As incredible as the plagues of Pharaoh were, they are only a piece of the larger story of Israel’s transformative redemption. It’s important to remember that God had a plan for Israel. Israel is called God’s son, “And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn:” (Exodus 4:22).

God wanted Pharoah to understand, as he was committing genocide against the male seed of Israel, that God considered Israel his son. “Let my people go” is the familiar refrain from God (nine times to be exact) through his servant Moses as God demands the liberation of his people Israel in Exodus 5-10. God declares to the chief Gentile Leader of the planet: I have a son in Israel, and I’m done allowing you to dominate and destroy him.

Of course, this is a shadow of the relationship God has with his son Jesus Christ and the covenant promises to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David. This is as relevant as tomorrow’s newspaper because Egypt, as a type of the world, still has a love-hate relationship with Abraham’s seed. This will culminate in Jesus’ miraculous deliverance at his Second Coming after great tribulation is poured out on the world during Daniel’s seventieth week. In Exodus, God uses the law-giver to deliver his son Israel. In the future, God will use the law-keeper to deliver Israel from the genocide of the Antichrist kingdom. The plagues are meaningful because they declare God’s power and authority over the principalities and powers that have controlled Gentile powers for 6000 years.

Egypt was a pagan theocracy. Neither the Hebrews nor the Egyptians had a problem believing in the supernatural. Paganism was alive and well in Egypt and the pantheon of gods worshipped by the Egyptians held real power over the people of Egypt. They also held power over God’s chosen people Israel. If you were Hebrew, it would seem, the gods of Egypt had as much if not more power than the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as Egypt had complete control of the Jews’ lives. This power was evident when Jannes and Jambres (2 Timothy 3:8) withstood Moses and Aaron by matching miracles to their own harm in their initial interactions at the behest of Pharaoh in Exodus 7-8. Moses was intimately aware of the powers of the pagan gods as he was raised as a prince in Egypt and likely had led armies under the banner of Ra and Montu, the Egyptian god of war. When God turned Moses’ rod into a serpent that swallowed the rods of Pharaoh’s magicians, it was an ominous message to Pharaoh, the magicians, and the royal court that gathered. The Egyptians’ theological belief system was a perversion of the creation of account of Genesis in which life came forth out of the water (Darwin stole that concept from paganism). The pagan gods of Egypt not only provided the creation narrative for the Egyptians, but Pharoah and his magicians had the Egyptians convinced these pagan deities were the source of order. They believed that if Ra, the sun god, didn’t successfully traverse the underworld each night, the world would go into chaos. Of course, God through Moses upset their apple cart with each successive plague. There are varied opinions as to which gods were targeted with each successive plague, but the chart below gives some logical possibilities as to the god or gods being targeted with each plague:

While there are certainly nuances to which pagan deity or deities God was attacking with each plague, it is clear from the context of scripture that God was indeed taking aim at the pagan deities of Egypt with each successive plague. However, it is important to keep in mind that these plagues were not only a judgment on Egypt, but a sign to God’s chosen people Israel that proved the veracity of Moses’ ministry and their call to leave Egypt. As wicked as Pharaoh and the Egyptian Theocracy were, Israel was not exempt from the first three plagues because they were participating in the same idolatry as the Egyptians. God was using the hardening of Pharaoh's heart for the benefit of his children who were in danger of facing the same judgment as Pharaoh. The influence of the Egyptian gods upon Israel is echoed 898 years after God delivered Israel out of Egypt, as he reminded the elders of Israel through the prophet Ezekiel that the children of Israel were just as polluted as the Egyptians by idolatry before he pulled them out of Egypt:

In the day that I lifted up mine hand unto them, to bring them forth of the land of Egypt into a land that I had espied for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands: Then said I unto them, Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the LORD your God. But they rebelled against me, and would not hearken unto me: they did not every man cast away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt: then I said, I will pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt. But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, among whom they were, in whose sight I made myself known unto them, in bringing them forth out of the land of Egypt. (Ezekiel 20:6-9)

God goes on in Ezekiel 20 to talk about the problems Israel had with idolatry that would plague them until the time of captivity in 606 BC. This reminds us of how God views Jerusalem at the apex of the coming Antichrist kingdom when the two witnesses are killed and left dead in the street for three- and one-half days. Because of the wicked idolatry he calls Jerusalem spiritual “Sodom and Egypt”:

And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. 8 And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. (Revelation 11:7-8)

Just as Moses stood successfully before Pharaoh, he will one day stand as witness against Antichrist and the same power displayed before Pharoah will once again be displayed before Antichrist, “These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will” (Revelation 11:6).

Moses understood his limitations. Moses had no power to turn the rod into a serpent in Exodus 7:10-12, but he trusted God could do before Pharoah what he did on Horeb. Moses stayed in his lane. Moses didn’t take on too much or too little; he spoke to Aaron just as God commanded and Aaron obeyed his voice and God blessed his word to his servant Moses. We are called to preach the gospel; we cannot save anyone, but when we obey God’s call to stand and preach God uses what is in our hand to overthrow the forces of darkness. Likewise, we are called to make disciples, but we cannot make anyone obey. We simply give them every opportunity to succeed from salvation, through sanctification, to sending. Pharaoh's power was real even though it was wrong. Many preachers and commentators explain away Pharaoh's response from the magicians of some sleight of hand or illusion. I would submit that we should believe the record as it stands. The magician’s power, though demonic, was successful to a limited degree against God. God allowed the magicians to emulate three of the plagues to their own hurt. They could emulate but could not surpass God’s power. By the time we get to Exodus 8, they are no longer able to match forces with God and capitulate to God’s power over Egypt.

Another reason God allowed the 10 plagues was to change the identity of Israel. In Genesis 46:26 and Exodus 1:5, it is noted that Jacob entered Egypt with 70 souls. By the time we get to the Exodus in Exodus 12:37, we see there are 600,000 men, not including women, children and Egyptians joining them. The population that left Egypt 400 years after Jacob entered had multiplied prolifically, partially fulfilling the covenant promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They entered Egypt as 12 brothers and left as 12 tribes. They entered Egypt as servants, they left Egypt as an army. In fact, the first mention of armies in the scripture is attributed to Israel’s identity in Exodus 6:26. Though they didn’t look like an army, God called them an army because that is what he was transforming them into as they departed Egypt. As he did away with the pagan influence, he would give them the law and tabernacle from Sinai. Instead of a pagan dictator’s false theocracy, God led Israel out to Sinai to provide instruction for both worship and government directly from Sinai. Instead of following a hard-hearted dictator, they were to follow a faithful shepherd who himself had been transformed by the grace and goodness of God. Though Israel would disobey God and go back into captivity, they would never lose their identity as a nation again. The next time Israel realizes God is providing signs to lead them out of bondage, it will be in the midst of Daniel’s 70th week as once again: Jesus will miraculously deliver his nation to their inheritance at his second coming and deliver them to their habitation in the Promised Land as he rules and reigns through Israel to administer his government to the Gentile nations of the world in the coming millennium.

There is much to learn from Israel’s deliverance from the bondage of Egypt and their wilderness Journey. Not the least of which is the power and picture of the Passover Lamb. The culmination of all the plagues points to the Passover Lamb and the subsequent Red Sea crossing. The Passover Lamb points to Jesus our Passover (1 Corinthians 5:7), whose blood saves us from the death angel and delivers us from the bondage of the world, the flesh, and the devil, along with the wrath appointed to them for the slaying of the firstborn of Israel. Thank you, Jesus, for forgiving us of our sin and delivering us to return with Christ at your second coming! What a day it will be as we gather once again, not to celebrate and remember the Lord’s Supper, but the Marriage Supper of the Lamb when we successfully see Jesus’ kingdom come in. What a day that will be!