Christ in all the scriptures Exodus 5-11 Wonders in Egypt

Exodus chapters 5-11 

Let my people go!

"And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharoah, thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.  And Pharoah said, who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go?  I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go "-Exodus 5v1-2.

"Then the Lord said unto Moses, now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharoah: for with a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land"-Exodus 6v1.

"Thou shalt speak all that I command thee, and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharoah, that he send the children of Israel out of his land"-Exodus 7v2.,

"And the Lord spake unto Moses, go unto Pharoah, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord, let my people go that they may serve me"-Exodus 8v1.

Pharoah tried every trick to maintain Israel as his slaves, and commentators have likened his deviations to the wiles of the devil to keep souls from conversion to God.  Under pressure from the strong judgments of God on the land and the people of Egypt, he began suggesting compromises, just as the devil will do, to keep souls in bondage.  

8v25 "Go sacrifice to your God in the land"-by all means serve your God but in Egypt.  Moses rejected this as Israel must separate from Egypt to worship God.

8v28 "Only ye shall not go very far away"-don't go far, the reason being they could easily enslave them again.

10v11 "Go now ye that are men, and serve the Lord"-thus separating them from their families, and maintaining a hold on them.  Pharoah knew they would return for family.

10v24 "Go ye serve the Lord, only let your flocks and herds be stayed"-take all the family, but without the animals they would need to return for food, and they would have nothing to sacrifice.

Pharoah did everything to tie Israel to Egypt.  Even the slightest link would continue their slavery.  The word of God through Moses was "Three days journey into the wilderness" to serve the Lord with all that they had, including family and flocks.  Likewise, the devil seeks to hold people with some link to himself, to frustrate their freedom from slavery.  To live a life of worship to God is to separate entirely from Egypt, and its idolatrous system.  Egypt represents the world system in opposition to God.

Many times it is recorded Pharoah hardened his own heart, many times the Lord hardened Pharoah's his heart-refer 4v21; 7v13/14; 7v22; 8v15; 8v19; 8v32; 9v7; 9v12; 9v34/35; 10v1; 10v20; 10v27; 11v10; 14v8.  Resistance to the will of God will result in Divine hardening, a solemn biblical principle of reprobation-when man rejects God, He will reject them.  All this was played out in the face of Divine judgment in the form of miraculous plagues that affected the whole of Egypt.  To understand the plagues, we must refer to chapter 12v12 "...against all the gods of Egypt will I exercise judgment: I am the Lord".  Pharoah said "Who is the Lord that I should obey Him?"  The Lord replies, I'll show you who I am!      Egypt was an idolatrous land where idolatry was rife; they replaced the true God with gods of their own imaginations.  Each plague was directed against a known public god. 

Water turned to blood-7v14-24   Seven days the water supply undrinkable; the god Hapi or Apis was the water-bearer god.

Marauding frogs-8v1-15     The goddess of fertility, Heket, had a frog's head.  The frogs oozed from the river and overrun their homes, their land and their food.

Lice from the dust of the earth-8v16-19  The god Seb was the god of the earth, and by the hand of God the dust came alive in the form of lice, attacking people and beasts.

Swarms of flies-8v20-32   Khepri, the god of creation with the head of a fly.  These swarms became a menace of destruction affecting only Egyptians.

Livestock disease, called "grievous murrain"-9v1-7  Hathor, the goddess of love and protection who was depicted with the head of a cow.  This threatened economic disaster affecting food production, transportation, and farming.

Ashes turned to boils and sores-9v8-12  Isis the god of medicine and peace.  The medicines were useless in this affliction.

Hail rained down mingled with fire-9v13-35     Nut, goddess of the sky.  The sky poured out unmistakable judgment on the land bringing destruction misery.

Hordes of locusts descending from the sky-10v1-20   Seth, goddess of storms; the locusts covered the land from above.

Total darkness for three days-10v21-29   Ra the sun god; a darkness that could be felt enveloped Egypt.

Death of the firstborn, beginning with the Pharoah-12v1-30   They had made a god of the ruling Pharoah, just as the Romans did with the Caesars, along with all the dictators, despots, and oppressors who act like gods.  God, ultimately, brought to an end this particular dynasty to show who rules in the kingdoms of men.

This represents a comprehensive disapproval and ultimate destruction of all man's futile imaginations, which issue in idolatry.  Nothing that God opposed was left untouched.  No less than nine times did God give Pharoah opportunity to repent and obey.  This process was marked by mercy: limiting the time; preserving food; constant appeal to change the attitude, but it was all to no avail.  Pharoah was on a collision course with God, and there could only be one outcome.  The rod of Moses became the rod of God in his hand, as he wielded stroke after stroke on a nation the Lord had preserved from extinction. in Joseph.

We move on to the the future, for the plagues in Egypt are but a portent of what is to come ON A GLOBAL SCALE!  Like Moses, Jesus confronted the authorities of His day, in the form of the Roman Empire, and the ruling Sanhedrim of Judaism...in the garden of Gethsemane, when they came with numbers and weapons to take Him, He said "Whom seek ye...?  If therefore ye seek me, LET THESE GO THEIR WAY- John 18v8.  He will wield the rod of God on an idolatrous and disobedient world.  This will be in the form of SEVEN SEALS, and SEVEN TRUMPETS, and SEVEN VIALS of wrath, that will fall on a hardened, impenitent world.  Imagine the destruction in Egypt, enacted globally across every nation, affecting every city, and every godless authority.  Scripture records that His Second Coming will be an act of mercy that will save the world from annihilating itself, that is the extent of the judgment-Matthew 24v21- 22.  He will tread the world with the rod of God until all rebellion has been subdued.

Psalm 2v8-9 "Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.  Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel."

Revelation 2v27 "And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers."

Revelation 12v5 "And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up to God, and to His throne."

Revelation 19v15 "And out of His mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations: and He shall rule them with a rod of iron: and He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God".

 As with Egypt, the world will be brought to its knees under the mighty hand of God; as with Egypt, judgment will be mixed with mercy; as with Pharoah, opportunity to repent will be offered time and again; as with Egypt, the ruling power of the day will perish.  Christ will rule the world, with His people at the head of nations, and the will of God shall be done on earth as it is in heaven.   Israel shall be free, and all the world blessed, but first must come the demolition of evil that rules now.  The words of God in Deuteronomy 18v18-19:

"I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in His mouth; and He shall speak unto them all that I shall command Him.  And it shall come to pass that whosoever will not hearken unto my words, which He shall speak in my name, I will require it from him."