Exodus 7:8 to 8:19 Who will be God?

Exodus 7:8 to 8:19

In the book The Lord of the Rings there is a character called Denethor, the Steward of Gondor. The steward and his family have been given authority to rule in place of the King, until the King returns. After many generations, with the Steward’s family on the throne, they suddenly receive word that the King’s son is returning to Gondor.

And what is the Steward’s response to the news. “I have seen more than you know. With your left hand you would use me as a shield, and with your right you would seek to replace me. I know who rides to this city. Word has reached my ears of this “king” and I tell you now, I will not bow to this Ranger from the North, last of a ragged house long bereft of lordship!

The rule of Gondor is mine! And no other's!”

That’s Pharaoh’s attitude, isn’t it? He is challenged with God’s authority over his life and he says “No. The rule of Egypt is mine, and no other’s.”

But Pharaoh’s not the only one, is he? Every single one of us reacts like these men when God intrudes into our little world. I am the king of my life. How dare you come and claim authority over me. “The rule of my life is mine, and no other’s.”

And so we ignore him – pretend he isn’t there. Shut our eyes to the evidence. Or we build little idols – I’ll worship that, instead. So many religions. So many ways to turn our back on the real God.

We even make up new versions of Jesus, and worship him instead. There is a reason so few “Christians” read their Bible… they (we?) don’t want to be reminded of the REAL God – he messes up our fake one! All ways that we rebel against God: we turn our back on him, we try to manipulate him, we do everything we can to avoid saying “You are God, You are the rightful king over my life. I will obey you.”

That’s our problem – and that was Pharaoh’s problem. So let’s turn to the passage and see what happens when you refuse to bow to the returning King.

1. Who’s the real God in Egypt?

This passage is like a battle between two warriors. Like two boxers, shaping up for a fight, trading blows. And here they come, the boxers, ready to enter the ring, and fight for the rule of Egypt…

In the red corner, the current champion, wearing the red, black and white (colours of Egypt’s flag), representing Egypt, and the human race: Pharaoooooh! His word is law, his cruelty is well know, his power immense.

In the blue corner, the challenger, wearing a white robe dipped in blood, his name written upon his thigh, many crowns upon his head, and a sharp sword coming from his mouth. Are his words powerful? We shall see. He claims to be the Master of the Universe. Let’s find out…

Let’s get ready to ruuuumble!

The fight starts in v10 Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a serpent!

Power!

But Pharaoh has his guard up, and he sends in his magicians to do the same. “Huh, you think you’re powerful – I have the same power”. It’s like two fighters testing their strength. At least that’s what Pharaoh thinks. 11 Then Pharaoh called in his own wise men and sorcerers, and these Egyptian magicians did the same thing with their magic. 12 They threw down their staffs, which also became serpents!

What he doesn’t notice is what happens next. But then Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. Or maybe he did notice, and he chose to ignore it. 13 Pharaoh’s heart, however, remained hard. He still refused to listen, just as the Lord had predicted.

I just want to make a little note here, where I think the NLT has chosen a weak word “predicted”. I’m not sure why they used it, since the Hebrew simply says “said” “just as the Lord had said”. It has an overtone of control, kingship, which I think is missing from “predicted”.

You see, Pharaoh is way out of his depth in this fight. It’s like me going up against Sylvester Stallone. Oh we might go a few rounds if he chose to, but the moment he decided the fight should end… this fight is that kind of mismatch.
Pharaoh, however, has deluded himself into thinking this is an equal fight. In fact, he thinks he is stronger. After all, look at the power he has over the Israelites, look how he’s been treating them. And this God, Yahweh (LORD), claims to be their god. The God of slaves. Look there in v16 The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to tell you, “Let my people go,”

Seriously – whose gods are more powerful? The God of the slaves? Or the gods of the masters?

For Pharaoh refuses to notice Aaron’s serpent eating up the other serpents. He simply ignores the Nile turning to blood, as his magicians could do the same thing. Look at v23 Pharaoh returned to his palace and put the whole thing out of his mind.

His people, however, are suffering. V24 24 Then all the Egyptians dug along the riverbank to find drinking water, for they couldn’t drink the water from the Nile. 25 Seven days passed from the time the Lord struck the Nile.

Seven days. Seven days – and Pharaoh does nothing. Just pretends life is normal. He’s outmatched. Outclassed. But he’s not going to admit it. It’s like the challengers first stunning blow, which rocks the title-holder and he realises this fight is much, much harder than he first thought, and that he might just lose this. But he shakes it off, and tries to forget it. Puts it out of his mind. I am the champion. I am the king of Egypt. I am a god.

After seven days of blood, the Lord speaks. The sword of the Lord flashes out of his mouth: 8:1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go back to Pharaoh and announce to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so they can worship me. 2 If you refuse to let them go, I will send a plague of frogs across your entire land. 3 The Nile River will swarm with frogs. They will come up out of the river and into your palace, even into your bedroom and onto your bed! They will enter the houses of your officials and your people. They will even jump into your ovens and your kneading bowls. 4 Frogs will jump on you, your people, and all your officials.’ ”

The next blow lands: Frogs! Frogs everywhere! But Pharaoh hits back – boom! The frogs are no more, but they’re crawling over Moses and Aaron – in their hair, in their beards, in their clothes – no. That’s not what happens, is it? Pharaoh’s defence is again “well, we can do the same thing” .

How did the magicians do it? The text doesn’t say, and therefore it’s not really important, is it. Black magic, demonic power, illusion, whatever. They certainly seemed to have some power – but they were outmatched – and, they couldn’t make the situation better, only worse. With snakes, they made more snakes. With blood, more blood. With frogs, more frogs. Satan’s power is a poor imitation of a small amount of God’s power. The world may promise solutions but they’re kind of like more frogs. What we need is someone to deal with the problem once and for all. And the problem is sin. Sin is why our marriages fall apart. Why our children are neglected. Why we lock our doors at night. Why we need to have money to motivate us to go to work – no-one works for the good of our fellow man. Sin is why we have police and prisons and child welfare. Sin is why we hurt each other so deeply, and are hurt by those who should love us.

And there is no solution to the problem of sin. Except God. He sent his son to deal once and for all with the problem of sin- and that’s where this series of plagues is heading. It is all leading up to plague number 10: the death of the firstborn, and the Passover rescue – and that points forward to the death of the firstborn of the Universe, the very Son of God, as he becomes our Passover rescue.
And all this is to show us what we are like. To show Pharaoh and us our need for a saviour. Because we don’t believe it. We cling to our lies and harden our hearts. Frogs are everywhere, but we won’t give in.

I’m sure you’ve seen that attitude in your friends, family, husbands, wives, parents – particularly when the gospel starts to hit home. They go into “battle mode” the defences come up, and they may even lash out. You may have experienced extremely hurtful reactions, maybe even been cut off from your family for confronting them with the truth of the Lordship of Christ.

Remember, their reaction is not against you – but against Christ. They feel the Truth of his Lordship, they hear his voice of command – and they want to run away, to fight, to shut it up. That is the heart of man. We want to be God, and we cannot bear it when the real God shows up and embarrasses us! So have compassion on them. Remember the insults and abuse Christ experienced here on earth and remember that He is right there with you. And remember how you reacted when Christ first called you. Remember that sting of pride as your realised you couldn’t save yourself, but had to bow the knee to the Almighty. For some of us that sting was bigger than others.

And remember that we still struggle with it. For as we read on through the Bible (and as we have read), Pharaoh is not the only one who struggles with God, and it’s not so much the “enemies” of God who struggle – but the people of God. We struggle with God. Our sin rears up time and time again – and we try to justify it. How often are we like Pharaoh – and we know the Lord.
How often do we cling to our pride? How often do we consider ourselves equal to God – even when our life is crumbling around us. How often do we justify our sin, even when our sin is ruining our life! The rule of my life is MINE, and no other.

Oh Lord, save us from ourselves! Humble us, Lord, in your mercy! Open our eyes to our rebellion and save us!

Who is the real God in Egypt? Not Pharaoh, but the Lord, Yahweh.

Who is the real God in Norway, in your life, in my life? Not me, not you, but the Lord, Jesus, the Christ.

Even Pharaoh begins to realise he is outmatched – that God is more powerful. So he does what most of us then do in that situation: we try to manipulate God to do what we want. He might be more powerful, but maybe we can turn that to our advantage….?

2. Manipulating God

Because Pharaoh seems to give in, doesn’t he? Look at v8 Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and begged, “Plead with the Lord to take the frogs away from me and my people. I will let your people go, so they can offer sacrifices to the Lord.”

Hallelujah, haaalelujah!

But he was still on the throne. 15 But when Pharaoh saw that relief had come, he became stubborn. He refused to listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said.

He wasn’t interested in obeying the Lord, but only interested in serving the Lord as long as he got what he wanted.

But no. It was just a manipulative ploy. Another favourite trick of ours. When we realise that God is more powerful we start to wheel and deal with him. You give me this, I give you that. We manipulate God. And we certainly do it as Christians. I’ll pray the prayer of Jabez for 40 days and God will surely bless me. I’ll go to Bethel to get the blessing. I’ll do this or that or say this prayer in this way Jeeeee-susss, or light this candle or pray to a saint , or Jesus’ mother – because surely he’ll listen to her, and we try being very, very good – but in our heart of hearts we are trying to get God to serve US. We put on a nice front. But that’s all it is. And there are many sitting in churches, who are seated on the throne, “manipulating” God. You may have met them, you may even have been one of them (I was). Maybe you still are. Norwegian has a great word to describe us when we’re like that: “skinnhellig” – skin deep holy – but under …. Squeeze them and you see what comes out, and it’s not Christ. I was a good Christian boy – and lived utterly selfishly. Pharaoh listened to God “I will let your people go”

Is it a good idea to resist the Lord? It will only end one way: badly. 16 So the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Raise your staff and strike the ground. The dust will turn into swarms of gnats throughout the land of Egypt.’ ”

And this time, Pharaoah’s defence fails: the magicians cannot do the same trick. God’s power is beyond them, and they exclaim v19“This is the finger of God!”

They realise they are outmatched. But Pharaoh – he refuses to listen to reason, and Pharaoh’s heart remained hard. He wouldn’t listen to them, just as the Lord had said.

The Egyptians have seen the power of God. Their water turned to blood, covered with frogs, and now swarms of gnats. The magicians are outmatched and realise that this is real power. The Lord, Yahweh, he is the real God. But Pharoah – he will not bow the knee. Such a small thing. And yet the hardest thing in the world.

It is such a small thing to acknowledge that God is God and that you are not. So easy. Yet so hard. Because that is sin: pretending that you are God, that “I am God”. And we all do it. It is our default. We think only of ourselves and our own glory. Let us instead repent – cry out to God that we need him, because he is merciful. Let us stop trying to manipulate God, and siply accept the glorious salvation offered to us – for free. We don’t need to manipulate – we can just accept!

3. The God of the poor and downtrodden

Because this passage is about the fight between God and Pharaoh, but it also reveals to us the character of God. Our God is a God is is not ashamed to be associated with the weak and downtrodden. Look at 7:16 The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to tell you, “Let my people go”. Think about that, as a Hebrew, locked in slavery, without hope – that God says “My people, the Hebrews”. He is… with us?

God is with us. He showed that supremely 1500 years later when he identified completely with us, being born a human being, poor, unexalted, downtrodden. He lived among us as one of us: he is our God, and we his people. And, living among us as Jesus of Nazareth he showed us his power, the same power present in the Exodus: power over evil spirits (he cast them out with a word), power over creation (calming the storm, walking on water), power to heal, power even over death.

And just like in the Exodus, that power is used to rescue. We are slaves to our sin, so he broke the power of sin over us by dying in our place. We might be like Pharaoh – the rule is MINE – but Jesus broke the power of sin over us as he broke his body for us on the cross. His blood was shed and covered over our sin and rebellion – and we are set free, set free from our rebellious and hard hearts and we can follow our King, the true King, the true God, and learn to love him and obey him all of our lives.

A repeated phrase in Exodus is 7:17 “I will show you that I am the LORD”, 8:10 “Then you will know there is no-one like the LORD our God”, 8:22 “Then you will know I am the LORD”. The Exodus judgement and rescue reveals our God to us. He is utterly powerful, utterly in control. Pharaoh can no more stand against him than a feather stand against a hurricane. And yet he is the God who rescues the humble, the broken, the downtrodden. All who call upon the name of the LORD will be saved.

Who is the real God? Not me, but God.
Can I manipulate God? You can try. But it will end badly, like it did for Pharaoh. A hopeless end.
What can I do? Turn to the God of the poor and downtrodden, a God who became one of us in order to rescue us, and accept the salvation he offers. An endless hope.