Ep. 23 | Evil, Dragons, and a Message

Text: Exodus 7:8-13

Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 9 “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Prove yourselves by working a miracle,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent.’” 10 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent. 11 Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the magicians of Egypt, also did the same by their secret arts. 12 For each man cast down his staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs.13 Still Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.

Oath of PHAROAH:
O Great One,
O Magician, O Fiery Snake!
Let there be terror of me like the terror of thee.
Let there be fear of me like the fear of thee.
Let there be awe of me like the awe of thee.
Let me rule, a leader of the living.
Let me be powerful, a leader of spirits.

(1) CONFRONTED the Messenger (7:9)

(2) CHALLENGED the Manifestation (7:11)—Looked for an explanation why it wasn’t God. Didn’t look to believe but for reasons NOT to believe.

Charles Spurgeon observed, “Whenever a divine thing is cast into the heart, or thrown upon the earth, it swallows up everything else, and though the devil may fashion a counterfeit, and produce swarms of opponents as sure as ever God is in the work, it will swallow up all its foes.”

(3) CHOKED the Message (7:13)—Rejected the working of God.

(a) CONTENT with the COUNTERFEIT

(b) COMPLACENT with the CIRCUMSTANCES

In the lyrics of Stuart Townend, “No guilt in life, no fear in death, This is the power of Christ in me; From life’s first cry to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny. No power of hell, no scheme of man, Can ever pluck me from His hand: Till He returns or calls me home, Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand.”