G'day.

Welcome to stories of a faithful God.

I'm Dave Whittingham, your host.

Last week this podcast, along with stories of a faithful God for kids, reached 90 days of

being live.

That's a bit of a milestone in the podcasting

world.

God's done so much in those 1st 90 days.

I'm thankful to him.

And I also want to thank you for coming with

me on this journey.

Regardless of whether this is your first

episode or if you've been there from the beginning.

At the end of today's episode, I'm going to take a bit of time to explain a bit more about

what God's been doing through the podcasts and what I hope will happen in the future.

I'd love for you to stick around.

I had thought about doing something at the

beginning of the episode, but the.

Passage we're looking at today is so.

Thrilling and so captivating, I can't really wait to get into it.

Let me start by asking, who's the person in all the world who you know best?

Who you understand the most? Who you really get?

I suspect it's not someone who you just met yesterday.

Knowing someone, understanding them, takes time.

We learn about people from experience, talking with them, listening to them, watching and

learning.

Many years ago, before I married my wife,

Janice, I bought her some roses.

It was a gesture of sublime ignorance.

She thinks roses are ugly.

I didn't know that then, but after.

That experience, I certainly know it now.

Now I know to buy tulips or irises.

More importantly, though, after 24 years of marriage, I know that she's much more

impressed by me unstacking the dishwasher than.

She is by me buying her flowers.

Knowing someone takes time.

How well do you know God? Lots of us don't know God as.

Well as we think, which means we.

Respond to him in the wrong way.

Like buying roses instead of tulips.

The stakes of not knowing God properly.

Are much higher than my mistake with the flowers, though, thankfully, God wants to be

known.

He wants us to understand him, to.

Recognise him for who he really is.

To draw us to himself.

To do that, he takes time.

The pages of the Bible cover thousands of years of history so we can get to know God

really well.

In today's passage, God's slow and deliberate.

In what he does so that the.

Egyptians and the Israelites and we can really know the true and living God.

And so I present to you episode.

15 of stories of a faithful God.

Our last episode ended with God showing his power over the gods of Egypt.

Pharaoh had refused to let the Israelites leave Egypt to show his power.

And as a kind of warning, Yahweh.

The God of Israel, the one true.

God, had turned Aaron's staff into a snake.

Surprisingly, Pharaoh summoned his wise men

and magicians, who somehow did the same thing.

These men, along with Pharaoh, are a.

Part of the egyptian religious system that's integrated with their everyday life.

They're linked to the gods of Egypt.

Yahweh's snake, though, swallowed their

snakes, destroyed them, showed his power over them.

It could have ended there.

From that moment, it should have been clear

that no one is going to beat Yahweh.

And yet, if it ended there, people wouldn't

really get it.

It'd be too fast.

People wouldn't really know or understand who Yahweh is.

And so today we're going to see what he does so that people can know without a shadow of a

doubt who he really is.

Exodus, chapter seven, verse 14, says this.

Then the Lord Yahweh, I should say every time the translation says Lord in capital letters,

I'm going to read it as Yahweh.

If you've listened to the episode on chapters

three and four or the Q and a episode with Andy, you'll understand why.

So here we go then Yahweh said.

To Moses, Pharaoh's heart is hard.

He refuses to let the people go.

Go to Pharaoh in the morning, when you see him walking out to the.

Water, stand ready to meet him by the bank of the Nile.

Take in your hand the staff that turned into a snake.

Tell him Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to tell you, let my people go so that

they.

May worship me in the wilderness.

But so far, you have not listened.

This is what Yahweh here is how you will know that I am Yahweh.

Watch.

I am about to strike the water.

In the Nile with the staff in my hand, and it will turn to blood.

The fish in the Nile will die.

The river will stink, and the Egyptians will

be unable to drink water from it.

This is a serious attack.

Why start with the Nile?

What's Yahweh doing? The Nile river is the longest river.

In the world, and the reason that.

Egypt is able to exist, it's the lifeblood of Egypt.

Even today, if you look at a.

Satellite image of Egypt, it's all desert, except for a long, thin line of lush green

farms along either side of the Nile.

The green spreads out when the Nile spreads into a delta as it approaches.

The mediterranean sea in ancient Egypt, almost.

Every year, the Nile would flood, spreading.

Fertile silt all over the area, enriching.

The farms and giving the people abundant food.

Even though the Egyptians don't acknowledge

him, the Nile is a blessing and gift from Yahweh.

With the Nile, Egypt has wealth, power, life.

Without it, it's an empty desert.

If you want to attack Egypt, that's.

The obvious place to start.

But there's a lot more to it.

Than that, because the ancient Egyptians worshiped the Nile as a God, the God that

gives them life.

They worship it, they honour it.

If it doesnt flood, they try and.

Work out how theyve offended this God.

By doing that, theyre ignoring the one true God, Yahweh, who made the river.

The real God, who gives them life.

The only God whos provided their wealth and power and safety.

Well, now yhwh is helping them to know who the real God is.

The river is a created thing.

Yahweh is the creator.

He gives life and he takes it away by turning the water to blood.

He's killing the river, the false God.

Who'S stolen his glory and honour.

But there's even more to it than that, because

do you remember how Exodus started? Do you remember the crisis that Moses was born

into? The previous pharaoh and the people of Egypt

were committing genocide against God's people.

They were attacking God and his people.

And the way they were doing it was by throwing the israelite baby boys into the nile.

They turned the river of life into a place of death.

They honoured their false God by killing the people of the one true God.

They made the waters flow with blood.

Now Yahweh is showing them that hes been

watching.

He cares about his people.

He cares about justice.

And although this is nothing like the

punishment they deserve, it is a warning of what will happen if they continue to stand

against him.

And so verse 19 tells us.

So Yahweh said to Moses, tell Aaron, take your staff and stretch out your hand over the

waters of Egypt, over their rivers, canals, ponds and all their water reservoirs.

And they will become blood.

There will be blood throughout the land of

Egypt, even in wooden and stone containers.

Moses and Aaron did just as Yahweh had

commanded.

In the sight of Pharaoh and his officials, he

raised the staff and struck the water in the Nile.

And all the water in the Nile was turned to blood.

The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad, the Egyptians could not drink

from it.

There was blood throughout the land of Egypt.

Now, there are some people who say, oh, this is just a natural phenomenon.

Upriver, when there's been strong rains, red mud changes the colour of the river.

That argument is extreme cultural arrogance.

They're trying to say Christians and the.

Bible are stupid, but really they're just.

Showing their own foolishness, as if the Egyptians, whose every moment of existence

revolves around the movement, stability and changes of the nile from the moment they're

born to the moment they die, can't tell the difference between blood and muddy water.

The Egyptians aren't stupid.

They know this is nothing normal.

In their desperation, they dig along the edges of the nile to find water.

They need the drink.

So what's pharaoh gonna do?

Well, he approaches the situation exactly like he did with the staff that turned into a

snake.

He summons his magicians.

Verse 22 tells.

But the magicians of Egypt did the.

Same thing by their occult practices.

So Pharaoh's heart was hard and he would not

listen to them.

As Yahweh had said, I love the.

Reminder that even though we may be.

Tempted to think that God's failed here, this is exactly what God said would happen.

He isn't surprised the plan hasn't failed.

Keep watching out for these magicians, though.

We're going to be seeing more of them.

Will seven days pass, things calm down.

Presumably the water returns.

And then Yahweh speaks again.

In chapter eight, verse one, he says to Moses, go into Pharaoh and tell.

Him, this is what Yahweh says, let.

My people go so that they may worship me.

But if you refuse to let them.

Go, then I will plague all your territory with frogs.

The Nile will swarm with frogs.

They will come up and go into your palace,

into your bedroom and on your bed, into the houses of your officials and your people, and

into your ovens and kneading bowls.

The frogs will come up on you.

Your people and all your officials.

Yahweh then said to Moses, tell Aaron, stretch

out your hand with your staff over the rivers, canals and ponds and cause the frogs to come

up onto.

The land of Egypt.

When Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, the frogs came up and covered

the land of Egypt again.

Yahweh is saying something about who he is and

who the egyptian gods are.

Heket is an egyptian goddess who has the head

of a frog.

Sometimes she's also depicted with the body of

a frog.

She's the goddess of generation, birth and

fertility.

So she's another symbol of life, another

reminder of babies and children.

And did you notice where all these frogs are

coming from? They're swarming up from the Nile, Yahweh

sending that same message.

He's the creator.

Frogs are creation.

He's the judge.

While the Egyptians had been praising their false God for the birth of their children,

they'd been throwing the true God's children into the Nile.

Well, Yahweh, who controls all of creation, all creatures, from the tiniest frog to the

greatest pharaoh.

Now Yahweh shows his power again.

Now these creatures from the Nile rise up out of the water in obedience to his command and

invade the land.

They're in the poorest man's Hovel and in

Pharaoh's palace.

They're in the bed of the king and the bed of

the pauper.

It doesn't matter who you are.

We're all creatures under this God who made us.

The whole land is covered with frogs.

But then we see the magicians again.

Verse seven says, but the magicians did.

The same thing by their occult practices and brought frogs up onto the land of Egypt.

Their power seems to match the power of Yahweh.

Except they don't seem to be able to stop the frogs.

Their power has its limits.

And so Pharaoh summons Moses and Aaron.

In desperation, he makes a remarkable concession.

In verse eight, he says, appeal to.

Yahweh to remove the frogs from me and my people.

Then I will let the people go.

And they can sacrifice to Yahweh.

What would be terrible with that is if God sends the frogs away.

And Pharaoh says, they just went away by themselves.

If he finds some other explanation that keeps Yahweh out of the picture.

And so, to avoid that, Moses says to him, you may have the honour of choosing.

When should I appeal on behalf of you, your officials and your people, that the frogs be

taken away from you and your houses and remain only in the Nile tomorrow?

He answered.

Moses replied, as you have said, so.

That you may know there is no one like Yahweh, our God.

The frogs will go away from you, your houses, your officials and your people.

The frogs will remain only in the Nile.

After Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh,

Moses cried out to Yahweh for help concerning the frogs that he had brought against pharaoh.

Yahweh did as Moses had said.

The frogs in the houses, courtyards and fields

died.

They piled them in countless heaps and there

was a terrible odour in the land.

Can you imagine that stench?

Imagine in all the egyptian cities and farms and seeing these huge piles of frogs as people

cover their noses and turn away from the smell.

Surely they know now that there's no one like Yahweh, the God of Israel.

But once the crisis is over, the.

Need to give in to Yahweh doesnt seem so urgent anymore.

Verse 15 says, but when Pharaoh saw.

There was relief, he hardened his heart and would not listen to them.

As Yahweh had said.

Notice that in the past weve heard God say

that he would harden pharaohs heart.

Here, Pharaoh hardens his own heart.

We mustn't think that it's one or the other.

They both happen at the same time.

You see, God's plans are always good.

He can work anything and everything for good.

Pharaoh's heart is evil.

He hates what's good.

God Yahweh is able to direct Pharaoh's evil for good pharaohs evil has to submit to the

good purposes of God.

This happens all the time.

But the best example of it is in the cross of Jesus Christ.

Does Jesus death come from evil intentions or good intentions?

Well, its both, isnt it? As evil people cry out for the death of the

innocent Lord Jesus Christ, as Pilate washes his hands of the injustice that he announces,

as the crowds cry out for Jesus blood, they're evil.

And yet the cross is the greatest act of good in the whole universe.

God the father sent his only beloved.

Son to take the guilt of evil people.

Jesus willingly let himself be nailed to the

cross to save his enemies, to rescue his betrayers, to win life for a dead world.

And even though the cross is both thoroughly evil and thoroughly good, the evil has to

submit to the good plan of God.

It's God's loving plan that uses the evil

hearts of others to bring about the great salvation.

That's why when horrible things happen in the world and our lives, we certainly should be

sad.

But we should never despair.

Because even when other people are plotting evil, God's always working his good plans.

Even through that in Egypt, God's not making pharaoh evil.

And yet he has such strong power over pharaoh that the king's evil heart is simply a tool in

the good plans of God.

Well, now God attacks Egypt a third time.

The first two times hes warned pharaoh of whats going to happen.

This time he just does it.

Pharaoh has no right to a warning.

Also, in the first two plagues, they.

Didnt really hurt the people.

Sure, it would have been hard to get water for

a few days.

It would have been hard to deal with the

frogs, but not painful as such.

Now that changes.

In verse 16, we read Yhwh said.

To Moses, tell Aaron, stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the land, and it will

become gnats throughout.

The land of Egypt.

Gnats are tiny flying insects.

And then we're told Aaron stretched out his

hand with his staff, and when.

He struck the dust of the land.

Gnats were on people and animals.

All the dust of the land became gnats

throughout the land of Egypt.

Even just thinking about that, the tiny bugs

crawling through your clothes and hair, on your animals and in your armpits, it makes

your skin crawl.

Again we meet the magicians, but this time,

things are different.

Verse 18 tells us the magicians tried to

produce gnats using their occult practices, but they could not.

The gnats remained on people and animals.

This is the finger of God.

The magicians said to Pharaoh, now they're starting to get it.

They don't need to be told before it happens.

They've already seen that there's a God who

has such amazing power over his creation.

But we are told Pharaoh's heart was hard and

he would not listen to them.

As Yahweh had said, the first nine plagues of

Egypt that we're covering today come in cycles of three.

That was the first cycle, the easiest cycle.

Soon the Egyptians are going to learn a lot

more about this God.

It's time for plague number four.

Exodus, chapter eight, verse 20.

Yahweh said to Moses, get up early in the

morning and present yourself to Pharaoh.

When you see him going out to the water, tell

him, this is what Yahweh let my people go so that they may worship me.

But if you will not let my people go, then I will send swarms of flies against you, your

officials, your people, and your houses.

The egyptian houses will swarm with flies, and

so will the land where you live.

My experience of flies is as a minor

irritation.

I remember reading, though, about australian

soldiers in world War one fighting in Gallipoli in Turkey.

They'd describe the struggle of trying to get food from a tin to your mouth without it

getting covered in flies.

If you opened your mouth, flies would crawl

in.

That's the sort of thing Egypt's about to

face.

And again, there's no distinction between rich

and poor, powerful and weak.

The flies will enter every house, sit on every

person, affect everyone's life.

There will be a distinction, though.

There'll be one part of Egypt where the flies simply won't go.

A part of Egypt called Goshen, which is where the Israelites live.

It's around the eastern part of the Nile delta.

Now, if there's one thing you can be sure about flies.

It's that they couldn't care less about borders.

And God's already emphasised that none of the flies are going to say, oh, I'd better not go

in there.

That's the royal palace.

No, they're going to swarm everywhere except where their creator commands them not to go.

So, Yahweh.

But on that day, I will give special treatment

to the land of Goshen, where my people are living.

No flies will be there.

This way, you will know that I, Yahweh, am in

the land.

I will make a distinction between my people

and your people.

You could read that last bit.

My people and your people, as one king talking to another king.

But remember, an egyptian pharaoh was considered a God.

So the God Pharaoh had his people, and the God Yahweh had his people.

Pharaoh's utterly helpless in protecting his people.

Yahweh has power over his people and pharaoh's people, and even over the movement of flies.

This God who Pharaoh didn't know, who didn't seem to fit among all the other egyptian gods,

he's in the land, and his power is total.

And so Yahweh sends the flies, great swarms of

them, crawling their way over every surface and into every home and onto every person

except in Goshen.

Verse 24 says, throughout Egypt, the land was

ruined because of the swarms of flies.

Pharaoh summons Moses and Aaron and tries to

bargain with them.

He's still trying to exert some power, some

influence.

He's still trying to say, look, even.

If I give you something, it's going to be on my terms, which means he still doesn't know

who he's dealing with.

In verse 25, Pharaoh says, go sacrifice.

To your God within the country.

But Moses said it would not be right to do

that, because what we will sacrifice to Yahweh, our God, is detestable to the

Egyptians.

If we sacrifice what the Egyptians detest in

front of them, wont they stone us? We must go a distance of three days into the

wilderness and sacrifice to Yahweh, our God, as he instructs us.

As ive mentioned before, they both know that the plan is for Israel to leave and never come

back.

Pharaohs trying to stop that in a desperate

attempt to get rid of the flies, but at least have some concession.

He responds in verse 28, I will let you go and sacrifice to Yahweh, your God, in the

wilderness.

But don't go very far.

Make an appeal for me.

Moses accepts, but with a warning.

As soon as I leave, you, Moses said, I will appeal to Yahweh.

And tomorrow the swarms of flies will depart from Pharaoh, his officials, and his people.

But Pharaoh must not act deceptively again by refusing to let the people go and sacrifice to

Yahweh.

Then Moses left pharaohs presence and appealed

to Yahweh.

Yahweh did as Moses had said.

He removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, his officials, and his people.

Not one was left.

But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also,

and did not let the people go.

By the way, have you noticed whos doing the

talking here? It's Moses.

More and more.

Even when Aaron's there, he kind of fades into

the background.

Moses had started by saying that he could

never talk to Pharaoh.

He's just not good at it.

But as Pharaoh's power fades into nothing, and as Yahweh reveals himself more and more, what

power he has.

How amazing he is, how faithful he is, Moses

becomes more confident in his God.

Yahweh is not just doing miracles in Egypt.

He is doing a miracle in Moses, because Pharaoh's been unfaithful to his promise to

let the people go.

It's time for plague number six.

This is the first plague that'll cause real physical harm, not to people, but to animals.

Remember, in this society, animals are an everyday part of life.

Everyone needs their animals.

They are essential for farming, essential for

moving things, essential for trade.

Animals are linked to the wealth and power of

the land.

So in chapter nine, verse one, we hear.

Then Yahweh said to Moses, go into pharaoh and say to him, this is what Yahweh, the God of

the Hebrews, says, let my people go so that they may worship me.

But if you refuse to let them go and keep holding them, then Yahwehs Hand will bring a

Severe plague against your livestock.

In the field, the horses, donkeys, camels,

herds and flocks.

Again, though Yahweh shows his extraordinary

power, again, he protects his people and their animals.

If theres one thing that the COVID pandemic taught us, its that the disease, just like

flies, could not care less about borders.

And yet Yahweh tells this plague where to

start and where to stop.

So we hear in verse four.

But Yahweh will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of

Egypt, so that nothing of all that the Israelites own will die.

And Yahweh set a time, saying, tomorrow Yahweh will do this thing in the land.

Yahweh did this.

The next day, all the egyptian livestock died.

But none among the israelite livestock died.

Pharaoh sent messengers who saw that not a

single one of the israelite livestock was dead.

It's so unbelievable that Pharaoh has to send out people to check it again.

Yahweh is shown his power and Pharaoh's weakness.

Again.

The God of the Hebrews looks after his people.

While the gods of Egypt are impotent.

Again.

Though we hear the familiar refrain in verse seven.

But pharaohs heart was hard and he did not let the people go.

Okay, since he wouldnt listen when the animals were struck down.

Its time for the people to have an attack on their own bodies.

Because this is the end of the second set of three plagues.

Then again, there is no warning before this one happens.

God just does it.

Then Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, take

handfuls of furnace soot.

And Moses is to throw it toward heaven.

In the sight of pharaoh, it will become fine dust over the entire land of Egypt.

It will become festering boils on people and animals throughout the land of Egypt.

So they took furnace soot and stood before pharaoh.

Moses threw it toward heaven.

And it became festering boils on people and

animals.

We haven't heard from the magicians for a

while.

They started out so confident, repeating in a

small way the miracles of God.

Slowly their power drained away though.

And they were left completely ineffective.

Now they return for a short cameo in verse

eleven.

The magicians could not stand before Moses

because of the boils.

For the boils were on the magicians as well as

on all the Egyptians.

I love how it says that they can't stand

before Moses.

Normally, it would be their job to stand

before pharaoh.

But who's pharaoh compared to Moses?

What power does Pharaoh have compared to the God of Moses?

By now you can guess pharaohs response.

But again, we are reminded that this is all a

part of gods plan.

Yahweh hasnt lost control of the situation

here.

And so we hear in verse twelve.

But Yahweh hardened pharaohs heart.

And he did not listen to them.

As Yahweh had told Moses.

Well, thats the end of the second set of

three.

The power of Egypt is crumbling into dust.

Under the power of Jahweh.

How much more can the country take?

A warning is given to show you what will happen if you make the wrong choice.

If you don't listen to the warning, if you ignore it or think it's meaningless.

You've got to be prepared for the consequences.

So far, pharaohs ignored the warnings.

Who knows what's going through his head at the

moment.

Maybe he's hoping this will all go away.

Maybe he's thinking his gods will finally come to the rescue.

Whatever it is, he still doesn't really understand who he's dealing with.

Everything Yahweh's done so far is tiny.

It's easy for him.

In fact, it's merciful.

It's been a kind of warning that when you

stand against the God of the universe, when you attack his people and rob him of his

glory, when you treat the God who gave you life like he's as good as dead, be ready for

the consequences.

In chapter nine, verse 13, Yahweh sends Moses

to Pharaoh with a new message.

Basically, he tells him that Yahweh has been

going easy on him so far.

Now would be a really good time to give in.

Let me read it for you.

Then Yahweh said to Moses, get up early in the

morning and present yourself to Pharaoh.

Tell him this is what Yahweh, the God of the

Hebrews, says.

Let my people go, so that they may worship me.

For this time, I am about to send all my plagues against you, your officials and your

people.

Then you will know there is no one like me on

the whole earth.

By now, I could have stretched out my hand and

struck you and your people with a plague, and you would have been obliterated from the

earth.

However, I have let you live for this purpose.

To show you my power and to make my name known on the whole earth.

Romans chapter six, verse 23, says that the wages of sin is death.

It's that simple.

It's justice.

If you reject the God of life, you get death.

Thats why we all die.

God could have put all of Egypt to death by now.

That would be justice.

So why hasnt he?

So that people in all the earth would know his power and his name.

So that everyone, including you and me, can look at what happens here and know, dont mess

with this God.

We need to come to him humbly, not arrogantly,

like Pharaoh.

There's a beautiful example of the success of

this in the book of Joshua.

It's when the Israelites are moving in to

capture the promised land of Canaan.

And there's a canaanite woman there, Rahab.

A prostitute.

Her city of Jericho has strong walls.

They prepare to hold out.

But Rahab, she thinks this is nuts.

Look at what their God did to Egypt.

Whose side do I really want to be on?

She chooses to side with Yahweh, and she's saved amazingly, in Matthew, chapter one, she

even appears in the genealogy of Jesus.

Even as God's punishing Egypt in a limited

way, he's using that to save people as they come to know him.

That's a theme we'll explore more in the next episode, how we often see punishment and

salvation at the same time in the Bible.

So what's Yahweh going to do to Egypt now?

In verse 17, he says to Pharaoh, you are still acting arrogantly against my people by not

letting them go.

Tomorrow at this time, I will rain down the

worst hail that has ever occurred in Egypt from the day it was founded until now.

Therefore, give orders to bring your livestock and all that you have in the field into

shelters.

Every person and animal that is in the field

and not brought inside will die when the hail falls on them.

Even as God's warning them about how things are going to get worse, he's also trying to

save them.

He gives them time to rescue their people and

animals from the fields.

And amazingly, there are Egyptians who are

starting to get it, who are starting to understand who they're dealing with, people

who are starting to respond in the right way.

Verse 20 says, those among pharaoh's officials

who feared the word of Yahweh made their servants and livestock flee to shelters.

But those who didnt take to heart the lords word left their servants and livestock in the

field.

Weve talked before about how those who fear

God have nothing to fear.

For these Egyptians who fear God, their

livestock and servants are completely safe.

They have a right fear that actually drives

away fear.

Those who don't should be very afraid.

I'll read from verse 22.

Then Yahweh said to Moses, stretch out your

hand toward heaven, and let there be hail throughout the land of Egypt, on people and

animals and every plant of the field in the land of Egypt.

So Moses stretched out his staff toward heaven, and Yahweh sent thunder and hail.

Lightning struck the land, and Yahweh rained hail on the land of Egypt.

The hail with lightning flashing through it, was so severe that nothing like it had

occurred in the land of Egypt, since it had become a nation throughout the land of Egypt.

The hail struck down everything in the field, both people and animals.

The hail beat down every plant of the field and shattered every tree in the field.

The only place it didnt hail was in the land of Goshen, where the Israelites were.

Once again, Yahweh makes a distinction between his people and pharaohs people.

Except this time, some of pharaohs people went over to Yahweh and were saved.

This hailstorm is devastating.

Egypt is shredded to pieces while the

lightning is still splitting the sky and the thunder is ripping open the heavens.

Pharaoh comes to Moses and Aaron with all the right words.

In verse 27, he says, I have sinned this time.

Yahweh is the righteous one, and I and my

people are the guilty ones.

Make an appeal to Yahweh.

There has been enough of God's thunder and hail.

I will let you go.

You don't need to stay any longer.

Those are good words, humble words.

Except maybe when he says, I have sinned this

time.

I mean, what about all the other times?

But in general, it sounds great.

And Moses agrees to pray to Yahweh for the

storm to stop.

Words can be easy though, can't they?

Moses knows that for Pharaoh, his words are only words.

He says in verse 30.

But as for you and your officials, I know that

you still do not fear the Lord God.

If they dont fear him, they wont respond to

him in the right way because they dont know him.

In verse 31, God makes sure that we understand that even now he hasn't actually destroyed

Egypt.

He's left them some food.

Mercifully, it says, the flax and the barley were destroyed because the barley was ripe and

the flax was budding.

But the wheat and the spelt were not

destroyed, since they are later crops.

As stubborn as pharaoh and his officials are

being, God's still restraining himself.

He's holding back from what they deserve.

And yet, verse 34 says, when Pharaoh saw that the rain, hail and thunder had ceased, he

sinned again and hardened his heart, he and his officials.

So Pharaoh's heart was hard, and he did not let the Israelites go.

As Yahweh had said through Moses, we've had seven plagues.

God still has more to teach, though this time he focuses on how he is teaching the

Israelites.

Chapter ten, verse one says, then Yahweh said

to Moses, go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so

that I may do these miraculous signs of mine among them.

And so that you may tell your son and grandson how severely I dealt with the Egyptians and

performed miraculous signs among them.

And you will know that I am Yahweh.

To be really clear, God's not doing that so that the Israelites can laugh at the Egyptians

and feel superior to them.

He's doing it because as his people, they need

to fear him rightly, honour him.

If they treat Yahweh like Pharaoh's, treated.

Him, then they'll get what Pharaoh's getting.

They need to remember his power and authority

and respect him appropriately.

But they also need to remember that when they

do stick with him, he looks after them and cares for them and protects them and fights

for them.

The next plague he's going to bring is a

terrifying destructive force.

Locusts.

If you've grown up in a city like me, it may be that everything you know about locusts

comes from this passage in the Bible.

It's hard to feel the terror that this would

have brought.

But locusts eat every plant they find.

And when you think that half the egyptian crops have already been destroyed by the hail,

this is something that could lead to famine.

Starvation.

See if you can get a feel of it.

When I read from verse three, so Moses and

Aaron went in to Pharaoh and told him, this is what Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, says.

How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me?

Let my people go.

That they may worship me.

But if you refuse to let my people go, then tomorrow I will bring locusts into your

territory.

They will cover the surface of the land so

that no one will be able to see the land.

They will eat the remainder left to you that

escaped the hail.

They will eat every tree you have growing in

the fields.

They will fill your houses or your officials

houses.

And the houses of all the Egyptians.

Something your fathers and grandfathers never saw since the time they occupied the land

until today.

Then he turned and left pharaohs presence.

This is a deadly threat.

And again, the circle of people around Pharaoh

who are on his side and backing his stance is getting smaller and smaller.

They can see there's no way to beat Yahweh.

After Moses and Aaron leave, they turn to

Pharaoh and say in verse seven, how long must this man be a snare to us?

Let the men go so that they may worship Yahweh, their God.

Don't you realize yet that Egypt is devastated?

See what they're saying? It's not.

Maybe we can hold on for a draw.

They're saying, we've lost.

We're destroyed.

We're ruined.

Get them out of here.

Pharaoh, though, thinks he still has some

negotiating power.

Here's the conversation from verse eight.

Pharaoh says to Moses and Aaron, go worship Yahweh, your God.

Pharaoh said, but exactly who will be going? Moses replied, we will go with our young and

with our old.

We will go with our sons and with our

daughters, with our flocks and with our herds, because we must hold yahwehs festival.

He said to them, Yahweh would have to be with you if I would ever let you and your families

go.

Look out.

You're heading for trouble.

No.

Go. Just able bodied men worship Yahweh, since that's what you want.

And they were driven from Pharaoh's presence.

So foolish, so hard hearted.

Did you hear the irony of what he said, though?

He said, yahweh would have to be.

With you if I would ever let.

You and your families go.

But that's the point, right?

Yahweh is with them.

Hasn't he worked that out on Mount Sinai?

Yahweh said to Moses, I have come.

In Egypt.

He said, I have come.

He's shown so many times the distinction he

makes between Israel and the Egyptians, that he's with the Israelites.

Theres only going to be one conclusion to all of this.

And so God sends the locusts.

Verse 13.

Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt.

And Yahweh sent an east wind over the land all that day and through the night.

By morning, the east wind had brought in the locusts.

The locusts went up over the entire land of Egypt and settled on the whole territory of

Egypt.

Never before had there been such a large

number of locusts.

And there never will be again.

They covered the surface of the whole land so that the land was black.

And they consumed all the plants on the ground and all the fruit on the trees that the hail

had left.

Nothing green was left on the trees or the

plants in the field throughout the land of Egypt.

Can you imagine if your land was left like that?

It's worth repeating.

Notice again the power Yahweh has over nature,

over the wind, over the locusts, like he's shown over the water and the frogs and the

flies and the disease.

And there's only one God who has this power,

the God who made it all.

It's why Jesus disciples were so shocked when

they saw his power over the wind and the waves.

They were struggling to come to terms with the fact that he really is God in the flesh.

Pharaoh is a pretender to that title.

As he summons Moses and Aaron again, you can

hear his desperation growing.

In verse 16, he says, I have sinned against

Yahweh, your God, and against you.

Please forgive my sin, once more and make an

appeal.

Appeal to Yahweh, your God, so that he will

just take the death away from me.

Moses left Pharaoh's presence and appealed to

Yahweh.

Then Yahweh changed the wind to a strong west

wind, and it carried off the locusts and blew them into the Red Sea.

Not a single locust was left in all the territory of Egypt.

But Yahweh hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the Israelites go.

Time for the 9th sign, or plague.

As before, the third sign in each set of three

doesn't come with a warning.

We talked about how the first couple of

plagues, at least, were clearly related to egyptian gods.

People sometimes try to link all of them in that way, but it's pretty hard to make the

case.

The next one, though, the 9th plague, the last

one we'll look at today, couldn't be clearer.

Yahweh is going to turn off the sun in Egypt.

The sun was thought to be carried by the God Ra in a boat across the sky.

Ra is meant to be the king of the gods, the creator of all life, including the other gods.

This puts him in direct opposition to Yahweh, the true creator of life.

Whats more, Ra's said to be the first king of Egypt and father of all the other kings.

Depending on whos talking about it, those kings, those pharaohs, are either the

representative of Ra or the human embodiment of Ra.

To make the sky dark is to strip the egyptian creator God of his power and to strip pharaoh

of his power.

Let me read it to you, and then we'll talk a

bit more about what's going on.

Then Yahweh said to Moses, stretch out your

hand toward heaven, and there will be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness that can be

felt.

So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven,

and there was thick darkness throughout the land of Egypt.

For three days, one person could not see another.

And for three days, they did not move from where they were.

Yet all the Israelites had light where they lived.

When it's dark in my house at night, there's always some light creeping in somewhere.

That's not what this is.

Once I went on a tour of some caves, and they

had lots of lights set up so we could see the beautiful formations.

But there was one spot where the guy told us to stop and get ourselves ready.

And for about 30 seconds, he turned off all the lights.

We were deep underground.

No light from above was getting through.

I held my hand an inch from my eye, but I couldn't even catch a glimpse of it.

It was kind of fun for the first 10 seconds, but then you start to realize just how

helpless you are.

It's not like at night when someone switches

off the light.

And you know that after a while, your night

vision will kick in.

No, nothing was going to change.

That was a darkness that could be felt like a cold blanket of fear that you can't escape.

When God first made the world, the very first thing he made was light by taking it away

here, it's like he's uncreating.

Egypt.

Egypt exists as a mighty power because of all the good things he's given it.

The river, the crops, the light.

And as they've turned away from him, as they've replaced him and worshipped made up

gods, as Pharaoh's attempted to take his place, now Yahweh gives them just a taste of

what it really means to not have him.

Imagine the terror the Egyptians must have

felt for those three days as they just stayed in their place, too scared to move.

Imagine the shock for some of them when they stumble just a little bit into Goshen, where

Yahweh's people, the Israelites, are living.

And the light is shining brightly.

Throughout the Bible.

One of the big signs that's used to show God's judgment is the darkening of the sun.

Like God turning his face away, like he's uncreated the world and removed his blessing

from it.

Its a sign that chills the heart and strikes

terror into those who face it as they come to terms with the consequences of rejecting the

true and living God.

In Exodus, Yahweh is teaching us about how

seriously he takes sin.

Hes also teaching us his faithful loyalty to

his people.

All that, though, is pointing us to an even

greater revelation of who he is and what he's like.

It points to another moment in time when the sky's darkened and God turns away from sin,

takes his blessing away like he did from Egypt.

What's astounding, though, is who he's turning away from.

Not someone who is sinful.

It's someone who's completely innocent, but

someone who's deliberately stepped into the place of sinful people, his own son, Jesus

Christ.

As Jesus hung on that cross for 3 hours in the

middle of the day, the land was filled with darkness.

Jesus stepped into hell.

His loving father gave up his son to hell so

that they could save people from hell.

In Egypt, if you were an Israelite, you were

safe from God's judgment.

Now anyone, anyone at all who turns away from

sin and submits their life to Jesus Christ, they become one of his people.

And the promises and blessings and protections that the Israelites received are just a taste

of what we receive in Christ.

If you want to truly know Yahweh, the one true

God.

You see some of his power and love and justice

and peace and anger at sin and desire to save, and his blessings in the exodus story.

But you see it in its fullest, brightest light in the darkness of the cross.

Back in Egypt, Pharaoh's still trying to bargain, still trying to set the terms of his

relationship with God.

How many people have done that in history?

Sure, I'll listen to God, but only if they don't know who they're dealing with.

He's the creator.

We're his creation.

We dont get to set the terms.

In verse 24, Pharaoh summoned Moses and said,

go worship yahweh.

Even your families may go with you.

Only your flocks and herds must stay behind.

Moses responded, you, must also let us have

sacrifices and burnt offerings to prepare for yahweh, our God.

Even our livestock must go with us.

Not a hoof will be left behind because we will

take some of them to worship Yahweh, our God.

We will not know what we will use to worship

Yahweh until we get there.

But Yahweh hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he

was unwilling to let them go.

Pharaoh said to him, leave me.

Make sure you never see my face again.

For on the day you see my face, you will die.

As you have said.

Moses replied, I will never see your face again.

Rather than threatening Moses with death, Pharaoh should realize that by sending him

away, he's signing his own death warrant.

Moses is his only hope of salvation.

He needs Moses to beg for mercy from Yahweh.

It's not to be though, because there's one

more plague, one more sign that'll show the Egyptians and the Israelites and us who Yahweh

is.

One more sign that'll so fully capture both

salvation and judgment that finally Pharaoh will be forced to let the Israelites go.

But thats the story for next time.

If youre listening on Spotify, you can type in

right now what you thought of the episode into the app.

Whatever app youre using, id love for you to rate and review the show.

You can also send me a message or question@faithfulgod.net.

Dot hi there dave again, thanks for listening to the episode.

I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed putting it together.

As I mentioned, the podcast recently passed the first 90 day mark.

That's a bit of a milestone.

And so I thought I'd talk to you about some of

the great things God's done in that time.

A bit of my thinking about why I'm doing what

I'm doing, where I'm hoping it'll develop and the support I need to get there.

If you're not interested in that, don't feel at all guilty about switching off now.

You won't miss any of the Bible story.

I've come to podcasting from kind of two

different angles.

If you want, you could call it the secular

side and the christian side.

I started listening to podcasts when I had a

long commute to work.

I listened to history podcasts, if you're

interested.

My two favorites are hardcore history and the

rest is history.

Those presenters are so captivating.

I listen to them, though, because the true stories they tell are so fascinating.

After a while of listening, I thought, hey, I've got an even better story to tell.

What's more, it isn't just an interesting story, it's a story that everyone on the

planet needs.

As I looked into it, though, I discovered that

something like 95% of podcasts fail after three episodes.

Of those that remain, 95% fail before 20 episodes.

I think a key reason for that is time to do a really well researched and presented episode

takes time.

A friend with a radio background said 1 hour

of background work for every minute on air.

Also, podcasts take a long time to grow.

They're not like viral videos unless you already have a strong media presence.

It's going to take at least a year to start getting bigger traction.

Because I was working full time in gospel ministry in a school, I figured I just didn't

have the time.

When that position came to an end, though, I

thought, well, now or never.

I asked some friends to help with financial

support, and I've put in a bit of money of my own to get it off the ground and then just

went for it.

That's kind of the more secular side of

things.

From a christian side.

God's given us a big book about himself.

He doesn't just say trust me.

He's worked throughout history to show that he really is trustworthy, and we need to hear

that because by trusting him, he gives us eternal life.

He brings us into his royal family.

He sustains us through this world and all its

hardships.

While we wait for this new creation.

We're constantly tempted to not trust him, though.

In Psalm 22, when King David is taunted by his enemies and laughed at for trusting God, he

goes back in his mind to remember how faithful God has been in the past.

To him and to others.

He is sustained because he knew the stories of

the Bible really well.

I want all of that the salvation comfort

knowing God being sustained by him for as many people as possible.

I want us to know that we can trust him and podcasting is a way to take that good news to

the world.

Over the first 90 days, God's done some

wonderful things.

When you combine stories of a faithful God and

stories of a faithful God for kids, they've been listened to in 21 countries in Australia,

Singapore, New Zealand, Sierra Leone, Philippines, the United Kingdom, Russia, the

Democratic Republic of Congo, the USA, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, Romania, Ireland, Germany, the

Netherlands, India, Spain, Indonesia, Cambodia, and South Africa.

When I started, I had no idea that I'd be taking the gospel to so many countries.

In a sense thats quite small.

However, remember what I said about how

podcasts grow slowly.

Almost every episode has had a quicker uptake

than the one before it.

Also, although its hard to quantify download

numbers in general, if an episode gets more than 32 downloads in the first seven days,

that puts it in the top 50% of podcasts in the world out of about 3.2 million podcasts and

friends.

That's happened with every episode on both

podcasts for the last month, word is spreading.

Even more exciting than the numbers are the individual stories of a dad listening to the

kids episode with his daughter, a mum listening with her twins, of a family

listening around a dinner table, or a child listening as they get ready for school.

The story of new christians thirsty to know their God better, of long term christians

rediscovering the joy of knowing their God, of people who don't trust Jesus yet, but who are

listening and considering God is doing his mighty work by his holy spirit, through his

word, God willing.

This is only the beginning.

There are 1.2 billion Internet connected english speakers out there all needing the

good news of Jesus Christ.

Also, only just in the past weekend, I've

discovered a possible avenue for having the podcasts translated so that they can go even

further.

That's why I'd like to ask you for your help

in a couple of ways.

I'd like to ask you if you'd pray for this

work.

Pray that God would direct people to listen to

the podcasts, that he'd do a mighty work in people's lives, that God would transform

people and fill them with the joy of knowing him.

A bit like what he was doing with Moses all those years ago.

If you're willing and able, you can sign up for my monthly news and prayer letter at the

bottom of any page on the website faithfulgod.net dot if you're driving a car at

the moment, don't do it while you're driving.

Just pull over right now and sign up

faithfulgod.net dot.

God willing, the next prayer letter will be

coming out later this week.

This is God's work much more than it is my

work.

God is the God who answers the prayers of his

people.

He loves his people, and often he answers

those prayers in better ways than we've asked for.

Not what we'd expect, but better.

If you're a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ,

if you've come into his family and submitted to him, will you pray with me and ask God to

do his mighty work? Secondly, would you consider supporting this

work financially? I'm very aware that more and more the

podcasting world is a commercial world.

A number of people have kindly suggested that

I explore some of those commercial opportunities.

For example, many podcasts have some episodes free, but then you have to pay to get the full

library or bonus episodes.

That's a good business model, and there's

nothing inherently wrong with it.

My desire, though, is to provide the word of

God for free to anyone, regardless of whether they can afford it.

I'm very aware of the irony of asking you for money so that I can make this free.

And if you're listening, you are under no obligation to give.

I know money's tight.

I know we all have different things on our

plates.

It really is free.

If you are in a position to give, though, I don't want you to give as a financial

transaction for the episodes you've listened to.

Oh, I've listened to five episodes, so I'll give $5 or five pounds or whatever.

If you decide to give, I'd like you to give so that other people can hear this good news.

Give to make sure that this message is free and available for other people.

I don't have another job at the moment.

By giving financially, you'll be freeing me up

so I can keep producing podcasts.

If you'd like to give, please go to the

support page of faithfulgod.net dot.

It's in the show notes faithfulgod.net dot.

You can give by credit card, either as a one off or even better, as a regular gift.

I use a system called Donorbox, which is powered by stripe and PayPal, so your details

are very secure.

You can give in virtually any currency.

I know a lot of podcasters use Patreon and people have suggested that I use that.

But if I do use them, 8% of what you give will go straight to Patreon, which doesn't seem

like a great use of your money.

Through Donabox, I can keep the fees down to

3.5%.

I'm also thinking through some resources to

produce for churches and schools to help other ministries in their work.

Over the next few months, I'm hoping to announce a few different things, which I hope

will be a really great blessing for others.

There'll be lots of fun to put together as

well.

In the meantime, I'd love to hear from you,

ask me any questions, or just touch base and let me know how you found the podcasts.

That would be a huge encouragement to me.

As I said, personal stories are far more

exciting than numbers on a page.

If there's something on your heart that you

really want to pray about with someone else, I'd love to pray with you.

You can send through a request there as well.

I think I've said before, virtually the only

thing I don't like about podcasting is the fact that I don't get to connect with you.

So please get in contact@faithforgod.net dot just in case you haven't heard the name of the

website yet, if you haven't picked it up, it's faithfulgod.net dot.

Thanks so much for listening.

Keep getting to know God.

Keep trusting Jesus.

If you have kids or know people who do, send

them towards stories of a faithful God for kids.

For this longer podcast, we've got two more episodes in Exodus and they're going to be

nail biters.

Bye for now.