Sermon Cloud

 

We have been studying for some weeks now…

• …these 10 plagues that God has been sending upon the disobedient nation of Egypt

 

 

 

God has demanded that His people be let go

• …Egypt has refused
  • And so God has systematically destroyed all of the Egyptian false gods

 

 

 

Last week, we saw God destroy the supreme Egyptian deity

• Amon-Re…..the god of the sun
  • …and He did it through this unbelievably terrifying plague of the complete darkness…

 

 

 

 

God blotted out the sun and all sources of artificial light in the land of Egypt for three days

• …reminding us, of course, of the three days of darkness that fell upon the land between the death and the resurrection of Christ…

 

 

But we talked last week about the incredible fear and trembling that that plague must have produced

• ….if we can somehow imagine three days of complete, utter darkness
  • ….but then, on top of that….to somehow realize, in the midst of that darkness….
    • …that the God that we have believed in is now false….

 

 

 

 

What an incredibly horrible time….

 

 

 

Because….you see…the Egyptians believed the sun god, Amon-Re, to be the supreme god….the only uncreated god….the only sovereign god

• …and the True God has now blotted out that supreme false god

 

 

 

But through this, God continues to preserve His people

• …miraculously, the only place in Egypt that has light is where the Israelites live

 

 

 

 

But that plague, in all its horrific fear…..is not the worst

• …because that was only plague number 9

 

 

Tonight, God gives warning about the worst plague to come

• …tonight, God will warn of the tenth and final plague

 

 

 

Exodus 11

 

 

 

 

 

We ended last week with this outrageous claim from Pharaoh

• …look up at verse 28 of chapter 10

 

 

 

10.28

Then Pharaoh said to him, "Get away from me; take care never to see my face again, for on the day you see my face you shall die."

 

 

 

Pharaoh….who already believes himself to be a god

• ….believes he also has the power over Moses’ life

 

 

 

He says that when you see me again…..you’ll be dead

 

 

....and Moses says, very well….you won’t see me again

 

 

But now, in chapter 11….they appear to be dialoging again….

• …so we must wonder, what happened

 

 

 

 

This would be much clearer to see had the ESV translated the verb in v 1 correctly….

• …..as does  the NIV

 

 

 

Verse 1 should read;

• Instead of the Lord said….It should instead read The Lord had said

 

 

You see….verses 1-3 are really a reflection by Moses of an earlier conversation that he had had with the Lord

 

 

 

The Lord had said these things to Moses

• ….so what this means is that Moses is still in Pharaoh’s presence

 

 

 

 

After Pharaoh threatens Moses’ life….Moses will say these final words to him in vv 4-8

• …and then, in verse 8 Moses will leave Pharaoh’s presence for the last time

 

 

Understanding that helps us to make much more sense of the passage

 

 

 

So Moses sort-of re-iterates what God has said repeatedly

• Verse 1
  • There’s one last plague coming….
    • (actually that’s new information…..Moses is not like us, we know there were ten plagues….Moses did not know how many plagues….)

 

 

 

Verse 1 again

• …Pharaoh will let you go….he will actually drive you out (require you to leave)

 

 

v 2

Speak now in the hearing of the people, that they ask, every man of his neighbor and every woman of her neighbor, for silver and gold jewelry

 

 

As God has pronounced before….

• …the Israelites will not leave Egypt empty-handed

 

 

 

God will ensure that they are funded for the journey

• …He will make sure that they are reimbursed for their years of service to Pharaoh

 

 

…..and make sure that you understand…

• …the Israelites will not steal this silver and gold…
  • …the Egyptians will give it to them freely

 

 

v 3

And the LORD gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians

 

 

 

God caused the Egyptians to feel favorably toward the Israelites

• God created within the Egyptians…feelings of favorability toward the Israelites
  • …He caused the Egyptians to favor the Israelites…

 

 

 

Our God is indeed a powerful God

• …and He indeed owns all the resources of this planet

 

 

When He desires His children to have something….

• …there is nothing that can stand in the way of that

 

 

…and God desired for these Israelites to have the silver and gold of Egypt

 

 

 

Now….lest you still think that the Israelites are taking something that was not theirs

• …ask yourself this question…..where did Egypt get the riches that they had?

 

 

Now….we know that all blessings come from God…we know that to be true

• ….but I believed that God has intentionally done something here to clearly illustrate His sovereignty over the possessions of man
  • …and He has placed it in His Word to illustrate to us;

 

 

 

Recall with me, just a few generations ago

• ….the world was going to be starving

 

 

 

God is sending His warning signs to the Pharaoh

 

 

A young Hebrew prisoner was found to be able to interpret the dreams of God

 

 

 

They pull him out of the prison….they place him as second-in command in all the land

 

 

Because he honors God in his heart….God blesses this

• …and he single-handedly saves the nation of Egypt
  • ..and in fact….all of that part of the world…from starvation

 

 

 

I am, of course, speaking of Joseph

• ….but Joseph actually does something greater than this

 

 

You may not have ever known this

• …but turn back in your Bibles just a few pages to Genesis 47…page 40

 

 

 

Genesis 47.17-21 

 

 

 

You might have never realized that…

 

 

Joseph, a Hebrew slave…..was responsible for making Egypt wealthy

 

Joseph was responsible for the fact that the Pharaoh owns all the land….and has vast numbers of slaves and servants

• ….it’s all because of Joseph

 

 

 

Or rather…it’s all because of God

 

 

 

Their silver and their gold was God’s to begin with

 

Egypt had it because God gave it to them…

 

Egypt had it because God showed His favor upon them through His servant Joseph

 

[…] 

 

 

Now, God desires to show His favor upon the Israelites…

 

 

 

This is God demonstrating His favor upon the Israelites

• …they will not simply escape from Egypt
  • …but they will leave generously blessed…

 

 

 

We will clearly see later that this blessing will be for them…

• …at best….a mixed blessing
• …and at worst….a curse

 

 

 

 

Because it will be precisely this gold that the Israelites will use to fashion the golden calf

 

 

….the Israelites will be a living example for us;

• …that the gift of prosperity is often no gift at all…

 

 

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves

 

 

For now….Moses is recalling the words of God

 

Then…

 

 

v 3

Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants and in the sight of the people

 

 

 

Now….these verses paint a clear picture for us that has been present before now

• …but it’s been easy to miss until now

 

 

 

Back in 8.19…the magicians told the Pharaoh that despite his orders

• …they could do nothing about the gnats
  • …because this was the finger of God

 

 

 

In 9.20…we read that whoever in Egypt feared the word of the Lord

• …brought their livestock and their slaves indoors before the plague of the hail hits
  • ….against the orders of Pharaoh

 

In 10.7…Pharaoh’s servants actually sort-of talk back to the Pharaoh

• …as Pharaoh is refusing to let the people go…
  • …his servants say; why don’t you do what he says (at least let the men go)
    • …can you not see that Egypt is ruined?

 

These references are easy to miss

• …but when we put this together with what we read in 11.4

 

Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants and in the sight of the people

 

 

 

We realize a rift is going on

 

 

 

Many of the people are now becoming more loyal to Moses than to the Pharaoh

 

 

Anyone with an ounce of sense in Egypt has long ago realized that Pharaoh is powerless against Yahweh

• ….anyone, except this man Pharaoh
  • …whom God has blinded and hardened in order to display His sovereign power….

 

 

 

The Egyptians in general had come to respect Moses and his God

• …and the general consensus is that these Hebrews are entitled to go

 

And furthermore…their God has proven beyond a doubt that He is capable of completely ruining the land and the people if they do not obey….

 

 

The only one who cannot see this is Pharaoh

 

Again….this is a picture of salvation

 

 

 

Isn’t it always the case

• …that the one who is engaged in the sinful lifestyle
• …the one who is most imprisoned by the bondage of sin
  • …the one who is most deeply involved with self-worship
    • …is the last one to see their sin and more importantly…their need for a Savior….

 

 

 

 

[…] 

 

 

 

The very ones who are dangling the most treacherously above the pit of eternal damnation

• …it is always them….who cannot see the futility of their self-salvation projects

 

 

 

 

Just yesterday….Richard came by with his friend and co-worker Joe

• ….and the statement was made….
  • That Joe knows some of what this book says

 

 

And the statement was further made…that this book says that we will all bow before Christ one day and confess Him as Lord

• ….either voluntarily in this life….leading to life eternal
• …or involuntarily in the next….leading to damnation eternal

 

 

 

…all of which, Joe nodded his head in apparent agreement

• …and yet he remains unconvicted….

 

 

 

When God removes the scales from our eyes

• …and redeems us from our sinful condition
  • …isn’t it amazing how we just cannot make sense out of why the rest of the world can just thumb their nose at Christ and His offer of redemption…

 

[…] 

 

And so…Moses now describes this last and most terrible plague to Pharaoh and his court…

 

 

v 4

So Moses said, "Thus says the LORD: About midnight I will go out in the midst of Egypt,

and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the cattle.

There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor ever will be again.

 

 

…so we see something new in this plague

• …so far…God has used creation in order to bring about His destruction

 

 

 

The river Nile, the gnats, the flies, hail, etc

• ….now, in this most terrible plague…It is God Himself who is doing the destruction

 

 

v 4 

Thus says the LORD: About midnight I will go out in the midst of Egypt

 

 

 

It is now Yahweh Himself who will move through the land brings death and pain and suffering to all of Egypt

 

 

 

Every house in the land will lose the firstborn

• From the Pharaoh to the slave girl to the cattle….

 

 

….and notice…this is not the firstborn male….

• ….but the firstborn…regardless of gender

 

 

12.30

…for there was not a house where someone was not dead.

 

So even if the household did not have a male son

• …they were still touched by death

 

 

 

[…] 

 

 

 

Moses paints a grim picture here

• There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor ever will be again.

 

 

 

Imagine if every home in America woke tomorrow morning to find the oldest child dead in their sleep….

• …we cannot even imagine the grief…the anguish and despair

 

 

 

We have an estimated 125 million households here in America

 

 

That means…Within a week’s time

• …we would have 125 million funerals
  • …in addition to the normal funerals that we have

 

 

Can you even imagine the grief and despair…

 

 

But we will look at that next week….

 

 

 

For tonight, the question must be asked

• ….if Egypt has turned against Pharaoh…
  • …why must God bring this plague to all of the land

 

 

 

Why can God not just kill Pharaoh’s firstborn

• …or better yet…..just kill Pharaoh
  • …that would certainly solve the problem….

 

 

Why must God bring this suffering upon the land?....

 

[…] 

 

 

It becomes easy to forget the purpose of these plagues

 

 

The main purpose was not to free the Israelites from slavery

 

 

 

God once again restates His purpose at the end of this chapter;

 

 

v 9

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Pharaoh will not listen to you, that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt."

 

 

 

And so, this is about God, and His glory

• …we have known that from the beginning

 

 

 

 

But somehow….that doesn’t seem to put the question to rest, does it

 

 

 

Does our God need to kill innocent people in order for Him to receive glory?

 

 

 

Many of these firstborn who will die are no doubt….very young

• …perhaps babies…perhaps toddlers, perhaps even infants

 

 

 

 

Can this really be for God’s glory?

• …the death of so many…..many who would have let the Israelites go long ago….

 

 

Well; there are three points that I’d like to make that will help us think through this;

 

1. 1.    They were not innocent 

 

 

 

These that would die….many of these are not simply innocent bystanders

 

 

Keep in mind, Pharaoh is the most powerful man in the land

• …but he cannot enslave an entire people single-handedly

 

 

 

He must have had willing accomplises

• Pharaoh is hardly the only guilty party here

 

 

People had to do what the Hebrew midwives were unwilling to do;

• ….carry out Pharaoh’s orders of death

 

 

 

 

Someone had to throw all those Hebrew baby boys in the Nile

 

Someone had to carry out the logistics of oppressing these people

 

Court officials

Administrators

Military officers

Civilian leaders

• …they all share in this guilt

 

 

We must remember; guilt is not always actively engaging in sin

• …guilt is also watching others sin and doing nothing

 

Ezekiel 3:20

…if a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits injustice, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die. Because you have not warned him, he shall die for his sin, and his righteous deeds that he has done shall not be remembered, but his blood I will require at your hand.

 

 

 

God says; When you see others sinning….and you say nothing

• …they will die for their sin…but his blood I will require at your hand…

 

 

 

God says quite plainly;

• …I hold you responsible for speaking against the sins that you see around you

 

 

You say; but….I don’t really want to judge people….that makes me feel uncomfortable…..aren’t we supposed to not judge other people

• …didn’t Jesus command that?

 

 

No, actually that is not at all what Jesus commanded;

 

John 7:24

Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.

 

These people were not innocent

• …they were everything from willing accomplises to passive enablers
  • …enabling Pharaoh to sin through their passivity

 

 

 

Well…what about those children who are too young to commit any kind of sin against the Hebrews

• …or those who were in no position to speak out against these sins…

 

 

 

The bottom line here is this;

• …don’t forget….we all stand condemned for our sin

 

 

 

We are all born into original sin…

• …and we all stand under a death sentence for that sin

 

John 3:18

…whoever does not believe is condemned already…

 

 

 

 

 

God has passed a death sentence on the firstborn of Egypt for their sin

• …but we must remember…..we are all under a death sentence for our sin

 

 

This is why we desperately need the One whom Moses pointed us to

• ….the One in whom we can believe….and have the death sentence paid on our behalf

 

 

 

…the rest of that passage reads;

 

John 3:16-19

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

 

 

 

…these Egyptians loved darkness….they walked in the darkness and they loved it

• …yes…..many of them have realized that they cannot defeat the power of Moses’ God
  • …and it is useless to fight against Him

 

 

 

…but that is a long way from saving faith

 

 

 

….So, first of all….remind yourself that these Egyptians were not innocent

 

Secondly;

 

1. 2.     Often, those that we regard as innocent are the victims of the consequences of sin

 

 

This is so often true

• …both in the pages of Scripture as well as in our lives today

 

[…] 

 

2 Samuel 6

• David sins against God

 

 

 

He sins by moving the Ark of the Covenant in a way that God did not prescribe

• …God declared that His Ark would be moved on poles, carried by the Levites

 

 

But David wants to bring the Ark to Jerusalem

• …and he has the Ark moved like the pagan Philistines move their idols
  • On a wagon pulled by oxen

 

 

 

And the wagon hits a pothole

• …the Ark tetters….about to fall
  • …and a completely innocent man, Uzzah, puts out his hand to steady the Ark

 

Only God has said that no man will touch His Ark

 

 

 

So God strikes him dead right there…

 

 

 

It was David who sinned…..yet it was Uzzah who paid the price for that sin

 

 

2 Samuel 24

• ….once again, David sins by taking the prideful census
  • …and as a result 70k Israelites die in God’s judgment…

 

 

 

 

One of God’s most powerful prophets….Jeremiah

• …whom God used to repeatedly warn the people of their sin
  • …and how they should turn back to God or face the consequences

 

He was one of the thousand who was deported when Babylon utterly destroyed Jerusalem for her sin

 

 

 

Over and over…we see that often it is the “innocent” who suffer the consequences of others’ sins

• …that is simply part of living in a fallen world

 

 

This makes us long, even more….for the day when God will set this all straight

 

 

[…] 

 

And Lastly;

 

1. God is keeping His promise

 

 

 

Let’s remind ourselves…God said all along that this is what He was going to do;

 

 

Exodus 4:23

…I say to you, "Let my son go that he may serve me." If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son.'"

 

 

God said this is what He would do

• …even if we did not know the story of these plagues
  • …we should still be expecting this…because God is simply being true to His promise

 

 

 

You have killed My firstborn….you’ve thrown him into the Nile….you’ve oppressed him

• …let My firstborn son go or I will kill yours…God says…

 

 

But through all of this…we continue to see God preserving His people through this;

 

 

v 7      

But not a dog shall growl against any of the people of Israel, either man or beast, that you may know that the LORD makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.

 

 

 

 

God says; through all of this

• …through the death of the Egyptian households
• …through the plundering of Egypt
• …and even through the exodus
  • …not so much as a dog will growl against My people

 

 

Now, this is a wonderfully colorful expression

 

 

Our translators have had to take some liberty with this phrase for it to even make sense to us;

• …the KJV says; not a dog shall move his tongue

 

 

This verse literally reads; but among the Israelites….not a dog will stick out its tongue at any man or animal

 

 

Doesn’t that paint a picture in your mind…

 

As you are probably aware

• …dogs in the ancient world were a far cry from dogs today

 

 

 

They were not the furry, cute, yellow Labs of today

 

 

 

They were dirty, nasty, disease-infested scavengers

 

 

They were much closer to the rats of today

 

 

 

To say that not even a dog will wag it’s tongue at the Israelites

• …is a dramatic way of saying that absolutely nothing will touch the people of God…

 

 

What assurance in that verse…..nothing will touch the people of God

 

 

 

[…] 

 

But actually, it’s even better than that….

 

 

 

We have seen that each of these plagues was an attack on the Egyptian gods

 

 

Well, last week, God defeated the main god, Amon-Re…the supreme deity

• …so what’s left after that
  • …it seems that God has already defeated everything there was

 

 

 

Well, actually, there was one more….

 

 

The Egyptians, as you are probably aware…were obsessed with death and the afterlife

 

 

Anyone who has studied the life of ancient Egyptian culture knows what elaborate preparations they made for the afterlife

• …According to the Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt…
  • …the Egyptians invested a larger portion of their wealth in the afterlife than any other culture ever to exist

 

 

 

The Great Pyramids themselves stand as giant tombs for the Pharaohs

• The Egyptians invented the practice of embalming dead bodies….

 

 

Well….that embalming process also had a god…(they literally had a god for everything)

 

 

But Anubis was the god of embalming

 

…..and Anubis was…a dog

 

And so make this connection

 

 

 

Death will move through Egypt

• ..and it will claim the life of the firstborn of every household

 

 

And imagine, if you would…..the level of death that will bring….

 

 

 

The embalmers would be absolutely packed….

 

 

 

And so, in the midst of all of this incredible death

• …as the god of embalming of called upon again and again
  • …as they embalm all of these bodies….

 

 

This god who is really a dog

• …God says….not even a dog will wag its tongue at My people

 

[…] 

 

 

Death will touch none of My people

 

 

In My arms….My people cannot possibly be any safer

 

 

 

If you are one of His sheep tonight

• ….I ask you…..what can possibly be more comforting?

 

 

John 10:29

My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.

 

 

 

 

 

The exodus is a brilliant picture for us;

 

 

 

If you do not belong to Christ; then there is nothing in your future but plagues, and suffering, and death

 

 

If you belong to Christ…then not a dog will growl at you that our Father does not ordain