Slavery and the Mocking of the Power of God- Ex. 7:1-13

The showdown has began. Like the two gunslingers in a western movie, Moses strolls up, Pharaoh stands calmly. The dust blows and the wind whistles. Everyone is tense.

But this is an incomplete mental picture. The battle is not primarily between Moses and Pharaoh. The battle is between an Almighty God and an impotent devil. I use the term battle in a strict fashion, meaning a combat between two. This does not imply that it is difficult on God’s behalf. Satan, indeed, fights with all of his might. God, according to Paul, “will consume [the devil] with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.” But I get ahead of myself.

Pharaoh, in Ex. 5:2, said, “Who is the LORD that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the LORD< nor will I let Israel go.” He then mocks God by oppressing His people in torment.

Israel, like us when we are faced with the oppressions of the devil, our flesh, and this world, responds in this fashion, “They did not heed Moses, because of anguish of spirit and cruel bondage.” (6:9) In other words, in slavery, when we see God mocked, we lose heart. We become discouraged, lifeless, hopeless.

Can we draw encouragement from such a passage? Indeed we can! We can draw a mountain of encouragement as we compare Scripture with Scripture.

What we see in this passage is that God uses the mocking of His power for His glory, and this mocking demonstrates the epic battle, and this is meant to develop God’s people.

I. God Uses the Mocking of His Power for His glory- 7:1-7

This point is perhaps one of the most difficult concepts to grasp. It is also one of the most encouraging concepts a believer can understand. Furthermore, I would argue, it is anchored in the very work of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary.

We note in the text itself several factors. Again God tells Moses that He will harden Pharaoh’s heart. He is helping Moses understand the situation in order for Moses to know who Yahweh is.

We also note that God’s power will be demonstrated by multiplying His signs and wonders and “by great judgements” through His divine intervention (7:3-5).

Finally, we make one more note. Moses is 80 years old and Aaron is 83. Compared to the current Pharaoh, who is probably in his 30s-40s (cf. 2:23). In other words, it is a David vs. Goliath account. Egypt is in a position of power, Pharaoh in the prime of his physical life. Israel is in bitter subjugation, weak and incapable of self-deliverance, and Moses and Aaron are well-seasoned.

This is the epitome of mocking God’s power. From a human standpoint, God is losing. His people are helpless, the enemy is winning, and there is no hope in sight of victory.

This is where we see this almost-unbelievable truth that God uses the mocking of His power for His glory. That is the purpose, God tells us in 7:3-4 and 9:16. In fact, I think it would benefit us to read Exodus 9:16 again. “But indeed for this 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.”

Our question is, How? How can God use the very opposition to Him to glorify Himself? It displays His providential power. His enemies, as Scripture portrays, are nothing more than pawns in a game of chess. Or, to put it in the form of another analogy, they are simply cardboard pieces to a puzzle displaying His glory.

Now, if you are like me, you may find yourself asking, “Why? Why let this battle go on? Why watch Israel suffer for 400 years? Why not just deliver His people?”

We could ask the same question of present day matters. Why doesn’t God wipe out all persecutors of His Church? Why doesn’t God remove from office those leaders who are violating their God-given responsibilities to protect citizens and punish evil doers?

Or, to put it on a personal level, “Why doesn’t God heal me from this disease? Why did God give me cancer? Why did God allow the love of my life to be taken away?”

This question and point is indeed deeply theological, but it is also painfully practical. Why? If you were to look for a single verse or passage of Scripture to answer this question, you would be disappointed. However, when we consider the Scriptures as a whole, I think we can get a least a grounding.

Before we see this in more detail, let me remind you that we are dealing with God and human beings. Isaiah’s words are particularly helpful, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts your thoughts.” (Isa. 55:8-9). There is a sense in which we cannot grasp this truth that God uses the mocking of His power to glorify Himself. But we do have some glimpses in Scripture.

One of the points we will observe momentarily is the epic battle between God and Satan that underscores all of human history and the biblical account. At each skirmish in Scripture Satan is defeated. Each skirmish displays God’s glory over Satan and reveals another facet of that glory to us. As John Piper remarks, “this…gives us a glimpse into God’s larger purpose for his timing in defeating Satan…We may infer that part of God’s purpose is to show more aspects of Christ’s glory by the manifold demonstrations of his superiority over Satan than would be shown if he had put Satan out of existence all at once, at some earlier point in redemptive history.” (278)

Another point in this book of Exodus, and one that reaches throughout all of Scripture, is that God uses suffering to glorify Himself. He often allows (and indeed raises us) mockers of His power and then uses the least-threatening means to destroy that opposition.

Consider Jesus Christ in Hebrews 2:14-15. “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”

God uses things that we cannot fathom to display His almighty power, including the ones who mock His power, to bring glory to His amazing name so that we may know Him.

Listen to Paul’s description of this in Colossians 2:13-15. “And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him [a beautiful picture of the Exodus], having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made an open show of them, triumphing over them in it.”

In other words, it was the mockers of God’s means of destroying the Son of God that became the means of their utter, embarrassing, one-sided defeat. This resulted in God being glorified (and will continue to be so throughout all eternity, cf. Rev. 21-22) and His people’s eternal good.

Piper beautifully phrases it like this,

“At every point, Christ proves superior, and at the most important moment in history, the beauty of Christ shines most brightly as the ugliest being is undone by the greatest act of beauty.”— John Piper, Providence

We will look at one more passage of Scripture. The enemy we fight against is Satan. Satan hates God’s people and tries to kill them and maim them and make them miserable.

We see such a case in 2 Cor. 12:7-10.

Paul has a potential problem: pride. Pride is one way in which we take the glory due God to ourselves. It is a deadly sin. God is sanctifying His people, setting them apart to reflect His precious Son and our Savior. Like a master woodworker, God chips away at those pieces in our lives that do not look like Jesus.

God’s woodworking shop, though, has a variety of tools, and some odd tools. In fact, from our perspective they are not tools. They are enemies. Notice what Paul says, “a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure.”

God uses a messenger of Satan (or, angel) to buffet Paul to keep Paul from being prideful. Now we must remember that Satan is like a roaring lion seeking to devour people. He is not willingly engaging in our process of transformation. God uses this mocker of His power to glorify His name by transforming His people.

Piper says this,

“It must infuriate Satan that God’s ways are so pure and brilliant that Satan not only fails to obstruct them but unwittingly serves them.”—John Piper, Providence

But there is more here than a limit on Paul’s pride. Paul then says, “‘He said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

Or, to put it in Exodus terms, “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD.”

God uses the mocking of His power for His glory. I realize that we have only covered the very first seven verses of this chapter, but I believe it is absolutely key for you to understand this passage. It will serve as a comfort to you when you are in the Egypts of life.

It will serve as a continual energy source to propel you on to serve the LORD in those battles.

II. The Mocking of God’s Power Demonstrates the Epic Battle- 7:8-13

III. The Mocking God’s Power Develops God’s People- 2 Thess. 2:1-17