Note: This article is an AI-generated adaptation of a spoken transcript and may not fully capture the nuances of the original presentation.
Can God show both justice and mercy when His power is overwhelmingly strong? That’s the question our text answers today. And we’re reading from, again, the book of Exodus chapter nine, verses 13 to 21. Let’s have a look.
“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.”
Now, this is a pretty pivotal moment in the Exodus story. Here God declares his purposes plainly. His judgments are coming, but they’re not random punishments. They’re really there to show his glory. He says that this situation has been raised up so that His glory may be revealed. Now Pharaoh’s pride, which God has allowed to reach its full display, now becomes the stage on which God’s power and mercy is going to be shown across the world.
But notice the compassion that God has here woven into the judgment itself. God sends to Pharaoh Moses and Aaron to tell them that these people are going to die, that the slaves and the livestock and anyone who’s outside will die under this judgment if they’re not brought inside. So he gives them a warning, he gives them time to act. But it’s only those who fear the Lord who obeyed and were ultimately spared. The issue here is no longer nationality, you know, Israel versus Egypt, but it’s really a question of will you trust in God? Will you listen to God’s word and respond?
Now exegetically, the phrase, “I have raised you up,” doesn’t mean that Pharaoh was made evil by God, but that God had sovereignly placed him in power so that his own supremacy over Pharaoh, his own power over Pharaoh would be shown. So every act of rebellion that Pharaoh committed really becomes the stage, the scene for God’s justice and his redemption and his mercy to be shown.
Of course this foreshadows the cross. That’s ultimately the greatest sign where God’s sovereignty over a situation brings about salvation. So the day of humanity’s greatest rebellion becomes the stage on which God shows his greatest grace and mercy. Judgment for sin is put on Jesus and salvation from sin is given to humans because of that.
And so even on this darkest day of the world, we see that salvation comes because of God’s grace and His judgment coming together at the same time. Sovereignly, God had arranged things just so that that might happen.
Now, we need to remember that God’s power, therefore, is always purposeful. He reveals Himself so that people might know Him and might trust Him. Notice it’s even the Egyptians who trusted the word of Aaron and the word of Moses and the word of God who were saved in this case. Whoever responds to God’s revelation have access to His mercy. The same is true of us today. Anyone who comes in faith, responds to the call that Jesus has to be made Lord, to come and have their sins forgiven by Him on the cross, still receive His mercy. It doesn’t matter what country you’re from, whether you’re from Egypt or Israel, it doesn’t matter.
Anyone who fears the Lord and listens to his word will find refuge in him. Faith will always result in obedience of some sort to the Lord. Now, Egypt was also meant to see God’s glory and so too our lives of those who have been saved are to show the world around us his grace and his mercy through our works. So just as those slaves or those Egyptians who had listened to the Lord and had their slaves and their animals saved from the judgment, so too we who are saved from God’s judgment by Christ should also show forth to the world that we have been saved and that God is a gracious and generous God. Yes, His judgment will come, but His mercy is available now. And that’s a wonderful thing.
So let’s pray.
O Sovereign Lord, you rule over all the earth. Thank you that even in your judgments you show us mercy and that you give us warning. Thank you for the warning we have in your word, that judgment is one day coming. But thank you for the mercy that is also in your word, where we read of Jesus and what he has done for us, that our sins have been forgiven through the work he has done on the cross. And so help us now to respond to that and to order our lives around that so that we may live in obedience to the calling you have placed on our life. We pray this in Jesus’ mighty name, amen.
Well, that’s all for today. I hope you can join me again tomorrow. And if you haven’t yet, please like and subscribe and share this with a friend. It really helps others find us too. We’ll see you then.