God Shows His Power

Intro

[Thank worship team]

Good morning Bethel Church, and good morning to our network of rural churches that are joining us live on YouTube. And if you are new here, I want to extend a special welcome to you. If you would, there are “Connect” cards in the seat in front of you. If you would fill that out there or at the Welcome Center outside of the sanctuary. We even have a free gift for you if you are new to Bethel. We would love to get in touch with you and discuss how to get connected to our church family.

Announcements:

[Announcement 1]

[Announcement 2]

Today we will be continuing our study of the book of Exodus called, “Forward, Trusting God in the Unknown.” If you are reading out of the Bibles in front of you, our passage can be found on page 49. If you do not have a Bible, please stop by the Welcome Center and take one. It is our gift to you.

TRANS: Pray

Opening Hook

Have you ever read the Bible and thought to yourself, “this story makes me uncomfortable.” Specifically, when the story involves God’s judgement and subsequent consequences (often resulting in death).

Throughout the Old Testament, and even in the New, we see God’s judgement against people or nations for committing sin.

But often times we begin with our own perspective of what is just and good, and that may or may not be the same as God’s. When we look at His actions through our perspective, we often conclude that his actions lack mercy, are harsh, too strict or the punishment is disproportionate to the crime.

But this is the wrong framing. When we must start with *God’s* perspective, not our own. Before we look at the plagues against the Pharaoh and the nation of Egypt, we must begin with the right biblical framing of judgement:

The Biblical Framing

God alone can give life and take life.

Let us review some passages that make this point clear:

1 Samuel 2:6 ESV

6 The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up.

Deuteronomy 32:39 ESV

39 “ ‘See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.

Job 1:21 ESV

21 And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Acts 17:25 ESV

25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.

God brings judgement against evil. We see primarily in the Old Testament the idea of God utilizing nations to bring justice against the wicked nations. This even happens against the Israelites later on when they begin worshipping other “gods.” (if you have been in Eric’s sunday school class you know how bad it gets)

We will see God use Israel to drive out the people of Canaan, who for 400 years have had the chance to repent but have not.

And here we see God using Plagues to pry the Israelites out of the Pharaoh’s hands. But God chooses to use plagues not just to release the Israelites, but to accomplish even more than that:

Why Plagues?

God reveals his divine power, increases his reputation, and shows His sovereignty.

Exodus 9:14-15

I want to show you a passage that comes in the middle of the unleashing of the plagues. We see God’s purpose here:

Exodus 9:14–15 ESV

14 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. 15 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.

In other words, God could have simply taken Pharaoh out with one strike, and gotten his people out of there. But God had a larger purpose in mind.

God did not want to merely *tell* of his power, he wanted to show his power. He also desired to increase his reputation. What happens when the Israelites get to Jericho as they begin to take the promised Land? They find people who have heard of how God brought about great signs and wonders to bring Israel out of Egypt. Mind you, at that point it was 40 years prior. God’s use of the plagues would not only set Israel free, but strike fear in those who would oppose God decades later (setting up victory in future battles).

And lastly, he wanted to show his sovereignty.

A note on Sovereignty

Church people typically think about sovereignty as it relates to God’s control over all affairs. We talk about it in the context of “well, God is sovereign, so it will all work out. He has a plan.” And this is one aspect of God’s sovereignty: His divine will.

But there is another aspect to sovereignty that can get overlooked: God’s rule over all. This will be important in understanding the plagues. The Egyptians, and most of the ancient world, believed that the gods had territorial control. If you start to look for this, you find it everywhere in scripture. This gets into Deuteronomy 32 and Psalm 82, but for now just know that there were rebellious spirits that enslaved the nations. When we see the plagues unfold, and the magicians in Pharaoh’s court, we must understand that there was real spiritual power behind these religions. But that power was demonic. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11 that idols are more than statues, they represent territorial demons.

TRANS: But God, the most high, was about to show Egypt and the rebellious spirits who is the sovereign one, the true Ruler of all. And with that, we turn to Exodus 7 (page 49)

Exodus 7:1–13 ESV

1 And the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. 2 You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land. 3 But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, 4 Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. 5 The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.” 6 Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as the Lord commanded them. 7 Now Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh. 8 Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 9 “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Prove yourselves by working a miracle,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent.’ ” 10 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent. 11 Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the magicians of Egypt, also did the same by their secret arts. 12 For each man cast down his staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. 13 Still Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.

God Vs Egypt

The confrontation begins.

Exodus 7:1-13

“prove yourselves by working a miracle!” Well, they do. And the magicians (the wise men and sorcerers) conjure their own snake from their staffs. But who’s swallows the other? Yes, Aaron’s. This would foreshadow the conflict to come.

But notice verse 13, another foreshadowing: Pharaoh’s heart was hardened. He would do all he could to resist God’s purpose to set Israel free.

I’ve shared previously that the Pharaoh was thought to be a “son of God,” who’s primary responsibility was to maintain order. With his “outstretched hand” he was to ward off the forces of chaos and deliver peace, justice, truth, and stability (all under the concept of “Ma’at” or order).

The question would be “who is the maintainer of order?” God? Or Pharaoh and the so-called gods of Egypt?

Ancient Egypt and the Old Testament The Concept of Maʾat

When Yahweh assailed Egypt with the ten plagues, he was casting the universal order of creation (maʾat) into chaos. This was a direct challenge to the power and sovereignty of Pharaoh: could he maintain maʾat or not?

TRANS: The stage is set. Now I want to walk through the first 9 plagues. I cannot read three chapters of text, as that would be too much for one day. Rather I will list and summarize each, while showing the purpose or intention behind each plague. I do encourage you to go and read the text for yourself later today. But we have to start this section with a key observation:

The plagues are targeted attacks, not random tricks.

And here is something important to see in the plagues: these were not random disasters. God was not just making life hard for Egypt. He was systematically tearing down Egypt’s false worship. He was exposing the emptiness of their gods, the weakness of their priesthood, and the fraud of Pharaoh’s supposed divinity. The plagues were God’s way of saying, “You have many gods, but none of them can stand before Me.” The transcripts you gave me frame the plagues as both de-creation and polemic—an attack on Egypt’s religious worldview, especially its idea of ma’at, the order Pharaoh was supposed to preserve.

Plague #1 Nile turns to blood (7:14-25)

So when the Nile turns to blood, this is not just a hit on the environment. It is a direct blow against Hapi, the god associated with the Nile’s inundation. Egypt believed the Nile was what kept the nation alive. The Nile fed the land, sustained the crops, and made life possible. But God turns that supposed source of life into death. In other words, the God of Israel is saying, “Hapi is not in charge here. I am.” And Pharaoh, who was supposed to maintain order as the so-called son of Re, can do nothing about it.

Plague #2 Frogs (8:1-15)

Then comes the plague of frogs, and that points very naturally to Hekhet, the frog-headed goddess associated with fertility, birth, and life. The transcript also notes her connection to Khnum, the creator-god who supposedly fashioned human beings, while Hekhet breathed life into them. But now the symbol of fertility overruns the land as a curse. The thing Egypt connected with life becomes a source of disgust and misery. God is saying, “Hekhet does not govern fertility, life, or multiplication. I do.”

Plagues #3-4 gnats and the flies (8:16-19, 20-32)

When you get to the gnats and the flies, Heiser is a little more cautious about naming one single deity, though he says some connect these plagues to Khepri or Khepre, the beetle-associated god. But his stronger emphasis is on the effect these plagues had on Egypt’s priests. Their priesthood depended on ritual purity. If their bodies and homes were infested, then they could not perform temple service. They could not bring offerings. They could not maintain the rituals of Egypt. So whether you stress Khepri or the priestly system as a whole, the point is the same: Egypt’s religion could not function under Yahweh’s hand. Their gods were being publicly neglected because their priests were rendered unclean and powerless.

Plague #5 Death of Livestock (9:1-7)

The plague on the livestock becomes even more specific. Here the transcript points especially to the Apis bull, one of the great sacred bulls of Egypt. It also mentions Buchis and Mneuis, and then broadens the picture to include bovine imagery tied to deities like Ptah, Re, Isis, and Hathor. Hathor herself is associated with cow imagery, and Isis is pictured with cow’s horns. So when the livestock die, Yahweh is not only attacking Egypt’s economy. He is humiliating the gods they linked to strength, fertility, protection, and royal power. What they revered, God struck.

Plague #6 Boils (9:8-12)

Then the plague of boils takes aim at Egypt’s healing religion. Some have connected this to Imhotep, but rejects that as too late historically. The stronger connection is to Sekhmet, the lion-headed goddess associated with plague and healing. It also mentions Amon-Re as one regarded as a healer. But the point is devastating: the priests themselves are struck. They cannot even stand before Moses. The very men who were supposed to mediate sacred power are physically laid low. So God is not only saying that Sekhmet cannot heal. He is saying Egypt’s entire religious machinery is helpless.

Plague #7 Hail (9:13-35)

The plague of hail is a direct mockery of Egypt’s heavenly deities: Nut, the sky goddess; Shu, who held up the heavens; and Tefnut, associated with the moisture of the atmosphere. These were the gods who were supposed to govern the regions from which hail comes. But when the hail falls, mixed with fire, they do nothing. They cannot stop it. They cannot shield the land. They cannot protect the people. So God is declaring that the heavens themselves answer to Him, not to Egypt’s gods.

Plague #8 Locusts (10:1-20)

Then come the locusts. Here the transcript mentions Senehem, a god tied to protection from pests, though Heiser treats that identification as less certain because Senehem seems to have been a minor deity. Still, the larger point stands: Egypt believed the gods protected the food supply, and Yahweh wipes it out. What hail left, locusts devour. Their gods cannot preserve even bread. And Heiser also says this plague prepares for the next one, because the wording of the text connects the locusts with a kind of darkening that anticipates the greater humiliation still to come.

Plague #9 Darkness (10:21-29)

That leads straight into the plague of darkness, and here Heiser says the attack is unmistakable and direct. This is a blow against Egypt’s great solar theology—against Amon-Re, the sun god, and against Pharaoh’s own claims, since Pharaoh was bound up with the sun-god tradition as the supposed son of Re. In a world where the sun represented rule, order, glory, and life, God turns the lights out. Egypt’s most exalted divine symbol goes dark. It is hard to imagine a more humiliating message: your highest god cannot even make the sun rise.

So the point of all this is not merely that God is stronger than Egypt. It is that Yahweh alone is God. Hapi cannot save. Hekhet cannot save. Khepri cannot save. Apis cannot save. Sekhmet cannot save. Nut, Shu, Tefnut, Senehem, Amon-Re—they cannot save. Pharaoh cannot save. One by one, God is tearing down every rival trust and every false refuge until only one conclusion remains: the Lord alone rules heaven and earth, life and death, light and darkness, judgment and deliverance.

And that means the plagues are not just about Egypt. They ask us the same question: what are we trusting that cannot actually save us? Because the God who exposed Egypt’s idols still exposes ours.

End this section with a summary of God’s revealed nature: God is…

The God of order and power

The God of healing

The God of reproduction

The God that brings life

The God with true authority

The God of gods, the Lord of lords

TRANS: Yet even after all of this… watch how Pharaoh responds.

Exodus 10:24–29 ESV

24 Then Pharaoh called Moses and said, “Go, serve the Lord; your little ones also may go with you; only let your flocks and your herds remain behind.” 25 But Moses said, “You must also let us have sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. 26 Our livestock also must go with us; not a hoof shall be left behind, for we must take of them to serve the Lord our God, and we do not know with what we must serve the Lord until we arrive there.” 27 But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let them go. 28 Then Pharaoh said to him, “Get away from me; take care never to see my face again, for on the day you see my face you shall die.” 29 Moses said, “As you say! I will not see your face again.”

The Pharaoh’s heart remained hard.

Exodus 10:24-29

No amount of signs would lead Pharaoh to go down the center isle for the alter call- as it were. Though in the story you see a few times where Pharaoh has moments of what seems to be a willingness to let Israel go, he turns right back around to his stubbornness.

It is important for the Scriptures to communicate that this “hardening of Pharaoh’s heart” is an action by both God and Pharaoh himself. The purpose of the plagues was to show God’s power over Egypt, yet Pharaoh was not coerced into being in opposition to God. He was already in opposition to God, as evidenced by the various ways he inflicted suffering upon God’s people.

God’s hardening is in conjunction with a person’s own hardening. God does not seem to harden people’s hearts arbitrarily, rather, God will even use someone’s stubbornness and rebellion for His own purposes. Those who seek to thwart God’s purposes end up being an unwilling participant in God’s purposes.

Remember the purpose of the plagues, to show God’s power, to reveal his power, to increase his reputation, and show his sovereignty. In Romans 9:17-18, Paul makes this exact point. God’s will cannot be thwarted, yet that does not mean that humans are not responsible for their own actions. Our rebellion is our responsibility, even if God uses it for how own glory — like Pharaoh.

In other words, no one is above the sovereignty of God.

TRANS: It would take one more plague to pry the Israelites out of Pharaoh’s hand… and we will save that one for next week.

Application

Not even miracles will convince the hard of heart.

Those who are far from God, those who’s hearts are hard toward him, cannot be convinced from miracles.

There’s a famous moment between a Christian debater and an atheist debater. The atheist claimed, “if God came down to earth and was 100 feet tall, walked toward my street and proclaimed, ‘Jim! The one true God is the God of the Bible! I am Jesus Christ, and I was crucified and then resurrection. Believe in me and you will have eternal life!’ (something like that)” The atheist then said, “Then I would conclude that your faith is right and I would become a Christian.” The Christian then paused, and said this, “No I think you would conclude you were hallucinating.”

Not even miracles will convince the hard of heart.

Jesus himself said in Matthew 16:4

Matthew 16:4 ESV

4 An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” So he left them and departed.

So how can one be convinced? It takes a move of the Spirit to soften their heart. God gives everyone the opportunity to know Him and believe in Him. Creation itself declares God’s divine attributes, our conscience points to a moral law-giver.

But the one who does not *want* something to be true will find every reason not to believe.

If your heart is hard, put it to yourself like this,

“what are the consequences if I’m wrong?”

Do you want to risk your eternity because God hasn’t appeared to you how you think he should? I guarantee that he has been at work in your life, but the one who does not want to see it will not see it.

If you have a friend or family member who has a hard heart — pray for them. I remember the three prayers of our evangelism training we did as a church for those who did the Life2Life groups:

Pray for:

Open doors (opportunities)

Open mouths (courage for me to speak)

and Open hearts (receptiveness to the gospel)

TRANS: But as we go through this life, we must know that it is not just hard hearts that oppose God…

Do not underestimate the demonic influence of evil.

How did Pharaoh’s magicians “copy” the staff to snakes and the first few plagues? This was not a trick. There was real demonic power.

We should not be sensationalized into thinking that every red light when we are in a hurry is from Satan. But we must also not fall into the other trap of not recognizing his influence AT ALL.

1 John 3:8 says

1 John 3:8 ESV

8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

The practice of sinning has a source… the devil. God does not pull punches about who the true enemy is. And these demonic influences enslave. They oppose God and His people. They seek to steal, kill, and destroy. Be watchful.

Conclusion : God showed his power to Egypt and to Pharaoh, but God was not done yet. For deliverance from Slavery would not happen until after the 10th plague. And you’ll have to come back next week on Easter Sunday for that part.

Pray

INVITE PEOPLE TO COME TO THE FRONT FOR PRAYER

AND NO PROPHETS AND PROPHECIES CLASS

Talk About It/Think About It

Why would God use plagues to confront Pharaoh and Egypt?

Why do you think God chose a public confrontation with Pharaoh instead of delivering Israel quietly and immediately?

How does it change your reading of Exodus to see the plagues as targeted judgments rather than random acts of power?

Why do you think Pharaoh could witness so much and still refuse to repent?

What are some ways a person today can keep resisting God even when truth is right in front of them?

Why is it dangerous to assume that more evidence alone will change a person’s heart?

How can Christians stay spiritually alert without becoming fearful or sensational?