WEBVTT 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:02.000 Good morning, church. 00:00:02.240 --> 00:00:02.640 Good morning. 00:00:03.439 --> 00:00:08.240 Today we'll be reading from Exodus 9, 13 through 35. 00:00:08.800 --> 00:00:10.000 So buckle up. 00:00:12.720 --> 00:00:28.879 Then the Lord said to Moses, Rise up early in the morning and present yourself before Pharaoh and say to him, Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, let my people go that they may serve me. 00:00:29.280 --> 00:00:43.280 For this time I will send all my plagues to yourself on yourself and on your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth. 00:00:43.679 --> 00:00:53.600 For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth. 00:00:53.920 --> 00:01:03.759 But for this purpose I have raised you up to show you my power, so that my name will be proclaimed in all the earth. 00:01:04.079 --> 00:01:09.599 You are still exalting yourself against my people and will not let them go. 00:01:10.239 --> 00:01:22.959 Behold, about this time tomorrow I will cause a very heavy hail to fall, such as has never been in Egypt from the day it was founded until now. 00:01:24.079 --> 00:01:39.680 Now therefore send, get your livestock and all that you have in the field safe into shelter, for every man and beast that is in the field and is not brought home will die when the hail falls on them. 00:01:40.480 --> 00:01:48.400 Then whoever feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh hurried his slaves and his livestock into the houses. 00:01:48.799 --> 00:01:55.599 But whoever did not pay attention to the word of the Lord left his slaves and livestock in the fields. 00:01:55.920 --> 00:02:09.919 Then the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand toward heaven, so that there may be hail in the land of Egypt, on man and beast and every plant in the field and in the land of Egypt. 00:02:10.319 --> 00:02:22.560 Then Moses stretched out his hand, his staff toward heaven, and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire, rain, ran down to the earth. 00:02:22.800 --> 00:02:26.080 And the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt. 00:02:26.240 --> 00:02:40.800 There was hail and fire and flashing continually in the midst of the hail, very heavy hail, such as had never been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. 00:02:41.360 --> 00:02:55.120 The hail struck down everything that was in the field and in all the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and the hail struck down every plant of the field and broke every tree of the field. 00:02:55.520 --> 00:03:01.759 Only in the land of Goshen, where the people of Israel were, was there no hail. 00:03:02.319 --> 00:03:10.080 Then Pharaoh sent and called to Moses and Aaron and said to them, This time I have sinned. 00:03:10.719 --> 00:03:15.280 The Lord is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. 00:03:15.520 --> 00:03:20.800 Plead with the Lord, for there has been enough of God's thunder and hail. 00:03:21.280 --> 00:03:25.039 I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer. 00:03:25.360 --> 00:03:33.039 Moses said to him, As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will stretch out my hand to the Lord. 00:03:33.199 --> 00:03:40.319 The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth is the Lord's. 00:03:40.639 --> 00:03:46.960 But as for you and your servants, I know that you do not yet fear the Lord. 00:03:47.919 --> 00:03:55.919 The flax and barley were struck down, for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was in bud. 00:03:56.639 --> 00:04:02.960 But the wheat and the emmer were not struck down, for they are late in coming up. 00:04:03.759 --> 00:04:15.439 So Moses went into the city from Pharaoh and stretched out his hands to the Lord, and the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain no longer poured upon the earth. 00:04:15.680 --> 00:04:26.240 But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned again and hardened his heart, he and his servants. 00:04:26.879 --> 00:04:33.439 So the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people of Israel go. 00:04:34.160 --> 00:04:36.800 Just as the Lord spoke through Moses. 00:04:37.519 --> 00:04:38.959 This is the word of the Lord. 00:04:39.120 --> 00:04:40.399 Please be seated. 00:04:42.079 --> 00:04:42.959 Thank you. 00:04:44.720 --> 00:04:45.759 Thanks, Veronica. 00:04:45.839 --> 00:04:48.000 That's quite a first reading to be assigned. 00:04:49.600 --> 00:04:51.199 Thank you all for joining us this morning. 00:04:51.279 --> 00:04:52.480 My name is James Rathman. 00:04:52.639 --> 00:05:07.439 I'm the pastor here at Redemption Church Denver, and we are continuing our summer of plagues, and we are at plague number seven in the ten plagues of the Lord against Pharaoh and Egypt. 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:21.199 And we are following the patterns of these plagues and with all their similarities to one another, what really stands out is the unique differences between each of the plagues and how they unfold. 00:05:21.600 --> 00:05:30.079 And this one in particular, we see this really strange event of what looks like a really clear repentance. 00:05:30.319 --> 00:05:39.199 It's like this explicit repentant language from Pharaoh, and yet Moses is not fooled, and Pharaoh's heart is hardened once again. 00:05:39.279 --> 00:05:42.399 So we're going to look at that pattern in the plague this morning. 00:05:42.560 --> 00:05:45.920 So before we get into our text, would you pray with me? 00:05:47.199 --> 00:05:56.240 Holy Father, I pray that as we look at your deliverance of the Israelites, that we would see the wonders that you worked. 00:05:56.399 --> 00:06:00.879 You tell us that these wonders are worked so that your name would be proclaimed in all the world. 00:06:01.120 --> 00:06:05.120 And Lord, we pray that your name would be proclaimed this morning. 00:06:05.360 --> 00:06:22.160 The greatness of who you are, the wonders by which you deliver your people, and the fear of what you can accomplish, what your power is in the world, and the hope that we have that you are the rescuer, Lord. 00:06:22.319 --> 00:06:23.839 Let us find our rescue in you. 00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:25.439 We lift this up in Jesus' name. 00:06:25.680 --> 00:06:26.319 Amen. 00:06:27.759 --> 00:06:35.360 So this is the seventh plague, and we've looked at how these plagues unfold in cycles of three. 00:06:35.519 --> 00:06:52.480 So you can kind of think of them as uh uh the first cycle, as sort of nine plagues in three cycles of three, with the final tenth plague, the Passover, and uh the death of the firstborn of Egypt being this final deliverance. 00:06:52.639 --> 00:06:55.360 But until then, it's these three cycles of three. 00:06:55.600 --> 00:07:02.160 And this is the first plague of the final cycle, this seventh plague. 00:07:02.480 --> 00:07:18.399 And I was noticing that as you look at the three cycles as they unfold, they have this sort of pattern to them, and it's a pattern of the Lord decreating the world from the very bottom up to the very top. 00:07:18.639 --> 00:07:28.800 And so the first three cycles in the first three plagues all have to do with water, which is the very bottom of the world, this sort of like bottom of creation. 00:07:29.040 --> 00:07:35.040 We see the Nile turn to blood, and then the frogs come out of the Nile and devour the land. 00:07:35.199 --> 00:07:39.519 And then the third one, actually, I don't know how it fits with this water scheme. 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:52.240 In fact, every time I think I've found like the formula that breaks open the plagues, there's some strange remainder that I'm not able to figure out how it fits in. 00:07:52.560 --> 00:07:55.279 And I think I just want to acknowledge that. 00:07:55.439 --> 00:07:58.000 And you do you do with that what you what you will. 00:07:58.480 --> 00:08:11.199 You know, it's there's something like there's a reference to each of the Egyptian gods, but there are some plagues where it's like you can't really find the god that this is in direct reference to. 00:08:11.360 --> 00:08:18.800 And so that is difficult to make the case for a cross, but we see the pattern clearly enough to where it's it's evident. 00:08:18.959 --> 00:08:24.319 And in this same framework as well, this decreation framework, there are strange remainders. 00:08:24.639 --> 00:08:36.879 Now, I don't know, I'm going to offer an interpretation of that, which is I think that there's something about the plagues which is which is meant to expose a sort of absurdity of action. 00:08:37.279 --> 00:08:45.840 That there's there's something almost beyond interpretation to show us the incredible power of the Lord that we are brought before. 00:08:46.080 --> 00:08:52.639 So we'll return to this framework that I'm describing now that I have undermined its existence. 00:08:54.159 --> 00:08:58.559 So the first plague, we see the cycle of water, although with the remainder of the vermin. 00:08:58.639 --> 00:09:04.879 The second plague, I think this one's more clear throughout, is a cycle of destruction of the land. 00:09:05.360 --> 00:09:16.080 And so this is shown in the flies, and the emphasis of the flies is that they cover the whole land of Egypt, that all of the land was covered. 00:09:16.240 --> 00:09:19.279 That's the emphasis of the flies when it's shown to us. 00:09:19.519 --> 00:09:26.799 And then we see the cattle are destroyed, which is this land animal, these animals that feast off of the land. 00:09:26.960 --> 00:09:31.679 And then boils are placed upon man, and you think, okay, well, there's that remainder again. 00:09:31.840 --> 00:09:34.399 This one's actually much more simple. 00:09:34.639 --> 00:09:46.639 The destruction of the human himself and the destruction of the land, in a biblical framework, these are deeply related. 00:09:47.200 --> 00:09:56.960 You know, Job, Job's land faces these plagues, and therefore he receives these plagues in his body as the king and representative of the land. 00:09:57.279 --> 00:10:07.440 And the Hebrew words for man, Adam, and land, Adama, well, you you could hear that, right? 00:10:08.080 --> 00:10:09.600 You can see how we got there. 00:10:09.840 --> 00:10:13.679 So Adam is either named for the land, or the land is named for Adam. 00:10:14.080 --> 00:10:15.519 They are deeply related. 00:10:15.759 --> 00:10:22.799 So the boils taking place on man is the uh is an attack on the land. 00:10:22.879 --> 00:10:24.879 So we see this deconstruction of the land. 00:10:25.200 --> 00:10:29.360 Now, for this third cycle, we are moving into the heavens. 00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:35.679 And there is a there is a decreation of the sky taking place. 00:10:36.320 --> 00:10:46.080 And so the first event in this is the hail that destroys everything in the land of Egypt. 00:10:47.600 --> 00:10:57.519 And then locusts, which come down from the sky, devour what remains, and then finally the sun turns to darkness. 00:10:58.960 --> 00:11:14.399 And so we're reminded of what we looked at initially when we came in to interpret these plagues, which is that these are something like the antitype of Christ's miracles. 00:11:15.360 --> 00:11:34.080 Because what they are meant to draw our attention to is that if the Lord has the power over this creation such that he is able to uncreate it, then we ought to draw the conclusion, he has been the one who has always been upholding it. 00:11:34.559 --> 00:11:36.960 This is all in his hands. 00:11:37.200 --> 00:11:50.559 And so if he is able to bring this maximal disorder into the world, we should conclude he is the one who has truly been supporting the order of the world. 00:11:50.879 --> 00:12:27.360 Now, this is a clear polemic against the Egyptian world and life view, because they understood that their gods, in acting in these particular realms of creation, be it the Nile, or be it certain crops, or be it the cattle, or be it fertility, that in governing over those according to the principles of order that exist in the world and can be contacted by different forms of magic, that that's really the description of what holds the world together. 00:12:27.840 --> 00:12:39.919 But God, through his plagues, is making this case bit by bit, God by God, level of creation by level of creation, that it is all held together by him. 00:12:40.960 --> 00:12:45.679 And that he is the Lord over all of it. 00:12:45.919 --> 00:12:48.639 So that's what he is demonstrating through these plagues. 00:12:48.799 --> 00:12:54.799 So we enter this seventh plague and the first plague of the third cycle. 00:12:55.440 --> 00:12:58.720 Once again, Moses is instructed to meet Pharaoh in the morning. 00:12:58.879 --> 00:13:01.919 This is the way that each of the three cycles begin. 00:13:02.639 --> 00:13:12.639 And the Lord's description and his warning that he offers through Moses to Pharaoh this time is more complete and more explicit than any description so far. 00:13:13.360 --> 00:13:24.159 You can sense that the tension is building and is really being brought to a head between Pharaoh and Moses, between the Lord and Pharaoh. 00:13:26.240 --> 00:13:37.360 The Lord is no longer being implicit with what is taking place or what the stakes are. 00:13:38.159 --> 00:13:48.320 Instead, he is stating plainly to Pharaoh's face why he is raising up Pharaoh, why he is hardening his heart. 00:13:48.559 --> 00:13:53.360 And you might think, well, you couldn't tell Pharaoh, oh, God is actually hardening your heart. 00:13:53.440 --> 00:13:54.960 You're playing right into his hand. 00:13:55.200 --> 00:13:59.120 Because then Pharaoh would, of course, think, oh, well, I don't want to do that. 00:13:59.360 --> 00:14:01.840 I'll soften my heart towards the Lord. 00:14:02.159 --> 00:14:03.039 That'll get him. 00:14:03.200 --> 00:14:10.320 No, there's there's there's no concern in sharing with Pharaoh exactly what he's doing. 00:14:10.480 --> 00:14:17.840 You know, all that you're doing is just working to accomplish your end and your destruction. 00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:22.559 And God can just share this explicitly with Pharaoh, and it doesn't matter. 00:14:22.720 --> 00:14:25.279 Such is the hardness of Pharaoh's heart. 00:14:25.679 --> 00:14:27.840 So God describes it in verse 14. 00:14:27.919 --> 00:14:39.919 He says, For this time I will send all my plagues on you yourself and on your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth. 00:14:40.240 --> 00:14:50.159 All his plagues meaning that there will be a sort of totality to the cost of these plagues, and that they will finally be effective in this third cycle. 00:14:50.879 --> 00:15:06.960 And he shares with him exactly the purpose of why he is doing it, so that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth, so that you may know that there is none who compares to God. 00:15:07.600 --> 00:15:09.360 Nobody is like God. 00:15:10.320 --> 00:15:14.559 There is nobody that shares this category with God. 00:15:15.840 --> 00:15:26.320 Now, this is the claim of monotheism: that there is one God above all. 00:15:28.879 --> 00:15:34.559 This is a central claim for the Israelites and a central claim of scripture. 00:15:34.799 --> 00:15:38.639 Hero, Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one. 00:15:40.159 --> 00:15:43.039 There is no one like him. 00:15:44.159 --> 00:15:53.840 Now we can't miss how category-breaking this is, because it utterly changes the way that we might relate to this God. 00:15:54.399 --> 00:15:57.600 His dominion is not like the gods of Egypt. 00:15:57.919 --> 00:16:04.080 It is not over particular places where he demonstrates particular types of strength. 00:16:04.399 --> 00:16:07.200 His dominion is not like Pharaoh's. 00:16:08.879 --> 00:16:12.480 Even Pharaoh's self-understanding as a God. 00:16:13.519 --> 00:16:16.000 His dominion is absolute. 00:16:16.960 --> 00:16:25.279 So that when we consider the Lord, you can consider in your own life, there is nothing that is hidden from him. 00:16:26.159 --> 00:16:31.679 There is nothing over which he is not absolutely Lord. 00:16:32.799 --> 00:16:45.200 If I ever founded a university, I might end my speech with something like there is not one square inch in the whole of creation over which Christ, who is Lord over all, does not proclaim mine. 00:16:46.879 --> 00:16:51.919 That's Abraham Kuiper at a speech after the founding of a university. 00:16:53.279 --> 00:16:55.279 But it's one of my favorite quotes. 00:16:55.600 --> 00:17:01.360 And you can hear the power of that, the truth of that is laid out in this. 00:17:01.600 --> 00:17:08.160 You will know that all things are mine because there's no one like me. 00:17:08.720 --> 00:17:11.839 So there's this cosmic element to that claim. 00:17:13.920 --> 00:17:17.200 But I don't want you to miss the personal element to it. 00:17:18.480 --> 00:17:23.920 This means, Pharaoh, you are not like me. 00:17:25.119 --> 00:17:26.799 This means you. 00:17:28.160 --> 00:17:31.680 I am not like him. 00:17:33.759 --> 00:17:36.640 I hear a lot, you know how we say that I'm not the Christ thing? 00:17:36.880 --> 00:17:38.160 I don't really get why we do that. 00:17:38.400 --> 00:17:40.000 And look, I understand. 00:17:42.480 --> 00:17:54.079 But the point is this reference each week after our confession to position our hearts and to say, I'm not the savior. 00:17:54.960 --> 00:17:58.079 There is one who is, it's not me. 00:17:59.359 --> 00:18:01.359 I am not the incarnate Lord. 00:18:01.519 --> 00:18:04.160 There is one who is, it is not me. 00:18:04.799 --> 00:18:12.880 And then we position ourselves there so we recognize that we are not relating to Christ as a mere example. 00:18:14.720 --> 00:18:19.599 We are relating to him as the incarnate Son of God who saves. 00:18:20.079 --> 00:18:22.960 And so we come and we worship him. 00:18:25.039 --> 00:18:36.480 He's not the one who gives us tips and tricks and a pattern of a good life or a path with folds, be they seven or otherwise, or eight. 00:18:37.599 --> 00:18:41.359 That is not the type of God that we worship. 00:18:43.359 --> 00:18:45.279 He is other than us. 00:18:47.519 --> 00:18:53.519 And so Pharaoh, by these plagues, ought to know there's no one like him. 00:18:55.119 --> 00:19:06.480 All of the categories that I thought were sources of order, sources of power, have been one by one ticked off to show that he is over those things. 00:19:06.640 --> 00:19:08.079 He is Lord of all. 00:19:09.920 --> 00:19:13.200 So the Lord also explains why. 00:19:18.880 --> 00:19:21.200 So that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth. 00:19:21.359 --> 00:19:23.920 No, I just preached like a whole sermon on that just then. 00:19:24.480 --> 00:19:25.200 Next verse. 00:19:25.359 --> 00:19:26.240 Verse 15. 00:19:26.480 --> 00:19:28.400 There's only 35 verses, so. 00:19:29.759 --> 00:19:37.839 For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth. 00:19:38.880 --> 00:19:45.680 Look, God is just sharing exactly, He's being upfront and absolutely explicit. 00:19:46.079 --> 00:19:54.720 I'm doing this, all these plagues, so that you will know that there's no one like me in all the earth. 00:19:55.200 --> 00:19:57.279 You know what I could have done? 00:19:58.079 --> 00:20:03.920 I could have just struck you with pestilence and eliminated you from the records of history. 00:20:05.279 --> 00:20:08.079 There would have been no memory of you. 00:20:08.799 --> 00:20:11.599 You would have been cut off from the earth completely. 00:20:12.400 --> 00:20:14.160 This was in my power the whole time. 00:20:14.240 --> 00:20:18.799 And so there are these, there's this sort of dual dynamic that's being demonstrated here. 00:20:19.119 --> 00:20:26.960 One is the absolute power of the Lord, that Pharaoh is just resting in his hands. 00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:33.920 Pharaoh thinks of himself as the enemy of God. 00:20:35.839 --> 00:20:39.519 Oh gosh, I have a terrible analogy just came into my mind. 00:20:40.799 --> 00:20:44.880 Everybody put away your collegiate sports allegiances for just a second. 00:20:45.200 --> 00:20:47.519 Oh man, this is gonna hurt feelings. 00:20:49.680 --> 00:20:54.480 Look, at the Rocky Mountain Showdown, I don't even know if I want to do this. 00:20:54.640 --> 00:20:56.000 I'm not gonna do it. 00:20:57.359 --> 00:21:00.079 There's no sense in making enemies for no reason. 00:21:03.359 --> 00:21:06.240 But the Lord is completely over Pharaoh. 00:21:08.400 --> 00:21:10.240 I could have put out my hand and struck you. 00:21:10.319 --> 00:21:12.160 We should see the absolute power of the Lord. 00:21:12.240 --> 00:21:21.279 But what's really being demonstrated, or also being demonstrated, is the patience of the Lord. 00:21:24.160 --> 00:21:26.400 Why ten plagues? 00:21:27.759 --> 00:21:32.079 Why not one big plague with a lot of descriptions? 00:21:33.680 --> 00:21:58.799 There was the river turned to blood, and frogs poured out of it, and then there were gnats everywhere, and then there were flies that covered the ground, and then all the cattle died, and then you know, if it just laid out like that, it would have been in all the ways that I've shown these interpretations, as we look at this, we would have seen, oh, yeah, these map onto the different gods. 00:21:58.880 --> 00:21:59.759 There's this pattern of decreation. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:02.000 Of all the elements of the levels. 00:22:02.079 --> 00:22:09.839 There's all these reasons that just, but you can interpret this and see, yeah, God is saying that He is the Lord over all of these things. 00:22:09.920 --> 00:22:12.079 And he could have just done it in one move. 00:22:14.000 --> 00:22:15.279 And they ought to have believed. 00:22:15.359 --> 00:22:18.960 And we knew that Pharaoh's heart would have been hardened anyway, so what's the difference? 00:22:19.359 --> 00:22:22.960 The Lord is demonstrating his patience. 00:22:25.279 --> 00:22:29.119 Opportunity after opportunity to repent. 00:22:30.559 --> 00:22:34.640 Opportunity after opportunity to soften your heart towards the Lord. 00:22:34.799 --> 00:22:37.839 Do you remember the Pharaoh's first plague? 00:22:40.079 --> 00:22:42.000 Do you remember where Pharaoh began? 00:22:42.240 --> 00:22:44.720 Not this Pharaoh, but the category of Pharaoh. 00:22:45.039 --> 00:22:46.720 Pharaoh right before this one. 00:22:47.279 --> 00:22:52.160 Remember what his first plague was against the Israelites? 00:22:54.319 --> 00:22:56.400 It was the Lord's tenth. 00:22:58.240 --> 00:23:03.279 Pharaoh's first plague was to eliminate the firstborn of the Hebrews. 00:23:04.559 --> 00:23:07.920 Unprovoked, without warning. 00:23:11.200 --> 00:23:13.039 It's the Lord's tenth. 00:23:14.559 --> 00:23:16.240 The Lord is patient. 00:23:18.000 --> 00:23:19.839 Patient towards Pharaoh. 00:23:24.079 --> 00:23:25.920 Sixteen and seventeen. 00:23:26.559 --> 00:23:36.880 But for this purpose I have raised you up to show you my power, that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. 00:23:37.440 --> 00:23:42.640 You are still exalting yourself against my people and will not let them go. 00:23:44.079 --> 00:23:47.200 Look at how explicit he is to Pharaoh. 00:23:49.440 --> 00:23:51.200 Why why this patience? 00:23:51.359 --> 00:23:52.160 Why this continue? 00:23:52.559 --> 00:23:57.279 Why allowing Pharaoh to exalt himself against the Lord? 00:23:57.519 --> 00:23:59.200 I'm raising you up. 00:24:00.640 --> 00:24:08.160 I'm raising you up so that by this deliverance, to show you the Lord's power clearly. 00:24:09.759 --> 00:24:14.319 The Lord says, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. 00:24:16.880 --> 00:24:23.920 The Lord is doing this, raising up Pharaoh, so that the Lord will be worshipped. 00:24:25.039 --> 00:24:30.079 So that the Lord will be worshipped as God in all the earth. 00:24:31.440 --> 00:24:39.359 It's very hard for us to tell because we're all here and we're all looking out our own eyes. 00:24:39.920 --> 00:24:54.880 But Denver in 2024, at the corner of 46th and Tennyson, is as strange a place in the world as any. 00:24:56.240 --> 00:25:04.799 That we might be gathered together on a Sunday morning to proclaim the name of the Lord because of the Exodus. 00:25:10.400 --> 00:25:12.240 Do you just recognize it? 00:25:14.720 --> 00:25:17.200 Like this is a long way from then. 00:25:18.880 --> 00:25:24.640 In a new world, right in the middle of it. 00:25:28.240 --> 00:25:31.440 And we're here proclaiming the name of the Lord. 00:25:33.519 --> 00:25:37.359 I just want you to recognize it worked. 00:25:39.359 --> 00:25:40.319 It worked. 00:25:44.079 --> 00:25:47.119 The Lord is exalting Pharaoh. 00:25:48.480 --> 00:25:53.279 Pharaoh thinks he is exalting himself. 00:25:54.559 --> 00:25:56.799 And he is exalting himself. 00:25:57.359 --> 00:26:01.359 But it is a foolish exaltation into the hand of the Lord. 00:26:01.680 --> 00:26:06.319 So he tells him of the plague that is coming, which will be this very heavy hail. 00:26:06.720 --> 00:26:12.400 And then he gives this gracious warning, which you can imagine just splitting his nation in half. 00:26:14.400 --> 00:26:23.680 Where he tells them, Bring in your livestock, bring in your slaves and your people, bring them into shelter. 00:26:24.400 --> 00:26:27.759 Because anyone left in the field will perish. 00:26:29.440 --> 00:26:30.720 And you know what? 00:26:32.319 --> 00:26:43.680 Many of the Egyptians bring their animals and their slaves and their people into shelter, and they do not perish. 00:26:44.960 --> 00:26:51.359 But many of the Egyptians allow their livestock to remain. 00:26:51.599 --> 00:26:56.240 The text says they honor the word of the Lord and they didn't perish. 00:26:56.480 --> 00:27:01.519 Can you imagine what this was like in the kingdom? 00:27:03.119 --> 00:27:12.079 How you've literally got this opportunity for these two loyalties to manifest across the kingdom of Egypt. 00:27:16.880 --> 00:27:19.440 The Lord warned us. 00:27:20.400 --> 00:27:26.720 And you see your neighbor, sort of like midday, bringing his livestock into shelter. 00:27:27.680 --> 00:27:31.119 And it's like, oh, you're so you honor the Lord. 00:27:31.440 --> 00:27:33.279 You don't believe Pharaoh. 00:27:35.039 --> 00:27:48.799 And Pharaoh sees this taking place where he sees all of a sudden it's around this time the next day, and people start, you know, bringing their cattle in, and he sees they're honoring the word of the Lord. 00:27:49.279 --> 00:27:51.759 They're no longer honoring me. 00:27:52.960 --> 00:27:54.319 And everyone could see. 00:27:55.279 --> 00:27:57.279 And then the next day, everyone knew. 00:27:59.039 --> 00:28:02.079 The kingdom itself is beginning to fracture. 00:28:02.400 --> 00:28:09.599 The loyalties of the people, many of them are already being shown to be to the Lord over Pharaoh. 00:28:14.240 --> 00:28:14.720 19. 00:28:14.799 --> 00:28:23.839 Now therefore send, get your livestock and all that you have in the field into safe shelter, for every man and beast that is in the field and is not brought home will die when the hail falls on them. 00:28:24.720 --> 00:28:26.079 And many escape. 00:28:26.480 --> 00:28:27.519 And the plague comes. 00:28:27.599 --> 00:28:30.079 And verse 23 through 24. 00:28:30.559 --> 00:28:37.359 The Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down to the earth, and the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt. 00:28:37.519 --> 00:28:48.720 There was hail and fire flashing continually in the midst of the hail, very heavy hail, such as had never been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. 00:28:50.880 --> 00:28:59.680 At this point, give or take, Egypt had been, Egypt was one of the first United Kingdoms in world history. 00:29:00.880 --> 00:29:05.519 And Egypt, at this point, was 1800 years old. 00:29:05.839 --> 00:29:10.079 That is an incredibly old nation. 00:29:12.480 --> 00:29:22.079 And they had not been, there had never been any hail like this in the land of Egypt until this point. 00:29:25.599 --> 00:29:38.079 That's also a very common expression among Egyptian pharaohs, where they would describe their acts as nothing like this had happened in the land of Egypt since the day of its founding until now. 00:29:40.079 --> 00:29:41.680 But what is the hail? 00:29:42.480 --> 00:29:44.799 What's taking place with this particular plague? 00:29:44.960 --> 00:29:46.240 Why this hail? 00:29:46.640 --> 00:30:03.920 Well, you can think of this in that sort of water, land, sky pattern of the Lord is showing that he is deconstructing, decreating the earth in his wrath against them. 00:30:05.200 --> 00:30:11.599 Hail has this has this image of it, this is going to take a bit of ancient cosmology. 00:30:13.200 --> 00:30:18.880 So at the creation of the world, there's a separation of the waters above from the waters below. 00:30:19.440 --> 00:30:21.680 And they are separated by a firmament. 00:30:22.160 --> 00:30:26.079 And firmament comes from a word which means something like beaten bronze. 00:30:26.160 --> 00:30:27.039 It's like a mirror. 00:30:27.200 --> 00:30:28.799 And when you look up into the sky, it is. 00:30:28.880 --> 00:30:32.960 It has like this clearness, like an arched mirror above us. 00:30:33.759 --> 00:30:42.160 And hail, so you can think of it as like this hard surface that's in the sky that separates the waters above from the waters below. 00:30:42.400 --> 00:30:46.960 Hail is like an image of the shattering of the sky. 00:30:48.559 --> 00:30:51.759 And it's like it breaks and falls to the ground. 00:30:52.559 --> 00:31:02.880 And when that happens, this separation, which gives us order and a space in which we might live, now comes crashing back together. 00:31:03.119 --> 00:31:08.160 And that distinctness which is required for our living is now decreated. 00:31:08.240 --> 00:31:11.920 So there is no separation between the sky and the earth. 00:31:15.039 --> 00:31:18.640 The second day, the Lord separates the sky and the waters. 00:31:19.279 --> 00:31:22.319 This is another way to think about this process. 00:31:22.799 --> 00:31:29.759 So you can see this pattern of the land animals being destroyed, like the third day creation. 00:31:30.400 --> 00:31:38.880 The second day of creation, the waters are separated, and it's as though they are not separated, they're joined again, like in the flood. 00:31:39.200 --> 00:31:44.480 In the first day of creation, the light is separated from the darkness. 00:31:44.559 --> 00:31:48.880 The light is created and made distinct from the darkness. 00:31:49.039 --> 00:31:55.759 And so when the sun turns dark for the ninth plague, we see that unwinding of creation taking place. 00:31:58.559 --> 00:32:12.640 And so the very heavens themselves are crashing into the world and causing this terrible destruction. 00:32:18.319 --> 00:32:27.200 We hope for and pray for a wedding of heaven and the earth. 00:32:30.640 --> 00:32:36.000 And we hope for that under the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:32:38.079 --> 00:32:47.279 But for those who are outside of Christ, his return, the wedding of the heaven and the earth, will be a terrible judgment. 00:32:48.799 --> 00:32:51.599 And we see the pattern of that demonstrated here. 00:32:54.799 --> 00:33:03.839 So Pharaoh does not go and visit Goshen and see that the land of Goshen where the Israelites dwelt was spared. 00:33:04.319 --> 00:33:13.599 Pharaoh does not summon his magicians, and his magicians are, of course, unable to replicate this. 00:33:14.480 --> 00:33:17.519 They are no longer in the story. 00:33:18.240 --> 00:33:29.039 Instead, Pharaoh sees everything falling apart, and he makes this move of false repentance. 00:33:29.599 --> 00:33:31.599 In Exodus 9, 27 through 28. 00:33:31.759 --> 00:33:36.240 Then Pharaoh sent and called Moses and Aaron and said to them, This time I have sinned. 00:33:36.640 --> 00:33:40.079 The Lord is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. 00:33:40.240 --> 00:33:43.359 Plead with the Lord, for there has been enough of God's thunder and hail. 00:33:43.519 --> 00:33:47.039 I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer. 00:33:47.519 --> 00:33:52.799 Now, you on just like a first reading of that, you might think, hey, we got him. 00:33:54.240 --> 00:33:56.079 Seventh plague, finally. 00:33:56.319 --> 00:33:58.240 Man, it took a while. 00:33:58.400 --> 00:34:00.799 But yeah, you were in the wrong, God was in the right. 00:34:00.960 --> 00:34:02.720 Those are the magic words. 00:34:03.039 --> 00:34:04.720 Let's wrap this thing up, all right? 00:34:04.799 --> 00:34:06.319 We're gonna get out of here. 00:34:09.199 --> 00:34:15.039 But if you look more closely, you can discern that this is not a genuine repentance. 00:34:15.199 --> 00:34:19.440 This is not an acknowledgement of the truth of who the Lord is. 00:34:20.639 --> 00:34:23.119 Look at the initial qualification. 00:34:23.679 --> 00:34:25.920 This time I have sinned. 00:34:26.880 --> 00:34:27.679 This time. 00:34:29.760 --> 00:34:31.440 The sixth before? 00:34:32.320 --> 00:34:35.440 I mean, we were, you know, we both had a little something to do with that. 00:34:38.719 --> 00:34:40.239 But this time I have sinned. 00:34:40.320 --> 00:34:46.639 There is this, there is this qualification, this limit around what he is willing to acknowledge. 00:34:46.719 --> 00:34:49.599 And you can think of the frame in which Pharaoh might be thinking of this. 00:34:49.760 --> 00:35:01.599 He's he's saying, He's saying something like: if this is a battle of righteousness, a battle of gods, perhaps this is one in which I have erred. 00:35:01.840 --> 00:35:04.559 But the war would still be mine. 00:35:05.920 --> 00:35:08.880 So, sure, you played this hand and it was successful. 00:35:08.960 --> 00:35:12.960 And in this one, me and my people have sinned, and the Lord is righteous this time. 00:35:13.679 --> 00:35:14.639 This time. 00:35:17.440 --> 00:35:21.440 He is still thinking, the Lord is like me. 00:35:22.880 --> 00:35:24.880 He's a God like me. 00:35:25.679 --> 00:35:29.119 And gods like me were righteous. 00:35:30.480 --> 00:35:31.760 We can err. 00:35:33.360 --> 00:35:37.519 We can make subtle miscalculations, especially against other gods. 00:35:38.320 --> 00:35:42.320 And there's margin for that sort of thing in these battles of gods. 00:35:43.280 --> 00:35:51.440 No, the God that he is relating to, the Lord of the Hebrews, is not like him. 00:35:53.039 --> 00:35:56.639 He is absolute in his righteousness. 00:35:57.440 --> 00:36:01.119 He is absolute in his holiness. 00:36:02.480 --> 00:36:07.360 He is perfectly righteous, never erring. 00:36:08.320 --> 00:36:10.960 He is not a God like Pharaoh is a God. 00:36:12.960 --> 00:36:17.679 In the last phrase, he says, I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer. 00:36:20.880 --> 00:36:25.119 It is perhaps better translated as you will no longer stand before me. 00:36:25.840 --> 00:36:35.840 And so you can sense in this what he is saying is that we'll end this thing, and you won't be able to stand before me anymore. 00:36:37.280 --> 00:36:39.840 But he's misunderstanding the situation. 00:36:41.199 --> 00:36:48.559 There's this dynamic of standing before that's taken place throughout the whole plague narrative. 00:36:50.239 --> 00:36:54.880 Pharaoh, but Moses is instructed to stand before Pharaoh by the Lord. 00:36:56.159 --> 00:36:59.840 The magicians stand before Pharaoh as well. 00:37:00.159 --> 00:37:03.519 But then the magicians stand before Moses and Aaron. 00:37:03.840 --> 00:37:12.239 Then finally, with the plague of the boils, it is said they were no longer they were not even able to stand before Moses and Aaron. 00:37:14.480 --> 00:37:19.599 See, the one who is doing the standing before is the one who has the authority. 00:37:20.719 --> 00:37:32.320 And so he's he's the way that Pharaoh is relaying this is he's saying, I will still have and preserve my ultimate authority over you, Moses and Aaron. 00:37:34.079 --> 00:37:38.159 That one's a bit more opaque and just a plain reading. 00:37:39.679 --> 00:37:45.039 Moses is not fooled by it, but he understands that this is no real repentance. 00:37:46.880 --> 00:37:48.239 So what is it? 00:37:49.199 --> 00:37:53.280 I think this is what Paul warns Timothy of. 00:37:53.760 --> 00:38:07.360 In 2 Timothy 3, 5, he describes a people who he says in 2 Timothy 3.5, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. 00:38:08.320 --> 00:38:13.199 And Paul offers this pastoral advice: avoid such people. 00:38:16.559 --> 00:38:22.239 The appearance of godliness, but denying its power. 00:38:25.039 --> 00:38:37.039 Moses is so clearly denying the apparent, the obvious, the made plain power of the Lord. 00:38:38.400 --> 00:38:41.440 And we can cultivate that in ourselves. 00:38:41.920 --> 00:38:48.480 One of the ways we cultivate that in ourselves is by patterns of self-deception. 00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:56.880 Where we hold corners of our lives that we think the Lord cannot see into. 00:38:59.119 --> 00:39:02.960 Because we think he's kind of like us. 00:39:04.800 --> 00:39:07.280 Those around me can be deceived. 00:39:07.599 --> 00:39:12.239 And even I, even I can deceive myself. 00:39:14.000 --> 00:39:18.559 To create a world which I could tolerate to live in, to deceive myself. 00:39:19.440 --> 00:39:21.360 The Lord is not like us. 00:39:22.079 --> 00:39:25.119 His power is over everything. 00:39:26.400 --> 00:39:35.440 All parts of the world, all parts of you belong to him. 00:39:36.800 --> 00:39:45.039 So when we operate in those patterns of self-deception, then we are denying the power of the Lord. 00:39:46.079 --> 00:39:50.079 Because we're saying he could be deceived. 00:39:52.880 --> 00:40:13.280 Verses 6 and 7, for among them, in 2 Timothy, we'll continue this pattern, for among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. 00:40:16.000 --> 00:40:16.960 He gives this image. 00:40:17.039 --> 00:40:19.679 He says, look, here's a way you might see this. 00:40:19.760 --> 00:40:23.280 They'll creep into households and they'll take advantage of weak women. 00:40:23.519 --> 00:40:28.559 By their deceptiveness, they will feign godliness. 00:40:29.760 --> 00:40:36.079 They will make themselves look like they have a God above them that they were appealing to, but really they do not think they do. 00:40:37.119 --> 00:40:49.199 And they will use that to garner favor with weak women who ultimately they take advantage of and leave them far worse off. 00:40:51.519 --> 00:40:58.800 And he gives this other characteristic, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. 00:41:00.400 --> 00:41:04.719 You can hear this in like the feigned humility of agnosticism. 00:41:07.039 --> 00:41:08.159 Can we really know? 00:41:10.079 --> 00:41:12.880 I mean, can we really know that there is a God? 00:41:13.360 --> 00:41:28.880 This is a wonderful legendary story that's provided this great mythological framework that has become the foundation for the way that we Westerners have conceptualized ourselves and whatever, you know, I'll finish my Jordan Peterson impression there. 00:41:30.400 --> 00:41:35.119 But is this can we know that God is real? 00:41:37.039 --> 00:41:53.599 I don't think I think anyone who claimed to know a thing like that, that's really just some sort of they're deceived or hubris or something. 00:41:53.840 --> 00:42:00.639 And they're probably just trying to project their own belief onto you that they would really claim to know. 00:42:01.119 --> 00:42:10.400 I can learn about the Lord, but to say that I know He exists, I couldn't say a thing like that. 00:42:11.920 --> 00:42:14.079 See, now that feels humble. 00:42:15.840 --> 00:42:26.079 That feels like a sort of I'm not gonna go beyond what I can what I can know with certainty. 00:42:27.760 --> 00:42:31.840 It's not humble, it's prideful. 00:42:34.480 --> 00:42:43.599 Because God Himself says, What that person is saying is God is the type of thing that can't really be known. 00:42:43.840 --> 00:42:46.559 And if you're an honest person, you'll admit that. 00:42:47.440 --> 00:42:54.400 God himself says, I have been plainly revealed in the things that have been made. 00:42:54.800 --> 00:43:00.960 And so by your mere existence itself, you can understand my eternal power and divine nature. 00:43:01.599 --> 00:43:08.239 And then God, you know, God says, You can know me. 00:43:09.199 --> 00:43:12.559 And then we say, we can't really know God. 00:43:15.360 --> 00:43:21.280 There is such a thing as you ought to know. 00:43:24.079 --> 00:43:25.679 I love that song. 00:43:26.880 --> 00:43:28.000 You ought to know. 00:43:31.119 --> 00:43:47.840 There is such a thing as enough evidence such that to pretend you don't know is not humility, it's not epistemic humility, it's epistemic pride. 00:43:53.760 --> 00:43:57.840 Because there's a benefit to not arriving at a knowledge of the truth. 00:43:58.480 --> 00:43:59.760 You also get to not really. 00:44:00.320 --> 00:44:05.599 Arrive at the true knowledge of your sin. 00:44:09.119 --> 00:44:12.000 Why am I talking about the 2 Timothy part so much? 00:44:12.960 --> 00:44:18.880 Because it culminates in an example of the magicians in Exodus. 00:44:19.280 --> 00:44:21.280 2 Timothy 3, verses 8 through 9. 00:44:21.440 --> 00:44:27.679