Exodus 8:1 - 11:10 The Plagues

We are in Exodus chapter 8 this morning, and we're actually going to go through chapter 11, so you'll want to order a pizza. I'll try to get any of you out of here by five o'clock this evening; it's going to be a long one. Alright, now we'll try and keep it short, but what we are going to do is work through the plagues that God sends upon the people of Egypt to convince Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go. Just to backtrack with you, this story isn't really about Moses, it's not really about the Israelites, and it's not really about the Egyptians; it's about God revealing himself to men and it's about God dealing with the condition of men's hearts.

If you remember the story, Moses grew up in Pharaoh's household. At age 40, he realized that his people, the Israelites, were under persecution and bondage, and he wanted to do something about it. So, he thought, having grown up in Pharaoh's household, he was the perfect guy to do that. Unfortunately, it didn't work out well, and so for the next 40 years, he is wandering, waiting for whatever the next assignment might be. That comes to him through a burning bush. God tells him, "Moses, you're my guy. I'm sending you to Pharaoh. I want my people to be free, and you're my person." Moses begins to tell him all the reasons why he's not the person. "I'm 80 years old, I don't speak well," amongst a whole lot of other things, and God says, "You are my person. I'm equipping you, I'm sending Aaron, your brother, with you. I'm going to set my people free, and you're the person I've chosen."

And so, we went through last week the fact that Moses and Aaron had gone to Pharaoh initially, and Pharaoh basically threw them out, questioning, "Well, who is this God who sent you?" Last week, he asked the question, "Well, if that's the God that sent you, prove it." So the proof was, Aaron threw down his staff and it became a serpent. And Pharaoh said, "Well, I got magicians. I think they can do the same thing." So he brings the magicians in, the magicians throw down their staffs, and they all become serpents, but then Aaron's staff swallows the other staffs, or the other serpents. So, what we start to see is a pattern that the magicians are able to replicate some of the things that God is doing through Moses and Aaron, but they can't overcome what God is doing through Moses and Aaron, and you'll see more of that pattern.

The final thing that we ended on was the first plague, where Pharaoh is told, "You need to let my people go, and if you don't, I'm gonna turn the Nile to blood," and that's exactly what happens. He turns the Nile to blood, and any open pools of water become blood as well. Well, Pharaoh goes, "You know what? I think my magicians can do the same thing." So they dig for water, they find fresh water, they turn it to blood, but here's the problem: they can replicate, but they can't reverse. So for seven days, the Nile stays blood, and everything in it dies, just to get Pharaoh's attention.

Now, what we need to understand is God will even use a hard-hearted man to bring glory to his name. He will use a hard-hearted man to reveal himself to others who are more open, and we're gonna see that happen with Pharaoh. So, beginning in chapter 8, verse 1, then the Lord said to Moses, "Go into Pharaoh and say to him, 'Thus says the Lord, let my people go, that they may serve me.'" And I want you to just walk into that, that is the instruction. "Pharaoh, let my people go, that they may serve me," that's what's being asked of him.

Verse 2, "But if you refuse to let them go, behold, I will plague all your country with frogs." Now we need to understand something really important with this plague. The Egyptian culture is what we call polytheistic, meaning they serve lots of gods, and their gods were represented generally by things from the natural world. One of their gods was a frog, and there was a rule: you don't kill frogs because that's a representation of your deity. And so, this plague is really fascinating because what God is going to torment them with is their own god. Don't lose sight of that.

"Thus says the Lord, let my people go, that they may serve me, but if you refuse to let them go, behold, I will plague your country with frogs. The Nile shall swarm with frogs. They'll come into your house, into your bedroom, they'll be on your bed, into the houses of your servants and your people, and into your ovens and your kneading bowls. The frogs shall come upon you and your people, and on all your servants. Frogs everywhere! Can you imagine? Come on, hard day from work, you're ready to crawl into bed... frogs! Pop open the microwave... frogs! Open the pantry... frogs! Open the oven... frogs! Everywhere you go... frogs, frogs are everywhere! And because they're your god, you can't kill them, so they just torment you."