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WELCOME TO GOD FOCUS THIS MORNING

The title of today’s episode: THEN GOD SENT A PLAGUE

The Hebrews that were in bondage in Egypt had been there for generations.  They knew as much about the gods of Egypt as they did their own God. I used to wonder why God sent so many plagues and how he chose each one. I recently came across an article of history that explained a little about the beliefs of the Egyptian people at that time.

God was trying to show His people as well as the Egyptians that he was the only God. All the gods of Egypt had no power and he proved it with each plague. Every plague was custom designed by God to defy one of the gods of Egypt.

God knew that Pharaoh would never believe he was the only God. They were too deep in their traditions and religion. Every time a plague would happen, Pharoah would temporarily seem to soften and make promises to let them go in different stages.  But he would not allow them to completely leave until the last plague.

The first plague, the Nile River was turned to blood.  Hapi (pronounce happy) was the god of the Nile, it was the god that the Egyptians believed gave them life and fertility. When the plague came the fish died and the river had a stench from death, not life and fertility. They believed the river was life and God turned it to death.

The second plague, Frogs—the Egyptian god Heqet-( Haget ) was a frog-headed goddess of fruitfulness. God sent the frogs upon the land.  They covered everything. The Egyptians Heget was said to have the key of life beyond death, according to their beliefs. Egypt’s magician could reproduce this with their enchantments. When God stopped the plague, all the frogs died and they gathered them together in heaps and they stank. There was nothing fruitful about it.

The 3rd  plague, Lice – The Egyptian god, Geb, was the god of the desert and foreigners. With this plague the Egyptians magicians could not duplicate this plague. They had to recognize that it was the work of God. Geb was the God of the earth. When God took the dust of the earth and turned it into lice to torment the Egyptians and their animals it proved that God’s power was greater than the belief of Geb.

The 4th plague Flies—Khepri (kepri) He was known as a scarab-faced God in ancient Egypt. He represented the rising and moving of the sun. His name means to come into existence.

This plague defied Kepri, because he was know as the god of order. The disorderly swarms of flies demonstrated that God was the only one who was truly the God of order.

The 5th plague—cattle—Hathor- cow-headed goddess of motherhood and childbirth.  All the cattle died, as a defiance to Hathor. This undermined what the Egyptians believed about the goddess that she was the life giving nurturer of the Egyptians. When the cattle died it not only took away their food source but also their ability to worship. The god Hathor had no power to sustain them.

The 6th plague—Boils—Sekhmet—(sockomet) goddess of healing or medicine  –

When all the Egyptians started breaking out in painful boils they realized that their goddess of healing was no match for the one true God. The Israelites did not have even one boil among them.

The 7th plague—Hail and Fire—Nut—goddess of the sky. The Egyptians believer that she swallowed the sun each evening and gave birth to it every morning. She controlled the weather. The 7^th plague proved that Nut could not control weather when the hail started to fall from the sky and destroy things on the ground.

The 8th plague—Locust—Shu—god of the wind. They believed that their god Shu was the god of the air, atmosphere and light. His role was to separate the god Nut from the god Geb. This gave a space between the two for life to exist. So when God sent Locust into the air, it proved the Shu could not control the wind.

The 9th plague—Darkness—Ra—sun god, the king of the gods.  Our God showed darkness to prove the sun god Ra was not the light. The darkness was so thick they could feel it. They didn’t leave their houses.

The 10th plague—death of first born of all of Egypt-Bes—father of mankind; protector of households. But Bes could not save Pharaoh’s son or any of the Egyptian first born.

Exodus 12:12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord.

God proved to everyone that the idols of Egypt were no match for the one true and sovereign God. He proved that he was the one who broke chains and crushed lies of the enemy. This was for the benefit of the Israelites as well as the Egyptians.

The old testament is types and shadows of things to come. There are many, many lessons we can learn from the children of Israel. But the thing I want you to take away from today’s lesson is this: when we are in sin, we are in bondage.  We are a slave to the enemy satan.  God will fight to set us free.  He will go before us to guide us.

I do not think it is a coincidence that the sea was known as the Red Sea.  That can be a representation of the bloodline.  Once we pass through the blood of Jesus. We are no longer slaves but are free. The enemy cannot come past the bloodline.  He no longer has a hold on us. He has no authority.

God has given you a life. He has set you free from bondage. What will you do with it?

Until next time,

BE BOLD, BE BRAVE AND KEEP YOUR GOD FOCUS

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