Skip to content Embracing God's Timing in Retirement Feb 9 · 12 min ...more
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Family Research Council is serving in the kingdom of God by championing faith, family, & freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview.
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Moses' Preparation and the Initial Sign 0:10 Good morning, and welcome to Stand on the Word. Today in chapter 7 and 8, we have the second encounter between Moses, Aaron, and Pharaoh. And we have the first 4 plagues, the water to blood, the frogs,0:21 lice, and flies. Verse 2 of chapter 7, you shall speak all that I command you, and Aaron your brother shall tell Pharaoh to send the children of Israel out of his land. K. In0:33 the first 6 chapters, we covered 2 thirds of Moses's life, which is also 2 thirds of the time frame of the book of Exodus. Now in the remaining 34 chapters, we're gonna cover0:45 the most significant 40 years of Moses's life. Now Moses is now 80 years old, which should turn the idea of retirement on its head. So the first 40 or the first0:57 80 years, rather, of Moses's life was all preparation for this final 40 years that was about to unfold. And and and quite frankly, that should encourage a lot of people that, you know, we think we get1:09 to this retirement age and life is over. No. A lot of this is that we have gone through, experienced, and I'm talking to a lot of folks who have retired. You now have a little bit of freedom because you have1:21 maybe you have, you know, some income from retirement. You don't have to work anymore, but you've been prepared for what might be the best opportunity of your life to1:32 serve the kingdom of God. So forget this idea of sitting on the porch playing checkers. Alright? God has a plan for each and every 1 of us. Alright. So was1:44 there a pattern in the plagues? Yes. And that's what we're gonna focus on this morning. Verse 1, chapter 7. So the Lord said to Moses, see, I have made you as God the pharaoh, and1:56 Aaron your brother shall be your prophet. Now I I'm sure that the, the outcome of Moses' first encounter with Pharaoh left him a little reluctant to go again. He was probably2:07 shaken a bit by that. But God said, I will make you as a god to Pharaoh. Now remember, Pharaoh saw himself as a god. Verse 2, you shall speak all that I2:19 command you, and Aaron your brother shall tell Pharaoh to send the children of Israel out of the land. Now this is important. This is very important. Don't forget this. The instruction was to speak all that I,2:31 this is the Lord, command you, not less, not more. The power and the authority were in the words of God. It's not our commentary, not our opinion,2:43 but his word. God honors his word. Verse 3, and I will harden Pharaoh's heart and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt, but Pharaoh will not heed you so2:55 that I may lay my hand on Egypt and bring my armies and my people, the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. And the Egyptian shall know3:07 that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand on Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from among them. Again, here's something else to make note of. This is happening because of3:19 god's stated purpose. What is that purpose? The purpose of the plagues is being stated here because god could have easily used another method to bring the children, out of Egypt.3:31 But what he is saying here is the stated purpose is to let them know that the lord was god. Then Moses and Aaron did so.3:43 Just as the lord commanded, so they did. And Moses was 80 years old and Aaron 83 years old when they spoke to pharaoh. Then the lord spoke to Moses and Aaron saying, when the pharaoh speaks to you3:54 saying, show us a miracle for yourselves, then you shall say to Aaron, take your rod and cast it before Pharaoh and let it become a serpent. So Moses and Aaron went into Pharaoh, and they did so just as the Lord4:05 commanded. And Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent. Now this was not a plague. This was a sign, a miracle that set the stage for the coming plagues, and and it begins4:17 the, the pattern that we will observe here. First, the Hebrew word means dragon or sea creature. Many scholars believe this was not a snake, but a crocodile.4:29 The Hebrew word used here is tannin. It's different from the word that we saw in chapter 4 when Moses's rod turned into a snake, which was Nahash. Now4:41 this is this is not an area to be dogmatic on. I'm just pointing it out, but it would fit the pattern that we're about to see. Alright? The Egyptian god Sobek was the god of the crocodiles, and4:53 it was a symbol of power and strength. In fact, the crocodile was the patron of the army. So right up front, god was communicating to pharaoh that he was going to consume5:06 Egypt's power and strength. You see, in in god's plan and how he lays things out, there nothing is missed. And and he'd everything is with purpose and intentionality.5:18 That's why we we need to heed the word of God. Everything is there for a reason. Verse 11, but Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers, so the magicians of Egypt, they also did in5:30 like manner with their enchantments. For every man threw down his rod, and they became serpents. But Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods. And Pharaoh's heart grew hard, and he did not heed them as the lord had said.The First Four Plagues: Judgment on Idolatry 5:42 Now god will tear down the the the every idol that the people erect. And it because it is for the revealing of his power and authority. Egypt was a polytheistic5:54 nation. It had over 2000 different deities that they worshiped. I mean, it was just it was unbelievable. In the plagues that God brings upon them, some of their most6:06 prominent deities are the targets. Now the first plague, verse 17, thus says the Lord, by this you shall know that I am the Lord. Behold, I will strike the waters which are in the river with the rod that is in my hand,6:17 and they shall be turned to blood. Now the Nile river was known as the father of life, the mother of all men. It was sacred to the Egyptians as it was the lifeblood of the land. It really was.6:29 Now it's much different today. I've I have stood on the banks of the Nile in Cairo, and I can't imagine this is being sacred. It was filthy, unbelievably filthy. But in this first6:41 plague, God is showing the Egyptians and the Israelites who is truly God. Now the second plague, then the Lord spoke this is verse 5 chapter 8. Then the Lord spoke to Moses, say6:53 to Aaron, stretch out your hand with your rod over the streams, over the rivers, over the ponds, and cause frogs to come up on the land of Egypt. So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs7:04 came up and covered the land of Egypt. Now frogs, like many animals, were worshiped in Egypt. They were seen as the symbol of fertility and life, again, striking at the7:16 heart of their idolatry. Again, look at the purpose of the plagues. Verse 10. So he said tomorrow, and he said, let it be according to your word that you may know that there is no7:27 1 like the lord our god. God was displaying his power through these plagues, through these miracles. The third plague, verse 16. So the lord said to Moses, say to Aaron, stretch out7:39 your rod, strike the dust of the land so that it will become like lice throughout the land of Egypt. And they did so. For Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod and struck the dust of the earth, and it became lice on7:50 man and beast. All the dust in the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt. Now this is it's unclear to exactly what creature this was, perhaps gnats, sand fleas, or mosquitoes,8:02 but it was such a problem that the unhelpful magicians that had only served to multiply previous plagues said that this was the finger of God. Verse 18,8:14 now the magicians so worked with their enchantment enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not. Not like you needed more of it. So there were lice on man and beast. Then the magician said to8:26 Pharaoh, this is the finger of God. But Pharaoh's heart grew hard, and he did not heed them just as the Lord had said. Now I I don't wanna pass over the role of these magicians or agents of deception.8:38 Alright? Have you noticed what they have been able to do so far? They were not able to counter or stop the plagues. They could only multiply the suffering8:50 of the people. They turned more water into blood. They brought up more frogs onto the land. How was that helpful? They only added to the suffering of the people, and the same is true today.9:02 Agents of deception, those who work to counter the word of God only make the problem worse. Fourth plague, verse 24, chapter 8. And the Lord did so. Thick swarms of9:14 flies came into the house of Pharaoh, into his servants' houses, and into all the land of Egypt. The land was corrupted because of the swarms of flies. Now it's important to note that this9:26 fourth plague and moving forward, there is a distinction between the children of Israel and the Egyptians. Alright? At this point, there is a distinction. Again, this was meant to show both9:37 God's power and authority. Now for the fly, scholars believe this was a mixture of insects, which once again were worshiped by the Egyptians. I don't get it, but they9:49 worshiped them. They they wanted to worship creation, so God was gonna make sure that they didn't miss the opportunity. They were everywhere that they turned. Now there is a lesson10:01 here. Alright? There's some principles to extract from these plagues. And, you know, we kinda miss them when we just look at the plagues, but we don't look at the connection between what was targeted with the betweenLessons from the Plagues and Call to Faith 10:10 what was targeted with the plagues. This is what the people worshiped. And there's a warning here, I think, for all nations. When god wants to get a nation's attention, he strikes at the heart of their10:22 idolatry. Now let me ask you a question. You know, what does America idolize? What do we idolize?10:34 You know, it's only a matter of time that god will bring down those idols. Father, we thank you for your word. And, lord, we're just so excited, of, this10:46 journey into Exodus because of what what it symbolizes for us as as we read this. Nothing is wasted. And, lord, as you have brought the children as you're bringing the children of Israel10:58 in this account out of bondage of slavery, it it it gives us the illustration of of you bringing us out of the bondage of sin11:09 through Jesus Christ. And so, father, I pray we would not miss 1 aspect of this, but the holy spirit would teach us and show us these truths that we might apply them to our lives and this world in which we11:21 live. We thank you for your word, and we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright. This is this is an exciting book. And, if you've not yet invited someone to join you on this journey, I11:33 encourage you to do so because there is a lot more to come. Alright. Until next time, keep standing on the word.11:44 Today's study comes from the stand on the word bible reading plan available for free at f r c dot o r g slash bible. By following along in just a few minutes a day, you11:56 can read through the entire Bible in just 2 years. Learn more and request the free reading guide at frc dot org slash bible.In this video 0:00 Moses' Preparation and the Initial Sign5:41 The First Four Plagues: Judgment on Idolatry10:04 Lessons from the Plagues and Call to Faith
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