PLagues 5 & 6

If you recall last week, we saw for the first time, God separating His people from the Egyptians. God sends a plague and in that plague the pests do not affect his people in any way. The plague in question was the 4th plague which was the plague of swarms. We covered how these swarms would have had a diverse range of pests which would affect the people, the animals, their crops, and their building structures. But these swarms would not effects the Jews. God was singling them out from Egypt. We see that yet again today, and along with the usual showdown between the God of Israel and god’s of Egypt, we see an incredible sense of irony today. This is a question we asked ourselves from the beginning of this series is why? Why would God send this plague? Why choose to do this? Much of what we have found is the clear idolatry in the nation of Egypt which no doubt infected the Jews. So in one sense we have the God of Israel judging idolatry and the gods of that idolatry, but we also see God in active relentless pursuit of the heart of His people. These plagues do not just show God’s righteous judgement but it also shows His love and Mercy. How can that be? These plagues, especially the one’s we are covering today cause serious economic impact on a culture, physical pain and anguish, where on earth is there love? To that I ask, how far are you willing to go to save your child? How far are you willing to go to save the person you love? There is a process that God is going through, which all leads to His people being rescued. If we think for a second that God’s people cannot and will not be affected or infected by the culture around them you are gravely mistaken. Liberal theology is more prevalent today in America than ever before. We have what used to be strong Bible institutions who now hold chapel services so the students can repent to plants. We have had identity politics flood into the church. Now there are churches who view their congregation, first by the color of their skin, and the color you must repent of is being white. Before the church will ever be able to return to Christ, we must first caste out this idolatry. That is what God is doing in these plagues. His people have become accepting of these false god’s and even worship them alongside YAHWEH. First their idolatry must be purged. They must see that these idols do not save and they have no part in their rescue from slavery. This become a problem during their time in the wilderness. For example Exodus 20:2 “2 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” God, even in their time in the wilderness reminds them, remember this, because we are going to be circling back to it later“I saved you! I rescued you! Not them, I did.” It is in this pursuit and rescue of God’s people that we see the love and mercy of God. Like a groom for His bride he pursues her and loves her. These plagues are not just a judgement, they are also God’s pursuit to save his people, and by the way this would include any Egyptian who would come to YAHWEH as well.

Exodus 9:1–7 (ESV) 1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. 2 For if you refuse to let them go and still hold them, 3 behold, the hand of the Lord will fall with a very severe plague upon your livestock that are in the field, the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the herds, and the flocks. 4 But the Lord will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, so that nothing of all that belongs to the people of Israel shall die.” ’ ” 5 And the Lord set a time, saying, “Tomorrow the Lord will do this thing in the land.” 6 And the next day the Lord did this thing. All the livestock of the Egyptians died, but not one of the livestock of the people of Israel died. 7 And Pharaoh sent, and behold, not one of the livestock of Israel was dead. But the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go.

Yet again we see that the livestock of the Jews would not be affected. They would be protected from the devastation of the plague. It is obvious why God is doing this, He is showing that His people are protected by Him even though they are captives in Egypt. he is showing that He is the one true God and these idols that Egypt keep bowing to have not rescued them from anything YAHWEH has sent their way. Yes, even tragedy can be a means of drawing people to Himself. Yet again we see this can all be avoided if Pharoah would let the Jews Go. We see yet again why, But the heart of Pharaoh was hardened. This plague has hit harder the country of Egypt more than any other plague so far. All have been devastating, but this one was not only devastating it was unavoidably evident. Countless livestock were dead in Egypt while, not a single heifer died in Goshen, where the Jews lived.

In addition to all of this we have the so-called deities of Egypt either not doing anything or they are no god’s at all. Cattle in Egypt were not just highly valued, they were also considered sacred. The Egyptians worshipped many animals, and among them were bulls and heifers. The creation god Ptah was represented by a living bull known as the Apis bull. The Apis bull was very sacred, and when it died the Egyptians mourned as though they had lost a pharaoh. After death, the Apis bull was embalmed and placed in a tomb like a pharaoh.

What makes me wonder is, is this plague a stand alone incident or did the previous plagues bring about this plague. Were the pestilences which came with the third and fourth plague causing now the animals to die? We do not know the duration of the 10 plagues, We do not know how these events played out. We don’t know if the Plagues took a few months, a year, what? Did these plagues link together? Did the flies bring with them disease which affected the livestock? Could be, but I believe it is as the text tells us, due to Pharaohs hardness of heart, the country of Egypt is be subjected to the judgement of God. Nowhere in the text do we see any restrictions for an Egyptian to convert to Judaism. That door is not closed, but for a moment lets understand what they would be doing, they would be leaving their countrymen, and they would be wilfully entering into slavery alongside the Jews. At least that’s what it would seem on the outside looking in. The same is true when we come to Christ. The world looks in and see’s that we are abandoning our countrymen to follow this deity. They see the language of Scripture from Mary to Paul who would describe themselves as the Lord’s bond-servant or slave and they think we are losing something. From their perspective they think we are entering into restriction and enslavement. 1 Corinthians 7:20-24 “20 Each man must remain in that condition in which he was called. 21 Were you called while a slave? Do not worry about it; but if you are able also to become free, rather do that. 22 For he who was called in the Lord while a slave, is the Lord’s freedman; likewise he who was called while free, is Christ’s slave. 23 You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men. 24 Brethren, each one is to remain with God in that condition in which he was called.” It is verse 23 which makes this clear for us, “do not become slaves of men.” The world thinks that is we were to leave them and be followers of Christ we would be slaves, when it is really them who are slaves. They may not walk around with chains on their hands and feet but look at their minds! Their thinking Ephesians 4:17-19 “17 So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; 19 and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.” Paul also writes to the church in Rome, Romans 1:21-23 “21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.” I may not be a smart man, but I know there are not 700 genders. You want to see the futility of mind, look no further than tiktok. You want to see the slavery of thought, look no further than Instagram. To go from that to Christ is not entering into slavery it is getting your freedom! That is what God is not only wanting His people to see but even the Egyptians. Turn from your gods who cannot save and come to the one who can.

Exodus 9:8-11 “8 Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Take for yourselves handfuls of soot from a kiln, and let Moses throw it toward the sky in the sight of Pharaoh. 9 “It will become fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and will become boils breaking out with sores on man and beast through all the land of Egypt.” 10 So they took soot from a kiln, and stood before Pharaoh; and Moses threw it toward the sky, and it became boils breaking out with sores on man and beast. 11 The magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils were on the magicians as well as on all the Egyptians.”

The best translation of the text is that Aaron and Moses would take handfuls of soot from the “Brick kilns.” These kilns would be common place for the Jews who were laboring and making bricks for structures. There is an irony found in this plague and why God brought it to pass. Why throw ashes from the kiln? One might deduce that, as a result of the Jewish labor in working with the kiln, their skin would have been burned. Perhaps, like we saw with the first plague and the thousands of Jewish babies who were thrown into the Nile to die corresponding with the Nile turning to blood, we may also see a the kiln which brought sores upon the skin of God’s people, now the soot from this kiln would signify the time where Egypts skin will be covered with sours. I am not saying this is the case but there are some parallels. Perhaps a part of it but not the entire meaning or purpose behind it.

The Egyptians worshipped several healing deities, Moses took the soot and threw it into the air. It was scattered by the wind and fell on the priests, people and the animals that were left. The Hebrew word for boils also would include the skins reaction to a burn. That would also be classified as a boil. This plague would have been an affront to a number of Egyptian gods of healing. One, earlier mentioned, was Imhotep, god of medicine. Another was Thoth, the ibis-headed god of intelligence and medical learning. Another was Nefertem, god of healing. The point that needs to be made here is verse 11, “The magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils were on the magicians as well as on all the Egyptians.” What does this mean, could not stand? Is it due to their ailment their mobility was also taken form them due to the pain? I don’t know, what we do know for sure is, yet again they could not duplicate this but even more they could not take it away. They could not stand, they had no counter to YAHWEH through Moses.

But notice something, this is also the same place where either transformation or total destruction happens. When there is no way out. When there is no place for us to run or hide. Can you remember, when you came to Christ? No we may not have been covered with boils, but there is no doubt we realized, “I cannot stand before God clean.” Our skin might have been baby soft, exfoliated by dove body wash, but we knew that our soul was covered with guilt, shame, sin, brokenness. Remember when you realized, as Isaiah said in Isaiah 64:6 that even my good works are filthy rags. Remember when you realized there is no way you can justify yourself before a Holy God? Two paths set before you, the same paths set before the Egyptians, transformation or destruction. At face value it might seem like an easy choice, but can any Christian testify the best choice you made was not the easiest one? Destruction is the easy path. With destruction I don’t have to make any changes. I can keep going the way I am going, and that is comfortable. With destruction I don’t have to face my past, my trauma, my hurt, my brokenness. That’s easy. Transformation, now the result far outweighs destruction, no question a out it. But the journey is not easy. In order for us to be transformed by Christ into being more like Christ, it means, facing your demons. It means facing your trauma head on. It means forgiving the person who abused you. It means digging up those skeletons you buried. It means addressing those character flaws you can keep just out of view of the people who don’t know you well enough. Can we just be honest here? That’s a tough journey. Its not easy to look in the mirror every single day and know that there are still pieces of you that need to die because those pieces of you which are narcissistic, selfish, prideful, arrogant and so are are killing your marriage. That they are destroying your family. That they are leaving every relationship you have in ruins. That’s not easy. I’ve been there. I put my wife through hell! Its not easy to look in the mirror and know more of you needs to die, but there is such great joy to look in that mirror and see more of Jesus shinning through. To see that God the Holy Spirit is making you more patient. He is making your more Gracious. He is giving you more peace. Do not be fooled, the path of transformation in Christ is not easy but MAN IS IT WORTH IT! We need to be reminded of this.

That is what I want to focus on as we close and enter our time of invitation:

This is something God does time and time again in Scripture. God reminds His people of what He had done. When God’s rescues His people from Egypt and they are in the wilderness He reminds them, “I saved you! Remember when I rescued you?” God still does this for His people. In the wilderness God points back to the Exodus and says, “Remember what I did to save you! I saved you!” Today God is reminding those who are in Christ, “Remember the cross!? Remember what I did to save you!” It was not your works. It was not your pedigree. There was nothing you and I did to merit God becoming flesh and dying our sinners death. Nothing. It was never about what you or I could accomplish or live up to. Do you get that? He saved us, not because we earned it. He saved, not because we deserved it. He saved us because He is mercy, He is love, He is Grace. The very character traits that He grows in us as He transforms us, those traits, are Him. We try to show mercy, we try and give people grace, we try and love people but the cross of Jesus Christ tells us that He bleeds mercy, He bleeds grace, and He bleeds righteousness. It is who He is. God did not save you because He saw you as an investment. He did not save you that He might gain a return on that investment. No, you were it! He died for you, that He would have you, that was it! That’s was the end game! And He will be praised and we will worship Him for all eternity for that gift. He has shown His Glory in the cross, and some of you needed to be reminded again, “Remember what He did! Remember when He bought you out of slavery with His own blood.” He did not die for you then to abandon you now. Let’s face it folks. If God died for us to have a return on His investment, we are a bad investment. Do you know what we are? We are His Glory. For God to not only save a rebellious people like us, and then take those people and begin to work in them making them more into the image of His Son, gives Him Glory. It testifies of His mercy! That gives Him Glory and we are a part of that.