Let My People Go

A couple of weeks a go Liverpool were playing Chelsea an important match but this time there was added bite. Chelsea had bought Liverpool's star striker just a couple of days earlier, now he would face his teammates on the opposing team, you could say there was an atmosphere. The commentator said he couldn't remember a more anticipated match (they do seem to say that every week but you felt he meant it this time). Then as the whistle blew it was quote 'time for the hype to stop'.  Even if you're not a football fan I'm sure you've heard something similar; there comes a time when the talking has to stop. There's a time to put your money where your mouth is.

That's where we find ourselves in Exodus. God has heard his people's groaning he has seen their suffering, he's responded by raising up Moses. But now he faces Pharaoh a powerful enemy who has enslaved the Israelites and has responded to Moses first request to 'let my people go' by cruelly increasing their workload. Moses lips are faltering along with the Israelites' hope.

We're biting off a lot tonight; four and a half chapters from Exodus 7.8 through to the end of Exodus 11 the first nine plagues of the ten which will befall Egypt. Paul once preached until someone fell off the window sill they were sitting on, I'm going to attempt to avoid that scenario tonight (not least because the window sills are very high here and I'm not confident of having the same ability as Paul to raise any such victims back to life) which means that we won't be able to cover every verse in detail. However, this section forms a discreet section and helpfully the accounts of the plagues have a strong structure. So we'll use the account of the plague of hail which we read earlier as a lens through which to observe and interpret the whole section. I've got three points which follow that common:

1. God's purpose is to be known and worshipped by all (even his enemies).

2. God intervenes to make himself known.

3. God demands a heart-felt response.

1. God's purpose is to be known and worshipped by all (even his enemies).

God's purpose in these early chapters has been to make himself known. Not just generally known, as in he exists, but  personally, his whole character is to be stunningly unfurled before men. We've already seen God reveal to Moses a new name: YHWH the great I AM eternal, transcendent God but also the God of Abraham and Jacob, the God of the covenant a committed father to his firstborn son; Israel. Now the scope of God's revelation widens take a look at Exodus 9.13 and 14:

13 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Get up early in the morning, confront Pharaoh and say to him, 'This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me, 14 or this time I will send the full force of my plagues against you and against your officials and your people, so you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth.

'…so you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth' God wants Pharaoh to acknowledge him. Pharaoh who just a few chapters earlier said 'Who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go?' must now not merely doffs his cap to God but bow, recognising that there is no-one like YHWH. This is going to be quite a turn around (tempted to make a link to Newcastle's comeback against Arsenal the other week but that would be self-indulgent and further marginalise the non-football crowd, more importantly it's a dim reflection of this turn around). God wants his sworn enemy to worship him. Incredible but there's more read on to v15 and 16:

15 For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth. 16But I have raised you up[a]for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.

Pharaoh stands in direct opposition to God's desire to be known as God. God says I could have wiped you and your entire nation from the face of the earth but I haven't – why? So Pharaoh can respond to God's power in worship? So an enemy of God can become a friend of God? Well yes but it's further and deeper than that God says that he has raised up Pharaoh 'for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth'. God isn't simply reacting to Pharaoh he has pro-actively raised him up, allowed him to gain this great power, to oppose God so that through him God might demonstrate his power and make himself known in all the earth.

So God wants his sworn enemy Pharaoh to recognise his unique claim to be God in all the earth and through that he desires that all the earth will know the name of the LORD. Now this is remarkable but in biblical terms it is not unusual. God says to Abraham as we learnt last Sunday morning; "I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."

This is God's purpose that he may be known and worshipped by all, by his sworn enemies, by all nations and also by all ages, skip over a page to the bottom of p48 and Exodus 10.1 and 2;

1 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these signs of mine among them 2 that you may tell your children and grandchildren how I dealt harshly with the Egyptians and how I performed my signs among them, and that you may know that I am the LORD.

God's dealings with the Egyptians are to be documented and re-told to the Israelites children and grandchildren (see Deut 6.20ff) in order that they may know the LORD. God wills to be known and worshipped by all nations. This then is the purpose of the plagues; that God's sworn enemy would recognise him as God and that through recognising him God's name would be proclaimed in all the earth, even down the ages. It's worth noting now that this purpose remains, we see it woven through the grand narrative of the whole of scripture as well as being highlighted at particular points for example Jesus commissions us in Matthew 28;

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

We find our place as individuals, as a church within God's desire to be known as God by all people. We see that most epically demonstrated at the cross and we know long with expectation for that day when a great multitude of people from every tribe, people and nation will stand before Jesus. God's purpose is to be known and worshipped by all, how will he achieve that against so strong an enemy as Pharaoh? That will form our second point; 'God makes himself known through powerful interventions'

2. God intervenes to make himself known

We know what's at stake then, let's rejoin Exodus ch 9 at v23 and remind ourselves of how this plague of hail is described;

23 When Moses stretched out his staff toward the sky, the LORD sent thunder and hail, and lightning flashed down to the ground. So the LORD rained hail on the land of Egypt; 24 hail fell and lightning flashed back and forth. It was the worst storm in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation. 25 Throughout Egypt hail struck everything in the fields—both people and animals; it beat down everything growing in the fields and stripped every tree. 26 The only place it did not hail was the land of Goshen, where the Israelites were.

God intervenes powerfully, he cannot be ignored. This sign; the plague of hail also shows us characteristics which are common to the other plagues:

Firstly, God's power is total.

Secondly, God's power is demonstrated particularly.

We can see here that God's power is total, the plague of hail is v24; the worst storm in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation it is unprecedented, unique in its violence. The hail strikes v 25 everything in the fields – people, animals, everything growing in the fields and strips every tree. This is total desolation, there can be no doubt that this is simply a bad storm rather it is a systematic destruction of Egypt's food sources and consequently it's wealth and self-dependence.

This total, deliberate and systematic crushing of Egypt's power is characteristic of the other plagues too. They are not simply what God came up with, we've already seen that God does not simply make a knee-jerk reaction to Pharaoh's defiance but has rather raised him up precisely in order to demonstrate his power. These plagues are deliberate. They are memorable too such that the Israelites could re-tell them down the generations. But there more than memorable stories for us to use in Sunday School. These plagues cut Egypt down to size, systematically pulling apart each element of Egyptian society in order that God's glory can be brought into plain view.

Let me show you what I mean by looking at the first confrontation between Moses and Pharaoh recorded in this section back on page 46 in chapter 7.10-12;

10 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the LORD commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake. 11Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts: 12 Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs.

God had promised this sign to Moses back in Exodus 4 and now he performs it in front of Pharaoh; Aaron's staff turns into a snake which swallows up the staffs of the Egyptian magicians when they attempt to do the same -  a very graphic demonstration of God's superiority. But it's also a symbolic one; the snake was the symbol attached to the Egyptian military, the emblem on their armour and shields when Aaron's staff/snake swallows up the Egyptians' it doesn't just mean Moses is a better magician it points to God's crushingly superior military might. The same is true just a few verses later in 7.17 and 18 and the first plague, the plague of blood;

17 This is what the LORD says: By this you will know that I am the LORD: With the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood. 18 The fish in the Nile will die, and the river will stink; the Egyptians will not be able to drink its water.

This is a huge environmental and public health disaster but it's more than that it's a strike at the foundations of Egypt. The Nile was its pride, its symbol and provider of fertility, its very life blood in Egyptian mythology. God is ripping apart the very heart of Egypt; its idols, its security, its wealth. God is serious he will be known as God. He is a jealous God that is his very name and he will not share his glory with the idols of Egypt.

In 1991 a collection of essays called 'The Gulf War Did Not Happen' by Jean Baudrillard were published. He argued that the conflict between the US and Iraq should not be termed a 'war' for two reasons. The first was the crushing superiority of US military might. It was said at the time that fewer soldiers will killed in conflict than would've died in traffic accidents had they stayed at home. That would serve as a picture of the power of the plagues God sent on Egypt, not just defeating them but putting beyond doubt the identity of the true and living God, it's not a conflict in the sense that there could be anything other than one winner.

Now many people find this difficult and want to say I'm glad God isn't like that in the New Testament where he loves everyone. If that's you then I want to say two things;

1. First, this is difficult. God's judgement is a frightening, fearful thing when we see it poured out we want to deflect it. However, if God really is the exceptional being he claims to be; the creator of every good thing, the author of creation, our maker and subsequent king then it is a matter of justice that he is recognised as such. When we even glimpse the majesty, the supremacy of God when we even see a hint of his perfect holiness then we begin to understand just how offensive our ignorance of him is. God must be known as God if he is to be God at all. That is difficult, it is difficult for us to grasp but it is just.

2. Second, you should read the New Testament again for two reasons. First you'll see that God still demands recognition and worship from the world and second you'll see that God has gone to the most extreme lengths in order to make that possible even sending his own Son to death so that we might all be forgiven the criminal offence of living without reference to the God who has created, and shines most brilliantly in, the world we live in.

We'll come back to the way Pharaoh and Egypt react to God's claim to worship in point three, where we'll see that the ferocity of God's judgement is matched only by the tenacity of his grace.

For now let's find our way back to chapter 9 and the plague of hail. If we were in any doubt about the supernatural nature of this plague then the second characteristic confirms it; God's power is demonstrated particularly. Verse 25 and 26 tell us that the hail fell throughout Egypt the only place where it did not fall was in Goshen where the Israelites were. God's demonstration of power, his judgement is particular. His people are kept, miraculously safe. Again this is not unique to the plague of hail; let me give you just one example from chapter 10. God sends the plague of darkness, for three whole days Egypt is covered in a darkness that could be felt. Once again God strikes at the heart of Egypt, how so well the absence of light is pretty confronting for any society but particularly for one who worships Ra the 'Sun-god'. Again it is particular, the Egyptians cannot leave their homes and yet all the Israelites had light in the places where they lived. The Israelites are separated, pulled out from a kingdom filled with darkness and brought into a kingdom of light – there's a sermon illustration in there somewhere, in fact it's one that Paul uses in Colossians 1 where he praises God for the faith of the Colossians exclaiming;

For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,  in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Now we should be careful about directly comparing the Israelites to the Colossians here. Paul is glorying in Christ's redemption of the Colossians from their sins; we have yet to see God deal with the sin of the Israelites that will come in the second half of Exodus. However, there is similarity, in fact the Exodus is the first time the concept of redemption is used in the Bible's storyline and it functions as a sort of prototype for the even greater redemption achieved in Christ. The Israelites here are pulled from the darkness not of their own sin but the Egyptians nevertheless there is still here an accurate picture of the squalidness of sin which later the Israelites and us (if we are followers of Christ) are pulled from.

The Egyptians stubborn resistance to God and their cruel oppression of God's people should not play the part only of pantomime villain. Rather they are a mirror to us of the way we were, the way we lived apart from God, ignoring him, resisting his call to know him. It mirrors the selfishness of which we are all guilty, the contempt we have for others whom God has created and the slavery which our idolatry traps us in. We should look at the Egyptians not with condemnation but with thankfulness and say literally 'but for the grace of God that is me'. We might not worship the Sun-God 'Ra' but is the Egyptians proud self-reliance, their glorying in their wealth so very far from the attitude of our hearts? God's wrath against sin, against the enslavement of his people is total, it is also particular separating out his people from under his wrath protecting them and pointing forward to the point when he will lead them up out of slavery and into worship of him.

For the Israelites this will be accomplished by the final plague, the Passover which we'll here about next week and when God leads them through the Red Sea. The plagues violently attack the slavery of Egypt and set the Israelites on a path towards freedom and joyful enslavement to God. There God will reveal himself again through the law and begin the work of shaping Israel into his people.

We too can know God through a powerful intervention, one which like the plagues is so jaw-dropping it cannot be ignored. We know God through his Son Jesus whom God has sent not to attack Egyptian slavery but to put to death the slavery in our hearts, the slavery to sin. We too are set on a path toward joyful enslavement to God as living sacrifices. We to are moulded and shaped as God's people by his Spirit. Christ's death and resurrection makes this both possible and secure and so scripture leads us back again and again to the cross and the empty tomb.

God makes himself known powerfully to the Egyptians and in a very special and particular way to his people. Just as God intervenes spectacularly through the plagues to make himself so to when he breaks into history again sending his Son Jesus, he does so to make himself known. We have to respond that's our final point 'God demands a heart-felt response'.

3. God demands a heart-felt response

Remember that essay 'The Gulf War Never Happened'? There was a second argument which is worth us thinking about too. The Gulf War was the first one conducted over RADAR screens, images, maps and news rather than on eye-witness evidence it was one-step removed from what was going on. This to was one of the first conflicts followed by 24 hr news services – leading to 'hyperreality' being fed information but not being able to engage with it. Perhaps that could describe our view of the ten plagues on Egypt. We have access to the information we've heard about them before, maybe drawn them in Sunday school but we're still one step removed a good story to tell children sure, maybe even a graphic reminder that God did some powerful things. But do we respond to it? Either with trembling and fear if we still choose to stand opposed to God or with humble awe and deep trust in his abilities if we know this God is for us? Let's take a look, perhaps another look at Pharaoh's response to God in chapter 9.27;

27 Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron. "This time I have sinned," he said to them. "The LORD is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. 28 Pray to the LORD, for we have had enough thunder and hail. I will let you go; you don't have to stay any longer. 29 Moses replied, "When I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands in prayer to the LORD. The thunder will stop and there will be no more hail, so you may know that the earth is the LORD's. 30 But I know that you and your officials still do not fear the LORD God."….(SKIP TO V33)…Then Moses left Pharaoh and went out of the city. He spread out his hands toward the LORD; the thunder and hail stopped, and the rain no longer poured down on the land. 34 When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had stopped, he sinned again: He and his officials hardened their hearts. 35 So Pharaoh's heart was hard and he would not let the Israelites go, just as the LORD had said through Moses.

The message seems to be finally getting through at this the seventh plague Pharaoh says "This time I have sinned". Notice that this is the seventh plague, Pharaoh has had six explicit opportunities to respond to God's overwhelming superiority, six opportunities in which God could have wiped him from the face of the earth but he didn't, there is still time for Pharaoh to repent. I thank God that he was patient with me that he gave me opportunity to hear the Gospel again and again before I realised that it was about me. Pharaoh can repent, Egypt even that persecutor of God's people has the opportunity to turn to God and be forgiven. Think that's impossible then read what God will later say to the Egyptians in Isaiah 19.21 and 22;

21 So the LORD will make himself known to the Egyptians, and in that day they will acknowledge the LORD. They will worship with sacrifices and grain offerings; they will make vows to the LORD and keep them. 22 The LORD will strike Egypt with a plague; he will strike them and heal them. They will turn to the LORD, and he will respond to their pleas and heal them.

There is a genuine opportunity for repentance and forgiveness here, in fact there are multiple opportunities throughout this section. God does not delight in punishing Egypt true it must give up it's claim to be God but as we said at the beginning it is God's purpose to be known and worshipped by all peoples. That Egypt will know God as God is in no doubt by know, the only question is whether they will  bow the knee willingly.

There are two responses:

1) In v20 of chapter nine we are told that those officials of Pharaoh who feared the word of the LORD hurried to bring their slaves and their livestock inside, saving themselves from the plague of hail. Even members of Pharaoh's own household God's sworn enemy could be saved. Be in no doubt there is no to forgiveness save for recognising Jesus as Lord and trusting in him for forgiveness. No one is too far off, redemption is for exactly those people.

2) The second response is Pharaoh's; when he gets what he wants again hardens his heart. God's repeated refrain throughout these chapters is one line; 'Let my people go, that they may worship me', it's almost as if Pharaoh repeats it back 'Let me go, that I may go on worshipping me'. Pharaoh wants relief from God's call on him, from his demand to be recognised as God. Pharaoh sees giving in to God as defeat as enslavement, rather than the reality which is true freedom.

Are you Pharaoh? Are you unwilling to recognise God as God do you think that by doing so you will be opening yourself up to a whole set of demands which will curb your independence. You are, but you have no choice God will be known as God whether you like it or not. The good news is that God is not Pharaoh he is not a cruel task master, his burden is light and his commands bring freedom and the life which is truly life. God is patient he desires that everyone even his enemies (which by the way includes everyone in this room at least at some point) know him and worship him, today, tonight is a chance to respond to him. Perhaps you would already call yourself a follower of Christ but you're unwilling to release your grip on some secret sin, bitterness, ambition that stands in opposition to God's just demand to be treated as God. To you to God makes his appeal and begs you as we read in our New Testament reading today do not harden your heart being deceived by sin's deceitfulness. Together let us encourage one another by repenting of the sin we each own and pledging again to rejoice in the freedom we have from it in Christ. So that we can say Jesus you have set us free to worship you.