God Sends Plagues on Egypt (Exodus 7–11)

Kochrain Hills Bible Camp 2021  •  Sermon  •  Submitted
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Have you ever known someone who is a BULLY - someone who treats other people like they don’t matter - because the BULLY is bigger & stronger than them? Bullies make me mad. Bullies make God mad too!
Today we’re going to watch what God does to a BULLY.
Years after the death of Joseph who was put in charge of the food in Egypt, another Pharaoh began to rule - the most powerful man on the planet, and a man who enslaved God’s people and treated them very poorly for a long time. So God decides it’s time to deal with this BULLY.
God sends Moses, a man who grew up as an Egyptian prince, to go back to Egypt and tell Pharaoh - LET MY PEOPLE GO! Moses is scared and wondering why Pharaoh would listen to him. So...
Exodus 7:1–5 (NLT)
v1-2 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pay close attention to this. I will make you seem like God to Pharaoh, and your brother, Aaron, will be your prophet. Tell Aaron everything I command you, and Aaron must command Pharaoh to let the people of Israel leave his country.
3-4a But I will make Pharaoh’s heart stubborn so I can multiply my miraculous signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. Even then Pharaoh will refuse to listen to you. So I will bring down my fist on Egypt.
4b-5 Then I will rescue my forces—my people, the Israelites—from the land of Egypt with great acts of judgment. When I raise my powerful hand and bring out the Israelites, the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.”
To show God’s power, Moses had his brother Aaron throw down a shepherd staff and it turned into a SNAKE! But…Pharaoh had some magicians who could do some pretty cool tricks and they did the same thing - they had MORE THAN ONE snake that stood against God’s snake…however…God’s snake swallowed all of the magicians’ snakes (Ex 7:11-12)! Imagine seeing that!
But Pharaoh refuses, and it’s ON - the Bully and all the false Egyptian gods are about to get their fannies spanked by the Creator of the universe. God’s people and the Egyptians about about to learn that...

BIG TRUTH: God is KING over Everyone & Everything

There were about 80 major 'gods’ worshiped in Egypt, gods who controlled the Nile river, the land, and the sky. And so, God unleashes His power against the gods of the Nile (first 2 plagues), the land gods (the next 4 plagues), and the gods of the sky (last 4 plagues).
[James Montgomery Boice, Psalms: An Expositional Commentary; Volume 2: Psalms 42–106 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1996), pp. 849, 850.]
#1 Water Becomes Blood (Ex. 7:14–25) God told Moses and Aaron to meet Pharaoh when he was near the Nile River. The Nile was a source of fish, and fresh water to drink and irrigate their farms. The Egyptians sacrificed to the gods who kept the Nile flowing & providing food and water.
God spoke to Moses and told Aaron to strike the water with his staff, and it turned to BLOOD -
so did all the rivers, canals, ponds.
The water the Egyptians had in wooden bowls and stone pots…turned to blood too!
Can you imagine us having NOTHING TO DRINK this entire week at camp, but BLOOD?
On top of that - all the fish died floated up. Can you imagine the serious stink from the blood and the rotting fish? YUCK!
The Egyptians had to work hard to dig into the ground to find any drinkable water (Ex 7:24) because they couldn’t get it from their normal water source.
Pharaoh had his magicians find some clean water and make it turn into what looked like blood BUT...they couldn’t UNDO what God had done, as their life-giving river was full of DEATH.
Then came a plague that might gross a lot of us out...
#2 Frogs (Ex. 8:1–15) Moses warned Pharaoh of what was coming…FROGS!!! Lots and lots of frogs! Pharoah said NOPE and the people were about to CROAK.
And sure enough, frogs filled their homes and all the land of Egypt. Pharaoh couldn’t keep them out of his palace and bedroom and even on his bed (Ex 8:3)! People would try to cook food…and frogs were all over their kitchens!
This got Pharaoh’s attention so he begged Moses to make it stop (Ex 8:8). Moses prayed to God and all the frogs died on the spot. The Egyptians had to go through the land and carry these nasty, slimy carcasses to big burn piles…and that didn’t smell so good (Ex 8:12-14) - sort of like what some of our men have had to do when they go burn our USED TOILET PAPER.
But…once the frogs were gone, Pharoah refused to let God’s people go,
so God brought judgement on Pharoah and the LAND GODS of the Egyptians who were supposed to protect the people and the land.
#3 Gnats (Ex. 8:16–19) God brought the GNATS! And they covered everyone - people and animals. Can you imagine the frustration and pain of insects constantly on us and biting us? And you thought the bugs at camp were bad!?
When Pharaoh refused to respond, God brings the....
#4 Flies (Ex. 8:20–32) Flies filled Egypt and drove the people crazy!
Finally! Pharaoh gave up and told Moses that his people could leave for a few days to worship their God IF…Moses prayed for the flies to be removed. Moses prayed, the flies took off, and Pharaoh AGAIN went back on his end of the bargain.
So, next came God’s judgement as the...
#5 Livestock Diseased (Ex. 9:1–7) Many of the horses, donkeys, camels, cattle, sheep, and goats died. But when Pharoah sent investigators to see what happened where God’s people lived…NONE of their animals were dying. How did all these plagues hit the Egyptians yet NOT hit God’s people?
But that STILL DIDN’T sway Pharaohs heart. So then came one of the WORST of to that point as God brought more than pests to people. God brought PAIN to people.
#6 Boils (Ex. 9:8–12) All the people & animals broke out in BOILS - huge, painful sores filled with pus and mucus - GROSS! That affected every Egyptian - including Pharaoh…AND his magicians! But not God’s people.
Still Pharaoh wouldn’t give in.
God had shown He was in control of the WATER, the LAND, and now He showed the Egyptian ‘gods’ of the AIR were false too! As God began to rain down...
#7 Hail & Lightning (Ex. 9:13–33) Have you ever had HAIL fall near your house? It can be very large and does much damage to cars and other stuff left outside. Can you imagine what it would do to people and animals with nothing to cover their heads?
God, being kind even to His enemies, warns the Egyptians BEFORE the first piece of hail falls - and tells them to bring all animals and people inside so they won’t die.
Some Egyptians listened and quickly got everyone inside. But others didn’t - and those animals and people DIED! Many of the trees and most of farm plants that had sprouted got shredded.
Pharaoh summoned Moses and said, “This time I have sinned” and confessed that the God of Moses was right and he was wrong (Ex 9:27-28). Once again, he promised to let the people go.
Moses prayed to God and the hail stopped. And once again, Pharaoh backed out on what he said.
Although God had destroyed much of their crops already, He had allowed the crops that had not yet sprouted out of the ground to be spared. But when those crops sprouted, God sent the...
#8 Locusts (Ex. 10:1–20) These insects eat ALL the plants in the farm fields and all the fruit on the trees. These nasty grasshoppers covered the ground!
And, as you might guess, Pharaoh asked Moses to make it stop…again. Pharaoh promised to let the go. But - as you have probably figured out - Pharaoh lied again.
So God brought...
#9 Darkness (Ex. 10:21–29) You, more than any other people in the United States, know what this is like - But even during the winter you still have 3 hours of light. They didn’t have any light...
COMPLETE DARKNESS - like can’t see each other darkness - for 3 days. People couldn’t go anywhere and stayed in there homes. Their great false sun god, Ra, was powerless against the TRUE GOD Moses served. But just down the road - God’s people had light.
Can you guess what Pharaoh promised Moses? Yep. They could leave but had to leave their flocks. When Moses demanded they take everything they owned, Pharaoh shouted and told him to get out - and told Moses to never come back to see him again…or die!
Finally, God sent the last and most severe plague that finally forced Pharaoh the BULLY to let God’s people go.
#10 Death of Firstborn (Ex. 11)
God sent an angel to KILL every firstborn male of the Egyptian people and their animals. Can you imagine the weeping throughout the land on that night? It was enough…and Pharaoh told God’s people to get out!

What do we learn from all this?

First,

BIG TRUTH: God is KING over Everyone & Everything

Second, Pharaoh did what a lot of us do. When things are tough we ask for God’s help, promising to obey Him in the future. But as soon as the tough times pass, we back away from the promise we made to God, and continue to live for ourselves instead of Him. Let’s stop doing THAT!
Let’s trust and obey Him.
Last, we get a glimpse at something interesting happened just down the road. On the same night that God sent the angel to kill the firstborn Egyptians,
God told His people to prepare a meal.
They were to...
PIC choose an unblemished sheep or goat and
the entire community would slaughter them at twilight and then
PIC smear some of the blood on the doorposts and lintel of the houses.
Then they were to roast and eat the meat with bitter herbs and unleavened bread. Any part of the animal they couldn’t eat, they were to burn. Further, God then gives these instructions:
Exodus 12:11 These are your instructions for eating this meal: Be fully dressed, wear your sandals, and carry your walking stick in your hand. Eat the meal with urgency, for this is the LORD’S Passover.
v12 On that night I will pass through the land of Egypt and strike down every firstborn son and firstborn male animal in the land of Egypt. I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt, for I am the Lord!
Exodus 12:13 (NLT)
But the blood on your doorposts will serve as a sign, marking the houses where you are staying. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. This plague of death will not touch you when I strike the land of Egypt.
The blood sacrifice of these animals for God’s people accomplished 2 things happened:
1) protected them from God’s wrath and 2) released them from slavery.
This event is SO IMPORTANT that God tells His people to celebrate this moment every year (Ex 12:14), and to make sure not to break any bones of the Passover animals Ex 12:46).
They were also to remove any leaven from their homes for an entire week (Ex 12:15) - LEAVEN is what causes bread to PUFF UP, but it is an illustration of what SIN does in our lives - PUFFS US UP and makes us PRIDEFUL rather than humble.
Over 1400 years later, John the Baptist calls Jesus, The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” (Jn 1:29).
And the night before Jesus gets killed on a cross, Jesus eats the Passover meal with His disciples and transforms the meal to show the HE IS the UNBLEMISHED SACRIFICE, who died for us without having His bones broken.
PIC OF CROSS THE UNLEAVENED BREAD represents the BODY OF JESUS - beaten and torn for us - His torn body REMOVES SIN and PRIDE from our lives.
THE GRAPE JUICE represents the BLOOD OF JESUS that was poured out and smeared on our souls, and thereby...
1) protecting us from God’s wrath and 2) releasing us from the slavery of sin.
In fact, the apostle Paul later says it this way:
1 Corinthians 5:7b (NLT)
Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed for us.
If I could take you back to 1 day in all of history, it would be THAT DAY - the day Jesus was brutally killed - to pay for MY SIN and YOUR SIN. We would see that SIN is SERIOUS and GOD is GRACIOUS.
And those of us who have TRIED - like Pharaoh - to act like we’re in control - must recognize that...

BIG TRUTH: God is KING over Everyone & Everything

Tonight I want you to talk more with your counselors about how WHY Jesus died for you.