THROUGH THE BIBLE - Exodus 1..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Then the Lord said to Moses, going to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may show the signs of mine among them, and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and your grandson how I have dealt harshly with the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them, that you may know that I am the Lord. So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and said to him, thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, how long will you refuse to humble yourself before me?

Let my people go that they may serve me. But if you refuse to let my people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country and they shall cover the face of the land so that no one can see the land. And they shall eat what was left to you after the hail. And they shall eat every tree of yours that grows in the field. And they shall fill your houses and the houses of all your servants and all the Egyptians, as neither your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen from the day they came on the earth to this day."

Then he turned and went out from Pharaoh. Then Pharaoh's servants said to him, How long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not yet understand that Egypt is ruined? So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said to them, Go serve the Lord your God, but which ones are to go?

Moses said, we will go with our young and our old. We will go with our sons and our daughters and with our flocks and herds, for we must hold a feast to the Lord. But he said to them, the Lord be with you if I ever let you and your little ones go. Look, you have some evil purpose in mind. No, go the men among you and serve the Lord, for that is what you are asking.

and they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence. Then the Lord said to Moses, stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, so that they may come upon the land of Egypt and eat every plant in the land, all that the hail has left. So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt and the Lord brought an east wind upon the land all that day. and all that night. When it was morning, the east wind had brought the locusts.

The locusts came up over all the land of Egypt and settled on the whole country of Egypt. Such a dense swarm of locusts as had never been seen or had been before, nor ever will be again. They covered the face of the whole land so that the land was darkened, and they ate all the plants in the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Not a green thing remained, neither tree nor plant of the field. through all the land of Egypt.

Then Pharaoh hastily called Moses and Aaron and said, I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. Now, therefore, forgive my sin, please, only this once and plead with the Lord your God only to remove this death from me. So he went out from Pharaoh and pleaded with the Lord. And the Lord turned the wind into a very strong west wind, which lifted the locusts and drove them into the Red Sea. Not a single locust was left in the country of Egypt.

But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart and he did not let the people of Israel go. And then the Lord said to Moses, stretch out your hand towards heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness to be felt. So Moses stretched out his hand towards heaven, and there was pitch darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days. But all the people of Israel had light where they lived.

Then Pharaoh called Moses and said, go serve the Lord. Your little ones also may go with you. Only let your flock and your herds remain behind. But Moses said, you must also let us have sacrifices and burnt offerings that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. Our livestock also must go with us, not a hoof shall be left behind, for we must take of them to serve the Lord our God.

And we do not know with what we must serve the Lord until we arrive there. But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart and he would not let them go. 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.

And Moses said, as you say, I will not see your face again. Amen. This is the word of the Lord. Now, I'm pretty confident that most of us, if not all of us, are aware of the Exodus story. We've read subsequent chapters, we've read on in the Bible, and we know how this story ends.

But I wonder if only for a moment we had fresh eyes, and we've been able to, as we have as a congregation, read through the book of Exodus till this point. I'm sure all of us will be asking the question in our minds, When will Pharaoh get it? When will it finally click to Pharaoh what he is facing? How long will he stay hardened? before the Lord.

How can you not see what's happening? How can you not realize that it is the God of all the universe that Moses is representing after all these wondrous feats and miraculous signs and plagues that have been coming one after the other on the people of Egypt? How can you not know that this is the supreme power of Yahweh, the sovereign God of the universe? That question must be coming through our minds, I think, if we had fresh eyes. But you know, Moses hits the nail on the head on behalf of God, because he tells us in verse three that what's behind Pharaoh's evil actions is in fact his prideful heart.

His pride prevents him from submitting to Yahweh. And He will pay the price, not only individually, but His nation, His people will pay that price. Our chapter this evening takes us through the 8th and the 9th plagues that come upon the people of Israel, because of each of my apologies, because of the hardened heart of their king. And he doesn't intend to let his people of Israel go. The first is the plague of locusts.

The Lord sends an easterly wind that comes over the Red Sea and comes over the land of Egypt. And with that wind, we're told, are swarms and swarms of locusts. So much, in fact, that the whole land is darkened. crosses over the whole land. These locusts go everywhere.

They go into people's homes, their servants' homes. They go everywhere. Imagine that, in their houses, in their bedrooms, in their closets, everywhere. Everywhere they see, you find these locusts. And these locusts, beloved, weren't just a matter of inconvenience.

It wasn't as though, yuck, these are disgusting little critters, we don't want them there. No, it's beyond that. They are hungry pests. And as hungry pests, they eat everything inside. All the green, all the fruits, all the vegetables, everything that's green, their herbs, everything that is growing for these people to enjoy and eat, these locusts eat before them.

A big, massive amount of food that would be normally given to the Egyptians is now gone. at least what is left from what the hailstorm had damaged or gone. Yet Pharaoh's heart remained hardened. And in fact, as we discovered last week, not only did he harden his heart, but the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart as well. This was Pharaoh's intention.

The Lord gave him up to his evil desires. This is not a man who wanted to seek after the Lord. No, he was evil. His intent was wicked. And the Lord gave him over to his hardened heart.

And in fact, it was as though God was crystallizing his heart in the position that he was in, in any case. And we spoke about that last week and referred to Romans 1 to explain that point. But then we go on, the knife plague. And the ninth plague was one of darkness. The whole nation was flooded with a dense, thick blackness.

But it was not the run-of-the-mill darkness that you and I would be used to when there's no moon in the sky. No, it was beyond that. It was an eerie, disturbing darkness. Verse 21 tells us that the darkness was so thick that you could feel it. This is pretty scary, beloved.

This is very, very scary for the people of Egypt. And by the text telling us that the Egyptians didn't leave home and they couldn't even see one another, it would be safe to assume that even if they lit a lamp or started a fire, that that darkness was not dispelled. They could see nothing. Thick. Darkness.

Nothing we can ever experience. There is a sense that darkness brings with it a fear, and I think we've all experienced being afraid of being in the dark in a particular context. But there's never, have never, have any of us experienced this perfect darkness where you couldn't even see the person standing right in front of you. This is very, very scary. And the Egyptians, well, the Egyptians would have been terrified out of their wits at this point.

All their cries and all their prayers to the sun god Ra were to no avail at all. I said previously that the Egyptians weren't sitting dormant in this time. These were a pagan people. They had a pantheon of gods. They had many gods, one God for everything almost, and they weren't dormant.

They would sacrifice to these gods. They would do the rituals of these gods. Their intention was to earn favor with the gods so that the gods would be appeased and give them favor in whatever area they needed that favor. But beloved, all their prayers All their cries to any of their false deities were here and now to no avail, because the darkness that God sends towards them, even the sun in its brightness could not penetrate. But here's the thing.

There's a place in north of northern part of Egypt that did have light. A place called Goshen. This is where the people of Israel were dwelling. They had light. They could see.

They weren't stumbling across one another. The light of God was given to the people of God and they were given sight to see. That's important. We need to remember that. Despite this, Despite Pharaoh seeing these amazing works of power by Yahweh, by the God Almighty, his heart remained hardened.

Yes, sure, at one point he says, I'll let your people go, and he says that, in fact, on several occasions, but he has no intention. A man whose heart is evil and hardened has no intention to let God's people go. And so, his predicament remains. and his people are suffering for it. Now, they're the plagues.

I want, in the few moments that we have left, just to examine very quickly what really is happening beneath the text. Let's have a closer examination, in particular to the conversation that's had from verses 3 through 11, the conversation that's had between Moses, Aaron, and Pharaoh and his servants. Moses is the mouthpiece of God, He begins by saying something incredibly profound that I think we need to look at. What does he say? He cuts straight to the heart of things.

Verse 3b, he says, How long, Pharaoh, would you continue in your pride? How long, Pharaoh, would you contend and compete with the only God of the universe? See, Pharaoh's heart is evidently wicked. We know that. We've read his treatment towards the Israelite people, the harsh, unjust treatment.

And that's evident of his wickedness. But the true evidence of his wickedness and the pridefulness of his heart comes in him forbidding these people to go out into the wilderness for three days to worship. Why do I say that? Well, it is advocated that in the ancient Near East, the king The ruler, the pharaoh, had almost a complete power over his subjects. His slaves, his servants, would do almost whatever he wanted.

This was a dictator of sorts. However, there was some give and take. And that give and take came in the area of religion or area of worship. You know, in a time, in a place, as I said before, where pantheism was the norm, that is, many gods were being worshipped, the pharaoh or the ruler or a king would know that his subjects, his slaves or his servants, would have had a different god, possibly, than the gods they're used to. So he would offer them or allow them to take a period of time to go and worship as their god, would intend them to worship.

As their guide prescribed, two benefits would come back to the ruler. A, his slaves would be happy. And happy slaves, then he gets happy service. But the other thing is, he covers his bases. Because he sacrifices too many.

What if there's one he's missed? Well, by him appeasing these slaves, then them appeasing their god, small g, then this pharaoh, or the ruler, would then be in the good books of that god and earn favour, possibly. But see, pharaoh doesn't do that here. Why? Well, why is it when Pharaoh is confronted with the sovereign of the universe, the only God of the universe?

Why is it that Pharaoh does not allow the people to go out, even for three days, into the wilderness and worship their God? The answer is given to us before the plague of hail. Actually, it's given to us before the sores break out, and before the frogs, and before the flies. In fact, the answer is given to us before a single plague had come across the people of Egypt, back in chapter 5. Back in chapter 5, Moses comes to Pharaoh and he says to him, let my people, let the God's people go.

This is what God says. I come on behalf of the God of the Israelites. And he says, let my people go. What's Pharaoh's response? Let me tell you what Pharaoh's response is in verse 1 and 2.

He says, and why don't you hear this? I do not know your Lord. I do not know Yahweh, and I won't let the Israelites go. You see what's happening here? Pharaoh denies Israel the worship of Yahweh because Pharaoh doesn't recognize him as God.

He's not one of the gods I know. Who is this God? I don't know who he is. No, I'm I'm the one in authority here. And therefore I stand in authority over that God.

And by that statement, what Pharaoh's doing is he's directing and direct assault at the sovereign of the universe. And beloved, we all know that's a battle you cannot win. That's a battle you cannot win. And this is why in God's words, through his mouthpiece, Moses, he says, how long? How long will you refuse to?

humble yourself before me. I am the true God. I am the only God. Sure, you don't know me in an intimate way. You've seen my power.

You've seen how I've systematically destroyed the gods that you believe in, Pharaoh. Happy that the Nile God could not restore the bloody Nile back to water. I did. Hecate, the frog-headed goddess, could not withdraw the frogs from the land, but I did. Geb, Geb was the god of the earth.

He was unable to get rid of the lice or the gnats, as we're told in ESV, but I did. Kerpi, Hathor, Isis, Seth, Ra, you name the gods, small g, all of them are impotent. before the sovereign of the universe, the God of Israel, the only true God. And he has proven to Pharaoh one time and time again that he is in complete control and he is the sovereign. Yet Pharaoh will not humble himself and recognize God as such.

Pharaoh, you raise your back instead of bowing your knee to this God. When will you humble yourself and recognize this God? And the God who gives grace to the humble and opposes the proud, pours his judgment upon Pharaoh and his people. But on the other hand, he shows his love, his mercy, and his grace by being faithful to his covenant to the offspring of Abraham. You see, when we keep reading through the book of Exodus and beyond, we'll see that the people of Israel in this time were actually idolatrous people.

They were actually given over to many, many of these people were given over to the practices of the Egyptian in their idolatry. However, God keeps his covenant that he made. And if he made a covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he's gonna keep that covenant. And it's not based on the people and their performance. If he says, I will give you a land not flowing with milk and honey, then he's going to give them a land flowing with milk and honey.

It's not as though they're worthy of the mercy. It's not as though they're worthy of the grace that comes before them. None of us are. But he's a good guy that keeps his promises. It's funny because one of the first things that the servants of Pharaoh do is they look to their king and they say, Can you not see we're ruined?

Can't you see our land is in ruin? If this doesn't stop, there's going to be nothing left, not even people. Give them, let their men, let their men go and worship God. Let them go to the wilderness and then they'll come back. And Pharaoh was pretty happy with that, obviously, because leaving the women and the children to flock behind the men are going to come back.

And that's probably what he's thinking. We don't want to let everyone go because you'll probably end up leaving for good. But you see how there's a lack of understanding of who Yahweh is. See, it may be in their pagan rituals or in their pagan practices that they just want to tick that box. Let's do the sacrifice.

Let's do the ritual. Let's do whatever it takes to appease this God. And they don't understand. They don't understand that worshipping God is a matter of joy for God's people. And it's not only for the men.

It's the men and the women. It's the young and the old. We all should have an innate joy to worship our God. It's not about ticking that box and doing particular things. We love Him.

He's a covenant-keeping God and He's a gracious God. They thought, let's just send the men and get this over and done with. But Moses says, no. It's all or nothing. And so Pharaoh, he hardens his heart and he says, Nothing.

Beloved, we must not forget, and this is the final point I want to make this evening before we give it over to our brother to preach to us, for us. But we must not forget that the powerful works that we see on display before us here in Ephesus, these works are not only signs for Pharaoh and the Egyptians, so they would know that the God of Israel is the true God, but they are. for all of us. See what he says here in verse two, he speaks to Moses and he says, for the son and the grandson, They are to know how I dealt harshly with the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them, that you may know that I am the Lord." The son and the grandson, it's not only Moses' son and grandson.

He speaks of the posterity, he speaks of the people to come, the generations to come. They ought to read these things. They ought to be told these things. They ought to know that it is the God Almighty who has performed these acts of power and wonder so that He could rescue His people out of the hands of the Egyptians. Beloved, as I said earlier, these Egyptians were in that land for 400 plus years and they were steeped in idolatry.

They also needed, this is, my apologies, the Israelites, they also needed to know that this is Yahweh. He is the Great I Am. You need to renounce all acts of idolatry and you need to bend your knee to Him alone because He is the God of the heavens, the earth, the rivers, God who directs the wind. God who commands that which he commands. He has life in his hand and he has death in his hand.

And we ought to submit to this God. And as New Testament believers, as we read God's word and read of the wonders, this is a testimony to us also that he is Lord. That there is none other. He is the Almighty. He is the Sovereign.

And beloved, I pray that as we read these things, and as we're exposed to these truths, he demands of us a response. Pharaoh hardened his heart. Pharaoh was proud and decided, no, I'm not gonna submit. I'm not bending my knee to that authority. I pray, beloved, that we are not counted among those who are proud, but among those who are humble.

Those who do indeed bend their knee to the only God, Those who bend their knee to the one who's given us in his word, his plan of redemption, which is fully and finally finalized in the perfect Son of God who gave his life for his people. Those who bend their knee to a God who has made salvation exclusive in that Son and in that Son alone. That Son is Jesus Christ.