to the kiln, a massive rectangular pit with a makeshift oven in the middle. The oven was fired from whatever straw was gathered to make the bricks. These men, usually the elders among the slaves, would then put the raw brick in the fire to make them hard enough to use. The kiln was below ground level, sometimes as much as 8 feet, and the smoke didn’t rise on most days. The men who operated these kilns most likely didn’t operate them for more than one to two years, because the byproduct of inhaling smoke for 14 hours a day, every single day, would eventually lead them to chronic lung disease. When the men were no longer capable of working, they would be carried out of the kiln, where they would endure the agony of untreated lung disease until they finally quit breathing. This is the primary reason that the Egyptians wanted slaves to do this work - they didn’t want to have their own people doing this horrific work.

As the kilns continued their work, ash and soot would accumulate on the top, and so would be hand raked into piles in the middle. A slave’s work was measured by how high the soot was on the kiln. On a good day, they would produce huge piles of this silt, a visual reminder of the cruel bondage that the Israelite had been subjected to.

Now, hear again what God is telling Moses to do: “take handfuls of soot from the kiln, and let Moses throw them in the air in the sight of Pharaoh.” Moses goes to the place of slavery and throws the product of Israelite slavery in the air, to show Pharaoh something that would be bone chilling: God sees this, and He is doing something about it. Everyone in the room would have known where that silt came from.

And when it hits the air, it became a dust that, when it touched the skin of an Egyptian, became a boil on their skin. When it touched any of the animals that were in the field, it became a boil that eventually became a sore. Exodus 9:10-12

Exodus 9:10–12 ESV

So they took soot from the kiln and stood before Pharaoh. And Moses threw it in the air, and it became boils breaking out in sores on man and beast. And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils came upon the magicians and upon all the Egyptians. But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had spoken to Moses.

The magicians, who stood before Pharaoh and made more frogs, and more blood, but couldn’t make gnats, now cannot even stand before Moses. God is exacting justice on Egypt for the wrong they have done to God’s people, and He will not allow magicians to imitate this.

God will punish sin, and He is right to do so. We often look at what God does and try to say that it isn’t fair, don’t we? But here is the truth: Pharaoh isn’t even getting fair yet; this is just a taste of God’s judgment. There isn’t a person on earth who truly wants fair. God is totally just, and will punish all sin. For us, that punishment is placed on Christ.

And the good news of the Gospel is this: God is not only just, but He is patient. one of my favorite verses is 2 Peter 3:9

2 Peter 3:9 ESV

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

Isn’t it good news that God is patient? And we get a little glimpse into the patience of God in this next section.

9:13-35 - God’s power is patient

Exodus 9:13–14 ESV

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Rise up early in the morning and present yourself before Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. For this time I will send all my plagues on you yourself, and on your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth.

look at verse 15 Exodus 9:15 -16

Exodus 9:15–16 ESV

For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth. But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.

If it were totally up to us, we would be just like Pharaoh - hardening our own hearts to the things of God until one day we were face to face with the God we have opposed and were facing His judgment. We weren’t saved because we softened our hearts to the things of God; we were saved because God replaced our hearts of stone with hearts of flesh, and then we responded in faith and repentance!

But notice that, even as Pharaoh hardens his own heart, and as his heart is hardened, and then as God hardens his heart, there are others in Egypt in whom God is doing the exact opposite: He is preparing His mixed multitude to go out from Egypt - both Israelite AND Egyptian, fearing and serving God!

Most scholars believe that, from beginning to end, the plagues ran somewhere around 9 months. God is telling Pharaoh, and indirectly telling Egypt “I am giving you time here, so that you will know that I am the Lord.” Now, we already know, because God has already told us, that Pharaoh won’t repent. But we are headed towards a very important verse here. When the Israelites finally leave Egypt, look at this in Exodus 12:38

Exodus 12:38 ESV

A mixed multitude also went up with them, and very much livestock, both flocks and herds.

Do you see what is happening here? There would be some of these Egyptians who would follow the Lord! But not Pharaoh, God tells us exactly what purpose Pharaoh served: to show the power of God to those who would trust in Him! This is precisely what Paul is talking about in Romans 9 - both Jew and non-Jew see teh glory of God, and respond to the glory of God. But look at what God says about Pharaoh in Exodus 9:17

Exodus 9:17 ESV

You are still exalting yourself against my people and will not let them go.

so, God warns of an even more serious consequence for Pharaoh’s disobedience. Exodus 9:18

Exodus 9:18 ESV

Behold, about this time tomorrow I will cause very heavy hail to fall, such as never has been in Egypt from the day it was founded until now.

God is now raining down judgment in the form of hail. But there is something else unique going on here: Exodus 9:19-21

Exodus 9:19–21 ESV

Now therefore send, get your livestock and all that you have in the field into safe shelter, for every man and beast that is in the field and is not brought home will die when the hail falls on them.” ’ ” Then whoever feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh hurried his slaves and his livestock into the houses, but whoever did not pay attention to the word of the Lord left his slaves and his livestock in the field.

Do you see it? The mercy of God, the patience of God! He is exacting judgment on Egypt, and there are some people who are listening and repenting! There are some who are coming to see God for who He is, which is the express purpose of the plagues. So, those people will shut their slaves and their livestock up to protect them. But those who thought Pharaoh was the way kept things the way they had always been.

if it were up to us, we would be like Pharaoh, constantly hardening our own heart, and so being handed over to our desires, and then finally judged for the sins that we committed.

For us, just like Egypt in the plagues, those who listen to the Word of the Lord will be spared. Those who do not will be ruined.

So, God acts again. Exodus 9:22-26

Exodus 9:22–26 ESV

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, so that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, on man and beast and every plant of the field, in the land of Egypt.” Then Moses stretched out his staff toward heaven, and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down to the earth. And the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt. There was hail and fire flashing continually in the midst of the hail, very heavy hail, such as had never been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. The hail struck down everything that was in the field in all the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And the hail struck down every plant of the field and broke every tree of the field. Only in the land of Goshen, where the people of Israel were, was there no hail.

There would have likely been some livestock not in the field when the fifth plague hit, and now those that were out in the field are killed by the hail. Those who did not heed the Word of the Lord were destroyed, just as God said. The crops were utterly demolished. Any hope that the Egyptian who didn’t fear God was eroded as ice and fire fall from heaven and create total chaos. Pharaoh seems to be finally ready to make a change. Exodus 9:27-35

Exodus 9:27–35 ESV

Then Pharaoh sent and called Moses and Aaron and said to them, “This time I have sinned; the Lord is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. Plead with the Lord, for there has been enough of God’s thunder and hail. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.” Moses said to him, “As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will stretch out my hands to the Lord. The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth is the Lord’s. But as for you and your servants, I know that you do not yet fear the Lord God.” (The flax and the barley were struck down, for the barley was in the ear and the flax was in bud. But the wheat and the emmer were not struck down, for they are late in coming up.) So Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh and stretched out his hands to the Lord, and the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain no longer poured upon the earth. But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet again and hardened his heart, he and his servants. So the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people of Israel go, just as the Lord had spoken through Moses.

Again, look at Moses’ confidence in God here! He walks out of the palace WHILE IT IS STILL HAILING, trusting that his God will protect him, he walks all the way out of the city, and stretches out his hands towards heaven, and God protects him that whole time. This is an underrated sight to behold, I think; Moses encapsulated by the hand of God, totally protected from God’s ongoing judgment, and lifting his hands towards heaven so that the hail stops.

But Pharaoh seems to have a contigency plan here. Look at verse 31-32 again. Moses puts this in here so that you could see - Pharaoh is thinking “I still have two crops coming, so I should be good.” and so, Pharaoh’s heart is hardened again, in spite of God’s rich mercy, and once again he did not let the people go.

Listen carefully friends - if you have never listened to anything I say, please hear this: God will only extend mercy for so long. Each time we reject His mercy, and carry on in our stubborn arrogance, our hearts become a little harder. Whatever plan you may think you have when you stand before God will fly right out the window when you are faced with His holiness and justice. It’s the great warning of Hebrews 3:15

Hebrews 3:15 ESV

As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

God is merciful. But His power opposes the proud.

10:1-20 - God’s power opposes the proud

I’d like to save Exodus 10:1-2 for the very end, because it gives us our application for today, so let’s start in Exodus 10:3-6

Exodus 10:3–6 ESV

So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me. For if you refuse to let my people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country, and they shall cover the face of the land, so that no one can see the land. And they shall eat what is left to you after the hail, and they shall eat every tree of yours that grows in the field, and they shall fill your houses and the houses of all your servants and of all the Egyptians, as neither your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen, from the day they came on earth to this day.’ ” Then he turned and went out from Pharaoh.

So much of Exodus is opened up for us when we remember that this is the continuation of the story, not the beginning of a new one! Remember how Israel got to Egypt in the first place - it was Joseph that saved them from famine! Egypt would have starved if God had not intervened.

So, what is God doing now? He is effectively saying “I gave to you graciously, and you have rejected me and worked against my promises, and now I will take those things away. And Moses simply turns and leaves. And this is where Pharaoh’s servants step in. Exodus 10:7-11

Exodus 10:7–11 ESV

Then Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not yet understand that Egypt is ruined?” So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. And he said to them, “Go, serve the Lord your God. But which ones are to go?” Moses said, “We will go with our young and our old. We will go with our sons and daughters and with our flocks and herds, for we must hold a feast to the Lord.” But he said to them, “The Lord be with you, if ever I let you and your little ones go! Look, you have some evil purpose in mind. No! Go, the men among you, and serve the Lord, for that is what you are asking.” And they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence.

Pharaoh calls for Moses, because his servants can see the writing on the wall. For Pharaoh to stubbornly refuse to let the people go was to set Egypt up for total destruction. They plead with him, and he calls Moses and Aaron back, and they say one more time that God isn’t compromising. Pharaoh knows that once Israel leaves, they aren’t coming back to slavery, so he gets mad, drives them away, and sets up the doom of Egypt through his pride. Exodus 10:12-15

Exodus 10:12–15 ESV

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, so that they may come upon the land of Egypt and eat every plant in the land, all that the hail has left.” So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind upon the land all that day and all that night. When it was morning, the east wind had brought the locusts. The locusts came up over all the land of Egypt and settled on the whole country of Egypt, such a dense swarm of locusts as had never been before, nor ever will be again. They covered the face of the whole land, so that the land was darkened, and they ate all the plants in the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Not a green thing remained, neither tree nor plant of the field, through all the land of Egypt.

The locust was likely the most feared creature in the whole middle east. There are 11 different words in Hebrew that translate “locust.” When a swarm of locusts came through, the people were powerless to do anything to stop them from eating everything in their path. The land was black with locusts, who totally ate Pharaoh’s contingency crops. There was nothing left. In a short period of time, Egypt lost their livestock, had their primary crop destroyed by hail, and now their secondary crops were eaten by locusts. It was God’s good providence to have Egypt rescued by famine through Joseph, and now God has reversed that rescue because of Egypt’s stubbornness. All the good that God did to Egypt is being undone because of hard-heartedness. Well, almost all the good. We still have two plagues to go.

Exodus 10:16–20 ESV

Then Pharaoh hastily called Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against the Lord your God, and against you. Now therefore, forgive my sin, please, only this once, and plead with the Lord your God only to remove this death from me.” So he went out from Pharaoh and pleaded with the Lord. And the Lord turned the wind into a very strong west wind, which lifted the locusts and drove them into the Red Sea. Not a single locust was left in all the country of Egypt. But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the people of Israel go.

and again, God answers the prayer of Moses, and drives the locusts into the Red Sea. The locusts were drowned by the hand of God, just a little taste of things to come. Wait a few weeks, and I have an incredible story to tell you about that Red Sea.

And again, Pharaoh’s heart is hardened. This time, God gives Pharaoh over to his own passions. God definitely hardens Pharaoh’s heart, because the text says, but remember that Pharaoh was already hardening his heart right? That’s what pride does. That’s what the illusion of power does; it causes us to think that, somehow, our power can rival that of the Lords. Which is exactly what we are to do with this text today:

Key verse/concept: the two reasons for the plagues: to make God’s glory known, and to serve Israel as she relays God’s glory to her sons.

What is Exodus 9-10:20 telling me to do?

Humble yourself.

Look back with me at Exodus 10:1-2 The purpose of the plagues:

Exodus 10:1–2 ESV

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may show these signs of mine among them, and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and of your grandson how I have dealt harshly with the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them, that you may know that I am the Lord.”

God has done all these things to make God’s glory known to the world. But when we are prideful, we are too busy making our own glory known to the world. We, like Pharaoh, can trust in our own self-sufficiency, or can think that other things will bring life, or can spit in the face of the mercy of God. Listen friends: one of the key lessons of our spiritual growth is that the story of your life isn’t primarily about you! So, get over yourself! God has shown us who He is, so that we can show others who He is. We aren’t that big of a deal. But God is sovereign, good and powerful. Humble yourself, and become an instrument of grace, a means by which God makes His glory known to the world.

The plagues are to show the world who God is. And God has seen fit to do so by opposing the proud, and giving grace to the humble.

Arrogance is THE primary disease of the heart. It is so sneaky, it can present itself in so many ways and hide deep in our hearts. We can be even be prideful in things that are supposed to make us humble. But we overestimate our own power, our own ability, and we can begin to think of ourselves as greater than we ought. So, the best way to end this week, I think, is by asking you the same question that Moses asked Pharaoh:

Thus says The Lord, The God of the Hebrews: “how long will you refuse to humble yourself before me?”

There are only two choices: humble yourself, or you will be humbled. That’s it. One of these always goes better than the other, trust me.

Would you take a minute and lay your heart bare before the Lord, and ask Him to create a clean heart in you? Would you consider your life and your pride, and humble yourself before Him? I’ll close us in a moment.

Benediction: James 4:10

James 4:10 ESV

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.