Nov 21
14
New Testament Reading: John 3:22–36
“After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he remained there with them and was baptizing. John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because water was plentiful there, and people were coming and being baptized (for John had not yet been put in prison). Now a discussion arose between some of John’s disciples and a Jew over purification. And they came to John and said to him, ‘Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness—look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him.’ John answered, ‘A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease.’ He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all. He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony. Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true. For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” (John 3:22–36, ESV)
Sermon Text: Exodus 11
“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 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 behind the handmill, 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. 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. 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 land.” (Exodus 11, ESV)
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Please excuse any typos and misspellings within this manuscript. It has been published online for the benefit of the saints of Emmaus Reformed Baptist Church but without the benefit of proofreading.
Introduction
We’ve considered nine of the ten plagues. They have been presented to us in three sets of three. The Lord plagued Egypt with water turned to blood, frogs, gnats, flies, the death of livestock, boils, hail, locusts, and darkness. In each of these plagues, God demonstrated with unmistakable clarity that he is supreme over all things (including Pharaoh and the so-called gods of Egypt). He also displayed his justice, his mercy, and his particular care for the people of Israel. To understand this last point we must remember the covenant that God made with Abraham. He promised to give Abraham many descendants, to make a nation of them, to bring the Messiah into the world through them, and this Messiah would bless all nations. Here in the outpouring of these plagues upon the Egyptians, God demonstrated his love and faithfulness towards Israel.
We come now to the tenth of the ten plagues. We will see that It is by far the most severe of the ten, but the message is the same. The LORD the God of Israel is supreme over all things. He is just. He is merciful. And under the Old Covenant, he had particular care and concern for the people of Israel, for through them the Messiah would be brought into the world to bless the nations.
In chapters seven through ten we observed a very consistent literary pattern as Moses described the outpouring of the first nine plagues to us in three groups of three. Here in chapter 11 that literary pattern is broken. Here in this chapter, the tenth plague is threatened. In chapter 12 verses 1-28 instructions for the observance of the Passover are given. It is not until 12:29 and following that we find a description of the outpouring of the tenth plague, the death of the firstborns of Egypt. This break in the pattern heightens our sense of the severity of this plague. The tenth plague is set apart from the other nine as most significant, for it surely is.
Now, please allow me to set the stage for our passage. When we read 10:28-29 we may have gotten the impression that Moses had walked out on Pharaoh. Do you remember how Moses’ interaction with Pharoah regarding the ninth plague concluded? “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.’ Moses said, ‘As you say! I will not see your face again’” (Exodus 10:28–29, ESV). This sounds like the end of their interaction, but in fact Moses had more to say. It is not until the end of 12:8 that we hear of Moses’ departure. There we read, “And [Moses] went out from Pharaoh in hot anger.” So then, we are to think of Moses as still standing before Pharaoh as we begin to consider chapter 11.
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The Hebrews Would Plunder The Egyptians
Verses 1-3 are parenthetical, meaning, they break the flow of the narrative a bit to help us understand what is going on.
In verse 1 we read, “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” (Exodus 11:1, ESV). The NIV translates verse 1 in this way: “Now the LORD had said to Moses, ‘I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt…” (emphasis added). I think this is a better translation. It is not that the LORD revealed this to Moses in that moment, but that he revealed it to him previously.
Moses knew that there was one more plague to come. This would be the final plague. After this plague, Pharaoh would let Israel go. In fact, he would not only let Israel go. He would drive them out of Egypt. In other words, the Egyptians would insist that the Hebrews depart given the severity of the plagues, and particularly this last one.
Here in verse 2, we learn that Moses was also to speak to the Hebrews instructing them to request silver and gold from their Egyptian neighbors. This was not new information given to Moses. In fact, the LORD spoke of these things when he revealed himself to Moses in the bush that was burning yet not consumed. It was way back in 3:20 that God said, “So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it; after that he will let you go. And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and when you go, you shall not go empty, but each woman shall ask of her neighbor, and any woman who lives in her house, for silver and gold jewelry, and for clothing. You shall put them on your sons and on your daughters. So you shall plunder the Egyptians” (Exodus 3:20–22, ESV). So this plundering of the Egyptians was revealed ahead of time. Now we learn that Moses was told by God to instruct the Hebrews to ask this of their Egyptian neighbors.
So then, the Israelites would not merely be released from Egyptian bondage. They would be driven out! And they would not go out empty-handed, but with great wealth. The Egyptians would freely give unto them silver, gold, and clothing. The Hebrews would go out well supplied and wealthy.
I do believe this illustrates our redemption in Christ. We have been set free from bondage. “[God] has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son…” (Colossians 1:13, ESV). But we also have been well supplied. To quote Peter, “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence…” (2 Peter 1:3, ESV). Or, to help us think in terms of our inheritance, consider Paul in Ephesians 1:7: “In [Christ] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will…” (Ephesians 1:7–11, ESV). The Hebrews were not freed from Egyptian bondage to wander in the wilderness as poor beggars. No, they were set free and they were also well supplied. And so it is for all who are in Christ.
Commentators have wondered what to make of this plundering of the Egyptians. Was this theft? Certainly not, for the Egyptians gave these gifts willingly. In fact, I think we are to view this plundering of the Egyptians as a kind of payment for the years of harsh bondage imposed upon the Hebrews by the Egyptians. Here we see the justice of God displayed. God has a way of making things that are wrong, right. We do not always see it with such clarity in this life, but by faith we know that God will right every wrong at the end of time when he judges with perfect equity.
This parenthetical portion of the text concludes with these words, “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.” It is not hard to understand why Moses’ fame had spread amongst the Egyptians. God’s power was put on display through him. So here we have one of many examples in scripture of God using the weak and foolish to shame the wise and powerful. Moses was a nobody, worldly speaking. And yet God, by his grace, used him to show forth his power and glory, and to put Pharoah, the Egyptians, and their so-called gods to open shame.
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God Would Put The Firstborn Of The Egyptians To Death
In verses 4-8 we find the words of Moses to Pharaoh and the Egyptians concerning the tenth plague that was about to befall them. This tenth plague would be by far the worst.
“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 behind the handmill, 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. 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.” (Exodus 11:4–8, ESV)
Here we learn that at about midnight the LORD himself would go out in the midst of Egypt. The LORD is omnipresent, this we know. He is at all places at all times. When the LORD says “I will go out in the midst of Egypt” he uses the language that is proper to man and applies it to himself to describe what he will do. The LORD, who is everywhere present, eternal, and unchanging would himself “go out in the midst of Egypt”.
And what would the LORD do? Two things: He would put the firstborns of the Egyptians to death of both man and cattle, and he would shield the Hebrews from destruction. This would produce a great cry in Egypt such as had never been heard, nor ever would be again, as men and women grieved the deaths of their relatives. 12:30 describes the event and says, “And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead.”
The words, “But not a dog shall growl against any of the people of Israel, either man or beast”, are very interesting. On the surface they clearly communicate that the LORD would protect the Hebrews from this plague. The Egyptians would be struck, but the Hebrews would be shielded. Not even a dog would growl at the Hebrews threateningly. But it is worth noting that the Egyptians worshiped a god named Anubis who was to them the god of the dead. Anubis was depicted as a human with the head of a dog, or jackal.
Here we have yet another demonstration of the LORD’s supremacy over the so-called gods of Egypt. The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, is God Most High, the one and only. He is creator, sustainer, and redeemer. He is the one who has authority over life and death, not Anubis or Osiris. The LORD would put the firstborns of the Egyptians to death and shield his covenant people from harm. “Not a dog [would] growl against any of the people of Israel…]
Our lives are in the LORD’s hands, brothers and sisters. He is the one with the power to give life, and to take it away. This power does not belong to us. This power does not belong to any created thing, but to the LORD only, and he demonstrated that to the Egyptians — indeed, to the whole world — in the outpouring of this tenth plague.
The last announcement that Moses made to Pharaoh was this: “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.’” With this Pharaoh would be left utterly devastated and thoroughly shamed. In the plagues, the LORD struck at the land of Egypt, the people of Egypt, the wealth of Egypt, and even at Pharaoh himself. And at the end, Pharoah’s own servants would pay homage to the LORD as they bowed before Moses, the LORD’s servant. You can picture Pharoah standing there utterly defeated, humiliated, and dismayed, can’t you?
And then we read that Moses “went out from Pharaoh in hot anger”, and rightly so. Pharaoh was a very wicked man. He treated the Hebrews brutally. And he stubbornly refused to turn from his sin and to submit himself to the word of God.
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This Time Of Restraint Will One Day Come To An End And All Who Are Not In Christ By Faith Will Be Judged For Their Own Sin.
Now, in the third and final portion of this passage, we hear the Lord speaking once again to Moses: “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 land.” (Exodus 11, ESV)
This should sound very familiar to you by now, for something like this was said at the end of the account of each of the plagues.
Notice once again that it was Pharaoh who sinned by not listening to the word of the LORD delivered through Moses. “Pharaoh will not listen to you”, the Lord said.
But God had a purpose even for this: “that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.” Isn’t it interesting how God can use even the sins and stubborn rebellion of wicked men for his own glory? It was because of Pharaoh’s stubbornness that the Lord multiplied his wonders in Egypt.
And we know that it was the Lord who hardened Pharaoh’s heart. This does not take away from the fact that Pharaoh’s sin was Pharaoh’s sin, for we know that Pharaoh hardened his own heart as he willingly and stubbornly refused to heed the word of the Lord. But God was sovereign even over this. He gave Pharoah over to his own sin and even hardened him further as an act of judgment against him. And we must confess that the Lord was right to do so.
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Reflections
This story that we have considered today is rather straightforward on the surface. I’d like to spend some time now reflecting upon its significance.
As I thought about this announcement that the LORD himself would “go out in the midst of Egypt, and every firstborn in the land of Egypt [world] die…”, I remembered how offensive this is to many in the world, and even to many within the church today.
You can hear their complaints, can’t you? This is unjust!, they say. How could God be in the right to put these innocent ones to death? Or, the God of the Bible is a God of love and grace! I cannot believe that he himself would go out into Egypt to put these to death! Etc., etc.
So where do we begin with objections like these?
First of all, we must insist that this is in fact what the Holy Scriptures teach regarding God. This certainly is the God of the Bible. If you have been taught that the God of the Bible is only about love and grace, then you have been terribly misled. For clearly, he is also about justice and judgement.
God is love; perfectly so. He is merciful, gracious, and kind. This we know. And this truth is also demonstrated powerfully throughout this Exodus story in many different ways. But we must not forget that the LORD is perfectly holy and just. He is not only the God who saves; is also the God who judges. The Exodus event is a demonstration of both things. Here we see the extension of God’s mercy and grace on the one hand, and God’s justice on the other. Both truths must be proclaimed. The God of Holy Scripture is not only merciful, he is also just. He is not only our redeemer, he is also the judge of all who have ever lived. In fact, these truths fit together hand in hand, don’t they? When we speak of God’s justice we declare what our sins deserve. When we speak of God’s mercy we declare that God does not always give us what we deserve. And when we speak of his grace we declare the good gifts that he has bestowed upon unworthy sinners instead. God’s mercy and grace cannot be comprehended apart from his just judgments.
We get a little taste of God’s judgement in the Exodus, don’t we? Here we are reminded that God is judge of all the earth. It is his right to punish the wicked for their sins. He does not do wrong, but right when he strikes against sinners. This he has done in a partial way throughout the history of the world, and this he will do in full at the end of time. This is the God of Holy Scripture, brothers and sisters.
I’ve said this before, but I think it is worth saying again: in the book of Exodus, God is revealed to us. His proper name, YHWH, is revealed to us. Here in this book we learn what his name means. It signifies many things. He is God Almighty, the covenant-making and covenant-keeping God. He is self-existent, eternal, and unchanging. But his name does also say something about his right to show mercy to whomever he wills, and right to judge.
This will become increasingly clear as the story of the Exodus continues. Here we see it demonstrated in action. God poured out his wrath on the Egyptians but shielded the Hebrews. But later in Exodus, the LORD will say it explicitly.
In that episode where God showed himself to Moses on the mountain the LORD said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy” (Exodus 33:19, ESV). And a little later in that same episode we read, “The LORD passed before [Moses] and proclaimed, ]The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation’” (Exodus 34:6–7, ESV). Do you see the connection? When God reveals himself as the LORD he emphasizes his right to show mercy to whomever he will, and also his right to judge.
To the professing Christian who says, the God of the Bible is love and not wrath, I say, friend, you are terribly mistaken. In fact, I’m afraid you have slipped into idolatry. You have made for yourself a god in your own image and rejected God’s self revelation.
The God of scripture is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but [he] will by no means clear the guilty…” This reality was demonstrated at the time of the flood, at the time of the Exodus, and at the cross. There at the cross of Christ, the mercy of God was displayed as Jesus died to atone for the sins of God’s elect. And there at the cross of Christ the justice of God was also displayed as he poured out his wrath upon Christ as he stood in the place of sinners.
To all of those professing Chritsians who are troubled by these instances in the Old Testament wherein the just judgments of God are poured out on sinners, I ask, what do you think about what the scriptures have to say about the final judgment? You know, at the end of time God will judge the wicked through Christ. The scriptures teach that all who are not in Christ — all who are in their sins — will be judged fully, finally, and for all eternity.
The same Jesus who brought us salvation will also judge. Jesus himself said so. In Matthew 25:31 we hear Christ saying, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world… Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:31–41, ESV).
At the end of time Christ himself will distinguish between the sheep and goats. The sheep will receive mercy and grace; the goats will receive just condemnation. Jesus himself taught this. And I am saying to you that the plagues of the Exodus, and particularly the tenth plague, were but a foretaste of this.
Brothers and sisters, this is the God of the Bible. From beginning to end the LORD reveals himself to us as the God who is merciful, gracious and kind, and also just. He will by no means clear the guilty.
The second thing that needs to be said in response to this idea that God is somehow wrong or unjust to judge as he did at the time of the Exodus, is that none are innocent, but all are deserving of God’s condemnation.
So you can see, then, that men make two errors.
One, they misunderstand God. They bring him low in their minds and transform him into nothing more than a god of kindness and love. He is, in their minds, nothing more than a benevolent old man in the sky. It is no wonder they do not fear him. They have managed to form and fashion him into a little idol that they can contain and control. Their god is for them, and never against them, even as they go on living in rebellion against him. This is not the god of the Bible, friends. The God of scripture is love, and perfectly so. And because he is love, he does also hate with perfect hatred all that is evil and all that is opposed to him.
The second mistake that men make is to misunderstand mankind. To put the matter most succinctly, sinful men do error in bringing God low, and in exulting man in their hearts and mind. They immagine that human beings are by nature innocent and deserving of good from God. But the scriptures say otherwise. “As it is written: ‘None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.’ ‘Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.’ ‘The venom of asps is under their lips.’ ‘Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.’ ‘Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.’ ‘There is no fear of God before their eyes’” (Romans 3:10–18, ESV).
Friends, the scriptures are very clear. God is holy and just, and we are born in sin deserving of his judgments.
The Egyptians that the LORD put to death were deserving of this. “[F]or all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23, ESV), and “the wages of sin is death…” (Romans 6:23, ESV). And let us not forget the particularly heinous atrocities that these people committed against the Hebrews by commanding that their male children be thrown into the Nile while subjecting them to a lifetime of brutal slavery. Egypt assaulted God’s son, Israel, and now the God of Israel would enact justice.
Here in the outpouring of the tenth plague we will see a type of the judgment that is to come at the end of time. It was not the final judgment (clearly), for it was restrained. Only the firstborn of Egypt would die. And they would die a physical death — the final judgment will bring eternal death. This is why I say that this tenth plague was a type of the final judgment. But we will also find a type of Christ here, for as God passes through Egypt to put these Egyptians to death, he would also pass through Egypt to shield his people from the destroyer. All who had the blood of the sacrificial lamb on their doorposts would be spared.
The message for us is this: fear the LORD, friends, and run to Christ for refuge. Be washed in his blood by faith. Be found in him and thus be shielded by him from the wrath of God, for he has paid for sins and endured the wrath of God for our sake.
God is holy and just. Fear him!
But do not run from him. Run to him for “God [is]merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin…” This he does through Christ, the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, whom God has provided as a substitute for sinners. Be found in him by faith.
