Exodus 7:1-13
Hope does not mean we ignore the conditions around us. Hope means we rise above them. It means to trust in One who controls all the conditions. It was King David who once said, “When I am afraid, I will put my trust in thee.” That’s why I often say there is no hope except in God’s Word and through faith in God.
Moses, preparing to go before Pharaoh, received his final instructions from the Lord in this way, “Do what I tell you.” The Lord had spoken to Moses several times and said to him, “I am the Lord. Speak thou unto Pharoah, king of Egypt, all that I say unto thee.” The final instructions for Moses were to do what God told him.
Let me draw some lessons from that for you. When God has spoken, we have no other recourse than to do what He said, especially if we want the blessing of the LORD. Moses, it seems, needed to learn that truth over and over. Somehow, he was not only slow of speech and slow of tongue, but a bit slow of learning. So are we. It seems we are so slow in learning the great Bible truths, but God is patient. He keeps working with us as He did with Moses.
Exodus 7:1-13 is a very interesting Scripture. It demonstrates to us that YOU CAN’T STOP GOD.
1. And the LORD said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.
2. Thou shalt speak all that I command thee: and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh, that he sends the children of Israel out of his land.
3. And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.
4. But Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you, that I may lay my hand upon Egypt, and bring forth mine armies, and my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments.
5. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them.
6. And Moses and Aaron did as the LORD commanded them, so did they.
7. And Moses was fourscore years old, and Aaron fourscore and three years old, when they spoke unto Pharaoh.
8. And the LORD spoke unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,
9. When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying, Shew a miracle for you: then thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and cast it before Pharaoh, and it shall become a serpent.
10. And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the LORD had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent.
11. Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments.
12. For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods.
13. And he hardened Pharaoh’s heart, that he hearkened not unto them as the LORD had said.
In this text, we find several different VIEWPOINTS which must bring us to the absolute conclusion that you can’t stop God.
The first viewpoint we have is,
The Promise.
Observe how carefully God arranged everything. I am impressed that God does not leave anything to chance. He knew exactly how He was going to work this out, and so He laid out the arrangement. He said to Moses, “I have made thee a god, and Aaron thy brother is thy prophet. Now then, this is the way it is going to work. I will speak to you; you will speak to Aaron; Aaron will speak to Pharaoh.” Do you get the point? Very clearly and carefully, the Lord had set up what we call “the chain of command.” There could be no variation from this. It was: God Almighty, Moses, Aaron, Pharaoh.
I want you to notice in verse 2 that God said, “You will speak all that I command you. You’ll say everything I tell you to say.” That is so important. Many people today take exception to some of the things the Lord has said and reason around them. But Moses was instructed by the LORD that there was no way that he could leave anything out. “You shall speak all that I have spoken.”
Notice also that the LORD promised that He would harden Pharaoh’s heart so that He would be able to multiply His signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. We’ll see in a minute why God did that. But there is a promise. He had it all arranged for them so that there would be complete assurance that it would work. You can’t stop God. When He steps out to do this or that, He will do what He has promised. He will do it.
As we look further, we see,
The Plan.
First, He was going to harden Pharaoh’s heart so that he would not listen. He said He was going to do that so that He could lay His hand upon Egypt and bring forth His people. God outlined this very carefully so that there could be no question about what the purpose was. We must remember that God didn’t violate Pharaoh’s choices. God only hardened Pharaoh’s heart after Pharaoh had already done that by his own will.
God didn’t harden Pharaoh just for the sake of hardening his heart, but He hardened him so He could judge him, and finally, all the Egyptians would know who God is. Look at the first clause in verse 5, “And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD.” The actions of God always have Divine purpose undergirding them.
God’s purpose is to honor His Name and to display His glory so there can be no question about who He is and the extent of His power. He said, “They are going to know when I have stretched forth my hand and brought the children of Israel out of Egypt.” There will be no question as to who God is.
No, you can’t stop God when His promise is so clearly set forth and when His plan is so carefully laid out. Sadly, too many people have yet to learn this lesson. They think they can be successful in frustrating or defeating God’s plans. They will find out to their own hurt, just like Pharaoh did, that they are powerless before Almighty God.
This leads to the third viewpoint:
The Promotion.
How was God going to carry out His purpose? He made the promise; He laid out the plan; now, how is He going to promote this? God said to Moses and Aaron, “When you go to speak to Pharaoh, and he asks you to show a miracle, then you will take the rod and cast it down before Pharaoh.” Moses would use the rod of God as a tool in God’s promotion of His power.
Earlier in the book of Exodus, when God first came to Moses there in the desert of Mt. Sinai, He asked him, “What is in your hand?” It was a rod. The LORD had said, “You are going to do great and marvelous and wonderful things with this rod.” Then he was to say to Aaron, “Take this rod and cast it before Pharaoh, and it shall become a snake.” He did what God said, and immediately, it became a snake.
So, Pharaoh called in all his magicians, and they duplicated the miracle. They threw their rods on the ground, and their rods became snakes, too. I’m not sure how helpful that was, but keep in mind that the LORD was hardening Pharaoh’s heart. In this way, God could stretch out His hand with many signs and wonders. The magicians most likely did not have this power in themselves, but God, in keeping with His plan, purpose, and promotion, permitted their rods to become snakes.
What happened? Aaron’s snake swallowed all the other snakes. That implied a greater power was at work in this unusual miracle. Now you would think in that situation, Pharaoh should have believed – but he refused.
There are similar evidences all about us. We can see the hand of God in history. Men have tried to stop God but to no avail. We also see the hand of God in the present. Just like He did with Pharaoh, He sometimes uses the vilest of leaders to accomplish His purposes. And they are now aware of what is happening. We sometimes wonder how much more proof God would have to bring in order for everybody everywhere to accept Him.
God said, “They shall know that I am the LORD.” Do you know Him? I know, it’s easy to think about your neighbor, or about some other person, but the question comes to you. Do you know the LORD? If you don’t, reach out to Him today! He wants you to know Him.
Thanks, J. Mark, for teaching us more from Exodus, and thank you for being there. If you would like this teaching or if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us; I’ll give you our contact information shortly.
I love how Exodus teaches us that God is in control and He’s at work, He always has been, and He always will be. We can trust Him right now, no matter what we are experiencing. We won’t always understand Him, but we can trust Him. His timing might be different than ours; think about Moses. And He may not do what we think He should be doing; remember what happened to Joseph. However, we have the benefit of looking back at many years of history, and we can see God is Sovereign: His purposes will be accomplished. This is His story, and He is the author.
If you are interested, we have a study guide for Exodus available. It is a small booklet designed to help you learn more from each of these lessons. We call it the Hope Herald, and if you would like one, all you have to do is ask.
Here is how you can connect with us. One of the best ways is via email. Our email is [email protected]. If you don’t have email, you could send us a letter, our address is Hope for Today, Box 3, Breezewood, PA 15533. Or you can connect with us on our website. Our website is Heraldsofhope.org. While you are there, please look around for more teaching like this. On our website, you will also find other resources available from Heralds of Hope. Again, the website is www.Heraldsofhope.org.
Thanks again for joining us for today’s program. I encourage you to join us again next week as we continue our study in Exodus. We look forward to being with you then and will leave you with a verse from I Corinthians 10, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, Do it all for the glory of God!” Blessings to you as you glorify Him.
This episode is an exposition of Exodus 7:1-13 by J. Otis Yoder, re-recorded by J. Mark Horst, with an opening and closing by Arlin Horst.