None Like God in All The Earth | Exodus 7:14-11:10

Mike Tyson, who at one time was considered “one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time,” reigned as heavyweight champion of the world from 1987-1990. Late in his career he was referred to as the “Baddest man on the planet.” Mike Tyson is also famous for his brilliant comment, “Everyone has a plan until he gets punched in the mouth.” 

The same could be said of Pharaoh, the chief executive of the world’s greatest superpower of his day. Pharaoh was the “Baddest man on the plant.” He dictated control over all the food, all the cash, and all the military, and therefore, all the power. And by virtue of Pharaoh’s plan and under his rule, the people of Israel were powerless and enslaved. But then Pharaoh got punched in the mouth. He got punched in the mouth by God. And God delivered the punch through ten different plagues. As I know you know, the Latin term translated “plague” actually means “to strike” or “to blow.” And in Pharaoh’s case, the knockout blow was the death of every firstborn in the land of Egypt. 

Today, we’re going to take a swift survey of the first nine blows – plagues – with a view to understanding God’s plan. Pharaoh was not the only one acting with a purpose. God was acting with a purpose – a purpose which continues to unfold in Ex. 7-11. Fear not. I’m not going to read these 4 chapters in their entirety. I’m only going to read 4 verses. Ex. 9:13-16.

 “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.’”

— Exodus 9:13-16

According to what we have seen and heard so far, God raised up a man named Moses, and gave him gifts to work miracles, and calls him to go to Pharaoh – work the miracles before Pharaoh, and to tell Pharaoh to let God’s people go. Sounds like a good plan. But then according to Ex. 4:21, God says, “And the LORD said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your power. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go” (Exodus 4:21).

God says He will harden Pharaoh’s heart so that Pharaoh will NOT let the people go. Now what does that mean? Through the next several chapters of Exodus, we read that God does harden Pharaoh’s heart. And we read that Pharaoh hardens his own heart. And the reason we read both is because both are true. 

Pharaoh really does harden his own heart. The Bible consistently teaches that the decisions we make are authentic decisions for which we are fully responsible. And at the same time, God hardens Pharaoh’s heart. The Bible also teaches that our decisions are ultimately under God’s sovereign authority. Now there’s mystery here, obviously. And because the Bible says that both of these are true, there are always some who would want to emphasize one over the other, or to affirm one and deny the other. And that’s because, in our minds, it’s hard to be certain as to how both of these could be true at the same time. But they are both true at the same time. So, here’s what’s going on. God is really hardening Pharaoh’s heart. And the result is that Pharaoh willingly, freely, authentically hardens his own heart – and refuses to let the people of Israel go. Now this raises a very important question – the answer, to which, is central to the meaning of this text. And the question is, 

Why Does God Harden Pharaoh’s Heart?

Look at what God says in Ex. 11:9. “Then the LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not listen to you, that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt” (Exodus 11:9).

The reason God hardens Pharaoh’s heart is so that God’s wonders might be multiplied. God could have brought just one wonder upon Egypt, and softened Pharaoh’s heart in such a way that he immediately let Israel go. But God wants to multiply His wonders in the land of Egypt – and so God hardens Pharaoh’s heart – so that there will be a multiplying of His wonders in the land of Egypt. And why does God want to multiply His wonders in the land of Egypt? Look again Ex. 9:13.

 “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.’”

—Exodus 9:13-14

 “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” (Exodus 9:16).

Why does God harden Pharaoh’s heart? The reason God hardens Pharaoh’s heart is so God can multiply His wonders in Egypt so that Israel, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, and all the world will see, and know that there is NONE like God. God could have worked just one miracle, and freed Israel – but it would not have been as clear that there is NONE like God. The whole point of the Exodus was to make a world-wide reputation for God. So instead of one miracle, God hardens Pharaoh’s heart so he refuses to let the people go. And then God multiplies wonder after wonder after wonder after wonder, so that everyone can see that there is NONE like God IN ALL THE EARTH. O, but that’s not all. Here’s where the plagues are personally and practically relevant to us. God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, so that every parent, every grandparent, every person in this room might have a story to tell. 

 “Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart . . . that I may show these signs of mine among them, and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and of your grandson how I have dealt harshly with the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them, that you may know that I am the LORD.”

—Exodus 10:1-2

You see it?  God’s purpose is not just to deliver Israel. God’s purpose is to deliver Israel in such a way that everyone on earth – including generation after generation - would see the display of His glory, and know that there is NONE like Him. That includes us. One of the reasons God punched Pharaoh in the mouth, and had Moses write it all down in Exodus, was so that this morning I could draw your attention to this passage, so that this morning you and I could see and marvel, and this week you can sit down with your children (and grandchildren), or around the table some coffee shop, and talk about and tremble at the reality that there is NONE like God in all the earth. 

How Does God Show Us That There Is None Like Him?

Since this story is so familiar, we’ll just do a “fly-over.” God gets the ball rolling with a “small miracle” in Ex. 7:10-13. Moses and his brother Aaron go to Pharaoh. Aaron throws down his staff, and it becomes a snake. But v. 13 says,”Still Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the LORD had said”(Exodus 7:13).

Bell rung, and Pharaoh says, “Game on.” And then God brings out the ten plagues. 1st, He turns all the water in Egypt into blood. In Ex. 7:16 Moses says to Pharaoh, “The LORD God of the Hebrews, sent me to you saying, “let my people go . . . but so far, you have not obeyed.” Thus says the LORD, “By this you shall know that I am the LORD. Behold, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water that is in the Nile, and it shall turn into blood” . . . (v. 21) There was blood throughout all the land of Egypt”(Exodus 7:16-18, 21).

Blood everywhere – deep and wide as a river. Did this really happen? I believe that Moses writes and records this as literally happening. And if we put it in perspective – back in Gen. 1:1, we read that this same God created the universe. “Universe be” – galaxies out of nothing, that’s big. Nile to blood – by comparison, that’s a nit. So we don’t need to come up with some rare algae or angle of the sunset to explain it. What happened was that God turned the entire Nile River into blood. That much blood was horrifying - not to mention ruinous to the Egyptians mode of transportation, fouled their source of nourishment, and crushed the supply line for their economy. But Pharaoh’s heart remains hard – just like God said.

The 2nd plague. Frogs – lots and lots of frogs. Ex. 8:1-3, “Thus says the LORD, “Let my people go . . . if you refuse to let them go, I will plague all your country with frogs . . . that shall come up into your house and into your bedroom and on your bed . . . and into your ovens and your kneading bowls” (Exodus 8:1-3).

Pharaoh refuses. Aaron stretches out his staff, and frogs start coming from everywhere. On the one hand, it’s rather comical – frogs in the couch, frogs in the closet, frogs in their clothes, frogs in the coffee pot. I remember as a kid, when leopard frogs were still very common – after a long and heavy rain – they’d be all over the road. And as much as I was into frogs, 1000’s of them on the road was gross. But this plague was also intended to pack a theological punch. The Egyptians worshipped the goddess, “Hekt” – who was always pictured with the body and head of a frog. It would have been a physical and spiritual nightmare. But Pharaoh hardens his heart, just as God said. 3rd, God causes gnats to fill the land. Ex. 8:17, “Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the earth, and there were gnats on man and beast. All the dust of the earth became gnats on all the land of Egypt” (Exodus 8:17).

Ever bike through a little cloud of gnats? Swallow one? Get ‘em in your eyes? Imagine the air everywhere thick with gnats. But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, just as God had said.

4th, God causes flies to swarm everywhere, except in Goshen where the Israelites lived. Ex. 8:21, God says, “If you will not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies on you and your servants and your people, and into your houses. And the houses of the Egyptians shall be filled with swarms of flies, and also the ground on which they stand” (Exodus 8:21).

And that’s exactly what God did. And the flies swarmed everywhere. I think of our summertime picnics, and waving over the plates of food. I think of the annoyance when there’s one fly in the house. But swarms of flies covering everything, inside and outside. And just when it looks like Pharaoh is going to break, he doesn’t - but hardens his heart again, just as God said.

5th, and this is really severe - God kills all Egypt’s livestock, but spares Israel’s livestock. Ex. 9:6, “The next day the LORD did this thing. All the livestock of the Egyptians died, but not one of the livestock of the people of Israel died” (Exodus 9:6).

There was this incredible stink under our deck. After a brief search, I found the remains of a dead rabbit. If we have a hard time with the smell of a meat processing plant, just imagine what it would be like to endure the reek of the death and economic loss of every animal in the land. But Pharaoh hardened his heart, just like God had said.

6th, God brings boils on all people and animals. Boils are like huge pimples on your skin and are extremely painful. This is the 1st plague where the Egyptians endured physical suffering. Ex. 9, “They took soot from the kiln and stood before Pharaoh. And Moses threw it in the air, and it became boils breaking out in sores on man and beast” (Exodus 9:10).

But Pharaoh doesn’t even flinch, because God hardened his heart, just as He said.

7th, God destroys the Egyptian’s crops with hail. God says to Pharaoh, through Moses, “Let my people go or I will cause the worst hail storm you could ever imagine – and it will kill your livestock and your crops.” And then God tells the Egyptians they can protect their livestock and crops by bringing them under shelter. And some did.

“There was hail and fire flashing continually in the midst of the hail, very heavy hail, such as had never been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.

 The hail struck down everything that was in the field in all the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And the hail struck down every plant of the field and broke every tree of the field. Only in the land of Goshen, where the people of Israel were, was there no hail.”

— Exodus 9:24-26

A catastrophic storm. A death toll. But again, Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, just as God had said. 8th, God brings locusts on Egypt – that eat whatever is left from the hail. 

 “The LORD brought an east wind . . . When it was morning, the east wind had brought the locusts. The locusts came up . . . and settled on the whole country of Egypt, such a dense swarm of locusts as had never been before, nor ever will be again. 

 They covered the face of the whole land, so that the land was darkened, and they ate all the plants in the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Not a green thing remained, neither tree nor plant of the field, through all the land of Egypt.”

— Exodus 10:14-15

 The “east wind” is referred to twice because, in Egypt the wind never comes from the east. The direction of the wind was guided, supernaturally, by the hand of God. But Pharaoh is stubborn because God hardens his heart, just as God had said.

And 9th, God brings total darkness for three days. Ex. 10:22, “There was pitch darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days. They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days, but all the people of Israel had light where they lived” (Exodus 10:22-23).

Days of absolute darkness would frighten and dishearten anyone. But this held a special terror for the Egyptians because they worshipped the sun. And part of the miracle was that the Israelites were not in the dark. God discriminated between His people and the Egyptians. But God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, just like He said He would.

Loved ones, one cannot, one must not - read of these crushing blows of God – one after another after another – and meditate on them, pondering, contemplating – and NOT be affected by the terrors they brought upon human flesh and psyche, and soul. We dare NOT reduce these to fables. Each and every one of these nine plagues would have brought about weeping, and complaining, and grieving, and torment.  

But God was doing something more than hardening Pharaoh’s heart. God was doing something more than delivering Israel from Egypt. God was magnifying His just and holy wrath so that there might be the greatest possible backdrop by which we might behold His incomparable mercy. God was multiplying His wonders over and over so that all peoples might know that there is NONE like God in all the earth.

These plagues that happened to the Egyptians are NOT the worst plague imaginable. Oh no. One is about to come that will crush every unrepentant heart. Actually, these plagues serve as a merciful warning of worse plagues that have yet to come. The plagues of Exodus are a preview of the judgment that are still before us. And that judgment is described in the last book of the Bible. Rev. 16. The apostle John writes, “Then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling the seven angels, “Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.” So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and harmful and painful sores came upon the people . . . (v. 4) The third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood . . . (v. 10) The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness . . . (v. 13) And I saw, coming out . . . of the mouth of the false prophet three unclean spirits like frogs” (Revelation 16:1-2, 4, 10, 13).

These are symbolic references of water turning to blood, and sores, and darkness, and frogs.  And they are strikingly similar to the plagues described in Exodus. And what is plain in the book of Revelation is that the only safety there is from these 7 angels that pour out these 7 bowls of wrath is to humble ones’ self, and trust in what God has graciously done in sacrificing His Son for sinners like you and me. This is the only way to escape the righteous wrath of God because of our sin. 

Charles Spurgeon, commenting on the plagues of Ex. writes,

 “Forget Pharaoh, and only think of yourself. Let the Lord Jesus Christ himself, with the thorn-crowned head, and the pierced hand, stand by your pew, and looking right down into your soul, say, in his matchless heart of love, “How long? How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me?”

— Charles Spurgeon

My non-Christian friends, cease your Pharaoh-like pride, ignoring, dismissing the mercy of God, continuing in your own delusion of independence and self-importance. Instead, even in this moment, I plead with you, humbly flee to the Son of God, who suffered blows and stripes of God’s wrath for sinners like you and me. In our place, condemned he stood – receiving on the cross, the judgment we deserved for our sins, so that this day we might know and experience the forgiveness of sins, which we clearly do not deserve. The Lord would much prefer to turn water into the wine of salvation for you than to turn water into the blood of judgment upon you.

And for my dearly loved brothers and sisters in Christ, the Lord said to Moses that he performed these miraculous signs so that according to Ex. 10:2, “That you may tell in the hearing of your son and of your grandson how I have dealt harshly with the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them, that you may know that I am the LORD” (Exodus 10:2).

The Exodus was the story of their salvation. The Exodus revealed the personal name of God, and the purpose of God and the deliverance of the people of God from their oppression, and slavery, and bondage – that they might turn and trust and follow the true and living God. So they had a story to tell! They must tell this story – the recount their deliverance - to their children. They must tell this story to their grandchildren. They must transfer this story, with all its implications to the next generation. When their kids had hard questions about God and His ways and His commands, they were to seize those times as an opportunity to tell their own story again. God meant for those Israelites to re-tell their story often, so that their children might know that there is none like God in all the earth.

But the great news for us, is that we have an even greater story to tell to our children. Because of the coming of Christ, you and I have experienced an Exodus even more miraculous than the Israelites. And led by a prophet even greater than Moses, our Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel, the story of our rescue, the story of our salvation, all because of the coming of Christ, and His perfect life, and His sin-atoning death, and His resurrection, and His ascension – this is our story to tell. It’s a story we have to tell of our deliverance from oppression, and slavery, and bondage to sin. It is the story of our Exodus, and it’s all because of our Savior and redeemer, Jesus Christ.

So let us never tire of telling our story. Parents, tell the story! Tell it over and over and over again. Tell it with tears of gratitude in your eyes. Tell your children that there is none like our God in all the earth. And tell them that by turning, and humbling themselves, and entrusting themselves to Christ, they NEED NOT FEAR the punishing blows of God’s wrath. Those blows were sustained, once for all, on the cross by God’s only Son. And that story of that grace changes everything. There is no sweeter sound. There is no sweeter story. And there is no other like our God, and Savior in all the earth. Let’s pray.