Crime scene investigation shows must be popular. There’s CSI: Miami, CSI: Las Vegas, CSI: NY (New York). I think viewers are intrigued with the idea that, if handled and analyzed correctly, even a single drop of blood is enough to expose a criminal and solve a case. This morning I want you to join me for an episode of CSI: Egypt. I actually want you to assume the role of a crime scene investigator and come with me to ancient Egypt to a time when the Nile bled. There is no question about who was responsible for bloodying the Nile River – God was. But why? And so what? Those are two questions worth answering if we want to better understand the one true God and his relationship to sinners like us.
This bizarre but true case takes places about 3,500 years ago during the time of Moses. God had called this former shepherd to lead the two million or so Israelites out of slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land in Canaan. The Pharaoh of Egypt of that time, however, had no intention of letting his slaves go. And so when Moses, together with his brother Aaron, demanded their release, Pharaoh responded by making life more difficult for the Israelite slaves.
When God told the brothers to go back and confront Pharaoh again, they did. They would make numerous such trips to Pharaoh. In that way Moses and Aaron serve as good witnessing models for us. They were persistent and bold. They didn’t soft-pedal the message saying, “We see that you’re quite spiritual, Pharaoh. The number of gods you worship is impressive. We just wish you would pay a bit more attention to the God of Israel.” No. Moses and Aaron were convinced: there is only one true God – the God of the Bible. Pharaoh needed to hear and believe that if he too wanted to be saved. Are we as persistent and bold in our witnessing? I know I’m often not. So let’s discover the secret to Moses’ and Aaron’s courage.
One reason they were so bold is that Moses and Aaron were convinced of God’s superiority. When God had told Aaron to throw his staff down in front of Pharaoh the next time they met and promised that it would turn into a snake, Aaron believed and obeyed. Not to be outdone, however, the Egyptian court magicians copied the miracle. They too threw down their staffs and one by one they became living snakes. Only Aaron’s snake proceeded to swallow the other snakes. Clearly, Moses’ and Aaron’s God was stronger than anything the Egyptian magicians worshipped.
Pharaoh was still unimpressed and tossed Moses and Aaron out of his palace. But God was just getting warmed up. He was going to perform other miraculous signs and wonders so that every Egyptian would know that he, the God of the Israelites, was the only true God (Exodus 9:14). God then began targeting Egyptian objects of worship starting with the Nile River. The ancient Egyptians were so dependent on the Nile that they had even composed hymns of praise to the world’s longest river. The poor Nile, however, was about to be assaulted with a deadly weapon.
God told Moses and Aaron to confront Pharaoh when he was out for his morning walk along the river. They were to take with them the staff which had turned into a snake and with it strike the Nile. God promised that this would cause the river water to turn into blood. When Pharaoh saw Moses and Aaron approaching with the special staff, he should have been nervous – the way storm troopers would be tense if they saw Luke Skywalker coming their way with light saber in hand. Pharaoh’s fear would have been justified, for when Aaron struck the Nile with his staff and then waved it over the land, the river turned to blood as did the streams and ponds connected to the Nile. There was even blood in the containers that held water from the Nile River! Fish died and the river wreaked. With one flick of the wrist God had bludgeoned to death one of the Egyptian gods proving how superior he was.
Do you suppose Pharaoh’s jaw dropped at the spectacle? I doubt it. He probably just smirked before snapping his fingers for his magicians who proceeded to turn water into blood just as Moses and Aaron had done. It must have been with Satan’s help that they were able to do this. But if these magicians were so great, and if Pharaoh really cared about his people, why didn’t he instead command the magicians to turn the blood back into water? As it was, for the next seven days the Egyptians were forced to dig new wells to find water they could drink.
And what did Pharaoh himself do during that time? Listen to our text: “…he turned and went into his palace, and did not take even this [miracle] to heart” (Exodus 7:23a). Pharaoh went home and acted as if nothing had happened. He didn’t bother pondering what it meant for him and his people that God had turned the Nile into blood. What would you think if that’s the way Prime Minister Harper reacted to an oil spill along the coast of British Columbia? You’d say that he was out of touch to say the least.
Pharaoh’s reaction was mind-boggling but so had been God’s actions. Consider how God should have directed Aaron to strike Pharaoh with the staff thus pouring out the lifeblood of that stubborn and arrogant tyrant. Instead God directed his power against the Nile River. God would do something similar 1,500 years later and we still benefit from that action today. Instead of striking sinners with his just wrath, God directed that blow against his own Son when he hung on the cross. Ponder these words about Jesus from the book of Isaiah: “Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:4, 5).
Here’s the crux of the sermon, brothers and sisters. Are you listening? Do you still marvel at that miracle of love and grace? Do you still stand in amazement that God’s incredible power hasn’t come crashing down on you like a staff wielded by a grim and determined Aaron? Or do you hear that message about Jesus’ love and forgiveness and walk away unimpressed, mimicking Pharaoh when he nonchalantly left behind the bloody Nile?
Perhaps we think we would be more impressed if we could actually see a miracle like the one Pharaoh witnessed. Well in just a few minutes many of you will participate in a miracle that is even more spectacular than what happened in ancient Egypt. While God turned water into blood there, he’ll turn wine into a sin-cleanser here. How will he do this? Together with the wine of Holy Communion, you’ll be receiving the blood of Jesus – not blood which kills as it did in the Nile, but blood that brings life eternal because it neutralizes all sin – even our sins of taking God’s grace for granted.
The Lord’s Supper is a miracle unmatched in its power and grace and yet how often don’t we walk away from this sacrament unimpressed and unmoved? Are we really as hardhearted as Pharaoh? By nature we are. But that’s why in his love God brought us here this morning. He wanted to remind us again how dangerous sin is so that we don’t shrug off our jealousy, our untruthfulness, or our whining as if it’s nothing more than a bad habit - like forgetting to brush your teeth before bed. If we think that about sin, then eventually God’s loving calls of repentance will be replaced with his judgment as surely as consistently unbrushed teeth will one day rot and fall out!
But God has done more than warn us this morning. Like a mechanic who doesn’t just tell you that your engine is about to quit, but takes it apart to clean away all the gunk that has built up so that it runs well again, so our God has picked us apart with his law but has also scrubbed us clean with the good news of Jesus’ purifying blood so that we may run well again the race to heaven.
At the beginning of the sermon I invited you to come with to ancient Egypt as crime scene investigators to figure out why the Nile River bled. Are you able to put into words why God did it? Two words should suffice: power and grace. At the same time God was demonstrating his power over the Egyptian gods by turning the Nile into blood he was showing grace to Pharaoh by giving him time to repent. Pharaoh rejected the obvious message but we dare not. Think about that when you come forward to participate in Holy Communion. The blood we drink here is the blood that flowed from the veins of the life-giving Jesus. We are saved. We are freed. We dare not walk away from this transformational miracle unmoved and unimpressed. And we will not. By God’s grace we will walk away empowered to serve as bold witnesses for the one true God, just like Moses and Aaron did. Amen.
SERMON NOTES
In what way do Moses and Aaron serve as good examples for us when it comes to witnessing?
How had the Lord shown Pharaoh that he was a God to be reckoned with? (Give two answers.)
How had Satan tried to combat God’s claim to superiority? What warning does that give us when tempted to “fool around” with the occult and black magic?
Explain: By turning the Nile to blood, God demonstrated his power and his grace.
With one flick of the wrist God showed his superiority over the Nile River, which the Egyptians worshipped. What was Pharaoh’s surprising action? How are we often guilty of the same reaction?
(The following point was not addressed in the sermon.) What similarities do you see between the changing of water to blood (the Old Testament lesson) and the changing of the water into wine (New Testament)? What differences?
