Judgment in Plagues

 Meditate.

Therefore, say to the people of Israel: 'I am the LORD. I will free you from your oppression and will rescue you from your slavery in Egypt. I will redeem you with a powerful arm and great acts of judgment. Exodus 6:6

 A few months ago our Bible Study Group read a verse that got us thinking about judgment. Who has to go through judgment? Are there different times and forms of judgment? Who does the judging? In the next couple of week we are going to look at “judgment” and see what God has to say to us.

Consider this scripture today. God was speaking to Moses giving him instructions for the Hebrew people as they were slaves in Egypt and God was preparing to set them free. These were His chosen people and He had a plan to take that nation back to His Promised Land. He is going to pronounce judgment on Egypt—great acts of judgment—in order to convince Pharaoh to set them free. God is all powerful. He could have just snatched them from Egypt and established them in Israel—but He doesn’t work that way. There were lessons to be learned and opportunities for the Hebrew people and the Egyptians to learn about God, His power and His protection. What a great promise for that nation of Israel! God had made a covenant with Abraham and now He was fulfilling it by taking His people back to the land He had given to Abraham. One way to demonstrate His power was to cast ten plagues on the Egyptians, beginning with turning the water of the Nile River into  blood.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Can you name the ten plagues that God sent on the Egyptians? It is a good challenge for your kiddos or grandkids to learn and recite the plagues. Read about them in Exodus 12. Those plagues were: 

Blood
Frogs
Lice
Flies
Pestilence
Boils
Hail
Locusts
Darkness
Death of the Firstborn
In His mercy God spared the Israelites from the first nine plagues. Then the tenth plague struck all the land of Egypt, as well as the Israelites. But once again God spared them by creating the Passover, allowing the angel of death to Passover those who had the lamb’s blood on their doorposts. To this day Jews celebrate the Passover on the first month of the year at twilight on the fourteenth day of the month. That day is not in what we know as January, but in month of Nisan, beginning the Jewish New Year, which is about four months later and is marked by the moons so it doesn’t always fall on the same day.

Think about how God knows everything you do. There is a coming judgment. Are you concerned enough about that judgment to make choices today that are pleasing to God so that you are on His good side—so that He will give you a way of escape, rescuing you from eternity in hell?

Prayer ~  Lord, just as You rescued the Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt, rescue us from the things that enslave us…attitudes, prejudices, covetousness, poverty, an overabundance of stuff, waywardness,  jealousy,  physical illness, mental illness, self-centeredness or whatever takes our eyes off You. You put a judgment on the Egyptians for their treatment of the Israelites—should we expect anything less today? By Your grace and mercy give us wisdom and understanding that we would prepare  our hearts and minds to be pleasing to You in all that we think, say and do. 

Verse of Salvation ~ With your faithful love, you will lead the people you have redeemed; you will guide them to your holy dwelling with your strength. Exodus 15:13 CSB

Lego creation by Isaac Hunacek.
Pharaoh's army starting into the Red Sea. following the Israelites.
Soon it will be Glub-glub for them.

Moses and the Israelites sang this verse as part of a song of praise to the Lord after they crossed the Red Sea on dry ground and He saved them from Pharaoh’s army. 

© 2020 Text and photos by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved.

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible® Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

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