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I. You shall have no other gods before me.
Many people read the story about the plagues that struck Egypt in amazement, and rightly so. What God did to Egypt due to his redemptive plan and the hardness of Pharos heart was amazing. Let’s take a look at the nature of God as we take a closer look at the Exodus from Egypt.
Malachi 3:6a
I the Lord do not change.
The idea of progressive revelation: We understand that God doesn’t change however I personally believe in looking at the Word of God over time we see God revealing different parts of his personality to man over time. For example, the “You have heard that it was said” scriptures relating to the Old Testament Law. (Matthew 5:21-43)
God is Love (1 John 4:8) and true love is intolerant of adultery or other lovers.
Deuteronomy 4:24
For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
Idol Worship is Demon Worship
1 Corinthians 10:18-22
18 Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? 19 Do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons. 22 Are we trying to arouse the Lord’s jealousy? Are we stronger than he?
1 Samuel 4:7-9
According to 1 Samuel, the Philistines also knew of the plagues and feared the God of the Hebrews.
The first three plagues seemed to affect "all the land of Egypt," while the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 9th did not affect the children of Israel.
We’re getting ready to see a repetitive series of events with subtle changes. Moses and Aaron declare, “Let my people Go!” and Pharaoh says, “no” but tries to negotiate terms giving up more power in each negotiation. The terms are unconditional surrender so the plagues continue to fall on the land.
We will also see subtle changes in the heart of Pharaoh. Between the plague of Boils and the plague of Hail we see a change which we will talk about later.
Because of a lot of mixing, absorbing, and overlapping roles of many Egyptian gods, there is often more than one god who could easily be mocked by one or more of God's plagues in Exodus.
1. Nile water into blood
a. Hapi: god of the Nile
2. Frogs
a. Heket, Hekhet, or Heqt: Egyptian goddess of Fertility, Water, Renewal; frog-headed
3. Gnats or Lice from dust
a. Geb: Egyptian god of the Earth; also
b. Khepri: Egyptian god of creation, movement of the Sun, rebirth; beetle-headed
c. Thoth: one time considered god of magic, failed along with magicians (or priests) to duplicate
conjuring of gnats or lice.
4. Flies (gadflies)
a. Khepri: Egyptian god of resurrection, creation, movement of the Sun, rebirth; beetle-headed
5. Cattle/livestock disease
a. Hathor: goddess of love and protection; possibly absorbed Bat, the cow-headed goddess.
b. bull cult gods Apis, Buchis, and Mneuis
c. bulls sometimes considered embodiment of Ptah and Ra
6. Boils
a. Isis: goddess of medicine and peace
b. Im-Hotep: real person turned deity, patron of wisdom and medicine
c. Sekhmet: lion-headed deity of plagues, believed to bring about or prevent epidemics or
pestilence
Give me one more night with the frogs - To prove that the plague was actually a divine punishment, Moses let Pharaoh choose the time that it would end. Pharaoh chose the following day, and all the frogs died the next day. Nevertheless, Pharaoh rescinded his permission, and the Israelites stayed in Egypt.
The Hebrew noun could be translated as lice, gnats, or fleas. God instructed Moses to tell Aaron to take the staff and strike at the dust, which turned into a mass of lice that the Egyptians could not get rid of.
The Egyptian sorcerers declared that this act was "the finger of God" since they were unable to reproduce its effects with their magic. The Egyptian sorcerers were afflicted along with everyone else, and were unable to heal themselves, much less the rest of Egypt.
Following this plague there is a subtle change in the situation with Pharaoh that I believe is noteworthy. Instead of the Bible declaring that Pharaoh hardened his heart it now begins to say that the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart. We can see this for ourselves in Exodus 9:12
The fulfillment of
Exodus 4:21
The Lord said to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.
These dynamics between pharaoh and God seem to be consistent with a person on their way to having a reprobate mind.
Reprobate / Depraved - marked by corruption; evil; perverted.
God giving them over to sinful desires, shameful lust and a depraved mind. (Romans 1:24-28) God gives way and allows a man to do his human will even if it’s to his own detriment. In the case of Pharaoh, he actually hardens Pharaoh’s heart but only after he’s given him 5 opportunities to let the Israelite people go.
It’s very important for us today to have a tender heart of flesh before God. We want to allow him to change our hearts bringing us to a place of repentance before he has to take more drastic measures to get our attention.
Hebrews 4:7b
Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”
Pharaoh's officials begged him to let the Israelites go rather than suffer the devastating effects of a locust-swarm, but he was still unwilling to give in. He proposed a compromise: the Israelite men would be allowed to go, while women, children and livestock would remain in Egypt. Moses repeated God's demand that every last person and animal should go, but Pharaoh refused.
God then had Moses stretch his staff over Egypt, and a wind picked up from the east. The wind continued until the following day, when it brought a locust swarm. The swarm covered the sky, casting a shadow over Egypt. It consumed all the remaining Egyptian crops, leaving no tree or plant standing. Pharaoh again asked Moses to remove this plague and promised to allow all the Israelites to worship God in the desert. As promised, God sent a wind that blew the locusts into the Red Sea. However, He also hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not allow the Israelites to leave.
The Israelites were exempt from 7 of the 10 plagues that came upon Egypt due to their covenant with God.
Allow the Holy Spirit to break your stubborn pride today before it’s too late. Allow him to soften your stony heart, giving you a heart of flesh.
Allow the Holy Spirit of God to apply the blood of Jesus to your heart. Protecting you from eternal torment.
Will God judge the United States of America? Well, I think He could, but I believe what’s more likely is the decisions of people in power, in some ways similar to Pharaoh, who’ve been led by lust (God of Mammon) and have thus sinned will cause many of us problems because of their position of influence. (Proverbs 22:7)
It would seem that Iran is determined to develop their nuclear program to the chagrin of the rest of the Western world. It would seem that President Ahmadinejad's brand of Islamic ideology causes him to think that he should start a great war to usher in the return of the last Imam, the Mahdi. It would also seem that Israel is very determined to not allow Iran to do this.
In some senses of the word we have an immovable force running into an unstoppable object. We’re going to have a collision and it’s going to be big. The U.S. petrodollar status is also at stake which would have a huge ripple effect in our country’s economic standing. Where is the land of Goshen for the U.S. citizen should these events transpire?
My belief is that a small community that pulls together now will do much better than a large urban area. My belief is also that we are headed for a currency crisis of sorts. My belief is that the fiscal cliff was simply a distraction from the real currency cliff that’s approaching. These warnings are for you to chew on. Make your own decision about this information but I am making some sensible preparations for my family based on these things I believe to be true.
If you remember about 8 months ago I mentioned for some who are having a hard time wrapping their mind around the idea of getting gold or silver to buy ammunition. Had people followed my “advice” they would have been able to double their investment in todays market. Try finding .22 LR rounds. They are very scarce. People are buying them from the Hebr Springs Walmart when they come in and in 1 hour they are gone. Some are stockpiling the ammo and others are selling it on Ebay/Gunbroker.com for 2 – 3x’s the purchase price.
Fear is the wrong feeling when dealing with these issues. A sound strategy from the Lord with preparation in mind is my approach. For every dollar that is lost it is simply transferred to someone else. (Isaiah 60:5, 60:11, 61:6, 66:12) The only time money is “destroyed” is when a loan is paid off. The Church’s greatest hour could be upon us if we prepare for the harvest that’s coming. I’m excited!
Jubilee Family Church45 Thunderbird Dr. Batesville, AR 72501 (870) 793-9124