Exodus 7:25-9:35
Ex. 8:1-15
Notice that the magicians did the same miracle and that Pharaoh hardened his own heart.
Ex. 8:16-19
Some say that the reason the magicians couldn’t imitate this miracle was that Satan’s power does not extend to the creation of life. I’m not sure that the frog “event” just involved rounding up all the already existent frogs, but I can see that. To take dust, and turn it into living things (gnats) is definitely a “class A” miracle, and I guess it shows us something about the spiritual world.
Note the repeated phrase regarding Pharaoh’s hardness, “as the Lord had said.” God was encouraging Moses and Aaron in this conflict by already telling them what would happen, and thereby, to expect this and to be strong and go forward. For us as disciples, this is why it is important to live in the Word. God tells us stuff like this all the time. A case in point is what Jesus tells his disciples in John 13-17. We are to expect opposition; God says so. But in opposition, we also can expect God’s presence and working to bear fruit.
Ex. 8:20-32
Notice that with the 4th plague, God makes a division between the people of Israel and the people of Egypt. This means that Israel had also experienced the other stuff. God is a good teacher. Why do you think God let them experience the first three and now will keep them separate? In a way He does the same with us. He allows us to experience tough times so we’ll appreciate his blessing and the privilege of being able to follow Him as disciples in the harvest. I know I can take a lot for granted unless He teaches me to value it.
Isn’t it interesting that God could “ruin the land” by something as simple as frogs, gnats and flies? We have all this technology and think we’re so strong, and God can humble us with things we don’t even think about. I’ll bet the Egyptian FEMA was completely unprepared.
Ex. 9:1-7
So, pausing at the 5th plague, overlooking the fields of dead animals, what do you think “Joe” Egyptian was thinking? Does it seem to you that things are escalating? It seems interesting that we don’t hear anything of the Egyptians themselves crying out to God. FYI, in Revelation, when similar things are happening, people don’t cry out to God either, they just keep getting madder at Him and kill His people.
Ex. 9:8-12
Ok, finally, God hardens Pharaoh’s heart. I’ll throw out something here we’ll see later with others, especially King Ahab, that when people have their hearts set to be stubborn or disobedient or stupid, God intensifies their bent. That means, they would naturally have done it anyway and so God intensifies their stubbornness to the point that their sin is visible to everyone. I don’t think Pharaoh would have changed his mind here and that God forced Him to resist. I think God intensified his hardness to the degree where it had no semblance of rationality. The effect will be that Pharaoh’s own people will start yelling at him.
Ex. 9:13-35
Note that God gave fair warning. There were Egyptians who feared the Lord and, as we will read later, many Egyptians went with the people of Israel when they left Egypt.
Note that Pharaoh hardens his own heart.
Notice that we are reminded that it was all going as God said it would. As disciples we need to remember, too, that Jesus has promised both joy and opposition as we work to bear fruit in the harvest.
Matthew 19:13-30
Matt. 19:13-15
The disciples were repeat offenders regarding stiff-arming children. Children have a God-given ability to believe and trust. Anyone who has worked with children know, that properly taught, kids can make a valid, strong, saving commitment to Christ at a very young age. To ignore this openness allows sin to grow in their lives, and allows their hearts to become distrustful and complicated like this next guy.
Matt. 19:16-22
This guy was a nice guy and Mark says that Jesus loved him. Loving him meant extending the offer to follow, but, in love, Jesus had to put His finger on the idol in this person’s life. If you look at this challenge Jesus gave him, you can see a couple different areas where there would have been conflict, but the real answer was in really believing in Jesus and wanting to follow Him.
So many of the verses dealing with following Christ end with the idea that He must be our passion, our Lord and the most important thing/person in our life. If this is so, following is natural. If this isn’t the case, following becomes doing religious things, like going to church and giving money to convince ourselves and others that we are followers.
Matt. 19:23-30
Lots of good stuff here, so just a few notes.
Almost all who live in the western world are rich according to biblical standards. How hard is it to depend on Christ and follow Him when we can buy comfort and convenience? I think we fool ourselves thinking it is easy to follow Christ in the land of milk and honey and live lives that are only shadows of what it means to follow Christ in this dying world. I’m challenging myself on this one all the time.
Lots of people “wax elephants” regarding the “eye of the needle.” Just to simplify, Luke, the doctor, uses the word for “surgical” needle. No kneeling camel would have gotten through there.
The crux of the matter in following Christ in the harvest, bearing fruit, making disciples who make disciples, is what are we willing to give up, sacrifice. Jesus sacrificed and we are to follow Him in this. But we are scared silly thinking of what we’ll have to give up. I’m amazed, given the deadly gravity of the situation on earth and people around us, that God decides to give us anything. I watched “Band of Brothers” and “The Pacific” and when you see what these guys had to endure in battle, not only the conditions of heat or cold but the maggoty rice, you think that God could expect the same from us. But instead He “richly bestows on us everything to enjoy.” The real paradox here, and what separates the men from the boys, is that the true closeness to Jesus and the true riches of his blessings and joy are found in the middle of the harvest field. Those who dwell on the outskirts only know the blessings of the outskirts.
Psalm 24
Once again a beautiful Psalm. Note that verses 7-10 were used by Handel in the “Messiah.”
Proverbs 6:1-5
The thing to look at here, which will come up again, is the warning about being deeply connected to others who have different values. Many preachers will use these verses to say that God is against co-signing for a loan for your kids or a relative. Well there might be some wisdom even there, but still, I think the force here is against making yourself responsible or liable for someone with very different values. This would be along the lines of what God says via Paul about being unequally yoked to unbelievers. Actually, I’ve met some believers I wouldn’t go into business with. The principle and warning is here. We need to bring this before the Lord before we make a tight connection with anyone.
As disciples, we need to be understanding, and ask God about everything. In our desire to help the lost and needy, we don’t need to be God for them. God will take care of people without us having to take a second mortgage out on the house. In the same way, when we hook up with other Christians in the harvest, who are different enough to keep us from doing God’s work, that can also lead to malfunctions. There is a good reason for different churches and different confessions. Sadly, if we all had to work together, we’d probably never get anything done.
If you’re reading along and don’t have a One Year Bible, click on this link Every Day in the Word. If that doesn't work, go to http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/devotions/ and click on “Every Day in the Word.”
I'm writing these comments to and for those at New Song who are following a One Year Bible and involved in a discipleship cell. We're meeting weekly and discussing the texts, not necessarily my comments. We're growing together, learning to become and make disciples who make disciples. We will all be leading others in this process and training them to do likewise.
The comments I'm writing are in no way exhaustive, but meant to give some leading thoughts on how the text applies to us as disciples and to encourage and stimulate our growth in reading the Bible, with the effect that we will grow as disciples and encourage the growth of others as disciples growing in the word. If you would like a more descriptive commentary that is still readable and concise, I'd recommend the Bible Knowledge Commentary. It's keyed to the NIV, so the result is, the commentators are constantly telling you what the Greek or Hebrew is. That never hurts.
I am not endorsing any particular One Year Bible, in fact, no one in our church reads the version I do, die revidierte Lutherbibel 1984.
Anyone reading along with us is welcome to do so and encouraged to take their own notes and make their own observations. If the comments made do not agree with your particular tradition or understanding, that's OK. Nothing I've written is meant to criticize any point of view, but only to express the truth of what God has written to us, as I understand it.
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