Skip to content Embracing God's Timing in Retirement Feb 9 · 12 min ...more
Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Support this leader
Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Give
Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
93.9K followers
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.
93.9K followers
Moses' Preparation and Divine Commission 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. In the0:33 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 cover the0:45 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 first 800:57 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 get to this1:09 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 have maybe you1:21 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 to serve the1:33 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 was there a1:45 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, and Aaron your1:56 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 probably shaken a2:08 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 I command you, and2:20 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, this is the2:32 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, but2:44 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 so that I may2:56 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 Egyptians shall know that3:07 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 of god's3:19 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. But what3:31 he is saying here is the stated purpose is to let them know that the lord was god. Then Moses and Aaron did so just3:43 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 you saying,3:55 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 Lord commanded. And4:05 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 begins the,The Sign of the Serpent and First Plagues 4:18 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. The4:29 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.5:42 Now god will tear down every 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 most prominent6:06 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, and they6:18 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. Now it's6:30 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 first plague,6:42 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, say to Aaron, stretch out6:54 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 frogs came up and covered the7:05 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 the heart of their7:17 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 no 1 like the lord,7:29 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 out your rod, strike the dust of the7:41 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 on man and beast. All the dust in7:52 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, but it was such a problem8:04 that the unhelpful magicians that had only served to multiply previous plagues said that this was the finger of God. Verse 18, now the magicians so worked8:16 with their enchantment enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not. Like, you needed more of it. So there were lice on man and beast. Then the magician said to Pharaoh, this is the finger of God. But8:28 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. Alright? Have you noticed8:40 what they have been able to do so far? They were not able to counter or stop the plagues. They could only multiply the suffering of the people. They turned8:52 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. Agents of deception,9:04 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 of flies came into the house of9:15 Pharaoh, into his servant's 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 this fourth plague and moving forward,9:27 there is a distinction between the children of Israel and the Egyptians. Right? At this point, there is a distinction. Again, this was meant to show both god's power and authority.9:40 Now for the fly, scholars believe this was a mixture of insects, which once again were worshiped by the Egyptians. I I don't get it, but they worshiped them. They they wanted9:52 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 lesson here. Alright? There's some principles toSwarms of Flies and Lessons on Idolatry 10:03 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 plagues. This is what the people worshiped. And10:15 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 their idolatry. Now let me ask you a question.10:28 You know, what does America idolize? What do we idolize? You know, it's only a matter of time that god will bring down those10:39 idols. Father, we thank you for your word. And, lord, we're just so excited, of, this journey into Exodus because of what what it symbolizes for us as as10:51 we read this. Nothing is wasted. And, lord, as you have brought the children as you're bringing the children of Israel in this account out of bondage of slavery, it it it11:03 gives us the illustration of of you bringing us out of the bondage of sin through Jesus Christ. And so, father, I pray we would not miss 1 aspect of this, but11:15 the holy spirit would teach us and show us these truths that we might apply them to our lives and this world in which we live. We thank you for your word, and we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.11:26 Alright. This is this is an exciting book. And, if you've not yet invited someone to join you on this journey, I encourage you to do so because there is a lot more to come. Alright. Until next11:38 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 f r c dot o r g slash bible.In this video 0:00 Moses' Preparation and Divine Commission4:15 The Sign of the Serpent and First Plagues9:59 Swarms of Flies and Lessons on Idolatry
Comments No comments yet. Start the conversation.
Comments
Keep it kind. Comments are public.