Untitled Sermon

21The LORD said to Moses, "When you go back to Egypt see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in your power; but I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. 22"Then you shall say to Pharaoh, 'Thus says the LORD, "Israel is My son, My firstborn.23"So I said to you, 'Let My son go that he may serve Me'; but you have refused to let him go. Behold, I will kill your son, your firstborn."'" Exodus 4:21-23

Summary/Recap

God’s people in brutal slavery and oppression.

Baby boys thrown into the Nile

Israel groans, God acts to deliver

(Irony) - Using the Egypt’s two chief weapons of destruction (Pharaoh's household and the Nile River, God utilizes these two destructive forces as His tools for rescuing the one who He would use to rescue His people - Moses.

(Irony) - Moses is raised up in the Pharaoh’s own house where he receives the training and education that will help equip him to one day smite Egypt.

Moses’s failed revolution

Moses enters God’s University where he will learn to fully identify with those he will be rescuing and leading.

God calls Moses up for service, not simply to rescue His chosen people, but to reveal Himself to both Israel and Egypt

The Purpose - God desires to reveal Himself to both Egypt and Israel

- But Pharaoh said, “Who is the LORD that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the LORD

English Standard Version Chapter 7

7 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.”

- “But, indeed, for this reason I have allowed you to remain, in order to show you My power and in order to proclaim My name through all the earth. 17“Still you exalt yourself...

But Pharaoh said, “Who is the LORD that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the LORD

16“But, indeed, for this reason I have allowed you to remain, in order to show you My power and in order to proclaim My name through all the earth. 17“Still you exalt yourself

The Showdown - Yahweh vs. Egypt’s gods

Moses is Yahweh’s representative while Pharaoh represents Egypt’s gods

Nine rounds of complete domination complete domination

God has annihilated Egypt by using their own gods against them

(Why are you hitting yourself?)

Hardening his heart - Giving Pharaoh the will and resolve to fully go through with the evil and stubbornness that already existed in his heart. Helping him cling to the small glimmer of hope that he can somehow defeat Yahweh (gives in but then goes back on his word)

Knocking him down, but then helping him up and giving him the smelling sauce to continue

These series of plagues demand a decision from all who are involved.

Question - What is it going to take for a person experiencing this showdown to side with Yahweh? What more could Yahweh do to show his superiority? Why wouldn’t you align yourself with Him?

Any time in Scripture that a person encounters Yahweh’s power, it produces a fear that elicits one of two types of responses - it either drives an individual towards God or it drives them away from God.

I believe that is what has happened here. When God distinguishes between Israel and Egypt, it is not as much about distinguishing between a physical location as much as it is a heart condition. There are hints all through this text that suggest that many Egyptian people (as well as slaves from other ethnic groups) chose to side with Yahweh as He revealed Himself.

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This brings us to the final round

This brings us to the final round

God announces “I am about to deliver the knockout blow, get ready!”

The warning is given and judgment is coming.

Undeniably - this is hard to read (this is death on a huge scale)

A Word on This plague

This plague is vastly misinterpreted by those who have no understanding of the context of this judgment.

This is not genocide - God does not hold this irrational hatred and prejudice against Egypt, and therefore targets them. This judgment is for everyone involved, both Israel and Egypt. This is a microcosm of God’s final judgment when He will truly rid this world of evil and corruption.

The victims involved are not innocent. The honest truth is that every person involved in this (not just the firstborn) deserves death.

God is accused of being weak and unloving because He does not rid the world of corruption and evil, but what we often fail to realize is that you and I are a major part of the problem. If God were to completely annihilate evil and rid the world of corruption, that involves getting rid of every single one of us. What we find with God is that He desires to rid this world of evil and corruption while saving and preserving humanity and this is no small feat.

God is holy (set apart and unique)!

He is so unlike us that we cannot even fathom it. Because He is so powerful, so glorious, so morally good and just, anything unclean cannot survive in His presence apart from divine protection. (It could be equated to approaching the sun.)

However you view Him or picture Him, whatever praise or worth you ascribe to Him in reality falls insultingly short of who He really is. (comparison of pictures)

Those that Scripture describes as entering His presence (Isaiah, John) crumbled out of sheer terror and became completely nonfunctional when recognizing who they were in comparison to God.

Isaiah says that the most noble and righteous deeds that we produce when compared to God’s holiness are like a filthy disgusting rag.

And yet, by our nature we degrade Him and place Him on our level. We view ourselves too high and Yahweh too low and fail too recognize the enormous gulf that lies between us.

It’s a dangerous thing to

rob Yahweh of the credit and glory that He deserves and take it for ourselves or ascribe it to something else.

falsely accuse Him of being something that He is not

separate yourself from the Source of Life and reject His offer of protection and life

What we see with this final plague which stands alone is that God has warned of what is coming, but He has also announced a way to escape this judgment that is available to anyone who will take it seriously.

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Question - The question is that each person here must answer is who will you trust to protect you - Yahweh or Pharaoh?

In Egyptian culture, Pharaoh was believed to a son of the gods elected to be the divine protector of Egypt.

Inscription of Merenptah “Egypt has been assigned to him, to be his given portion; she is his forever, that he may protect her people. Re’ has turned again to Egypt, The Son is ordained as her Protector.

Inscription of Merenptah “Egypt has been assigned to him, to be his given portion; she is his forever, that he may protect her people. Re’ has turned again to Egypt, The Son is ordained as her Protector.

Nuts and Bolts over Feasts of Passover/Unleavened Bread

God will give the Israelites the instructions for

This event is one of the most misunderstood episodes in the Bible and as a result its full significance is often missed.