The following is Pastor Nate’s teaching transcription from Calvary Monterey’s 2/2/21 Tuesday Night Service. We apologize for any transcription inaccuracies.

Welcome church to our Tuesday night's study through the Bible. And right now we're in the book of Exodus. And if you are following along, or you're able to, either turn on your phone to your Bible app or open up to Exodus chapter 10. In Exodus 10, we are dropping into really the tail end of the plague series that God brought upon Pharaoh and Egypt. And we are going to begin today with looking at the eighth plague and of course, the 10th plague is the last plague. The 10th plague being the plague of the Passover, which much time and space is dedicated to not only here in Exodus, but also in all of scripture. That being said, the first nine plagues in one sense are different from that 10th plague, in that they are delivered in three sets of three, as I mentioned to you in our last study.

The first, fourth and seventh plagues all begin, so each one of those sets of three, plagues one through three, plagues four through six and plagues seven through nine begin in the same way. In the morning, Moses went out to Pharaoh and spoke the plague warning to him. Plague one through three were initiated by Aaron's staff, was held in the air. Plagues four through six, there was no staff and plagues seven through nine, Moses's staff or hand is used to pronounce or initiate the plague.

Plague 8: Locusts

1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may show these signs of mine among them, 2 and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and of 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.”

We went through the first seven plagues in our last time together and so now here in chapter 10, we pick up the eighth plague, the plague of locusts. Let's begin by reading verse one and two together.

"Then the Lord said to Moses, "Go into Pharaoh for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, so that I may show these signs of mine among them. And that you may tell in the hearing of your son and of your grandson, I have dealt harshly with the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them. That you may know that I am the Lord."" Now here again, God reconfirms in verse one, that he was involved in and responsible for hardening Pharaoh's heart. And of course, Pharaoh himself, over and over again has been hardening his heart, but now God is hardening his heart. And as I said in our previous study, both of these are true. A Pharaoh hardening his heart, God hardening Pharaoh's heart, and neither does one deny the other. It's not simply just Pharaoh doing it for a while, then God doing it for a while. It seems that these things are working in tandem, they are both true simultaneously, one does not deny the other. But the big point here in these first two verses of chapter 10, is the phrase there in verse two that God wants these signs done so that, you may tell in the hearing of your son and of 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.

This helps us understand that these plagues were designed for judgment. And we've been focusing on that as we've gone through the plagues, seeing how they were direct judgments upon the false gods of Egypt, but they were also designed as a praise report concerning God's power. In other words, God wanted these events to be told to succeeding generations of the nation, so that they would know the power of God, particularly, he said your sons and your grandsons. So if you think about that, this would be the generation, their sons, their grandsons, who would go into the promised land 40 years after this event. And what would they need? They would need to know of the power of God, they would need to know of the faithfulness of God, they would need to know of the ability of God to deliver them as they went into the promised land, because in the promised land, there were many enemies that God had decided were ripe for judgment. And he would use the people of Israel to be his instrument of judgment upon those peoples.

And so the people of Israel going into the land of Canaan filled with even walled fortified cities would have wondered, "How can we possibly be victorious?" Well, part of the reason that they should know how they'd be victorious is because these stories should be told to their sons and to their grandsons. Everybody was supposed to know and learn about the power of God. And for this, I think we can come to some great applications for our own lives today. First of all, I would encourage you to be a person who is constantly reading stories, hearing stories of God's faithfulness.

Now I've discovered that we can do this in many ways. First of all, there's the Bible itself, isn't it there? The Bible is filled with stories of God's faithfulness and God's power in the lives of his people. So whether in the old or new Testament, you won't make it very long in your daily Bible reading before you come across an individual or whom God has expressed his power, his might, his majesty, and reading those stories is helpful to your faith. I would also encourage you to read and listen to the stories throughout church history. In other words, after the time of scripture, listening to or reading the stories of what God did from the first century, all the way to our modern century, is also greatly edifying for the faith. I just recently completed listening through an entire college class on church history as an effort just to continually wrap myself in the stories of the ancient historic church.

And over all, there was just this feeling within my heart that God is faithful. He gets his church where he wants to bring his church, and that can be a great encouragement to you. And so I'm not necessarily saying that you have to be a history buff or dry communication about times past, but someone who's interested in the stories of the faith from previous generations, the biographies and autobiographies of past saints, the stories God has done throughout church history. These things can be greatly helpful to you and your faith. Also, hearing the stories from your fellow believer, people that are around you today in Christ Jesus. These stories can be greatly edifying and they can work themselves out then in power in your own life. You might remember a little episode in the Gospels, I think in particular, it's recorded in Mark chapter five, where Jesus went to the seashore in Capernaum and was met by a huge crowd.

And in the crowd, there was a woman who had a flow of blood for 12 years and she wanted to be healed and had spent money on all kinds of physicians to try to get better, but to no avail. Well, when the crowd approached Jesus, the most prominent man in the community, a man named Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue, came forward and told Jesus that his 12-year-old daughter was lying home ill at the point of death. And Jesus committed to going with Jairus to heal this little girl or to be with this little girl. Now on the way, the woman with the flow of blood, she touched Jesus's garment. Power was released from him and she was healed. Jesus stopped and asked, "Who touched me, who touched me today?" The Disciples said, "Lord, what do you mean who touched you? People are pressing up against you."

And Jesus said, "No, but I perceive today, the power has gone from me. Who touched me?" And the woman who'd had the flow of blood was now healed privately by Jesus. Her story became public and Jesus said to her, "Daughter go your way, your faith has made you well." Now in part, don't you think that Jairus was a little bothered by this delay? He wanted Jesus to meet with this 12-year-old girl, but Jesus wanted to talk with this woman who'd been healed of a 12-year-old affliction. But Jairus needed faith, and the story of the woman whom Jesus called, daughter, would build up Jairus' faith for his daughter who was at home no longer sick, but now dead. And so when Jesus came to the home, he said "Only believe, she is not dead but sleeping, only believe."

I think that story of the woman was designed to help Jairus in his faith and in his situation. And for that, I just would continue to encourage you to read, listen to, get around the stories of what God has done and is doing in the lives of his people. I'd also be remiss not to say, and I don't want to spend too much time here on only these first two verses since we've got a bit of ground to cover in this teaching, but tell your children about God's power. Tell the next generation about who God is, teach them about God.

3 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. 4 For if you refuse to let my people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country, 5 and they shall cover the face of the land, so that no one can see the land. And they shall eat what is left to you after the hail, and they shall eat every tree of yours that grows in the field, 6 and they shall fill your houses and the houses of all your servants and of all the Egyptians, as neither your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen, from the day they came on earth to this day.’ ” Then he turned and went out from Pharaoh.

Let's move on in the passage though, verse three it says, "So Moses and Aaron went into 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, for 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 is 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 of all the Egyptians, as neither your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen from the day they came on earth to this day." Then he turned and went out from Pharaoh."

7 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 delivered to Pharaoh the prediction that a plague was coming, the eighth plague, and that it would be locusts, like had never been seen before in Egypt consuming everything. Then Pharaoh's servants, verse seven, 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?"

Now, Moses had asked the question, "How long until you submit to God's request, to God's demand?" And now these servants of Pharaoh, this is fascinating. His servants, some of them, perhaps the magicians who had previously been able to work various miracles. But it's very notable that these servants of Pharaoh actually stand up to a degree against Pharaoh, disagree a little bit with Pharaoh and say, "How long will this man be a snare to us?" Moses asked "How long will you resist God?" They asked, "How long will this man be a snare to us?" And their whole concept or reason for saying this in verse seven is, "Do you not yet understand that Egypt is ruined?" So they're trying to persuade Pharaoh to change his position. By this stage, these servants of Pharaoh were convinced of the folly of trying to stop the Israelites from going and worshiping God. They now are ready to submit to God.

8 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?” 9 Moses said, “We will go with our young and our old. We will go with our sons and daughters and with our flocks and herds, for we must hold a feast to the Lord.” 10 But he said to them, “The Lord be with you, if ever I let you and your little ones go! Look, you have some evil purpose in mind. 11 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.

When common sense is rejected because of hardness of heart, you know that a time of real darkness has come. And that seems to be what has occurred here with Pharaoh. Common sense would have told him to let these people go, but instead, a hardness of heart has come up upon him and he's unwilling to submit to God. Verse eight, "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?" And Moses said, "We will go with our young and our old, we will go with our sons and 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 ever I 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.""

Now here, Pharaoh tries to compromise or negotiate with Moses. He asks, "Which ones are to go?" There in verse eight, as if Pharaoh doesn't know what they've already been requesting over and over again. Moses has made it clear, "God says let my people go." This means men, and women, and children, everyone is supposed to go and worship the Lord. Pharaoh refuses, he's obstinate. And there in verse 11, he says, "The men among you, go." Not the women and not the children, but the men only. And so what Pharaoh is offering to Moses and Aaron is partial obedience, partial obedience. He was prepared to let the men go, but the women and the children had to remain behind. Now, I've found that the enemy of our souls loves to offer God's people partial obedience, and obeying God in one area of life and disobeying God and another major area of life.

For instance, in our modern times, it's not difficult to find someone who is naming the name of Christ, saying that they are a believer, saying that they are a Christian, who then privately, perhaps not even to their pastor, but I've had this conversation with people who would call me their pastor, or know that I am a pastor, who will confess and say that they've worked it out before God that they're allowed to sleep with their boyfriend or their girlfriend or cohabitate. That they've worked it out, they know the teaching of the Bible, they know the teaching of the church. But in this one area of life, they've worked it out with God and they feel okay with the decision that they've made. But this is partial obedience. Now, of course we understand we're never going to perfectly obey God on this side of eternity, but we certainly want to live lives where all known sin is dealt with before God.

12 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.” 13 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. 14 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 before, nor ever will be again. 15 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.

And certainly major areas of rebellion that we just give up and say, "I've worked it out before God," should be absent from our lives. Here, Moses was offered partial obedience, but he refused. Verse 12, "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 locust. The locust came up all over all the land of Egypt and settled on the whole country of Egypt, such as dense swarm of locusts as had never been before, nor ever will be again. They covered the face of the whole land, so that, the land was darken and they ate all of 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."

So here the locusts come in and invade the land of Egypt and decimate the vegetation. There were of course, gods that the Egyptians worshiped of the sky, which could do nothing, gods of the crops which also could do nothing and could not prevent this destruction. I also should just point out that many of these events or these plagues, they also remind us of the book of Revelation, the destruction of vegetation. Part of the reason I mentioned that in this point is because often, people will look at the Book of Revelation, particularly chapter 6 through 18, in which there is cataclysmic judgment and apocalyptic language. And we'll feel that, certainly these must be purely symbolic things that John has written in the Book of Revelation.

But we don't go back to the book of Exodus and say that this is apocalyptic language, these are clearly symbolic events that occurred. No, we believe that the vegetation was a literally struck by these locusts as they entered in. So I don't think it's all that wild to expect that some of these events will literally unfold just as the Book of Revelation foretells. And so, just pointing out the similarities here between the plagues of Exodus and the tribulation time described in Revelation 6 through 18.

16 Then Pharaoh hastily called Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against the Lord your God, and against you. 17 Now therefore, forgive my sin, please, only this once, and plead with the Lord your God only to remove this death from me.” 18 So he went out from Pharaoh and pleaded with the Lord. 19 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 all the country of Egypt. 20 But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the people of Israel go.

Then verse 16, "Pharaoh hastily called Moses 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 locust and drove them into the Red sea. Not a single locust was left in all the country of Egypt. The Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the people of Israel go."

Moses had increased in stature for Pharaoh to the point that Pharaoh comes to him as if Moses is God himself, a priest of God. And he says, "Forgive my sin, ask God to forgive my sin, please only this once, forgive my sin." But then after a bit of reprieve, since Moses does intercede for him and God holds back his judgment, Pharaoh's heart was hardened even further. Here it says that the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart. He's intermixing with Pharaoh himself, and He's hardened this man's heart.

Plague 9: Darkness

21 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness to be felt.” 22 So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was pitch darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. 23 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. 24 Then Pharaoh called Moses and said, “Go, serve the Lord; your little ones also may go with you; only let your flocks and your herds remain behind.” 25 But Moses said, “You must also let us have sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. 26 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.” 27 But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let them go. 28 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.” 29 Moses said, “As you say! I will not see your face again.”

Verse 21, "Then the Lord said to Moses, "stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness to be felt." So Moses stretched out his hand toward 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 flocks and your herds remain behind." But Moses said, "You must also let us have sacrifices and burnt offerings that we may sacrifice unto the Lord, our God. Our livestock also must go with us, not 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 arrived 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.""

Now, a few comments about this final plague that is predicted or this ninth plague before the Passover is predicted. First of all, it will be a darkness that is to be felt. In other words, it says if God is reversing creation right in front of them, that the God who said, "Let there be light," is now removing that light. The world, as they knew it, was unravelling as a result of their hardness of heart and unwillingness to submit to God,

And that darkness that can be felt, it almost seems as if God is letting them in on reality. They have pursued darkness, they have lived in darkness and now God is letting them see the darkness, feel the darkness. It's a darkness that can be felt. An ominous time. And it just seems as if God is letting them in on the reality in which they exist. Israel here in verse 23, we learned would have light. There's a difference in other words. And a little passage like this might remind the church of the modern era that we are called to be a light in a dark world, we have the light. He tells them in verse 24, Pharaoh trying to give the temptation partial obedience again, says, "Only let your herds remain." So yes, you can go with the women and you can go with the children, but leave behind your flocks. Again, partial obedience.

And here it's partial obedience in the realm of their finances. They would go worship God, but they'll not bring their finances with them. And this is when you can really begin discovering who a disciple is when Christ begins to become the King over their finances. But then Moses responds and says, "You must also let us have sacrifices and burnt offering." In other words, Moses knew that their worship would be costly. He didn't know how much or he didn't know what God would require, so he said we've got to bring all of it in case God wants all of it. And when Pharaoh heard all of this from Moses, he said, "You'll never see my face again," and Moses agreed. He said, "I will not see your face again." It's a striking conclusion to this whole passage. This indicates a different kind of end than the other sets of three plagues.

Exodus Chapter 11

The others, it was the hardening of Pharaoh's heart, but here it's a final end. They will not see each other after this event. Now in chapter 11, Moses is still interacting with Pharaoh. So there is a question here, did Moses and Pharaoh see each other after this big dramatic moment? You will not see my face ever again. And Moses says it is, as you say, I will not see your face again. Did they then reconvene later and the drama of the moment was laid down? What's going on? Some say, "Well, they did see each other again," but instead in previous times where there was a merciful warning from Moses attached, it would only be judgment. There was no way to repent. But it also seems very possible if not very natural, that what happens in chapter 11 is just the conclusion of their last conversation together. And that's how I read chapter 11.

The Final Plague Announced

1 The Lord said to Moses, “Yet one plague more I will bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt. Afterward he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will drive you away completely. 2 Speak now in the hearing of the people, that they ask, every man of his neighbor and every woman of her neighbor, for silver and gold jewelry.” 3 And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants and in the sight of the people.

And so with that, let's check it out in verse one of chapter 11, it says "The Lord said to Moses, "Yet one plague more I will bring upon Pharaoh, and upon Egypt. Afterward, he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will drive you away completely. Speak now in the hearing of the people that they ask every man of his neighbor and every woman of her neighbor for silver and gold jewelry." And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants and in the sight of the people."

So here God speaks to Moses and lets him know there's one more plague. Now this point, Egypt has been decimated by the three by three plagues, by the first nine plagues. And there's great fear in the general population, people are nervous about what's going to happen next. And God tells Moses that there's one plague more.

Now this is partly interesting because God never told Moses at the beginning how many plagues there would be, but now he announces to Moses that the final plague has come. In the midst of all this, God tells Moses that after this final plague, the Egyptians are going to send the people of Israel out of Egypt and that Pharaoh is going to give command that they go. That seems that the people, that the population in Egypt was very prepared to support Israelites' ambitions to get out of Egypt to worship the Lord. And God had prepared them for this and He'd given the people of Israel favor in the sight of the Egyptians. And they would eventually donate lots of wealth to the people of Israel as they departed. And this is more than just the turning of the tide or the overturning of the tables or the changing of fortunes.

It's actually God providing for the worship and the journey that the people of Israel were about to go on. But again, the favor of the Lord would be upon his people. What we conclude on that little paragraph in verse three, by seeing that the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt. There was just reverence for who Moses was by this point, especially by the servants of Pharaoh who wanted Pharaoh to let them go. They'd seen Moses work in miraculous ways. Now this is beautiful because it helps us see that God was busy raising Moses up. He'd taken this unqualified man and he'd used his life greatly.

But this is beautiful partly because, remember earlier in Moses's life, when he was 40, he assumed that God was going to use his life. He could easily imagine being used in this way when he was 40 years old. But at 80 at the burning bush, he doubted that God could use his life in this way, but God had done it. He had raised up his humble servant as the greatest man in Egypt at that time. James 4:10 says, "Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will exalt you." Too many people are running around trying to build their own name, build their own brand, build their own fame, their own glory and their own honor, rather than simply humbling themselves before the Lord and allowing the Lord to be the one to exalt them. So here this man of holiness, this man of consecration, Moses, is used by God. He's raised up in the sight of the Egyptians.

4 So Moses said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘About midnight I will go out in the midst of Egypt, 5 and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the cattle. 6 There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor ever will be again.

So Moses said, "Thus says the Lord, about midnight I will go out in the midst of Egypt, and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is buying the hand mill and all the firstborn of the cattle. There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt such as there has never been nor ever will be again." Here, Moses communicates what this final plague will be.

At midnight, God will unleash death upon Egypt. Every firstborn in the land of Egypt would die. Now in our modern world, this would be a terrible event, but it was made even more dramatic in that ancient world because the firstborn held a position of great prominence, that we normally don't hold in our modern world. The first born was the heir of the estate, the first born was the one to carry on the family name. Particularly, in Pharaoh's house, the first born was the future Monarch that the people of Egypt would bow down to in reference, and even worship. So for the first born in all the land of Egypt to be struck, even on down into the livestock that people owned, speaks of a terrible event for the people. This would be a heavy moment, a moment of great despair and grief in the land of Egypt.

And perhaps as we think about this final plague, and perhaps think about all of the plagues, there might be a sense within our hearts wondering or questioning, how could God, our father in heaven, the good and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding and loving kindness. How could he do things like this? Now of course, we have to remember that God is right and everything he does is good. He is Holy and righteous in all his ways. He's incapable of evil, He's a pure eyes than to even behold evil, so the prophet Habakkuk once said. And of course, throughout the whole text, we know that God had given Pharaoh many opportunities to humble himself, but still he thought highly of himself and his gods that he worshiped. God had been warning Pharaoh about all of this from the very beginning, all the way back from Exodus 4:22-23. God had warned him that a firstborn son would die.

So Pharaoh had ample opportunity to repent of his sin. And of course we know from looking at the cross, that God is good and that he not only did this event, but he ultimately sent his firstborn son to die on the cross for our sin. We have to remember these things about God when this judgment is unleashed. I think a similar moment is found in our timeframe of our walk with God today. You see we're in a period of grace, we're in the age of the church, we're in the age where God's spirit is willing and drawing people to himself and that grace and mercy that he gives to us as a result of that gospel message, it's powerful. We become new creatures in Christ, Jesus, all things pass away and all things become new. And we understand God as long suffering and patience. And hopefully with that patients, we become repentant and we come towards him.

7 But not a dog shall growl against any of the people of Israel, either man or beast, that you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.’ 8 And all these your servants shall come down to me and bow down to me, saying, ‘Get out, you and all the people who follow you.’ And after that I will go out.” And he went out from Pharaoh in hot anger.

But when we see the words of Jesus, the preparation that's given to us in the epistles and the book of Revelation, we understand that at time of coming judgment will occur. Eventually God's long suffering will give way to God's justice, and here that seems to be what is happening in Egypt at this time. Enough is enough and it's time for one final harsh plague to be unleashed so that Pharaoh will finally submit. And the world will know that there is a God greater than any god in Egypt, including Pharaoh himself. Now when this occurred, when this horrible final plague occurred, Moses went on to say in verse seven, but not a dog shall growl against any of the people of Israel, either man or beast, that you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel. And all these, your servants shall come down to me and bow down to me saying, "Get out, you and all the people who follow you." And after that, I will go out. And he went out from Pharaoh in hot anger.

Here, Moses announces that God is going to make a distinction between the Egyptians and the Israelites. His covenant people will be protected, Moses says. He says it in a artistic way when he says, "not even a dog will growl against any of the people of Israel." Now this happened to a degree with some of the previous plagues; when the flies struck, the livestock was struck, the hail came, the darkness came, when the boils were unleashed and the locusts came, it seems that God protected the people of Israel in a unique way. There were some plagues that they endure just like Egypt did, and there were others that they were protected from.

But this is a theme throughout this whole passage. God is watching over his people. He is caring for his flock. And so God is going to protect them in this final plague, this final judgment as well. And of course, this will lead to the ultimate protection of God when they will be able to leave Egypt entirely and deliver his people completely. And again, this is the way it is in our Christian life at times, at times we go through trials that everyone else on earth goes through, at times we go through trials that are unique to us because we're God's people, trials like persecution. At times we will be protected from trials that other people endure and ultimately, we will be delivered from the Coming wrath to come.

Now, when Moses said all of these things to Pharaoh, we already read it there at the end of verse eight, it says that he went out from Pharaoh in hot anger. I wonder if Moses thought about the stupidity and the waste of all those lives that were lost because Pharaoh would not simply let God's people go. With this final pronouncement, Moses leaves Pharaoh angry because of this man's stubbornness, angry because of this man's hardness of heart. This is righteous indignation that Moses is experiencing. And as a result of Pharaoh's unwillingness, his people, the Egyptians were going to be put through a terrible expression of God's power. And after this, the Israelites would leave.

9 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not listen to you, that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.” 10 Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh, and the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the people of Israel go out of his land.

So it says then in verse nine, then the Lord said to Moses, Pharaoh will not listen to you, that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt. Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh and the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the people of Israel go out of his hand. So again, the Lord hardening the heart of Pharaoh. The promise is that Pharaoh would not listen to the to the predictions of what was to come. His hardness and his refusal led to the display of God's power before Egypt and before the world.

God would become known as powerful in part, because of this man's folly, he would use this man as an example for all. And this summary is meant to recall the entire previous narrative and add justification for the calamity, that the terrible nature of the judgment that is to come. Instead of humility or repentance or submission Pharaoh behaved in pride and in self-justification, and expressed his own Lordship over his own life. For us, as we consider this man Pharaoh, I wonder if often we've felt ourselves similar to this man, the Lord working, perhaps not as drastically as he did with the plagues, but in different ways to try to bring us to a place of brokenness, a place of humility, a place of repentance, a place of a submission to him.

And rather than do these things, we become hard within our hearts. No, God, there's my way, there's the way that I choose, I will be the Lord of my life. But just as occurred with Pharaoh, so we often experience, we bring greater pain into our lives when we self-govern, refuse to submit ourselves to His way and allow ourselves to be the Lord. It actually leads to great pain in our lives, and it is better for us to submit to God. With that, I'm going to leave the study and next week we'll pick up in chapter twelve, where we will see the power of the Passover itself. God bless you, church.