Thursday, August 20, 2009

Exodus Chapters 7-9

7:3ff - God hardens Pharaoh's heart? This has been mentioned a couple times already, but what does it mean? Is God taking away Pharaoh's free will and basically sending him to hell? I don't believe this is the case. I think God is simply speeding up the process of Pharaoh's inevitable heart hardening. God knows what Pharaoh is going to choose int he end and just fast forwards the process a little.

7:17ff - We are going to look at how God starts to dismantle the power structure of Egypt through the plagues. The Nile river itself was life to the Egyptians...it was scared...their entire empire for the most part rested on the banks of the Nile. They looked to the Nile for food and protection and beauty and water - it meant everything to them. God by turning the Nile to blood shows them that worshipping the things of this world does not bring life...it brings death.

8:2 - Here God attacks their pride. They are a prideful people...one of the most powerful if not the most powerful empires on earth, and they are conquered by frogs. Talk about humbling.

8:16 & 21 - God destroys their comfortable existence in Egypt. Comfort can often be an idol.

9:3 - God attacks their livelihood...their industry...their means of production.

9:9 - God shows them that even their bodies are not safe from His incredible power.

9:18 - God takes away their safety.

* God absolutely rocks their society to its core. All the things they put their trust and hope in were destroyed by the hand of God. What are the distractions that plague your life? What draws your attention away from God?

9:34 - Notice God does not have to harden Pharaoh's heart anymore. Each of the other instances say that God hardened his heart...this one says that he sinned and hardened his own heart. He made his own choice to reject the will of God. I believe this is proof for my assertion that God is simply speeding up a process of hardening that would have happened anyway. This is Pharaoh's choice...God just wanted it to happen on His timeline.

1 comment:

Bekah said...

Wow, What a question Brandon. What are the distractions that plague your life? That really spoke into my heart....
Like at CIY when we were talking about getting rid of the idols that take the king's throne in our lives,
1 Cor. 6:9-11
9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters , nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

I have a really hard time making sure that I am following Christ only , not my friend's beliefs, not my sister's beliefs...Christ alone.