The High King
Notes
Transcript
14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means!
15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.
17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”
18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means!
15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.
17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”
18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
Prayer
Introduction
Okay, we have had a short hiatus from our study of the Pentateuch, but I am excited to dive back in. Since it has been a few weeks, I think it might be helpful to remind ourselves of a few things. First of all, when we talk about the Pentateuch, we are talking about those first five books of the Bible written mostly by Moses.
We, of course have already studied Genesis, and have seen that it really is a book of beginnings. Not only of the created order, but also of a family line that would prove to be rather important – Abraham’s. Many of the themes and concepts laid down in Genesis are foundational for understanding the rest of the Pentateuch, and the rest of the Bible as a whole and we her those themes echoing throughout Scripture.
This is definitely true of Exodus which we are in the midst of studying now. For example, God had promised Abraham a multitudinous family, and that they would be slaves in a foreign land for 400 years, and what do we find in Exodus? We find that the people of Israel have been in slavery in Egypt for 400 years and are crying out for relief.
We could be tempted to think that the people of Israel are the main characters of this story, but they are not. Nor should we think of Moses of Aaron or Pharaoh as the main characters. In reality, they are supporting cast in this story of what God is doing – God is the primary character.
So, Exodus is about what God is doing to bring Israel out of slavery, into service. That is the big picture of what is happening. God is taking slaves and turning them into servants of Yahweh. When I say servants of Yahweh, I don’t mean that they are merely trading one type of slavery for another – I’m talking about religious service. God is redeeming Israel and transforming them into true worshippers of the One, True God. Or another way this concept is sometimes expressed is that God moving Israel from bondage to bonding. From slavery under Pharaoh to covenant union with God.
Scripture
Okay, with all of the background information out of the way, let’s turn to our passage this morning. We will be reading together. If you are able, please stand for the reading of God’s Word. We do this to show appreciation to God for His Word and in recognition that these are the most important Words we can hope to hear today. says,
13 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Rise up early in the morning and present yourself before Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “Let my people go, that they may serve me.
14 For this time I will send all my plagues on you yourself, and on your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth.
15 For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth.
16 But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.
17 You are still exalting yourself against my people and will not let them go.
18 Behold, about this time tomorrow I will cause very heavy hail to fall, such as never has been in Egypt from the day it was founded until now.
19 Now therefore send, get your livestock and all that you have in the field into safe shelter, for every man and beast that is in the field and is not brought home will die when the hail falls on them.” ’ ”
20 Then whoever feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh hurried his slaves and his livestock into the houses,
21 but whoever did not pay attention to the word of the Lord left his slaves and his livestock in the field.
“Then the LORD said to Moses, “Rise up early in the morning and present yourself before Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. For this time I will send all my plagues on you yourself, and on your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth. For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth. But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. You are still exalting yourself against my people and will not let them go. Behold, about this time tomorrow I will cause very heavy hail to fall, such as never has been in Egypt from the day it was founded until now. Now therefore send, get your livestock and all that you have in the field into safe shelter, for every man and beast that is in the field and is not brought home will die when the hail falls on them.” ’ ” Then whoever feared the word of the LORD among the servants of Pharaoh hurried his slaves and his livestock into the houses, but whoever did not pay attention to the word of the LORD left his slaves and his livestock in the field.”
Thank you, you may be seated.
Sermon
One of the important themes that reverberates throughout Scripture from Genesis to Revelation is that God is sovereign. That is to say, God rules His creation. God is the High King of Heaven. This fact permeates Scripture, and is especially important in our passage this morning.
Right from the beginning of our passage, God speaks to Moses and tells him what to do. There are two important points here, first of all, we should not miss the significance of the fact that the God of Scripture speaks. That in itself is an important theological truth. God is not like the false gods and idols of the surrounding cultures, and especially not like the gods of Egypt. God speaks – He is the Living God who reveals Himself to His people – which is a good thing, because otherwise we and Israel would not be able to rightly know God and serve Him. Or another way to say that, is that is that we need God to reveal Himself to us, if we are to serve and worship Him rightly – That is just a basic theological truth, and an important one for Israel at this point in time.
The second point we see in this opening sentence is that God commands Moses to do something. This is not the first time God has commanded that Moses do something – of course it all started when God called Moses from the burning bush and sent him to Egypt in the first place. But it is not just Moses that God is ordering around in this passage.
God, through Moses, commands Pharaoh to let the people go so that they may serve Him. There’s that “slavery to service” concept, by the way. So imagine this in your mind. Moses goes up to Pharaoh and says, “God says to let His people go.” This is the Pharaoh. The king of Egypt. In Egyptian thought, the Pharaoh was a descendent of the gods and was godlike himself.
Who does this Yahweh think He is to command Pharaoh? Pharaoh is the sovereign of Egypt and Pharaoh is not going to let his slaves leave. After all, they are pretty handy to have around and quite lucrative, no doubt.
The reality is that Pharaoh is not the all-powerful, sovereign demigod that he wishes he were. It is the God of Scripture who rules even over Egypt. , speaking of God says,
21 He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding;
“He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding;”
God is the true sovereign who placed Pharaoh where he is and who would eventually displace Pharaoh. God commands all of His creation, from hailstones to kings, God has the power and authority to accomplish His will.
The second main point we see about God in this passage is that God judges. The plague of hail is the seventh plague. Just for a quick reference, here is a quick list of the judgments God has already poured out on Egypt: the Nile was turned to blood, frogs filled the land, gnats infested everything, then came the swarms of flies. After that, the livestock of the Egyptians died, then came the very unpleasant boils. What was happening each time is that God would pour His judgement out on Egypt, Pharaoh would relent and promise to let Israel go out to worship God, but then, once God mercifully ended the plague, Pharaoh would renege on his promise, and the cycle would continue.
God is judging the Egyptians for their wickedness and Pharaoh for his pride, hubris and hard heart. God is judging in righteousness. He is giving the wicked their just reward. The Israelites who live in part of Egypt called Goshen have been spared from the wrath of God. God has protected Israel while punishing Egypt.
But it actually goes further than that. God is being and has already been very merciful to the Egyptians – even in His judgment. Look at verse which says,
“For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth.”
15 For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth.
God could have destroyed Egypt in an instantaneous, powerful way – think Sodom and Gomorrah, but instead, God has been patient and merciful to the Egyptians – even in the midst of His righteous judgment.
I want to make a quick side-note here. The Hebrew in verse 15 is actually kinda difficult to translate, so different English translations may render that verse a little differently, but that doesn’t hurt my point here. Look at what is going on in the passage. God says He is going to bring a hailstorm the like of which has never been seen, and gives the Egyptians time to make preparations for it – to bring in their slaves and livestock from the fields.
Those who feared the Word of God, made provisions and obeyed were spared from the brunt of this judgment, but those who were proud and did not listen to God payed dearly. And so we see over and over again, that God, while righteously judging the wickedness of Egypt and Pharaoh, God is also being very, very patient and merciful. Relenting of the plagues each time Pharaoh asks, even though God knows that Pharaoh is not truly repentant. God warns them about the destructive hailstorm, instead of just sending it. God could have wiped out Pharaoh and Egypt long ago, but God is merciful, even in judgment.
All of which raises an important question: Why is God being so patient? Why is any of this happening? Why did God tell Abraham that his descendants would be enslaved? Why did God bring about that enslavement through Joseph’s rise to power in Egypt some 400 years earlier? Okay, so it raises more than one question, but a series of questions that are all connected.
The simple answer to those questions is that God is glorifying Himself. Look at the tail end of verse
14 For this time I will send all my plagues on you yourself, and on your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth.
“so that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth.”
And look at verse
16 But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.
“But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.”
Why is God doing all of this? So that He will be known and proclaimed – again, God is glorifying Himself through this entire ordeal. Now, this may sound strange to us. After all, isn’t pride bad? Is God being narcissistic by glorifying Himself?
The short answer is that God is the only being who has a right to be prideful or narcissistic. Don’t mishear me and think I’m suggesting that God is sinful. I’m not at all. In reality, it is because God is truly the Living God who created everything from nothing with His words that God cannot pridefully sin or be sinfully narcissistic.
Think for a second why pride is sinful for you and me– is it not because God is the one who deserves all of the glory and honor in every situation? Isn’t pride ultimately a form of idolatry where we seek to get people to look at us and lavish us with praise? Pride seeks undue honor. “Hey everyone, come see how awesome I am!”
Does that mean we cannot have a certain type of pride in our accomplishments? No, of course we can – as long as we are ultimately pointing out that our strength, intellect, whatever that fueled that accomplishment – that it ultimately came from God. As long as we are ultimately ascribing God the glory.
So back to the point, why isn’t it sinful for God to glorify Himself? Because God is the only being worthy of glory. God is the greatest good, so it is right and necessary that God shows and proclaims His worth. We can so easily get distracted by lesser things, finding value in that which is ultimately void of value. So God, in His mercy and grace, shakes us from our stupor – God shouts through creation, through judgment, through His Word – God shouts, “I am the only thing that is truly valuable. I am the only being you should serve. I am the only One who is worthy of worship and worthy of praise. I am the very source of life, both physical and spiritual.”
God demands worship and obedience because he is the only thing that deserves it, and when we serve the Lord, when we are brought in to covenant with God, that is life. God commands us away from serving our own fleshly desires – God commands us to flee all idolatry because He is good and merciful to us. God will not leave His people to languish in slavery – in spiritual death; He will redeem them. And God is glorified both in judgment and in redemption.
When we, through the lens of the New Testament, look at the story of the Exodus, we can see the journey from bondage to belonging is true of every believer. We were once slaves to sin. Held captive by our own sins. As unable to free ourselves as the Israelites, but God mercifully saved us.
God is sovereignly commanding us to flee our sin. Empowering His people to repent and trust the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is only through union with Christ that we can serve God rightly. It is only through our union with Christ that we can have spiritual life – Jesus is the Way the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father except by Him.
Do not harden your heart to this truth like Pharaoh. Yes, God has been patient with you, but one day, I don’t know when, and neither do you, one day, that patience will run out. You will receive the ultimate justice for your rebellion against Him. All of God’s patience and forbearance towards you will then serve to accuse you. You will stand before God without excuse, condemned by your own rebellion and stubbornness.
Know this for certain. God will be glorified. On the last day, God will be glorified. He will be glorified through the redemption of a people unto Himself. And He will be glorified when all of Christ’s enemies are made to be a footstool for His feet. God will be glorified through His perfect justice against evil. Sin will be punished. It must be.
For those who trust – who are united to Christ, their sin is dealt with by Him on the Cross. Jesus bore the sin and guilt and punishment of everyone who is united to Him. If your sin is not dealt with on Calvary, then you will bear your own sin, guilt and punishment. And God will be glorified.
Conclusion
In a moment we will transition to a time of worship through response where we sing to the Lord. We believe that any time a person hears the Word of the Lord, they respond either in worship or in rebellion. It is my prayer that you will respond in worship and will not harden your heart today. During that time of worship, I will be on the front row worshipping with you. If you need someone to talk to or pray with, I’d be delighted to do that, just come up and talk to me. If you need to talk after the service or have questions, I’ll be around and happy to talk then. Just a few passing thoughts before we respond in worship:
If you are here and you are not trusting in Christ, you should know that you are not guaranteed another moment of life. God has patiently and mercifully put up with your treason against His sovereign kingship far more than you deserve. Do not presume that He will continue being patient. Flee from your sinful self-glorification and pride. Flee to Christ and trust Him alone to save you. Do it now.
Believers, we have been saved from terrible and futile slavery so that we can serve the Lord. What a privilege we have. Let us not turn back toward Egypt. We also must be careful not to presume upon God’s grace. Never should we think for a moment that we can sin more so that grace can abound. What kind of free person acts like a slave? Let us live in light of who we are in Christ. Let us worship God who alone is worthy of our devotion. Let us put away all forms of idolatry – especially those forms that lurk in our deepest hearts.
Let’s pray.