Category: God Goes The Distance

Exodus 9:15-16 – For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth. But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.

Here is the question:  Why did the Lord do all this—10 plagues?  Why is the Lord going the distance?  After all, couldn’t the Lord have set Israel free by just one plague?  Why 10, and why prolong it?

One thing is clear—the reason why this battle was going for 10 rounds wasn’t because of the power and strength of Egypt, Pharaoh or the enemy.  For we see in Exodus 9.16 what is really going on: “ For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth.”

This life is a battle indeed, but it is not the kind of battle that we are used to witnessing, where it can be anyone’s game to win. For when it comes to the Lord, the battle is such that it is always under God’s sovereign power, purpose, and authority. Hence, the battles that we go through are purposed by the Lord in order to show His power, and so that His name might be proclaimed in all the earth!

Therefore, one way to understand why of the 10 plagues, it is so that the Israelites will have seen and remember that the Lord has completely defeated every idol, every fear, every oppressive power that once held them captive.  Hence, it was for Israel’s sake!

That is how we are also to view and understand every battle that we go through. First, it is in order for us to witness the Lord crush all the power and dominion of sin and any other power in our lives that keeps us from living for the Lord. It is also in order to break away the wrong beliefs that we might still hold on to.

Today, let’s be encouraged that the Lord has gone the distance and still goes the distance so that each of us can and will experience the fullness of this victory. Pray today proclaiming God’s victory over every and all areas of our lives.

-GK

Exodus 7:20-21 – Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded. He raised his staff in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials and struck the water of the Nile, and all the water was changed into blood. The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink its water. Blood was everywhere in Egypt.

“It is also important to address the matter of God’s judgment on Egypt’s gods because He is making the critical point that He alone is God. This point has great application for us as we face the temptation to bow to our own idols. The plagues should serve as a warning not only for those who refuse to believe the gospel but for believers who are tempted to love, serve, and trust anything except the living God.” [Merida, Tony. Exalting Jesus in Exodus (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary), 87]

In the act of the 10 plagues that the Lord unleashes upon Egypt, it shows how the Lord systematically, purposefully, and powerfully begins to destroy and dismantle every power, every idol, every way of living that was formed apart from the Lord. In particular, the first plague of turning the Nile into blood had incredible significance. The Nile was the lifeblood of Egypt. It provided water, food, transportation, and even their calendar was based upon the Nile. The Egyptians believed in the Nile so much, that they even had a deity associated with it, that if you worship this god of the Nile and if you surround and position your life to evolve around the Nile, you will be successful.

So, even the Israelites have come to bow down to the Nile River—where they believed that their sustenance, life, food, and blessing was by mimicking the Egyptians.

So, by turning the Nile into blood, the Lord is breaking the bondage of Israel’s trust and dependence upon the Nile.  Now the Nile as it was turned into blood, it became something that smelled foul throughout the land. Through this, the Lord is showing the Israelites—stop with this love affair with the Nile. It stinks!

When our hearts are not free to live in God’s blessing, faith, and surrender— and when we also bow the idols of this world, then we are also living for something that stinks! Here’s the question today. Where does our source of life, purpose, security, hope come from?

Today as you pray and worship with this song, “Always Enough” by Kari Jobe, may the Lord destroy all the power structures that we were taught or influenced to bow to.  Jesus alone is our everything.

– GK

Exodus 7:8-12 – The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Perform a miracle,’ then say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,’ and it will become a snake.” So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake. Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts: Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs.

“This initial sign has to do with a snake. The word used here signifies a large, deadly, venomous snake, which would likely have been a cobra. Again, God was taking on the gods of Egypt, not just Pharaoh. Snakes captivated the Egyptians. Pharaoh wore one on his head as a symbol of his authority. He was to be feared, like snakes were feared. The Egyptians were so awestruck by snakes that it led them to serpent worship. They reportedly built a temple in honor of the snake goddess Wadjet, who was represented by a cobra (Ryken, Exodus, 206).” [Merida, Tony. Exalting Jesus in Exodus (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary), 54]

The reason this week’s message is called “God goes the distance”, is to capture the language of a boxing match or MMA, where the Lord goes the distance in this fight—where the Lord never loses, never quits, never gets hit, never falls, and will surely KO the enemy.

In Chapters 5-7 of Exodus, there is a stare-down that occurs between the Lord and the powers of Egypt, much like the way two fighters will stare each other down after the weigh-in.

In Exodus 5.2, this is how Pharaoh attempts at a stare down with the Lord. “Pharaoh said, ‘Who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go.’” So here Pharaoh actually snickers by saying “who is this ‘lord’ that you keep on mentioning? I don’t know him, I don’t bow to him, and therefore you Israelites are mine—and you can’t escape.” How many times have we experienced similar thoughts/discouragements where our thoughts are filled with the sting of condemnation: “you are not free, you are not cleansed, you are still the same broken and damaged person.”

However, in Exodus 7, we are shown the Lord’s stare down to both Pharaoh and all the idols of Egypt, as Moses’ staff turns into a serpent and swallows up the serpents of the Egyptians. This display by the Lord is a clear declaration that all the enemies, powers, and idols that once held Israel captive are going to be swallowed up by the Lord.

This has so much meaning for us today, for Jesus on the cross had a stare down with our sin and death, and as it says in 1 Corinthians 15:54, “death has been swallowed up in [Christ’s] victory.” Today, pray through this passage in 1 Corinthians 15 and declare that every sin, power, and death has been swallowed up in Christ’s victory.

1 Corinthians 15:54-57 – “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

– GK

Exodus 6:6-8 – Therefore, say to the Israelites: “I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord.”

In this passage, it says that the Lord will bring the people out from under the yoke of slavery, oppression and bitterness. Another way of saying this is: “I will snatch you out; I will forcefully pry open the hands of oppression that has so gripped you, so that you can be free.”

So how strong or firm was the grip of oppression over Israel? This power of enslavement over the Israelites was total and complete. Not only did the Egyptians by their military prowess subjugate the Israelites, but they also had complete psychological, emotional, physical, financial, spiritual dominion over the Israelites. So, the chains were composed of both the physical and the spiritual. However, in the passage we are shown that God’s hands are stronger than any power of Egypt or of any idols—for God’s outstretched arm and His mighty acts speaks of God’s unmatched and unrivalled power. This power was ultimately seen on the cross, where Jesus snatched us out of the grips of sin and death. Though we were once completely under the power and dominion of sin and death, we now belong to Christ.

Today, may we experience the Lord snatching us out from the hand and the power of sin and death—the inner fears, chains, doubts, unbelief.  May they all be crushed under the power of God’s outstretched arms and mighty acts, which was fully displayed upon the cross.  As you pray, listen to this song “Belong,” for we now belong to Christ.

– GK

Colossians 2:13-15 – You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.

“Who is your God? That is the most important question you will ever answer. The book of Exodus is a story that shows us who the real God is. In this section of Exodus, we are looking at the “plagues.” Now, I suppose the modern person may look at these plagues and say, “Are you kidding me? This scene is bizarre! Is God a cosmic jerk? Is He trying to annoy the Egyptians?” Or, “This is silly and hard to believe.” It is indeed strange and severe, but you must understand that there is something bigger going on with the ten plagues than what you see at first glance. God was judging not only the Egyptians but also the gods of Egypt. In Exodus 12:12 God said that He was going to perform the last sign, the death of the firstborn, and in so doing He was executing “judgments against all the gods of Egypt.” This was also repeated in Numbers: “The Lord had executed judgment against their gods” (33:4). The plagues fell on all the areas of life that were supposed to have been protected by Egypt’s gods. James Boyce said, ‘There were about eighty major deities in Egypt, all clustered about three great natural forces of Egyptian life: the Nile River, the land, and the sky…The first two plagues were against the gods of the Nile. The next four were against the land gods. The final four plagues were against the gods of the sky, culminating the death of the firstborn.’ [Ryken, Exodus, 216] God put His glory on display by judging these false gods. He is the Almighty.” [Merida, Tony. Exalting Jesus in Exodus (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary), 50]

Today, consider this truth of what our God has done!  He has thoroughly defeated our enemies. All the spiritual and worldly influences that hinder us from knowing God – death, unbelief, despair, unrighteousness, hate, brokenness, etc. One by one, God crushes the pretensions of so-called gods, of other purported ways of human flourishing, of other claims of supreme authority, etc.

Today pray by declaring the above statement of what Jesus has done in our lives—thoroughly defeating all our enemies, powers, and influences that keeps us from the love of God.  As you pray, worship with this song “To God be the Glory.”

– GK