Last week we noted the 3 entities in our lives: God, people, the devil and his demons.
God is Yahweh, Almighty, Creator, Omniscient, Omnipresent, Holy, but Loving!
People are created by God with free wills to choose and all sin against God.
The Devil and his demons are enemies of God and for divine purpose are allowed to influence people and this world.
What is God’s purpose for all of this? God created everything but because He loves people, God desires for all people to return to Him with free will. This is clear in 1 Timothy 2:1-4…. which basically states “…. petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people….. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”
Let us keep in mind God’s desire for salvation as we continue to learn from Exodus; even in Exodus we note God’s intent to reveal His desire. How are we responding to God who allows certain things in our lives but desires us to be with Him forever and ever?
Please open your Bibles to Exodus 5 to begin with…. Look at v1-2…
And so, we note that God’s Chosen People the Israelites were in bondage in Egypt.
Now look at Exodus 6:6-8……. We can note 3 important things about our God in 3 verses!
God is Almighty! God is love (called a people to live a life to the fullest with Him)! God is the Lord (Yahweh – there is none like Him)!
And in Exodus 7:3-5…..
God loves by revealing Himself through Pharaoh, with miraculous signs and wonders, and with mighty acts of judgment!
And so, we noted in Exodus 7, God turning a staff into a snake in front of Pharaoh. But Pharaoh’s spiritual counselors also turned staffs into snakes, noting that the Egyptians depended on the evil spiritual world. In that scenario with the snakes, how do we know God rules over everything?? God’s snake swallowed up all the other snakes!
Also in Exodus 7, we note how God turned the River Nile into blood; but Pharaoh’s magicians also turned water into blood! Why would God allow this? First of all, there is a significance that Pharaoh’s wise men and sorcerers disappeared, only the magicians were left with their secret arts; but most importantly, look at Exodus 7:22-23….
God allowed the magicians to turn water into blood to continue Pharaoh’s hardening of heart, because God was not done revealing Himself yet!
And so we note in Exodus 8:3 – God brought frogs all over the place including on their food! We note in Exodus 8:8 that Pharaoh was starting to notice the power of God but when God took away the frogs, (in v15) Pharaoh again hardened his heart against God; and so, God continued His revelation…
In Exodus 8:16-17 God turned dust from the Egyptian ground into gnats! Read along with me now Exodus 8:18-32…..
v18: Pharaoh’s magician did not have the power to turn dust into gnats!
v19: Egyptian magicians confessed who God is but Pharaoh continued not to believe!
And so, God continued to reveal Himself…
v20-21: God sent swarms of flies all over Egypt and on people!
But what did God do different this time??
v22-23: God made a distinction between the Egyptians and His Chosen People! There were no flies on the Hebrews! God made Goshen was the very first “no fly” zone!!
Now look again at v25: What was Pharaoh trying to do??
Pharaoh was acknowledging God but he wanted it on his own terms!
Now, in v26-27: Moses stated that Pharaoh was wrong! Great, right? But God wants us to see the humanness of Moses in this passage. Moses feared for his life but also desired to obey God!
Now, what was wrong with Pharaoh’s statement in v28??
Pharaoh was letting the Israelites go but it was still all about him not God! “I will let you go… pray for ME!” We can also note v32….
And so, what Biblical Principles should we note from this passage?
1. God’s desire is to always bring people to salvation and knowledge of the truth even with sin, pain, and evil around us! And so, let us be encouraged, in spite of all the junk around us, God loves us but through His perfect way! What is God’s perfect way of salvation??
a. Personally believing in Jesus Christ, who is God who became a man, suffered and died, was buried but rose from the grave, and will return soon to earth to judge all, as the Only Savior and Lord is God’s perfect way of salvation! If you have never believed in Jesus Christ as your Only Savior and Lord, believe and receive Him now and make today your day of salvation!
b. God’s perfect way of giving us truth today is the Bible! How is our daily learning and positively responding to God’s desire for us?
2. Always note the power and knowledge of God! God has power over all elements and the spiritual world! I like what Janet Hansen noted to me last week; Only God can take dust and turn it into life! This is likely why the magicians could not turn dust into gnats. And how knowledgeable is God? God knows every person and where they are! God knows wherever we go and whatever we’re doing! If we keep this in mind, we will be more and more what God wants us to be!
And the last thing we need to note was how Moses could have given in to the compromising proposals of scheming Pharaoh. How much scheming and compromising proposals are out there today for Christians? And so….
3. Let us always remember 1 John 4:1 - Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. and know each piece of the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:11) and always put it on!
And as Jesus tells us, “Always be alert and pray!”
