Exiting Egypt Chapter 7 P1

Exiting Egypt

“God’s Purposes Behind the Plagues”

Exodus 6:28 – 7:13

By Dennis Lee: Chapter 7 P1

After encouraging Moses and the people, God now reinforces Moses’ call. Literally he gives Moses a second call, because Moses again is trying to get out of doing what God had called for him to do.

Read Ex. 6:28-7:7

Now before we’re too hard on Moses, look at the awesome task set before him, to confront the most powerful person on planet earth and the most powerful army to boot, and he is doing so now crushed, broken, and desperate. Pharaoh had severely reacted against God’s message with a vengeance oppressing God’s people beyond measure.

And to top it off, the people accused Moses concerning their present hardships. This had crushed Moses, and so he feared returning to Pharaoh and arousing his wrath even more against the people.

And so God had to renew His call.

God will do the same with us. Recently a young man trying to get himself ready to go out on a mission trip said, “My Faith in the morality of people took a huge hit today, I tried to do something good for someone and got stabbed in the back for it, for no good reason.” He was at a turning point. Does he continue on, or let that experience sour him. This is where we can claim the promise of God’s word that says,

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:18 NKJV)

Know that if you have been called by God, if you are moving forward in His purpose for your life and for God’s kingdom, then no matter what may come your way from others that it will all work together for the good of the Kingdom of God, which translates what is good for you.

Notice something else, God lists both Moses and Aaron’s age. Moses is 80 years old and Aaron is 83 when they were called to serve God and declare His message. What a wonderful lesson; that we are never too old to serve God. In Isaiah, the Lord said it this way,

I will be your God throughout your lifetime? until your hair is white with age. I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you (Isa. 46:4 NLT)

And so, what we see is that God is giving to Moses a second call, a second reminder of what God had called for Him to do, and in this he tells Moses that He was going to harden Pharaoh’s heart, and the reason would be so that he could multiply His signs and wonders and deliver His people out of Egypt through great judgments.

Maybe to say this another way, based upon our study of God’s name last week, God’s purpose was that Israel would know that God is the Lord, the Great Redeemer and Savior.

The day of judgment upon Egypt and the day of redemption for Israel are drawing near. And God does this through a series of ten plagues.

And so, as we prepare next week to begin looking at these plagues, what we should do at this juncture is to look at God’s purposes behind the plagues.

1. To Give Egypt Another Opportunity to Repent

All the plagues were severe, and as some have pointed out, this severity increased with each seceding one. But what we need to understand is that if God in His mercy had not stopped them, then each could have devastated the land and the people.

And so, God brought the plagues to reveal to the people that He wasn’t kidding, and to give them an opportunity to repent and turn to Him, which it seemed some did, as they left with Israel. They were known as the mixed multitudes.

And while these plagues seem harsh, and they are, it is God’s kindness that leads him to stop each one, hoping that some will repent, because it is God’s desire that everyone come to saving repentance. Look at how both Paul and Peter say,

Do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?... He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance (Rom. 2:4; 2 Pet. 3:9b NIV)