EXODUS 8-11 lesson # 8
THE MIRACULOUS IN HISTORY
I. Greetings:
II. Introduction: The Question of the Believability of the Exodus Miracles.
Q Have you ever witnessed a miracle?
Q How many of you can be honest today and admit you have never personally seen one?
Note: Now lets look at miracles. A man raises a staff and locust, hail, frogs, gnats, etc. appear or disappear. All the first born die in a specific group (Egyptians), but not in another (Israelites) because they put blood on their door. The Bible says this actually happened in a specific time and place in history.
Q As educated Americans can we believe this?
Q How could we prove it?
Q What would be our method of proof? How could we prove that miraculous plagues took place in Egypt in the second millennium B.C.E.?
Q Do you see why educated folks have trouble believing miracles, are they repeatable? An = Ever noticed that we Christians do not routinely go camping with a staff, clearing away gnats, making water come out of rocks, parting streams we come across in our hikes? “Oh, who brought the staff, the gnats are everywhere?”
Q Is the Bible aware that miracles are not repeatable?
An = Yes it is! That is why it records the miracles. They were so unusual. There are scattered miracles through out the Bible, but there are three great periods in the Bible where miracles were quite numerous: The time of the Exodus, the time of Elijah and Elisha, and the time of Jesus and the early church. They have been in every age, in our time, but they are not always numerous.
Q According to the Bible, who does the miracle?
An = It is something whose cause is not in anything a man does, but something God does. A miracle points like a sign to something beyond what man can do or control!
Q What is the purpose of the plagues?
An = This is what we will explore in this lesson.
Q Surely miracles are indications of divine activity, but do they compel belief?
III. Observations on the Plagues of Egypt.
>>>> Have someone read Exodus 9:1-7
Q What is the proof that the God of Israel is active in this plague?
An = Only Israelite cattle are spared. Pharaoh even checks on this is.
Q With the evidence that Pharaoh gathers himself, does it compel belief?
An = No. It seems his heart was subborn, it was hard. >>>> Have everyone turn to John 11:45-46.
Q Do all believe here, since they all saw the same miracle?
>>>> Have someone read Exodus 9:8-12
Q Who gave Pharoah his original reasons for not believing in the Lord?
An = The magicians, who finally in plague three (gnats) witness to the “finger of God” in these plagues. Notice what happens to them in the plaque of boils.
Q Why did Pharaoh not believe now?
An = The Lord hardened the heart of Pharoah. In fair minded man would have seemingly acted differently.
>>>> Have someone read Exodus 9:13-14.
Q What are the purposes of the miraculous plagues on the Egyptians?
An = That they may know that there is no one like God in all the earth. Many Egyptians believed at that time (have three different people read the following three verses: 9:20, 11:3, 12:38).
Q Did some of the Egyptians come to believe in the Lord?
An = Yes, some of the Egyptians came to belief and even left with the Israelites.
Q Are their believers in the Lord in Egypt today?
An = History shows us that thousands and thousands of Egyptians have been Christians through out the centuries and there are millions of Egyptian Christians today (7-15 million copts). God is the source of salvation, not only for the Israelites but for the whole world.
>>>> Have someone read Exodus 9:15-19
The plagues were justice given out to the Egyptians for the slavery of Israel. The Egyptians got wealthy on the backs of slaves. They paid dearly economically in the plagues when they refused so many times early to let the Israelites go. The Egyptians killed innocent Israelite children without mercy. God, on the other hand, offered them a choice in the seventh plague (serious economic damage) and the tenth plague (death of the first born), but many Egyptians through disbelief received judgment.
The plagues who that the Creator and the Redeemer are one. He who is absolute mastery over nature: the Nile, animals, insects, the wind, the skies, light and darkness, and life and death itself. The God who made the world now comes to redeem the oppressed who have called out to Him.
RQ Is it not reasonable that the God who made the worlds by speaking them into existence, should be able to tweak it once in a while to let us know He is around, and the type of God He is?
>>>> Read Psalms 65:5-8.
Q What does the phrase “I am the Lord” mean? It is repeatedly used, why?
An = If God says “I” then my own ego cannot be the center of the universe. If Jesus Christ is God – I cannot explain that. Mankind’s arrogance must be submitted to the majesty of Christ. To believe Jesus is God is to admit there is something beyond ourselves, that we cannot “repeat”, that we cannot “produce”, that we cannot control.
Q Do miracles compel belief? Did the miracles compel Pharaoh to believe?
An = Miracles do not compel belief? Did Pharaoh believe in such a way that he became a worshipper in the One true God? No. Let me read.
>>>> Read John 11:44-48 and then 12:9-11. Miracles did not compel Pharaoh and they did not compel those in Jesus’ day who saw someone rise from the dead. Miracles can be signs but you have to believe. Miracles do not take away your freedom to choose belief.
VI. Application:
1. Realize the God who made the heavens all you can see, is a redeemer. He wishes to save you. He is just and loving. The plagues show this. It was true then, it is true today.
2. God wants to save even the Egyptians, look at those at work who are not believers. If you are a believer, your co-workers need to “know He and He alone is God.” You first have to open your heart to them, to care. Then you need to pray in hope, remember their are a lot of Egyptian Christians today. Who would have thought of it at Moses’ time.
3. Is our belief in God up to the level it needs to be according to Scripture? Have we dropped Scripture to our level instead of asking God to rise us up to its level? May we be open to the desire God has to redeem and show others Himself. May we be open to the more than we now have.