Monday Bible Study Life in Christ Bible Church LICBC Headquarters, 154 W. Sierra Madre Blvd. Sierra Madre, CA 91024, USA http://www.licbc.org ********************************************************************************************** Systematic, Expository Study of God's Word Study 8: AUTHORITY OF GOD'S AMBASSADOR Exodus 7:1-25 The seventh chapter of Exodus begins the second section to the book. In the first section (chapters 1 to 6), we see the need for redemption pictured by a people enslaved. In this second section (chapters 7 to 11), we are shown the might or power of the Redeemer, displayed in the plagues on Egypt. In the first section, we had the description of the persecution and perplexity of Israel. In this section, we shall see the display of God's power over Egypt. In the first section, we saw the arrogance and rebellion of Pharaoh, here we shall see, his agony and humiliation. In the first section, we read of the weakness, discouragement and complaint of Moses, here we shall learn of his authority, courage and boldness. In the first section, Pharaoh challenged God's authority, here God acts in authority against Pharaoh and the gods of Egypt. So, from chapter 7 onwards there is a marked change: Moses is no more timid, hesitant and discouraged. The omnipotence of the Lord is displayed in every scene. 1. MOSES' EXALTED POSITION ABOVE PHARAOH Exodus 7:1,2; 4:15,16; Jeremiah 1:9,17; Exodus 6:29; Matthew 28:20. "I have made thee a god to Pharaoh". Moses was endowed with divine authority to act as God's ambassador. Acting in God's stead, he was to rule over Egypt's proud king, commanding him to do what he should do, controlling him when he did wrong, punishing him for his disobedience, so that Pharaoh would have to plead with him for the removal of the plagues. This exalted position involved arduous work and terrible responsibility. Moses was to be fully employed in communicating only God's message and mind to Pharaoh. But for the slavery of Israel in Egypt, Moses would not have been a god unto Pharaoh. The exalted position was to be used only in seeking the freedom or deliverance of Israel, it was not for self-aggrandizement. "And Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet". If this be compared with Exodus 4:15,16, we shall find the divine definition of what constitutes a prophet. Aaron was to be Moses' spokesman. God's prophet acts as God's mouthpiece, the Lord putting into his mouth the very words he would utter. God's command to Moses was very definite. "Thou shalt speak ALL that I command thee: and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh". Moses was not free to choose only a part of God's word which he judged most suitable for Pharaoh. He was to speak ALL that God had commanded to Aaron who in turn should speak ALL to Pharaoh. The same charge is laid upon all preachers today (Matthew 28:20; Acts 20:26,27; 2 Timothy 4:2; 1:13,14). 2. HARDENED HEARTS OF MEN Exodus 7:3-14; 1 Samuel 6:6; Proverbs 28:14; 29:1; Isaiah 63:17; 2 Kings 17:12-14; Mark 3:5; 6:48-52; 8:14-18; 16:14; Hebrews 3:7-13; Romans 2:3-6. The miracles from Moses and Aaron did not convince or convict Pharaoh because he deluded himself by the lying wonders of the magicians. Miracles from God will not persuade wicked hearts who love unrighteousness, even if the dead be raised (Luke 16:31). Counterfeit miracles and lying wonders form Satan's agents have the tendency of hardening the heart against the truth (2 Timothy 3:8,9; 2 Thessalonians 2:7-12; Matthew 24:24,25; Revelation 16:13,14). Beware of supernatural manifestations that are not from the God of heaven. Satan is "the prince of the power of the air" and has power to produce "lying wonders". Not everything that looks like the supernatural is of God, so we must be very careful to "try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world" (I John 4:1). It is a very thing to let the heart begin to grow hard. It is like the freezing of water into ice. The first mm of ice is scarcely perceptible; keep the water stirring and you prevent the frost from hardening it; but once you let it film over and remain quiet, the glaze thickens over the surface and continues to thicken until it is firm and hard at last. So it is with the heart. What sins hardened Pharaoh's heart? Contempt of God, covetousness, pride, delusion and interest of Egypt. God did not force hardness of heart upon Pharaoh. God cannot and does not force evil upon man. Love for sin and deceitfulness of sin lead to hardness of heart. If a man delights in evil, God can leave him to his lust, withdraw the restraints of grace, until the heart becomes insensitive and hard (Genesis 6:3; Romans 1:19-24; 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12). Hardness of heart is the result of conscious and obstinate resistance to the will of God. If one listens to the great truths of Scripture preached week after week and rejects them, he becomes gradually hardened. The preaching of the gospel that was meant to convict and melt him will be the occasion of hardening his heart, not because God hates him but because he persistently rejects the truth. The sun which melts ice, hardens the clay. Melting or hardening depends on the nature of substance within (2 Corinthians 2:15,16). As all things work together for good to them that love God, so all things work together for the worst to the rebellious and impenitent. Each conviction suppressed, each admonition stifled, each loving offer rejected, tends towards increasing spiritual insensibility (Hebrews 3:7,8,12,13). It is wisdom to watch for the blessed influences of God's Spirit and to throw open our hearts to the sunlight of His grace. The Philistines took warning by Pharaoh's hardness of heart (I Samuel 6:6). Let us be wise and avoid all things (neglect, contempt of the truth, sin, etc) that harden the heart, lest we be hardened to our destruction. 3. MIRACLE OF JUDGMENT ON EGYPT Exodus 7:14-25; 9:14; Psalms 78:43,44; 105:26-29; 2 Timothy 3:8,9; 2 Thessalonians 2:7-12; Revelation 13:12-18. Pharaoh in his rebellion had said, "who is the LORD, that I should obey His voice? I know not the LORD" (Exodus 5:2). Pharaoh and the Egyptians contended against the true God. Their contention raised questions such as: Is there such a God as Jehovah? If so, what is the extent of His power? What, if any, are the obligations that all men owed to Him? To prove His existence and power and to bring about the deliverance of His people, God sent a series of judgments upon the wicked, idolatrous Egyptians. Egypt worshipped the Nile river, among many other gods. The Lord directed His judgments against those gods of the Egyptians, first of all to prove to Pharaoh and all Egypt that the God of Israel was the true God; and secondly that there is no other God. The first judgment, a plague of turning water to blood, was announced before it took place so that none would have any doubt concerning the source of the miracle. God sent warning before sending the judgment. The Egyptians worshipped river Nile because their living depended upon its waters to irrigate the land. There were also very few roads and the Nile was their main highway. Canals were built for secondary thoroughfares. As the Egyptians also worshipped many animals, which they would not eat, their meat diet was mostly fish. When the water was turned to blood, the fish died and the river stank. Was river Nile, their god, more powerful than the LORD? The Egyptians' god went down in humiliation before the stretched-out rod of Moses; the waters were polluted and were unfit for use; and the fish died, depriving the Egyptians of their very important food. The only way of getting fresh water, during the period of that plague, was by digging holes beside the river. But Satan, the great deceiver of men, had his emissaries present to try to discredit the supernatural demonstration sent to convince the people that the LORD was the only true God. They magicians of Egypt did a similar miracle with their enchantments. Now that the miracle of judgment had been duplicated by his own men, Pharaoh reasoned that there was nothing unusual in the demonstration of God's power. So, the haughty, stubborn heart of Pharaoh was hardened. If the magicians had wanted to show their power they should have removed the plague and made the waters pure again; but that they were unable to do. They could only increase the problem. Pharaoh's heart was not touched by the suffering of the people. At the end of a week the plague was lifted, but others would still come. Events, as well as words, are teachers. We learn from this event that all the elements of nature are under God's control. He can do with everyone of them just as He pleases. God is all-powerful. When God's mercy, love, warning has failed to accomplish His purpose in man, He sends judgment. He can turn our glory into shame. He can change the scene of life into death. He can change useful things into useless. He can change beautiful things (when we begin to worship them) into loathsome. All life depends on His will. May we listen at all times to the truth taught by the words and events in the Scriptures.
|
Home 
