The Pharaohs of This World Are No Match for the Great I AM

God is God alone.  He demonstrates his glory by comforting his people and confronting those who oppose him.

When Moses confronts Pharaoh, this ruler believes he is more powerful than the great I AM.  He pridefully states he doesn’t know who this God is.  He is about to find out.

Here are some notes:

  1. Pharaoh is about to get a front-row seat to know who the LORD is (Ex. 5:2).
  2. The goal is for people to know the LORD – Israel (Ex. 6:7), Egypt (Ex. 7:5). witnesses (Ex. 18:11; Josh. 2:8-11; Judg. 2:2-11; 1 Sam. 4:7-8; 6:6), and subsequent readers (Ps. 105; Isa. 63:7-14).
  3. Moses’ obedience made the circumstances worse.
  4. When God expects immediate obedience, we should not expect immediate prosperity.  God works on a different timetable.
  5. Moses was not fearful of the visible one but the Invisible One (Heb. 11:27).
  6. Moses had a crisis of belief but took it to the proper person (Ex. 5:22).
  7. God’s promise to Moses reveals a coming liberation (Ex. 6:6; cf. Gal. 1:14), redemption (Ex. 6:6; cf. Gal. 4:4-7), adoption (Ex. 6:7; cf. Rom. 9:4; 1 John 3:1), and inheritance (Ex. 6:8; cf. 1 Pet. 1:4; Matt. 5:5).
  8. Knowledge of our inheritance helps us endure hardships.
  9. The goal of the plagues was for the Egyptians to know the LORD (Ex. 7:17).
  10. The Nile river was the lifeblood of Egypt and a god to them.
  11. God hit them at the place of their pride.
  12. This blood in the Nile (Ex. 7:20) is representative of a former blood shed there (Ex. 1:22).