6. God Reveals Himself (Exodus 7-10) - Sunday June 22, 2025
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
When chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer played weaker opponents, he could have defeated them in just a few moves with a quick checkmate. But Fischer often chose a different approach - he would systematically dismantle his opponent's position piece by piece, square by square. Why? Not to be cruel, but to demonstrate the full scope of his mastery.
Each move revealed another aspect of his genius, teaching both his opponent and observers the vast difference between a grandmaster and an amateur.
When we read the account of the 10 plagues that God brought on Egypt in Exodus, we might ask - Why didn't God just destroy Pharaoh instantly? Why this extended process?
It was not to be cruel, but to teach His opponent and those observing who God is.
God’s Purpose
God’s Purpose
There is a repeated phrase throughout the account - that you may know that I am the Lord.
The plagues and deliverance would show God’s people who He is:
7 I will take you as My people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
They would show the Egyptians that God is the true God above all their imagined false gods.
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.”
The Egyptians had an incredibly complex religious system with over 2000 deities governing every aspect of life - from natural and social phenomena to abstract concepts. We have the names of about 1500. But they did not know the true God.
Each of the plagues was challenging one of the main deities.
Ra (sun god) - through the darkness plague
Hapi (Nile god) - through turning the Nile to blood
Apis (sacred bull) - through the livestock plague
Nut (sky goddess) - through the hail plague
God was showing them that He alone is the true God and to be worshipped.
And in particular, God wanted to show to Pharaoh that the Lord is the supreme authority, not Pharoah. In the account of 6 of the first 9 plagues God says to Pharaoh He is doing these things “that you may know that I am the LORD. Eg
22 And in that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, in which My people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there, in order that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the land.
CHART
To begin with, the magicians of Egypt tried to show they could do the same as God in the name of their gods. They turned water into blood. They made frogs come up out of the Nile.
But they gave a false hope, they were not solving the problem of the plague. They just caused chaos. They didn’t turn the blood back into clear water. They didn’t make the frogs go away.
But they soon gave up as they saw God was greater than them.
19 Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, just as the Lord had said.
God further showed He is God by protecting His people from the plagues. For example, the Israelites didn’t experience the flies or the death of their livestock.
4 And the Lord will make a difference between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt. So nothing shall die of all that belongs to the children of Israel.” ’ ”
Application
Application
Through each miracle, God was saying to Israel, Egypt, and Pharaoh: "Now you know who I really am - the LORD of all creation."
This pattern is seen in the ministry of the Lord Jesus. Through His miracles, teaching, and ultimately His death and resurrection, Jesus demonstrated to those around Him that He is the Lord of all creation - God.
And God still speaks to people today to convince them He is God. As people read the gospel accounts, God by His Spirit reveals Himself to us.
30 And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.
ILLUSTRATION: When explorer Ernest Shackleton's ship Endurance was crushed in Antarctic ice in 1915, his 27 crew members were stranded for nearly two years. For months, the men had only known Shackleton as their expedition leader. But the crisis revealed his true character - he gave up his food rations for weaker men, took the most dangerous jobs himself, and never let his crew see him despair. One crew member later said, "We didn't really know who Shackleton was until we saw him in the ice." The extreme circumstances revealed who he had always been. God reveals Himself as the Only God in extreme circumstances.
God’s Process
God’s Process
God’s process of revealing Himself involved a process of judgment mixed with mercy.
The plagues were a judgment on Pharaoh and the people of Egypt. They had oppressed almost 2 million of God’s people for many years. The time of judgment had now come.
Mercy and Judgment
Mercy and Judgment
And yet in His wrath, God showed mercy.
Each plague was preceded by a clear, repeated challenge to obey God’s command. Eg HAIL
13 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Rise early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews: “Let My people go, that they may serve Me,
This was followed by a warning if Pharaoh did not heed God’s voice:
18 Behold, tomorrow about this time I will cause very heavy hail to rain down, such as has not been in Egypt since its founding until now.
In this case, God described how the people could escape the judgement
19 Therefore send now and gather your livestock and all that you have in the field, for the hail shall come down on every man and every animal which is found in the field and is not brought home; and they shall die.” ’ ” 20 He who feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his livestock flee to the houses. 21 But he who did not regard the word of the Lord left his servants and his livestock in the field.
But in all cases, Pharaoh refused to let the people go. And so the judgment came
24 So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, so very heavy that there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. 25 And the hail struck throughout the whole land of Egypt, all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail struck every herb of the field and broke every tree of the field.
God gave Pharaoh ten clear warnings, each followed by exactly the consequences He promised. And although the consequences grew worse and worse, Pharaoh in his pride refused to obey the God who made him.
Sometimes Pharaoh appears to partially. Go away, but not too far. The men can go but women and children stay. You can all go but leave your livestock behind.
Pharaoh is trying to negogiate with God. He though he could partially comply, but still mintain control. But half-obedience is disobedience.
False repentance
False repentance
After a few of the plagues, Pharaoh asks Moses to pray that the judgment will be stopped.
27 And Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “I have sinned this time. The Lord is righteous, and my people and I are wicked. 28 Entreat the Lord, that there may be no more mighty thundering and hail, for it is enough. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.”
And God in His mercy answers Moses’s prayer.
But although Pharaoh showed regret because of the consequences of his stubborness, he never had true repentance. He was sorry he was having a bad time, but he wasn’t sorry he had offended God.
10 For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.
Application
Application
God deals with people today in the same way - with mercy and yet with justice.
God knows that the wages of sin is death. Every person deserves God’s judgment because of their rebellion against God who created and sustains everything and who is holy. And God knows that we all face an eternity in hell unless something is done.
God sent His own Son Jesus to provide a way for us to escape God’s judgement:
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. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
And God gives each person repeated opportunities to repent, and clear warnings.
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.
And yet, if despite God’s pleadings a person continues in their own way, or tries to negogiate half hearted obedience, there is no escape.
3 how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him,
27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,
Jesus is the only way we escape God’s judgement.
12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
ILLUSTRATION: Before the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, nature provided multiple warnings that went unheeded. The ocean receded dramatically from beaches - a clear natural warning sign. Animals fled to higher ground. Some local people recognized these signs and warned others, but many tourists ignored the warnings and actually walked out onto the exposed seabed to collect shells. Those who heeded the warnings survived; those who ignored them perished when the waves returned with devastating force.
God’s Prerogative
God’s Prerogative
A repeated phrase in most of the plagues concerns Pharaoh’s heart.
Sometimes, Pharoah’s heart is simply described as hard.
14 So the Lord said to Moses: “Pharaoh’s heart is hard; he refuses to let the people go.
Sometimes, it is described as getting even harder as a result of a plague.
22 Then the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments; and Pharaoh’s heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, as the Lord had said.
Sometimes, Pharaoh is described as deliberately hardening his own heart:
32 But Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also; neither would he let the people go.
And perhaps more surprisingly, sometimes God hardened Pharaoh’s heart:
12 But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh; and he did not heed them, just as the Lord had spoken to Moses.
To understand why the LORD would harden Pharaoh’s heart, at the same time asking him to let the people go, we have to remember:
Pharaoh was not an innocent or godly man. He was a ruthless dictator heading a government that oversaw the brutal oppression of over 2 million people. The pharaoh that God hardened was an evil man.
Pharaoh chose to deliberately harden his own heart. He could have spared Egypt all the plagues if he had not in rebellion hardened his heart. He chose to bring judgment on himself and his nation.
As a result of Pharaoh’s evil choice of hard-heartedness, God in judgment on him hardened his heart even further. God was not unjust in bringing the plagues against Egypt. Nor was He unjust in hardening Pharoah’s heart in judgment on his actions.
God has the prerogative - the right as God - to do what He wants for His purposes.
17 For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.” 18 Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.
The New Testament repeats this tragic pattern of how God hands people over to the consequences of their repeated rejection of His grace.
24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, 25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature.
10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
Before workplace safety regulations, factory workers were gradually exposed to dangerous noise levels. Initially, their ears would hurt - a natural warning system. But workers who ignored this warning and continued exposure found that the pain gradually stopped. They thought they had "gotten used to it," but actually, the repeated noise had damaged their hearing cells beyond repair. The absence of pain didn't mean safety - it meant permanent damage. By the time they realized they couldn't hear properly, the hearing loss was irreversible.
In our spiritual lives, our hearts can follow the same tragic pattern as the factory workers hearing. With each rejection of God’s prompting, a heart becomes more calloused until it can no longer respond at all to God’s Spirit. Jesus warned about the repeated and ongoing hardening of a heart against the Holy Spirit who is trying to lead you to repentance.
31 “Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men.
The unforgivable aspect isn't about God's unwillingness to forgive, but about the person's inability to repent
Application
Application
We are all born with hearts that are naturally hard against God. But God can show mercy and grace and soften hearts.
He did it for a business woman called Lydia:
14 Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul.
And God does the same today by His Spirit.
The Lord softens hearts through us sharing the gospel message, perhaps even pleading with our friends and relatives to trust Christ.
20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
And God softens hearts through our conduct:
12 having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.
SUMMARY APPLICATION
SUMMARY APPLICATION
God’s intention of the plagues is that people would know He is God.
For those who have not found forgiveness from God through CHrist. don’t make Pharoah’s mistake - God’s warnings of judgment are real, but so is His mercy.
And for those who do know Christ, the plagues remind us who God is in a world of seeming chaos. He is the powerful One who is in control, and He is a merciful God working through events to make Himself known. Sometimes even through personal trials, and sometimes through more global conflicts.
11 God has spoken once, Twice I have heard this: That power belongs to God. 12 Also to You, O Lord, belongs mercy; For You render to each one according to his work.
ILLUSTRATION: In 2003/2004, astronomers pointed the Hubble Space Telescope at what appeared to be an empty patch of black sky and left it there for an accumulated total of a million seconds or just over 11 days. When they developed the image, that "empty" space revealed over 10,000 galaxies - each containing billions of stars. What looked like emptiness was actually teeming with unimaginable power and beauty. If only looked for a second, none of these galaxies would have been detected due to the physics of photon detection and noise ratioscould. The longer they looked, the more they saw.
What seemed to be nothing and chaotic became filled with purpose and structure.
God tells us
10 Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!
