Well, GreetingsEveryone! Here we are on the First Day of Unleavened Bread—beautifulspring day! And we just want to thank you for being there and we'rejust very thankful that we can have this time to speak to you on thisHoly Day.
So with that in mind inkeeping with the times that we're celebrating, God's Holy Days andthe very First of the Spring Holy Days, we just with that in mindwould want to look at the Exodus for a little while.
The Exodus miracles areviewed by the world as fairytales. And the atheists andnon-believers view the Exodus as something that's just mythology andnot true. And you would think that the Christian variousdenominations would view them as miracles from God, but they go togreat lengths to explain them as some kind of natural phenomena—redplankton or sand storms or things like that—and just totally ignorethe fact that God has the ability to perform mighty miracles.
The miracles of theplagues are an integral part of the Exodus. And through thoseplagues, God took care of Egypt so well that they would not botherand could not bother Israel during the forty years in the wilderness. They were decimated.
But we need to ask thequestion today: What do these plagues and the miracles that surroundthese plagues have to do with us in the Church today? Why are theyrecorded in the Bible? Why is so much space given in the book ofExodus and throughout the Old Testament and New Testament torecounting these plagues and to talking about them and the miraclesthat God performed?
So the title of thesermon is:
Well, let's talk in thebeginning about some background right before the plagues began.
The first thing we needto understand is that Egypt did not know who God was. Let's go backto Exodus chapter 5 and read the first two verses. Egypt didn'tunderstand the God of Israel. They didn't know the God of Israel. They didn't believe that there was a God of Israel, but they were toquickly learn that was not the case. Exodus 5 verse 1:
Exodus5:1. And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh,Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Let my people go, that they mayhold a feast unto me in the wilderness. (KJV)
Verse 2, notice whatPharaoh says:
Exodus5:2b. Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice tolet Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go. (KJV)
They didn't have a cluewho God was, but that was about to change.
The second point ofbackground is that God was not fully understood by Israel either. They didn't really know God, but they were going to get acquaintedwith God very quickly. Look at chapter 10 of Exodus the first twoverses, Exodus chapter 10 verse 1:
Exodus10:1. And the [Eternal] said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that Imight shew these my signs before him: 2) that [you may] tell in theears of [your] son, and of [your] son's son, what things I havewrought in Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them; (KJV)
Why? Notice this lastphrase!
Exodus10:2b. that [you] may know (KJV)
"You"meaning Israel.
Exodus10:2 continued. may know how that I am the [Eternal]. (KJV)
So part of the reasonfor all of these miracles and these plagues was to identify GodAlmighty to Israel as well as to Egypt.
A third point ofbackground is the fact that with one event, God would identifyHimself to both nations—Israel and Egypt. Look at Exodus chapter 7and verse 5:
Exodus7:5. And the Egyptians shall know (KJV)
And obviously Israelwas going to know also.
Exodus7:5. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the[Eternal], when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt, and bring outthe children of Israel from among them. (KJV)
And so by stretchingout His hand toward Egypt, meaning the plagues and by bringing Israelout Egypt through miracles, both nations would know God. Both wouldsee in a dramatic fashion the true God.
Now with thatbackground, what we're going to do next is spend some time goingthrough the Ten Plagues of Egypt. Now let's understand that the bestestimates that we have right now was that the population of Egypt wasabout twenty million. It was not a small country. This was not somelittle event in some backwater nation. This was the major nation ofthe earth. And Israel, although a small percentage of the totalpopulation, was there in Egypt and God was going to identify Himselfto both nations.
So let's look at theFirst Plague—first one—the Plague of Water Being Changed toBlood. Exodus chapter 7 and we're going to read verses 17 through21. Exodus 7 verse 17:
Exodus7:17: Thus [says] the [Eternal], In this [you shall] know that Iam the [Eternal]: (KJV)
He says it again. Thisis one of the reasons that God is performing these miracles so thatIsrael and Egypt would know who He was.
He says:
Exodus7:17b. behold, I will smite with the rod that is in [my]hand the waters which are in the river, and they shall beturned to blood. 18) And the fish that is in the river shalldie, and the river shall stink; and the Egyptians shall [loathe] todrink of the water of the river.
Of course, you wouldn'twant to drink blood and particularly stinking rotting blood.
Verse 19:
Exodus7:19. And the [Eternal spoke] unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take[your] rod, and stretch out [your] hand upon the waters of Egypt,upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and uponall their pools of water, that they may become blood; and thatthere may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vesselsof wood, and in vessels of stone. (KJV)
Now think about that! Today it would be in your toilet, in your sink, in the water in yourrefrigerator, the water in your evaporative coolers, everywhere!
Verse 20:
Exodus7:20. And Moses and Aaron did so, as the Lord commanded; and helifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in theriver, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; andall the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. 21) And the fish that was in the river died; and the riverstank, (KJV)
And there's nothingthat smells worse than rotting fish—millions of fish stinking androtting.
Exodus7:21b. and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of theriver; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. (KJV)
In every home, in everycommunity, all along the river!
Now one of the reasonsGod did this was that the Nile was the patron deity of the country. The Nile was Egypt. The whole culture centered around the Nile.
And when the Nileflooded every spring, it flooded the land and rejuvenated the landwith new organic material. And then they could plant crops and thecrops would flourish. And the Nile was Egypt for water and foragriculture.
And what this miracledid is made the Nile worthless! And God was saying to them, "Yourgod, the Nile, is now stinking in your nose. It's now smelling andyou can't use it for any productive reason." These dried cakedponds, rivers, the Nile itself stank in the hot sun. And so what Godwas doing was destroying Egypt's image of their god, the Nile. Instead of being a blessing to the people, the Nile, it was a curse. And it stank. So in this First Plague, God was telling them rightout of the bat, "Your gods are nothing."
Now let's go to theSecond One, the Plague of the Frogs. We're going to begin in Exodus8, read the first six verses, and then read verses 12 through 14. Exodus 8 verse 1:
Exodus8:1. And the [Eternal spoke] unto Moses, Go unto Pharaoh, andsay unto him, Thus [says] the [Eternal], Let my people go, that theymay serve me. 2) And if [you] refuse to let them go, behold,I will smite all thy borders with frogs: 3) And the river shallbring forth frogs abundantly, which shall go up and come into [your]house, and into [your] bedchamber, and upon [your] bed, and into thehouse of [your] servants, and upon [your] people, and [even] into[your] ovens, and into [your] kneading-troughs: (KJV)
And again today youopen the refrigerator and there's frogs in there. You open up yourstove and there's frogs in there. You open up your stove and there'sfrogs in there. The microwave at eye level, you open it up and afrog jumps into your face.
Exodus8:4. And the frogs shall come [upon] both [you], and [your]people, and upon all [your] servants. 5) And the [Eternal spoke]unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch forth [your] hand with [your] rodover the streams, over the rivers, and over the ponds, and causefrogs to come up upon the land of Egypt. (KJV)
Verse 6:
Exodus8:6. And Aaron stretched [forth] his hand over the waters ofEgypt; and the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt. (KJV)
Now jumping to verse12:
Exodus8:12. And Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh: and Mosescried unto the [Eternal] because of the frogs which he had broughtagainst Pharaoh. (KJV)
This was after Pharaohwas whining and complaining now.
Verse 13:
Exodus8:13. And the Lord did according to the word of Moses; and thefrogs died out of the houses, out of the villages, and out of thefields. 14) And they gathered them together upon heaps: and theland stank. (KJV)
So now after thestinking of the river, now you have the stinking of the frogs inthese gigantic piles! Now understand that frogs are part of theEgyptian god family. Their god Pettah was a reptile with a frog'shead.
And it was demoralizingto see their gods:
1)sent as plagues, but
2)they're all dead and stinking now!
What is that doing totheir image of their worship of their religious gods? They died bythe millions—maybe even the billions! Egypt was treated to thebeautiful view of their gods stinking and rotting in the sun. Godwas sending them a message.
Okay, that's two. Nowlet's go to the Third. This is the plague, what the King James says,"the Plague of Lice." And that's Exodus 8 verses 16through 19. Let's read that. Exodus 8 verse 16:
Exodus8:16. And the [Eternal] said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretchout [your] rod, and smite the dust of the land, (KJV)
Obviously in Egypt,there is a lot of dust. It's everywhere. It's like West Texas. There's just everywhere, dirt everywhere. And we're going to findthat that dust turns into lice. That's a lot of lice.
Exodus8:16b. smite the dust of the land, that it may become licethroughout all the land of Egypt. 17) And they did so; for Aaronstretched out his hand with his rod, and smote the dust of the earth,and it became lice in man, and in beast; all the dust of the landbecame lice throughout all the land of Egypt. (KJV)
Now you think of everylittle particle of dust turned into an insect and all of a sudden nowthose insects begin to attack man and beast and crawl throughout allthe land!
Exodus8:18. And the magicians [of Egypt] did so with theirenchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not: so there werelice upon man, and upon beast. (KJV)
They failed in theirefforts. Verse 19:
Exodus8:19. Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, This (KJV)
Now they know!
Exodus8:19b. This is the finger of God: and Pharaoh's heartwas hardened, and he [didn't listen to] them; as the LORD had said. (KJV)
Now if you do someresearch on what it means when it refers to lice, somescholars say that they were gnats and mosquitoes. Now I think all ofus have had experience with gnats and mosquitoes. Now if every speckof dust in a land was turned into either a gnat or a mosquito, howbad would that be? I mean you couldn't exist. You'd be flailing andflapping around trying to get all the mosquitoes off of you andthey're biting and sucking your blood.
Now other scholars saythat the word gnat is a generic reference to all bloodsucking, biting, burrowing insects of all types, like chiggers andticks and no-see-ums and mosquitoes and gnats, all of those. So itmight be multiple types of insects rather than just one type.
Now let's understandthe Egyptians had a fetish about cleanliness. And the Egyptiansshaved almost all the hair off of their bodies. And they tookfrequent baths. And they were fanatics about being clean. Now, theyhave their bodies coated, covered with these nauseating insects andbugs chewing on their flesh, leaving whelps and scars and all ofthat. And they're quickly coming to the understanding that theirgods are turning on them. Instead of their gods being beneficial tothem their gods are attacking them. That was the Third, the Plagueof Lice.
Let's go the FourthPlague, the Plague of Flies. This is in Exodus 8 and we'll readverses 20 through 24.
We're skipping througha lot of this, obviously, because the purpose of the sermon is not torecount all of the Exodus and the interactions between Moses andPharaoh. We're just focusing on the plagues themselves.
Exodus 8 verse 20:
Exodus8:20. And the Lord said unto Moses, Rise up early in themorning, and stand before Pharaoh; lo, he [comes] forth to the water;and say unto him, Thus [says] the [Eternal], Let my people go, thatthey may serve me. (KJV)
Now Moses is soundinglike a broken record. This is the fourth time now. But notice verse21:
Exodus8:21. Else, if [you will] not let my people go, behold, I willsend swarms of flies upon [you], and upon [your] servants, andupon [the] people, and into [your] houses: and the houses of theEgyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also theground [where] they are. (KJV)
The ground will becovered with it. The air will be covered with it.
Verse 22:
Exodus8:22. And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, (KJV)
Now up until that time,these plagues had come across the whole land including the nation ofIsrael. Now God wanted to impress upon Israel His power and Hismight, but here in the Fourth Plague, He's making a separationbetween Israel and Egypt. He says:
Exodus8:22. And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in whichmy people [live], that no swarms of flies shall bethere; to the end [you may] know that I am the [Eternal] inthe [middle] of the earth. (KJV)
And He's saying, "I'mmaking a distinction between My people and between Egypt."
Verse 23:
Exodus8:23. And I will put a division between my people and [your]people: to morrow shall [be] this sign. (KJV)
This was a sign inadvance. God was saying, "I have the power to make swarmsof flies congregate in one area, but not in another area." AndHe told them in advance this was going to happen. Now think aboutthis! This was a tremendous example to the nation of Israel that ifthey would follow God, He would protect them and preserve them.
Verse 24:
Exodus8:24. And the [Eternal] did so; and there came a grievous swarmof flies into the house of Pharaoh, and into hisservants' houses, and into all the land of Egypt: the land wascorrupted by reason of the swarm of flies. (KJV)
Now let's understandthat Egyptians worshipped both flies and beetles. But these were notcommon house flies. These were flies that bit. And some scholarssay that this particular fly was the Iblatta orientalis and itis a beetle that gnaws on clothes, furniture, plants, animals andhumans. It just ate everything in sight, chewed on everything insight. And we've seen beetles with their mouths that just can chewon anything and for their size, they're very powerful. And thesethings are now swarming on the ground eating anything out of wood,all the plants, the animals, and then chewing on people includingPharaoh. Pharaoh was not isolated from this. He couldn't go intohis bunker and hide out. He was there susceptible as the averageEgyptian.
So now we see onceagain that God is turning their "gods" onto them. And He is showing them who is a God and who isn't a god.
Now the Fifth One, theFifth Plague is the Plague on the Cattle. This is in Exodus chapter9 and the first seven verses. Exodus 9 verse 1:
Exodus9:1. Then the [Eternal spoke] unto Moses [and He said], Go inunto Pharaoh, and tell him, Thus [says] the [Eternal] God of theHebrews, (KJV)
He's reinforcing thefact that "I am the God of the Hebrews. I am the God of Israel. I'm not your god, but you're going to feel my power."
Exodus9:1b. Let my people go, that they may serve me. 2) For if [you]refuse to let them go, and [will] hold them still, 3) Behold,the hand of the [Eternal] is upon [the] cattle which is in thefield, upon the horses, upon the [donkeys], upon the camels, upon theoxen, and upon the sheep: there shall be a very grievousmurrain [or disease]. 4) And the [Eternal] shall sever between thecattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt: (KJV)
Again that has neverhappened in human existence where some disease attacks one nation'scattle but not another nation's cattle. A disease does not respectborders. It does not respect races. But here God had the power tomake a very prominent demonstration to the nation of Israel as wellas Egypt.
And He says:
Exodus9:4. And the Lord shall sever between the cattle of Israel andthe cattle of Egypt: and there shall nothing die of all that isthe children's of Israel. 5) And the [Eternal] appointed a set time, (KJV)
Again God not justletting it happen whenever it happened, He said, "This is goingto happen at a certain time"—again demonstrating His power andHis authority.
Exodus9:4b. saying, To morrow the [Eternal] shall do this thing in theland. (KJV)
He's saying inadvance that it was going to happen and indeed it did.
Verse 6:
Exodus9:6. And the [Eternal] did that thing on the morrow, and all thecattle of Egypt died: but of the cattle of the children of Israeldied not one. 7) And Pharaoh sent, and, behold, there was not one ofthe cattle of the Israelites dead. (KJV)
He sent out his spies,looked into the land and found out God did exactly what He said Hewas going to do.
Exodus9:7b. And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, [for] he [didn't]let the people go. (KJV)
As we know, Egyptworshipped cattle, especially the god of the bull. And that was avery powerful god in Egyptian mythology. And this disease likeanthrax caused ulcers on the body outwardly so the people could see,but also ulcers in the lungs and they began to be unable to breathe. And the ulcers then caused phlegm and mucus and they basically drownin their own mucus.
Now we know that Egypthated those people who used cattle for food. You can read that inExodus 8 and verse 26. And we see here that now all of a suddenEgypt's gods were in pain. This was a horrible thing on the animals. And they were in pain and they were suffering and then they weredying. These beasts that Egypt worshipped were now having powergreater than their presumed power exerted upon them to the point thatthey were now suffering and dying in the sight of the Egyptians withblisters and boils all over their body, unable to breathe, sufferinghorribly because God was making a demonstration of Who was the realGod and Who had the real power.
Let's go to the SixthPlague, the Plague of Boils. Exodus chapter 9, we'll read verses 8through 10.
Exodus9:8. And the [Eternal] said unto Moses and unto Aaron, Take toyou handfuls of ashes of the furnace, (KJV)
We'll get to that injust a minute. But notice, He said, "ashes of the furnace."
Exodus9:8b. and let Moses sprinkle it toward the heaven in the sightof Pharaoh. (KJV)
And if you—say acampfire—you just got all the ashes and started throwing it up inthe air, there'd be dust everywhere. There'd be ashes everywhere.
Verse 9:
Exodus9:9. And it shall become small dust in the land of Egypt, (KJV)
It shall spread allover the land of Egypt just like a dust storm. And growing up inWest Texas, I'm very familiar with dust storms. And there is justdust everywhere. In a bad storm, you can't even see the sun. And sothese ashes became as that.
Exodus9:9. And [He said] it shall become small dust in the land ofEgypt, and shall be a boil breaking forth with blains uponman, and upon beast, throughout all the land of Egypt. 10) And theytook ashes of the furnace, and stood before Pharaoh; and Mosessprinkled it up toward heaven; and it became a boil breaking forthwith blains (KJV)
The word blainsin the Hebrew means blisters.
Exodus9:10b. upon man, and upon beast. (KJV)
If the animals hadn'tsuffered enough, they were going to suffer some more.
Now I had chicken poxwhen I was thirty-five years old and it liked to kill me. I hadchicken pox from the top of my head and my scalp down into my ears,into my nose, your armpits and various cracks and crevices in yourbody, but in between your toes. And they turn into small blisters. And you're just in a rage. You just want to scratch, but the moreyou scratch, the more it itches. And you can't do that. You knowyou want to and you can't. But there for a while I felt like inorder to die I would have to get better.
And this is the waythese boils occurred in the Egyptians. So I know a little bit aboutwhat they were going through.
Now it said ashesfrom a furnace. And what that refers to is that Egypt annuallywould sacrifice humans and burn them. And then take those ashes in areligious ceremony and scatter them over the land in an effort tobless the land. So what God is saying, "I'm going to turnsomething that you have used for centuries as a blessing to the land,I'm going to turn that against you because you are sacrificing humanbeings, your own brothers, you're sacrificing them and I'm going toturn that against you.
And also the magiciansand the priests use ashes in other religious rites during the year. So the fact is that once again, God is taking something they usedreligiously that was supposed to be a blessing to them and turned itinto a curse. And every Egyptian, the little kids and the aged andPharaoh himself were just scratching and itching and in pain. Andthey became infected. And they scabbed over. And they'd scratchthem again. And so let's not underestimate what God was putting themthrough because as we've said many times before, human beings oftenonly learn by pain. And the Egyptians, particularly Pharaoh, werelearning a very powerful lesson.
Let's go to the SeventhPlague, the Plague of Hail. This is in Exodus 9. We'll read verse14 and then jump to verse 18 through 26. The Plague of the Hail,Exodus 9 verse 14:
Exodus9:14. For I will at this time send all my plagues upon [your]heart, and upon [your] servants, and upon [your] people; (KJV)
Notice this lastphrase!
Exodus9:14b. that [you may] know that there is none like me inall the earth. (KJV)
And I think by thistime, the Egyptians were starting to get the picture that "Thisis something new. This has never happened before. This God isreally powerful."
Verse 18:
Exodus9:18. Behold, to morrow (KJV)
Again setting a time. He's not going to say, "Well, sometime next week." He'ssaying,
Exodus9:18b. to morrow about this time I will cause it to rain a verygrievous hail, such as [has] not been in Egypt since the foundationthereof even until now. (KJV)
Something new that hasnever happened before! Verse 19:
Exodus9:19. Send therefore now, and gather [your] cattle, andall that [you have] in the field; for upon every man and beastwhich shall be found in the field, shall not be brought home, (KJV)
God is saying—He'sgiving them a heads up. He says, "Whatever's out there, they'regoing to die." And so He was giving them a chance to believe inHim and then spare some of the suffering if they would believe inHim.
And He says:
Exodus9:19b. shall not be brought home, [and] the hail shall come downupon them, and they shall die. (KJV)
Verse 20:
Exodus9:20. He that feared the word of the [Eternal] among theservants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into thehouses [for protection]: 21) And he that regarded not the word ofthe [Eternal] left his servants and his cattle in the field. (KJV)
And God wasdemonstrating this principle of blessings and cursings. "Youobey Me and you will be blessed and spared. But on the other hand,you ignore Me and you ignore My commandments, then you're going tosuffer for it."
Verse 22:
Exodus9:22. And the [Eternal] said unto Moses, Stretch forth [your]hand toward heaven, that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt,upon man, and upon beast, and upon every herb of the field,throughout [all] the land of Egypt. (KJV)
And we all know a badhail storm can do horrible damage. We lived in Lubbock, Texas forthree years and have seen golf ball size hail. It just dented onecar that we had. It looked like somebody took a ball pin hammer andjust went over the whole car. Ruined a roof that we had and juststrips trees of leaves of leaves and plant and all of that! It canbe very horrible. And this was just hail golf ball size or slightlysmaller—nothing compared to this!
Verse 23:
Exodus9:23. And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and the[Eternal] sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon theground; (KJV)
He was showing themthis is not an ordinary hail storm. This is not something fromnature. And modern Christianity can't explain this. You don't havehail storms with fire running across the ground. You have ice andthen fire! Go figure that! Explain that scientifically. You can't.
Exodus9:23b. the [Eternal] rained hail upon the land of Egypt. 24) Sothere was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, very grievous, suchas there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became anation. 25) And the hail smote throughout all the land of Egypt allthat was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail smoteevery herb of the field, and [broke] every tree of the field. (KJV)
Now God is taking careof Egypt long-term. He is destroying the crops. He is destroyingthe fruit trees. He's destroying their means of eating long-term.
Verse 26:
Exodus9:26. Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israelwere, was there no hail. (KJV)
Now the Roecks haveexperienced that. They're farmers here locally. They've experiencedit when rain came at the wrong time. They saw it coming. Andobviously, they'd been praying to God. And the rain passed by theirfield and went on to somebody else's field. And that was a blessingto them! They've seen it first hand. Most of us who are not farmersand attached to the land don't go through this every year or everyseason, but the farmers amongst us and ranchers amongst us andfishermen too do that.
Now in Egypt it rainedoccasionally between January and March, just occasionally. Againthey used the Nile for their water. But it was rare, very rare inEgypt for any thunder or any hail.
But here we havethunder and hail and lightening and fire. Now this is something thatyou can't explain meteorologically. It just doesn't work. Thebuildings, the trees, the crops, the animals, and people caughtoutside were killed by this most unusual event. I think the peoplenow were starting to get a message.
The Eighth Plague, thePlague of the Locusts. This is Exodus 10. We'll read verses 4through 6 and verses 13 through 15. Exodus 10 verse 4:
Exodus10:4. Else, if [you] refuse to let my people go, behold, tomorrow [again setting a specific time] will I bring the locusts into[your] coast: 5) And they shall cover the face of the earth, thatone cannot be able to see the earth: (KJV)
This swarming, crawlingthick mass of locusts that could have been a half a foot to two orthree feet deep on the land!
Exodus10:5b. and they shall eat the residue of that which is escaped[from the hail], which [remains] unto you from the hail, and shalleat every tree which [grows] for you out of the field: (KJV)
They're going to eateverything~
Exodus10:6. And they shall fill [your] houses, and the houses of[your] servants, and the houses of the Egyptians; which neither[your] fathers, nor [your] fathers' fathers have seen, since the daythat they were upon the earth unto this day. And he turned himself,and [he] went out from Pharaoh. (KJV)
He said, "This isgoing to be a plague unlike anything you have seen!"
Verse 13:
Exodus10:13. And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt,and the [Eternal] brought an east wind upon the land all that day,and all that night; and when it was morning, the eastwind brought the locusts. (KJV)
And it just blows meaway that on some of theses cable channels, they try to explain thisin a physical way saying, "Well, yeah the wind blew and broughtall the locusts." Well, okay. What does that explain? Itdoesn't explain anything. Where did the locusts come from? How didthey get there? How did it happen all at once on the very hour andthe very day that God said in advance it would happen?
Verse 14:
Exodus10:14. And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, andrested in all the coasts of Egypt: very grievous were they;before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them[as] such. (KJV)
Now what this istelling us is this was a different type of insect. They had neverseen this one before.
Verse 15:
Exodus10:15. For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that theland was darkened; (KJV)
In other words, therewere such swarms in the air that it darkened the land. It blottedout the sun.
Exodus10:15b. and they did eat every herb of the land, and all thefruit of the trees which the hail had left: and there remained notany green thing in the trees, or in the herbs of the field, throughall the land of Egypt. (KJV)
That land was bare! Itwas the equivalent of a nuclear weapon going off and there were juststumps left. Nothing green! And if you think about it, one day theland is green and luscious, the hail did its damage; but then thenext day, you wake up twenty-four hours later and once those locustsleft and you could see the ground, then there was just dirt andsticks and twigs and trunks of trees.
The species of thislocust, if you do some research on it, were like a large spottedlocust, red and black, double winged grasshoppers. And they estimatethey were approximately three inches long, each one. Now we don'tknow for sure, but they were big. They destroyed all the vegetationremaining from all the other plagues.
We had a sweet widowlady in the Church. She's dead now. Her name was Lorene O'Neal inthe Yakima Church. And she grew up in eastern Montana as a younggirl. She described a plague of locusts to me one day we weretalking. And she said, "The locusts came over the land." And she said, "They were a few inches thick. And you could seeparts of the land—not to the degree that we see here in Egypt—butthey came and they just swarmed over everything." She says,"They got in your hair and your eyes and your ears and yourclothes, in the houses." And she said, "We had a clothesline out in the back yard." And back in those days, they usedwooden clothespins, no springs on them, just wooden clothespins. Shesaid, "They ate every clothespin hanging on the line, everyleaf, every twig"—this plague of locusts. So she understoodwhat it was like to a degree.
But we see here thiswas far greater than anything Egypt had ever seen. And the fact isit took years and decades for them to regenerate their agriculturalindustry. And this is one of the reasons they posed no problem toIsrael in the wilderness for those forty years. They were too busytrying to figure out how they're going to get the next bite of food.
What this plague did isforce the Egyptians to eat the remaining animals which were theirgods! They had to eat their own gods in order to survive. And now,here this God that's supposed to be more powerful than the Egyptians. They're turning around eating their own gods just to keep theirbelly full. Once again, God is showing them who is God and who isnot god.
Now the Ninth Plague,Exodus 10 verse 21 through 23. This is the Plague of Darkness. Nowthis is something really special. We'll get to that in a second.
Exodus10:21. And the [Eternal] said unto Moses, Stretch out thine handtoward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt,even darkness which may be felt.
What does He mean bythat? "Darkness which could be felt," this issomething that's not just like a moonless night—"darknesswhich could be felt."
Exodus10:22. And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; andthere was a thick darkness (KJV)
Again this is a termthat tells us the degree of darkness. Again we'll get into that in aminute.
Exodus10:22b. a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days: (KJV)
So this proves it's notjust some cloud layer coming over for twenty-four hours or somethinglike that.
Verse 23:
Exodus10:23. They saw not one another, (KJV)
Now if you're in thehouse and you have your family next to you a few feet away, it saysthis darkness was so thick you couldn't see even a few feet. Youcouldn't see your own children. They were feeling around trying tofind their families.
Exodus10:23. They saw not one another, neither rose any from his placefor three days: but all the children of Israel had light in theirdwellings. (KJV)
And undoubtedly Pharaohsent spies to go into Goshen. And all of a sudden they walk intoGoshen and something changed. The curtain lifts and there's light. And then they go back into Egypt. And the curtain comes down andthey can't even see their hand at the end of their arm. And so ittells us again the power of God.
Now understand that thesun was the Egyptian's chief god. They worshipped the sun more thananything because the sun provided warmth. It provided photosynthesisfor their crops. It provided light for them to work. It was theirchief god.
But this, as we justread, was not an ordinary darkness. It was like a black cloud ofdoom. Josephus says that it was even difficult to breathe. Soundoubtedly this was some kind of very black cloud or mist that madeit difficult to breathe. And you couldn't see beyond your own face.
Now we had a little bitof that example. Dorothy and I live in Yakima, Washington. And in1980 when Mount St. Helen's erupted, we were seventy miles directlydown the wind. And it occurred in May on a Sunday morning. About8:30 a.m. this dark cloud appeared off to the southwest and it beganto grow and grow and grow. Being used to thunder storms in WestTexas, I thought it was an unusual thunderstorm. We don't get thatmany.
And then all of asudden as the cloud came over the top, you began to feel things onyour arms and you could hear a pitter-patter on the leaves. And itwas the granules of sand falling out from this cloud that was goingoverhead. And within a couple of hours daylight turned to absolutedark! And it was a darkness unlike anything I had ever seen. Nothing compared to what the Egyptians went through. But the fact isby noon you couldn't see across the street. And this ash as it camedown began to absorb all the light. And we went for twenty-fourhours in total darkness. And this was a darkness that absorbedlight.
Well, what we're beingtold here is that this was something that was far, far worse thanthat. And so, they could not only have difficulty seeing butdifficulty breathing and they were lost!
I've been down inCarlsbad Caverns where they turn the lights out for a few seconds. They've stopped that now I'm told. But you could put your hand halfan inch in front of your face and you could not see anything. Thereason they stopped is some people got panicky. You know if youweren't holding you child's hand and that darkness occurred, and thatlittle child could wander off and you'd never find him!
And obviously it causedgreat panic in the land of Egypt. What God did was He killed theirsun god. He killed the sun god for seventy-two hours. He said, "Youthink your sun god is so powerful? It's come up in the east forcenturies. I'm going to stop it. And I'm going to show you Who thereal God is." And this got to them as much as anything if notmore up to this point.
Now the Final Plague isthe one that turned the trick. That is The Tenth, The FirstbornBeing Slayed. We're going to read Exodus 11 verse 1 and then we'regoing to jump through various Scriptures as we go through this. Exodus 11 and verse 1:
Exodus11:1. And the [Eternal] said unto Moses, Yet will I bring oneplague more upon Pharaoh, and upon Egypt; (KJV)
This is the coup degrâce. This is the one that's going to be the turning point.
Exodus11:1b. afterwards he will let you go [from here]: when he shalllet you go, he shall surely thrust you out [of here]altogether. (KJV)
He's not just going togive you permission to go; he's going to chase you away because hedoesn't want anymore plagues.
Verse 4:
Exodus11:4. And Moses said, Thus saith the [Eternal], About midnight[again a specific time] I will go out into the [middle] of Egypt: 5)And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from thefirstborn of Pharaoh that [sits] upon [the] throne, even unto thefirstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill; and [even] thefirstborn of [all the animals]. (KJV)
God is not a respecterof persons. And we in the Church need to understand this. Justbecause somebody is wealthy or somebody has a good job or somebody isa minister or whatever doesn't give you a pass to God.
Verse 6:
Exodus11:6. And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land ofEgypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall [there] be [any]like it any more. (KJV)
Verse 7:
Exodus11:7. But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dogmove his tongue, against man or beast: that [you will] know how thatthe [Eternal puts] a difference between the Egyptians and Israel. (KJV)
And we'll see that aswe talk about some of the lessons we learn from these plagues.
Now jumping to chapter12 verse 29. And then we'll read verse 51.
Exodus12:29. And it came to pass, that at midnight the [Eternal] smoteall the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaohthat sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that wasin the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle. 30) And Pharaohrose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all theEgyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; (KJV)
You can imagine if yourfirstborn child died. And, of course, in Egypt that firstborn childwas going to be the next Pharaoh. And all of a sudden not only didPharaoh fear for his life and for the life of the people—if hecared for them—but also his lineage was now in jeopardy.
Exodus12:30b. there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was nota house where there was not one dead. (KJV)
Now this could possiblymean that if there was a household where there wasn't a firstbornthat God went ahead and killed the family leader where there was nota firstborn, but in order to emphasize the point. That’s apossibility. That would explain that Scripture.
Verse 51:
Exodus12:51. And it came to pass the selfsame day, that the[Eternal] did bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egyptby their armies. (KJV)
Now the fact is that bythis time, by the Tenth Plague, Egypt was completely decimated exceptfor what remained of their army.
Passover was the samedate and same day as when Christ was slain. Now let's understandthat there are reasons behind this.
Now we know laterPharaoh pursues, but he is brought to nothing. His army is killed. The animals are killed. We find that in Exodus 14, but that's notpart of the subject today.
So let's ask thequestion:
Whatlessons can we learn from these plagues on Egypt and God's miracles? What lessons are there for us in the Church today?
The First One:
TheBible defines Egypt as a type of sin.
Let's go to Hebrewschapter ll. We're going to read verses 24 through 27. Hebrews 11verses 24 through 27, we're told:
Hebrews11:24. By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to becalled the son of Pharaoh's daughter, (NKJ)
He rejected hisheritage—not his physical lineage, of course. We know that. Buthe grew up in Pharaoh's court. We understand that.
Verse 25:
Exodus11:25: Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people ofGod, than to enjoy [Notice this!] the pleasures of sin for a season; (KJV)
Living in Egypt wasliving in sin. And God acknowledges sin can be physicallypleasurable for a very short period of time, but you pay for itlater. And Moses had the character to follow God and reject all thatwas in Egypt. And Egypt represents sin.
Verse 26:
Exodus11:26. Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than thetreasures in Egypt; [and] he looked [for his] reward. (NKJ)
He looked for somethinggreater after his physical life was over.
Exodus11:27. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of theking: for he endured, as seeing him [referring to God the Father,Jesus Christ—the God of the Old Testament] who is invisible. (KJV)
He respected God morethan he respected Pharaoh.
Revelation 11 and verse8, we see that Egypt is put in the same category as Sodom. And weknow both represent sin. Revelation 11 verse 8:
Revelation11:8. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street ofthe great city [referring to the two witnesses], which spiritually[this great city] is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord [ourEternal] was crucified. (KJV)
And so we see by thesetwo verses that the Bible identifies Egypt as a type of sin. So weneed to understand that as we go forward.
The Second Lesson thatwe can learn—and this is the overriding lesson:
Theplagues in the Exodus are a type of our conversion process.
Theplagues in the Exodus and those miracles associated with it are atype of our conversion process.
Now we know in John6:44—we won't turn there—we're told that:
John6:44. No man can come to me, except the Father which [is inheaven draws] him: (KJV)
God does the calling. And we come out of the world, we come out of sin.
Now notice Acts 2 andverse 39. This was after Peter had preached a powerful sermon andconvinced the Jews that were there that through their actions Christhad to die. Through their sins, Christ had to die and pay thepenalty for their sins. Notice what he said in Acts 2 verse 39:
Acts2:39. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and toall that are afar off, (KJV)
Both Gentiles aroundthe world at that time, but us today—notice:
Acts2:39b. even as many as the Lord our God shall call. (KJV)
A promise to us! Andour eyes were opened and His Word began to make sense. God started aprocess of converting our minds from the sin of Egypt to look for aKingdom, to look for something greater.
And so as with Israel,we came out of sin. Israel came out of Egypt through miracle aftermiracle after miracle, plague after plague after plague. And withus, we came out of sin by miracle after miracle after miracle in ourlives. I'm sure we're going to be able to talk with God and Christsomeday—maybe the angels someday—and They will tell us, "Well,you weren't aware of it, but back there I protected you," or"Back there you avoided this," or "Back there I taughtyou this lesson preparing you for the day when I would call you." Israel came out of Egypt. We came out of sin. There's thatanalogy—very powerful analogy.
We began keeping theSabbath. We began keeping the Holy Days. We began tithing. And webegan changing our behavior, and hopefully and most importantlychanging our mind.
Notice Acts 3 and thebeginning of verse 19. The people said to Peter—after he preachedthe sermon—they said, "Men and Brethren what do we do? We'vecaused the Messiah to die! The Son of God to die! What do we do?" And the very first part of Acts chapter 3 verse 19, Peter said:
Acts3:19. Repent [you] therefore, (KJV)
Of what you've done,the way you've lived, the life you've led.
Acts3:19b. and be converted [that means be changed], that your sins[might] be blotted out, (KJV)
And we began thatprocess. So as with Israel, we came out of sin.
Then as with Egypt, Godbegan to destroy our gods. God destroyed every one of Egypt's godsto the point that they either died or they began to bite and eat theEgyptians or they stank. And God began to destroy their gods. Butif you look back in your life—I look back in my life, God began todestroy my gods. My first god above all was to be a pilot in theUnited States Air Force. That came first. And God had to destroy myeyesight for a short period of time so I couldn't pass the physicalto go into being a pilot in the U.S. Air Force.
Then my second god,simultaneously I was studying the martial arts. And I loved it. Ithought about it. I dwelt on it. I meditated on it. I practicedfor hours and hours every day. And that was my god. And Goddestroyed that because one morning I woke up with a lower back pain. And then within a few days and then weeks after that, I could hardlywalk. I tried to practice and practice and finally you finally justgive up. I said, "No, I can't do this anymore."
And in the meantime Iwas studying the Bible. Finally the light bulb goes on and you findthe realization that maybe God doesn't want me to do this. MaybeI've been putting something in front of God. And, of course, it'ssomething different with each and every one of you. We've had ourown gods. And over time, God will destroy those gods just as He didwith the Egyptians.
Look at Matthew 10 andverse 37. Christ tells us over and over again. Sometimes, evenafter we've been in the Church for decades, we can allow something tocome between us and God. We can allow a god to replace God—our godwith a small g. Notice Matthew 10 verse 37:
Matthew10:37. "He who loves father or mother more than Me is notworthy of Me. (NKJ)
He that loves job orcareer more than Me is not worthy of Me. He that loves sports orathletics or toys more than Me is not worthy of Me.
Matthew10:37b. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is notworthy of Me. (NKJ)
And God taught Egyptthat lesson. He taught Israel that lesson. And He's teaching usthat lesson today. As I said, the plagues on Egypt and the miraclesare a direct analogy with our conversion and the process of ourconversion.
As with Pharaoh, Goddestroyed pride and stubbornness. In Pharaoh's case, God had todestroy him with his pride and with his stubbornness. Now there's alesson there. God is going to destroy pride and stubbornness one wayor another. And if He has to destroy us eternally, He will do thatbecause He's not going to allow people in His Kingdom that areprideful and that are stubborn. And there is a direct analogy withPharaoh. Pharaoh would not repent. He would not change. And he hadto die. If we don't repent of our pride, if we don't repent of ourstubbornness, we will die too. Not in the Red Sea in a physicaldeath. We will die an eternal death in the lake of fire.
Now what God is doingwith us over a period of time is giving us time to destroy our godsand to destroy our pride and to destroy our stubbornness. NowPharaoh had a very narrow window and that was a physical destruction. But the stakes are much higher with us. And so God gives us years,sometimes decades, to destroy our pride and our stubbornness.
1 John 2 and verse 16—avery familiar Scripture—God tell us that pride is something thatall of us have to root out. Because if pride motivates us, in theKingdom we would argue with God! We would try to succeed God. Wewould know better than God. That's exactly what Satan did! God'snot going to repeat that! God is not going to have people in HisKingdom who want to assert themselves and their idea is better thanGod's idea. God's not going to have an arguing Family for aneternity. 1 John 2 and verse 16:
IJohn 2:16. For all that is in the world, the lust of theflesh, and the lust of the eyes, and [the third one] the pride oflife, [isn't] of the Father, but is of the world. (KJV)
It's of Egypt. It's ofPharaoh. And it's of Satan.
And we have to destroyour pride. We have to root it out and get ride of it. And I've seenthat in myself over the years. And you think you push it down andthen it pops up. And then you try to destroy and kill it and then itpops up again. It is just amazing that pride is one of the hardestthings for us to overcome, but God is saying, "I'm not going tolet your or let anybody into my Kingdom that is filled with pride."
Notice 1 Samuel 15verse 23.
In addition to pride isstubbornness. God took ten plagues to get through to the Egyptians. How many trials is it going to take to get through our thick heads? Trial after trial, issue after issue and God sometimes hits us with atwo-by-four between the eyes. Other times we slip and fall and getbruised. And He's teaching us lessons He wants us to learn.
1 Samuel 15 and verse23:
1Samuel 15:23. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, (KJV)
Now think of that! There are people who would run away from voodoo-ism andwitchcraft. But God is telling us that rebellion is just like that! Then He goes on to say:
1Samuel 15:23b. stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. (KJV)
And we would never bowdown in front of an idol, but, boy, we will get our back up and bestubborn very easily. And God is saying, "You get your back up,you get stubborn; that's just like bowing down in front of an idol." When are we going to get that message? And yet we run intostubbornness in ourselves and into others all the time. They knowthe right way. They know that their way is correct. They don't wantto hear anything else. And it's "my way or the highway"! That is not going to work in the Kingdom of God. It's not going towork in the place of safety.
So we have to destroypride and we have to destroy stubbornness in our lives. And here weare starting the Days of Unleavened Bread, which symbolize puttingout sin, and the two areas we need to focus on in these last days ispride and stubbornness. And that is what destroyed Egypt anddestroyed Pharaoh.
Another lesson we canlearn is:
Aswith Egypt, over time we should see that we are nothing.
And my guess is asPharaoh was under the water and drowning, hopefully he realized"Compared to God, this God of Israel, this God that I didn'tknow, I am nothing." You hope he learns that. And when he isresurrected, you hope he pops up and that is the first thing that'son his mind is that "Uh oh, I've screwed up. I have miserablyfailed."
Let's go to 2 Samuelchapter 7 and verse 18 and look at David's attitude.
David wanted to build atemple. And he told Nathan, "I want to do this." AndNathan said, "Go ahead and do what's in your heart." Andthen God came to Nathan and said, "Unh uh. That's not what'sgoing to happen here. I want you to go back to David and I want youto tell him that he's been a bloody man and he is not going to buildthe temple. His son will. I will allow his son. And I will allowhim to prepare the materials and the money necessary to build thetemple. So Nathan went back to David and he told him that.
Now David could havegotten into a snit about it. He could have just done a little danceand a hissy fit because "No, I want to do that. I want to buildthe temple. Look at what I've done for you, God! It's my duty. It's my mandate to build the temple. It's my right to build thetemple, but David didn't do that. He agreed with God because he hadhumility. And notice in 2 Samuel 7 verse 18:
2Samuel 7:18. Then went king David in, and sat before the[Eternal] (KJV)
And notice hisattitude!
2Samuel 7:18b. Who am I, O Lord God? (KJV)
What he's saying is"I'm nothing. I'm just a little stinking human being and I'mgoing to die pretty soon and I am nothing compared to You."
2Samuel 7:18 continued. what is my house, (KJV)
He said, "You'reallowing my son to build this temple. What a blessing that is tome!" He says:
2Samuel 7:18 continued. what is my house, that [you have]brought me [to this point]? (KJV)
"As king of Israelwith wealth, and at that time peace and here my son is going to reignin my stead and what a blessing that is!" And He says, "I'mnothing."
And we have to get tothe point where we are not large in our eyes. And that our waydoesn't have to prevail. And we don't have some agenda that has tohappen or we're going to get into a little snit about it. BecauseI've learned over the years—I've been in the Church almostforty-five years now—and I've learned over the years that my waymeans nothing. And my agenda—I don't have an agenda anymore. Finally God's beat it out of me.
We're all littlechildren and all we can do is stick our hand up in the air and say,"God, take my hand. Lead me where You want me to go"because I don't have the intelligence, I don't have the wisdom toknow where God wants me to go. And none of you do either. And allwe have to do is be humble and ask for God's will to be done. Thenwe'll be in harmony with God.
Now Pharaoh had his ownagenda. He was going to do what he was going to do. He wasn't goingto let those Israelites go. And look what happened!
The longer we'reconverted the more we should see our smallness as compared to God andthat we have no rights. We have no entitlements. God doesn't owe usa thing. And it's only through His grace and His mercy that we werecalled and that we have been given His holy spirit and that we arealive and we have a chance to be in His Kingdom. And beyond that weshould say, "God, just take me. Lead me to serve Your people. Show me the path You want me to go and we'll be happy as clams."
So as with Pharaoh, thefinal lesson that we're going to talk about—we just talked about asGod did with Egypt over time, maybe they learned that they werenothing. We learn that we're nothing. And the final lesson we wantto talk about:
AsPharaoh did with Israel, Satan pursues us.
You notice after theyleft, Satan gathered what was left of his army, went in hot pursuitof Israel. Now we know that Pharaoh is also a type of Satan. Andonce we're baptized, Satan comes after us. And he comes after usevery day, as we know, as a roaring lion seeking whom he may destroy.
Now we won't turn therebut the last sermon I gave we talked about John 10 and The Parable ofthe Sheepfold. And Satan's agenda is to steal and to kill and todestroy. To steal God's people away from the Church, turn them awayfrom the Church back into the world, to kill them physically if hepossibly can, and then to destroy them eternally. That is hisagenda. He does not want to see anybody in God's Kingdom because heknows he's not going to be there and he doesn't want anybody elsethere either. And so he pursues us to get us off track.
Look at Matthew 10 andverse 27.
How do we overcomeSatan's agenda? How did Israel overcome Satan's agenda?
Do you remember whenMoses was standing at the edge of the Red Sea? He basically toldthem, "Stand still and watch the power of God!" And hestretched forth his hand and this miracle occurred. (It wasn't alittle wind blowing and two inches of water! That just blows mymind! I get angry. I stopped watching those programs when I seethat because I get angry.) He took this giant body of water and Heperformed a miracle.
I think I said Matthew. Mark 10 and verse 27:
Mark10:27. And Jesus looking upon them [said], (KJV)
And this is one thingwe have burn into our minds!
Mark10:27b. With men it is impossible, (KJV)
And yet scientists and"religious authors" and scholars try to explain theunexplainable by some kind of physical means.
Mark10:27b. With men it is impossible, but not with God: forwith God all things are possible. (KJV)
And the greatestmiracle God can perform is the changing of a human mind through thepower of His holy spirit. All we have to do is let it happen and notbe a stumbling block or a road block by getting our back up, bygetting our stubbornness and pride up. It's a barrier to God's holyspirit. We cannot allow that to happen.
And here we are in theDays of Unleavened Bread—starting the Days of Unleavened Bread. Weneed to spend this coming week rooting out pride and rooting outstubbornness. Look at 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 57. If we dothat—not just during the Days of Unleavened Bread but—for everyday of the rest of our life, if we root out pride and stubbornness,there is a victory. 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 57:
1Corinthians 15:57. But thanks be to God, [who gives] usthe victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (KJV)
The victory comes fromthe Father and the Son. Not from our efforts. Not from our wisdom. Not from our ability. It comes through the Father and the Son livingin us, motivating us and changing our minds, our very minds. Therein lies the victory.
Now let's understandthat there's a huge difference between ancient Israel, the Israel ofthe Old Testament, and the Israel of the New Testament, us. Hugedifference! Because we have been baptized we have the spirit of God. They didn't. And it's not through anything we've done. Not throughany great thing that we have done. It's through the mercy and thegrace of God.
And we've been back toActs chapter 2 and Acts chapter 3. Let's go for a final Scriptureback in Acts chapter 2 verse 38 because they said, "Men andBrethren, what do we do? What do we do? And Peter said unto them inActs 2 verse 38, he said:
Acts2:38b. Repent, and be baptized (KJV)
We've done that. Wehave done that.
Acts2:38 continued. [And] every one of you in the name of JesusChrist for (KJV)
What?
Acts2:38 continued. the [putting away] of [your] sins, and [thenyou] shall receive the gift of the Holy [spirit]. (KJV)
Now this is a cycle. You repent. God gives you His spirit.
Now that cycle doesn'tend once you're baptized because once you come out of the water atbaptism that is the first time in your life you have been sin free. That is an enormous joy to somebody who's just been baptized and theycome out of that water and God looks at them as a newborn lamb whiteas snow. No sin whatsoever! But after that, yes, we're going tosin. Then we repent. Then we're white as snow again. And then Godgives us more of His holy spirit as we repent. As we ask for Hisspirit, then He gives us more power to recognize—opening of ourmind—more power to see greater sins in our life or more subtle sinsin our life. And then we see those; we repent; God forgives; andthen we ask for more of His holy spirit.
And over the years andover decades, we grow in rooting sin out of our lives as symbolizedby the Days of Unleavened Bread as we put away leavening, which as weknow is an analogy of sin, represents sin. Over the decades, we putout more and more sin. We become more and more like God the Fatherand Jesus Christ. This cycle is repeated every day of our lives. When we exercise God's spirit, when we use God's spirit, He gives usmore of it. Then we have a greater ability to see ourselves, repentof what we see, and make changes in our life.
And so these Days ofUnleavened Bread, as we look back into what happened with Egypt, wecan only marvel at the power and the glory of God in His authority tomake things happen when He says they're going to happen. Now thissame authority, this same power is available to us every day of ourlives through His holy spirit—the power to put sin out of ourlives, the power to reject Satan, the power to reject the world, thepower to reject pride and stubbornness, and the power to be inharmony with God and Jesus Christ.
Because you see wewould have unity in the greater Church of God if all of us were likeJesus Christ. Then we'd all be alike. There wouldn't be anybarriers. There wouldn't be arguing. There wouldn't be fighting. And so the idea is we're scattered all over the place. People arefighting, throwing rocks at each other, and the more we become likeJesus Christ, the more we grow toward the central image of theknowledge of Christ, the closer we will become.
And I believe a certaingroup, who yearn for that, who want that, are growing closer to JesusChrist and they will come together in the image of Christ. It's notany man's doing. It's not any human's doing. It's people wanting tobe like their Daddy. People wanting to be like their elder Brotherand they come together in order to be in the image, in the fullnessof the stature of Jesus Christ. Because then, and only then, willChrist marry them.
And so let's rememberevery day of the Days of Unleavened Bread that part of our walk onthis earth is to become like our elder Brother and to become like ourFather. And we do that by putting away sin. And let us remember theexamples of what happened to Egypt. And let's understand that thatis an analogy of our conversion process. And let's learn TheLessons from the Plagues of Egypt and the Miracles that Occurred atthat Time.
Transcribedby kb March 18, 2010.