Are you bugged? Exodus 10

Continuing through the whole Bible, we come now the eighth and ninth plagues: locusts and darkness. These are recorded in Exodus 10 (link) as the might of Egypt is crumbling around Pharaoh and his people.

The locusts come not too long after the hail of Exodus 9 and destroy everything crop left over after the hail. Again, there is a warning of their impending arrival. This time, Pharaoh’s servants, his own advisors, tell Pharaoh to let the people go. They implore him with this line “Do you not know that Egypt is destroyed?”

Can you imagine?

This is the reality of the situation: if the locusts come, there will not be much left for Egypt to eat. They will go to the brink of starvation, to the edge of desolation. The advisors to the king know this now, and they try to persuade him. He refuses.

The locusts come. The locusts eat. The land is stripped of food sources and survival will become the biggest goal of Egypt for years to come, rather than conquest or power. This happens simply for the pride of one man, one man striving to hold on to the power of his office. Even his own advisors have turned against him, yet he will not listen.

Such is the danger of great offices, that one can take that position and then destroy all that the role is meant to protect. Let’s take a look, though, backwards at Exodus 1:8. What has occurred? A Pharaoh arises who knows not Joseph.

Joseph, used by God to save Egypt from salvation, has been forgotten. Now, the benefits of Joseph will be lost. There have been many generations pass since Joseph’s 7-year plan saved the nation from starvation and built Egypt into a great economic power. Now, all of that is gone: the Israelites will leave Egypt in the condition it was in when they came: famine.

This is a heavily cautionary tale for us. Many times we are bugged by small things, things we count as trifles, but then they multiply across our lives and wreak havoc. The real problem is that so often, somebody warned us. It may even have been a person we see as an enemy, as Pharaoh saw Moses.

Then along came our friends, our advisors—who agreed with him! Did we listen? No, we just allowed the locusts to come on, allowed the destruction to happen. Yet was Moses really Pharaoh’s enemy? No, for all Moses wanted was the people to be let go. Had Pharaoh said “yes” then none of this would have happened.

And what follows the locusts? Darkness. Three days of darkness so thick that no one goes outside, and only the Israelites have light in their dwellings.

That darkness closes in on all who refuse to consider more than themselves. Anytime that power and control become more important than anything else, the locusts come and then the darkness follows.

Be cautious when you have the power.

Today’s nerd note: I will not even consider attempting to explain how there is light in the dwellings of the Israelites when there is no light anywhere else. That’s going to defy any explanation besides “God did it.”

Rather, let’s look at another major issue: the narrative goes back and forth between assigning the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart to Pharaoh and to God. So, who made Pharaoh stubborn? And who is responsible for the outcome?

In truth, Pharaoh did and Pharaoh is responsible. One thing that’s not recorded in the text but I think is fair assumption is this: Pharaoh called out to his gods for strength to hold his ground. The One True God is answering Pharaoh’s prayer by giving him that stubbornness. Yet stubborn is not Pharaoh needed. Righteous is.

In the end, Pharaoh is responsible for his actions just as we are responsible for our own. Exactly how that works with a God who is sovereign over all things is hard to fathom, but it works. We do not blame God for the sinful choices of men: we are responsible for ourselves and need to behave as such.

I can't stand it! Exodus 9

Carrying on through the whole Bible, we come to Exodus 9 (link). This chapter continues the plagues that strike Egypt and details the plagues on the cattle, the plague of boils, and the hail (with fire!). The situation in Egypt is going from frogs, flies, and gnats to worse.

And that means it's going a lot worse.

The first plague strikes cattle. That's terrible, because cattle die without meeting the grill afterwards, and this is a shame. A pair of critical details here: Moses announces this plague before it hits and the plague does not affect Israelite cattle. God expresses that He will distinguish between the Egyptians and the Israelites, and then He does: the curse does not destroy His people.

Life does not always work this way. Note that the frogs and flies and gnats appear to have been everywhere, notwithstanding the fact that the Israelites are in oppressive bondage to Pharaoh. This is not to say that God will always keep the bad things on His enemies and the good things only on His people. There are times of common grace where the rain falls on the just and the unjust (Matthew 5:45); there are times where the common affliction of sin, the common ancestry of sinners, brings pain on us all.

But this time, there is a distinction. Alongside it is an explanation of the point of the distinction, that God is making a point to the Egyptians about whose side they should be on. Will they get it?

You can see that some did when you skip ahead to the hail. The hail falls while there is fire in the sky like had never been seen in Egypt. I suspect the possibility of severe thunderstorms, something that the dry climate would make less likely. The crop damage is similar to what we see in farm country if the storms come at bad times: mature crops destroyed while immature ones have an opportunity to keep growing.

There's a rabbit to chase: there are sins and attitudes that will destroy those who claim to be mature that do not really hit those who admit immaturity. Consider that and how it applies to you—now, back on task.

When the hail comes, there's a warning again from Moses that it's coming. Exodus 9:20 tells us that some of Pharaoh's officials feared the message from God and sheltered their animals (that survived from earlier) and servants. Others did not bother with safety—and lost those animals and their servants.

So a few Egyptians are beginning to listen to the voice of the One True God. This is a good thing for them—if they will continue to listen.

In between these, there's the boils. It's possible that the cattle plague and the boils are related: cowpox, perhaps, or anthrax, or hoof-in-mouth. No, that's foam around the mouth, not boils. Anyway, it infects the people. Pharaoh's magicians reappear and prove that they, too, can produce boils. They're covered with them.

So much so that they cannot stand and face Moses or Pharaoh due to their illness. It's a terrible thing for them. They just can't stand the situation. Yet the hearts of the magicians and of Pharaoh remain stubborn.

What do we do? Catch the contrast between Pharaoh with his magicians and the officials who hide their cattle and shelter their servants. Some people are just going to be stubborn—you can destroy everything around them and they will not turn. Other people take a long time to come around, but they do come around.

These folks may take a while to get there, though: we don't see them walking across the room to join Moses. These officials are likely those who start telling Pharaoh to just get rid of the Israelites so that Egypt can have peace again. It's as if they are about halfway out of the dark: they might go back, they might go forward.

At times, we're all there. It's most obvious when we think of bigger moments, like salvation and surrender to Christ or repentance from major besetting sin. Yet we can see it in less obvious things: learning to love that one more person, learning to look past those old traditions, learning to grow a little more every day.

So be patient: that wall you keep banging your head against? It might be starting to crack. Keep banging.

Today's nerd note: You may have noticed that all the livestock die in the first plague of the chapter, then there's still livestock in the end for the hail plague. A couple of possibilities here:

1. Different types of livestock: we could be looking at feed cattle in the first and dairy cattle in the second, such that the plagues hold differing impacts. The additional groups could be cattle/livestock that are used for food purposes, both eating and dairy, compared to pack animal/plow animal livestock. Either way, there would be a distinction. Striking the feed cattle but leaving the dairy cattle would be a grace: struggle for years to recover that wealth and luxury (wait, no, eating cows is a need, right?) but not the starvation for children that losing dairy cattle would be.

Then the ones who lose the dairy cattle to the hailstorm are really the ones to blame: they failed to heed the Word of God about the danger. Grace delivers us from many of our own mistakes, but eventually we face the consequences of neglecting the Word.

2. Different locations: one consideration in all of this story is that Egypt is a pretty big country. Especially for the lines of communication that were available at that time. So, you may be seeing the nearby cattle killed in the plague and then reports from a distance of cattle killed in the storm. Or possibly that the plagued cows were being replaced by distant sources and those replacements got hailed.

Personally, I think the first possibility works best.

Hop to it! Exodus 8

Frogs. Lots of frogs. All over the place, bouncing about and make a nuisance of themselves. It's enough to make the biggest Kermit fan go a little crazy. That's where the Egyptians find themselves in Exodus 8 (link). Covered up in toads, which is different for Pharaoh. Like many government leaders, he's probably more used to toadies. Yet I digress..

The plague of frogs is on the Egyptians. You might not think frogs are that bad, but think about this: in your house? In your cooking pots and kneading bowls? That's just crazy. It's filthy, too, because the frogs leave frog waste behind. As well as dead frogs.

Meanwhile, Exodus 8:7 gives the magicians of Egypt their due, that they were able to bring up frogs as well. Except for an important, to me, detail: there were already frogs everywhere. It can't have been that hard. Just clear off some space, say some mumbo-jumbo and then watch the frogs come.

The plague of gnats, followed by the plague of flies, round out the happenings of this chapter. It's enough to make Pharaoh pay a little lip-service to God and the idea of allowing the people of Israel to go out and sacrifice, but it's not a heart change. In fact, one of the sadder places of Scripture is found in Exodus 8:32: Pharaoh, again, hardens his heart.

This is where we come into the story. It is quite easy for us to be just like Pharaoh in this story. When our backs are against the wall, we start talking about the good things we need to do. We fess up to needing to confess sins, be open and honest about past issues, or make better plans going forward.

We do all of this in hope that, once we've gotten out of this mess, perhaps we can find some wiggle room in our commitment. Maybe there's a loophole we left ourselves, a gap in the wall around our given word.

Once the frogs are gone, though, we cannot turn our back on our promises. This is why it matters a great deal that we consider our means and methods for accomplishing our desires and consider our promises along the way. We cannot say whatever it takes to get our way and then back out.

This is true no matter what our goals are. Even good goals should not be accomplished with false promises. Neither should bad things that can be stopped honestly be defeated with lies and deceit. On this, I know that the ethics run differently if you're lying about the Jews in your attic in 1942. However, in a modern situation such as a church effort or political campaign there is no compelling reason for deception and untruth.

Be careful: a hardened heart on one issue becomes a hardened heart on many issues. That's not a road to go down.

Today's nerd note: The Ten Plagues of Egypt have been the subject of many studies. First of all, there are some serious questions about the plagues. There are no records in the Egyptian Hieroglyphs about the plagues. It's hard to pin down: it's entirely possible that the Egyptians just did not want to remember the situation.

Further, there are efforts to explain the causes of the Plagues. The most recent one to gain acclaim was the eruption of a volcano that led to most of these events. Other attempts to create a natural explanation have been made. The real question is about how God worked, though, because otherwise you're looking at a heap of coincidences that cannot be explained.

Finally, there are some attempts to identify each of the plagues as an assault on specific Egyptian deities. That's entirely possible, though not necessary for our understanding. The point here is not just that Yahweh exceeds Amenophis. It's that Yahweh is the only God, and the story is about Him.

Holy Week Day 2: The Cleansing

Now, technically, this happened on Day 1 right after the Triumphal Entry, but I feel like this deserves its own mention.

Luke 19:45-48

Mark 11:15-18

Matthew 21:12-17

After coming into Jerusalem, the Lord Jesus goes into the Temple. In the Temple, he finds people about all sorts of business and activity. Much of it is centered on personal profit derived from those who have come to worship the One True God.

This angers Jesus. Something to be aware of as we consider Jesus is this: He's not always huggy-man. Sometimes, when the honor of God is at stake, He is angry. His anger comes out here against those who are blocking people whose hearts are rightly seeking God.

These folks are more concerned for themselves than for righteousness. That's not a good place to be.

The point to be taken here is this: Jesus is headed to the Cross to remove the curse of sin by taking that punishment. He will take the force of the death we deserve—that price is not too high for Him to pay. Neither, though, will He stand by and let people interfere with those seeking God.

Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes? Exodus 7

Back at the burning bush, I skipped over one of the signs that God showed Moses to prepare him for the confrontation with Pharaoh. Moses was told to throw down his staff, and the staff became a snake. I do love the last line of Exodus 4:3 about the snake: "Moses fled from it." You got that right—my two feet will hopefully carry me beyond the reach of those slithering menaces.

Now, in our exploration of the narrative, we've reached Exodus 7 (link). Moses has confronted Pharaoh once, and that ended with increased labor for Israel and no letting of the people to go. God has promised several times that His hand will be stretched out and heavy on the Egyptians and eventually Egypt will drive out the Israelites.

Pharaoh and Moses meet again, and this time it's time to show at least the first of the cards to be played in this round. Aaron throws down his staff, and it becomes a serpent. Now, most of us think we'd be convinced by this and we'd call it a day. Not so with Pharaoh. He calls for his own wise men, and by their "secret arts" they copy the same trick.

The same one! They turn their staves into serpents. Doug has, at this point, left the building with instructions to call me when it gets better. Tradition puts two sorcerers at the side of Pharaoh, but the text does not demand that. It only demands more than one. And they all brought sticks, and they all ended up with snakes. That's at least 3 snakes too many.

When all is said and done, though, Aaron's staff-snake eats all of the other staff-snakes. I can imagine one Egyptian magician grumbling about having to limp out without his cane, but that's another discussion. The point here, as discussed for centuries, is that the power of Yahweh, God of Israel, exceeds all the magic of Egypt.

So this morning, you've woken up to discover that you did not profit a few million from the lottery last weekend, despite your earnest prayers and commitment to give much of it away. You're headed back to work, or possibly back to the job hunt, and wondering: just why is it that God does not seem to be coming through for you when people who you know don't like Him are doing great?

Why is it that their methods and magic are working and yours isn't? Is it that God is not powerful enough in these days?

I would point you back, at a safe distance, to the snakes. I do not know how the Egyptians were able to copy the results that God's man did by God's power. I only know this: they did. In no uncertain terms, the text admits the Egyptians had snakes.

The world can and does produce success that looks equal to the results of following God. For that matter, the world's production often looks better: Pharaoh still has his slaves, after all.

Yet when it's all said and done, the success snake gets eaten. The things of this world are swallowed up in the scheme of eternity, and even the wealth of this world becomes the gravel to be tread upon in the next.

Religion has often been called a crutch, but I would pose you this question: if all men limp, is not a crutch necessary? At the end of the encounter, Aaron has his crutch. The Egyptians? They limp away. What have you got?

Today's nerd note: we tend to class the opposition to Moses as "magicians" and "sorcerers" but keep in mind that the separation between "Physics" and "Metaphysics" is only a page until the Enlightenment Age of recent past. These were magicians and scientists both, much like a Medieval Alchemist (or a Persian Magi). So, count them as both mystical and logical. There's not nearly the separation there we claim today.

Really, though, science still makes philosophical and religious claims and religion and philosophy make scientific claims. And to do either one, you really cannot ignore the other.

Today's additional nerd note: 2 Timothy 3:8 uses the traditional names of Jannes and Jambres as the opposition to Moses. These names are possibly accurate, given that we hold Paul's writing to be inspired and accurate. However, these could have been the two leaders among a crowd or other opponents of Moses. Tradition gives us that these were the magician-scientists of Exodus 7.

Sermon Wrap Up: April 1

AM Audio Link Here or Here

PM Audio Link Here or Here

I'm not sure if one of those links is better than the other, so let me know if you see a reason to prefer one. I'm curious.

Morning Outline:

Text: John 12:12-14; John 13:21-28; John 19:15

Let us look at the two crowds of the Easter Story today:

I. The first crowd: shouting "hosanna" and seeing the signs and miracles of Jesus

     A. This crowd are those who cheer the benefits of God in the here and now

     B. This crowd are those who find some form of good in Jesus

          1. Good teacher

          2. Good morals

          3. Good intentions

II. The second crowd: shouting "Crucify him!" and putting their trust into the kings of this world

     A. This crowd are those who refuse to look beyond themselves and this world

     B. This crowd are those who find no good in Jesus

          1. No worthwhile teaching

          2. Unnecessary restrictive morality

          3. Powerful intentions

          4. Or, no power at all

III. These two crowds are not the only people, though:

     A. There's Jesus. You're not Him.

     B. There's Pilate and the chief priests. You ought not be them, either: they come to the story with their minds made up

     C. There's the disciples. We ought to be them--

          1. What sets them apart? Why are they different from the crowds? Intimacy with the Messiah

          2. What has happened to draw them apart, what experience has separated them from the crowds of Palm Sunday?

IV. The Last Supper--they are different because of the time spent at the table with Jesus.

     A. Listening to His words: we have lost an important part of many of our meals. The time around the table is not just about food but about relationship.  You need to be there with your family, with others, as best you can

     B. Opportunities for grace: Judas is there. Peter is there. Both face choices in front of them and neither will do well with those choices--Judas will betray Jesus then end his life; Peter will try violence then denial. Yet the table was for them, and the others, a place of grace

     C. Learning what it really means: Jesus walks them through the most important lessons they'll need:

          1. Service to each other: in His washing of their feet

          2. The pain of sin: the bread, broken, a reminder of the death of His body

          3. The price of sin: the cup, poured out and distributed, as His blood poured out for our forgiveness

          4. The promise: that the disciples would take the bread and the cup with Him again in the new kingdom; that all who follow will live with Him

V. So where are you today? You are invited to the table--but to reach that point, one must leave the crowd--

     A. Accept His word   

     B. Acknowledge that your sin caused His death

     C. Surrender to Him as Lord

     D. Walk with Him daily

VI. If you are His, then this table is for you.

     A. A reminder of the cost

     B. A pull from the crowds--either one

     C. A commitment to go forward with Him

 

Evening Outline:

John 12:20-26

After the Triumphal Entry, we see this odd little story: a group of Greeks come to Philip and ask him if they can see Jesus.

Philip goes to Andrew, and they go to Jesus. And Jesus says...

That this world:

1. Is about His glory

2. Requires that we die to bear fruit--that fruit? Lives following Jesus

3. We must serve Him by following: doing what He did, teaching what He said

Scripture is not clear whether or not the Greeks actually saw and spoke to Jesus--I think they did.

They represent a world that still, in all of the things that go wrong, cries out "We wish to see Jesus!"

Not:

1. We wish to see great preachers--whether they are great at it, great-looking, or both.

2. We wish to see grand buildings--though we do not neglect the places God has blessed us with, nor neglect to do what is needed to have places to gather and grow

3. We wish to see glorious programs--though we come to take part in activities, they are no real comfort in death

How about you?

Have you seen Jesus?

Are you willing to hate your own life that others may see Jesus?

Are you following in the steps He took, though they lead through cold, dark mountains or on streets of gold?

Holy Week: Day 1, The Triumphal Entry

Matthew 21:1-10

Mark 11:1-14

Luke 19:28-44

John 12:12-19

The crowd cheers as the donkey comes through the streets. Men, women, and children cast branches on the path to soften the donkey's footfalls, while others use their coats for the same purpose. On the back of the colt are the coats of a few men, and seated atop those is a man.

At the sight of him, the people shout out words of praise and exaltation. They proclaim their allegiance to Him as the King.

Then they go on with their business.

Leaving this simple question for us: will we worship and then go on about our business? Or will we stay and follow?