TCN's Biblical Journey Jan 17th

This is taken from today's readings in Exodus 11-15

Exodus 11

There is a lot of great material about the Passover and the picture of Jesus being the Passover lamb in the coming chapters, however, there is a key here is chapter 11 that I really want us to notice. God uses man's sin and stubbornness to show his power. 

"Then the LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not listen to you so that My wonders will be multiplied in the land of Egypt.” Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh, yet the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the sons of Israel go out of his land." Exodus 11:9-10

Often people look at this and comment that it wasn't fair of God to harden Pharaoh's heart and then punish him for it, but the question may be first why was God able to harden his heart? My answer is God didn't change Pharoah's heart but his power caused it to do what it did. Like the old saying goes, "the same sun that melts butter hardens bricks." The difference wasn't the sun it was the material exposed to the sun. When Pharoah's heart was faced with God's power it hardens. He had before believed he was a god. The plagues one after another attacked and showed the powerlessness of the Egyptian gods on by one. 

There were two "gods" left and both powers that took human life, the Egyptian god of death and Pharoah's army. Soon God would show his power over them as well, however, the entirety of the Exodus plagues was to show that God was God and there was no other. Unfortunately, the Israelites didn't learn there lesson very well, but that is a later conversation. 

What I want to point out here is that God can and does use the stupidity of mankind to demonstrate his power and wonder. The greatest example of this is found in the cross of Jesus. Truly this was a demonstration of man's evil and stupidity, yet God knew all along that is was going to be the way of salvation for all of man, the exodus from the life of sin to God's new life.