10-18-14. Exodus 7:14-25. God Will Reveal His Glory -my devotional

Exodus 7:14-25                                                                                             Kevin E. Jesmer

Key Verse: 7:17                                                                                                   10-18-14

“This is what the Lord says: By this you will know that I am the Lord: With the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood.”(NIV)

    A prayer for those preparing their hearts for a Christian devotional time…..Lord Jesus Christ, I come to you, the Streams of Living Water. Refresh and quench my spiritual thirst for your presence and your word. Satisfy my soul with your truth. Help me to walk in your precepts. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

 Part 1: The Spiritual Battle Is Tenacious, But God Is Victorious (14-19)

Verses 14-19, “14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go. 15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes out to the river. Confront him on the bank of the Nile, and take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake. 16 Then say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the wilderness. But until now you have not listened. 17 This is what the Lord says: By this you will know that I am the Lord: With the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood. 18 The fish in the Nile will die, and the river will stink; the Egyptians will not be able to drink its water.’” 19 The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt—over the streams and canals, over the ponds and all the reservoirs—and they will turn to blood.’ Blood will be everywhere in Egypt, even in vessels of wood and stone.”

Our God is a just God, warning people, giving them many chances and helping his people in the spiritual battles of life. We are introduced to the first plague to come upon Egypt. It will be the plague of blood. But before the plague comes, God wants to give Pharaoh one more chance to repent. Look at Exodus 7:15, “Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes out to the river. Confront him on the bank of the Nile, and take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake.” (NIV) Pharaoh got up early to go out to the river, and Moses was waiting for him with God’s message. Look at verse 16, “Then say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the wilderness. But until now you have not listened.” Moses warned Pharaoh that if he did not heed God’s word, he would turn the Nile River, the source of life and object of worship in Egypt, into blood.

I really admire this aspect of God. He warns people, again and again. He is patient. He was patient with the Egyptians for 400 years as they kept the Hebrews in slavery. He was patient with this particular Pharaoh, for Moses and Aaron came to him repeatedly. Nobody can say that the God of the Bible is not fair. He is fair and just. He gives people ample time to repent and turn to him in faith. I need to practice the same grace on others. I can not just rush to judgment, but come to people with the grace and truth of God.

Moses and Aaron were facing a spiritual battle with the confrontation of Pharaoh with the Word of God. Pharaoh’s heart was hardened. He did not want to listen to the warning of God through Moses. We can see this in Exodus 7:14, “Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go.” It is already been established that Pharaoh is a symbol of Satan. Pharaoh’s hardening of his heart and his stubbornness reveals that Satan does not give in easily. Satan also does not let the people, whom he enslaved, free either. Anyone, engaged in Christian ministry needs to realize that it is not going to be easy to preach the Gospel and see peoples’ hearts set free from the devil’s bondage into the glorious freedom in Christ. We will face stubbornness and unyielding refusals. But we should not be surprised. The Bible says that it is going to be a spiritual battle. Jesus himself did battle with the devil in the desert for forty days, (Matt 4:1-11). To win this battle, we need to remain in Christ, in prayer, in the word and obey the Lord. We must trust and obey. Jesus will go on ahead of us in this battle so that many captives may be set free by the grace of God.

Some people don’t blame Pharaoh. The Nile is such a large river, that the prediction that it would all be turn to blood, must have seemed totally crazy to Pharaoh. It sounded ridiculous. Why would God go to such great lengths to free the Hebrew slaves. But the truth is, that the turning of the waters to blood was totally necessary. God will, and has, gone to great lengths to redeem sinners from slavery. The necessity of the shed blood of Jesus seemed preposterous to the world but it was totally necessary and price that our Father heaven was willing to pay. John 3:16 reads, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  God was willing to send his Son Jesus to suffer and die, shedding his blood on the cross so that we can be set free from the power of sin and death and enter into eternal life with him. Preposterous but very, very true and necessary.

Despite of Pharaoh’s stubbornness of heart, God was still going to dramatically turned the waters of the Nile into blood to show Pharaoh who he was. Look at verse 17, “This is what the Lord says: By this you will know that I am the Lord: With the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood “ God is God. His will and his plan can not be thwarted no matter how much the devil fights against him. And so God commanded his servants to proceed. Look at verse 19, “The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt—over the streams and canals, over the ponds and all the reservoirs—and they will turn to blood.’ Blood will be everywhere in Egypt, even in vessels of wood and stone.”  The battle has already been won. God is in control and in command. He tells his servants to proceed in preaching the Gospel. Trust the Lord and obey his will. Then the whole world will know that Jesus Christ is the Lord of all, the great God, mighty and awesome.

Part 2: Humbly Repent And Let The Glory Of God Shine (20-25)

Verses 20-25, “20 Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded. He raised his staff in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials and struck the water of the Nile, and all the water was changed into blood. 21 The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink its water. Blood was everywhere in Egypt. 22 But the Egyptian magicians did the same things by their secret arts, and Pharaoh’s heart became hard; he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said. 23 Instead, he turned and went into his palace, and did not take even this to heart. 24 And all the Egyptians dug along the Nile to get drinking water, because they could not drink the water of the river. 25 Seven days passed after the Lord struck the Nile.”

Moses and Aaron had simple obedience to the Lord’s command. Look at verse 20, “Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded. He raised his staff in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials and struck the water of the Nile, and all the water was changed into blood.”  It was not easy to obey. They had to simply obey God. It required faith, for they trusted that God would do such an awesome thing as turn all the water to blood. They believed, trusted and obeyed with courage born of God. May God grant his servants such grace nowadays.

God found the most meaningful and symbolic thing to bring judgment upon in ancient Egypt…the Nile River. What should be the peoples’ response when this type of judgment occurs? Let’s see. Look at Exodus 7:20-21, ““20 Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded. He raised his staff in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials and struck the water of the Nile, and all the water was changed into blood. 21 The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink its water. Blood was everywhere in Egypt.” (NIV) Aaron stretched out the staff, and the water turned to blood. How devastating this judgment of God was on the people! The devastation of this life giving water way came to pass, just a God had said, deeply impacting the hearts of every Egyptian. The Egyptians abhorred blood. Imagine their horror when they saw that their sacred river, and all of the water in their country, turned to blood.

Let’s think about this impact on the Nile for a moment. Egypt was a large country where most of the population lived along the banks of the Nile River. This 3,000 mile waterway was a river of life. It made life possible in a land that was mostly a desert. There were three species of fish in the Nile that were considered sacred. The Nile River was worshipped by the Egyptians under various names and symbols. It was called the father of life and the father of the gods. It provided water for drinking, farming,  fishing and bathing. It provided papyrus for the world’s first paper. Egypt was a river of civilization. Civilization was established along the banks of this life source, rarely reaching the surrounding desert. It was constant, predictable and abundant. it was a source of spiritual and cultural inspiration. Without the Nile’s water, Egypt could not have existed. It could not have grown to be a world superpower. It could not have grown rich and influential.  Image Pharaoh’s dismay when Moses turned this sacred river to blood. This miracle from God was truly a blow to the gods of Egypt. God’s glory and power were revealed, despite Pharaoh’s stubborn refusal to believe.

I wonder what is the equivalent of the Nile River in America? What would affect us so much, that if God decided to allow his judgment to come upon it, we would be moved to repentance? Is it not the American economy? It is the source of wealth, hope. It is an inspiration to many. It produces money that people tend to worship. It is constant and steady, like a fruitful river. It brings a degree of freedom. If God decided to strike our economy, it would be the equivalent of God striking the Nile River in ancient Egypt. We abhor the loss of money and the loss of freedom that would entail. A major hit to our economy would leave us in shock. Our economy is not at this point. But one day it might be struck by the hand of God. After all our culture is keeping people locked in slavery to sin, by promoting many anti-gospel beliefs and philosophies. It tries to take prayer out of our schools and faith out of the conversation. There are constant attacks on the Bible and Christian faith. But do you know what? The Bible is still there and so is Jesus and Christian faith. And Jesus is still setting the captives free to worship him. But if our economy ever became an expression of God’s wrath, we know what our response must be. It is not to harden our hearts as Pharaoh did. It would be to repent and turn our hearts to Jesus Christ. Though the world may try to veil the glory of Jesus, it is the glory of Jesus that will shine forth.

Despite of this miracle, the Egyptians did not repent. Look at verse 22, “But the Egyptian magicians did the same things by their secret arts, and Pharaoh’s heart became hard; he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said.” (NIV) Satan really had a hold on their hearts. The blood remained for 7 days. Verse 25 reads, “Seven days passed after the Lord struck the Nile.”  Seven is significant in the Bible. It is said to be the number of completeness. The number seven indicates that God fully accomplished what he has declared he would do. No one should stand with hardened hearts before God. There is only one response. Humble repentance born out of faith.

Prayer: “Lord, I know that the spiritual battle is not easy to engage in. But I know that you are going on ahead. Help us to simply trust and obey you as you brig forth the victory for your glory.”

One Word: Be humble and let God’s glory shine.