KJB Daily Devotion – Following Jesus Through Every Chapter
Date: Friday, February 01, 2019
Chapters: Exodus 7-9
Message: And All Shall Know
Hello My Friend,
When reading through the Bible, especially in the beginning of life itself, I often wonder with the multitudes of people that God has created how it is that so few believe in and follow Him. Even after the flood, and there were only eight people left, all fully knowing the power of God, and yet things are right back to the way they use to be before the flood. Now, I know freewill plays a part in some of this, but something else does as well, God. God can harden a heart to the point that it not only hates Him, but despises everyone who chooses Him to the point of actual death. And do not think that there are true Atheists out there, they know God exists, it is just that God has hardened their heart. “Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:” – Romans 9:21-22.
“and to make his power known,” This is exactly why Christians are in the middle of this battle between good and evil. Bear with me today, there is a lot of Scripture to cover. God was about to send a total of ten plagues, not only to show Israel that God was there for them, but to prove to Egypt that He is Jehovah.
“And the LORD said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet. Thou shalt speak all that I command thee: and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh, that he send the children of Israel out of his land. And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt. But Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you, that I may lay my hand upon Egypt, and bring forth mine armies, and my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them.” – Exodus 7:1-5.
“And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD,” There really is something exciting and scary at the same time when we discover there truly is only one God, and He is in control of everything from life itself to the elements of the world. These plagues were actually based upon the things that the Egyptians worship, and yes, they worshiped frogs. God revealed the first plague, turning water into blood.
“And the LORD said unto Moses, Pharaoh’s heart is hardened, he refuseth to let the people go. Thus saith the LORD, In this thou shalt know that I am the LORD: behold, I will smite with the rod that is in mine hand upon the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood. And the LORD spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon all their pools of water, that they may become blood; and that there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood, and in vessels of stone. And Moses and Aaron did so, as the LORD commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. And the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments: and Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, neither did he hearken unto them; as the LORD had said.” Exodus 7:14,17,19-20,22.
“And the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments:” Their evil magic, which by the way, is of the devil, but anyone can turn water into something else by throwing something toxic into it, so the magicians were able to mimic what God did. You see, if it can be done by man, then people will not believe it to be God. Now, comes the second plague, frogs will invade the land.
“And the LORD spake unto Moses, Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Let my people go, that they may serve me. And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs: And the LORD spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch forth thine hand with thy rod over the streams, over the rivers, and over the ponds, and cause frogs to come up upon the land of Egypt. And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt. And the magicians did so with their enchantments, and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, Intreat the LORD, that he may take away the frogs from me, and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may do sacrifice unto the LORD. But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said.” – Exodus 8:1-2,5-8,15.
“But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite,” Up unto this point, the magicians were able to do these things so I imagine he never believed that it was actually God, but that it was Aaron doing these things. Now, God sends a third plague, this time even the magicians realize it is God Himself.
“And the LORD said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust of the land, that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt. And they did so; for Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, and smote the dust of the earth, and it became lice in man, and in beast; all the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt. And the magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not: so there were lice upon man, and upon beast. Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of God: and Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said.” – Exodus 8:16-19.
“This is the finger of God:” There comes a point in every life when we realize God’s hand, unfortunately, most will not see that until they die, and face Jesus, and there will come a time when every knee will bow before Jesus. Each plague actually hardened the Pharaoh’s heart even more, but God was not about to stop, and if the lice were not bad enough, here comes the fourth plague.
“And the LORD said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh; lo, he cometh forth to the water; and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Let my people go, that they may serve me. Else, if thou wilt not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thy houses: and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground whereon they are. And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there; to the end thou mayest know that I am the LORD in the midst of the earth. And I will put a division between my people and thy people: to morrow shall this sign be. And the LORD did so; and there came a grievous swarm of flies into the house of Pharaoh, and into his servants’ houses, and into all the land of Egypt: the land was corrupted by reason of the swarm of flies.” – Exodus 8:20-24.
“And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen,” The whole time God was sending these plagues not one of them touched the part of the land were His people dwelt. And this is why much of the earth is not destroyed right now, God is protecting His people. Do not get me wrong, many of have, and continue to die for their faith, yet not one hair shall perish. “And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake. But there shall not an hair of your head perish. In your patience possess ye your souls.” – Luke 21:17-19.
“In your patience possess ye your souls.” It is the saved soul that God protects, our flesh might die for a time, but our soul belongs to Jesus. God said that He would put a division between His people and Egypt, which is the world, that means that even though we are in the midst of the world, He will always separate us from them. Now, if you will notice, each plague gets worse, and up until now they were just things that were bothersome, but now, God was about to afflict their livelihood, the fifth plague would be a disease that would kill all their livestock.
“Then the LORD said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me. For if thou refuse to let them go, and wilt hold them still, Behold, the hand of the LORD is upon thy cattle which is in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the sheep: there shall be a very grievous murrain. And the LORD did that thing on the morrow, and all the cattle of Egypt died: but of the cattle of the children of Israel died not one. And Pharaoh sent, and, behold, there was not one of the cattle of the Israelites dead. And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go.” – Exodus 9:1-3,6-7.
“And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened,” Does all this sound familiar to you? We are dealing with this in our very own country, and it is not just in America, several countries are dealing with hardhearted people in office that cause the entire nation to suffer because they refuse to listen to authority, in this case, that would be our president. They would rather see America, or whatever country they are in, destroyed rather then give up their authority. And by the way, when they go against the one God chooses to lead us, then they go against God, and they will answer to Him. Now, with the Pharaoh angrier than ever, here comes the sixth plague, and this time it was on any livestock that managed to survive the last plague, as well as people, God struck them all with boils.
“And the LORD said unto Moses and unto Aaron, Take to you handfuls of ashes of the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it toward the heaven in the sight of Pharaoh. And it shall become small dust in all the land of Egypt, and shall be a boil breaking forth with blains upon man, and upon beast, throughout all the land of Egypt. And they took ashes of the furnace, and stood before Pharaoh; and Moses sprinkled it up toward heaven; and it became a boil breaking forth with blains upon man, and upon beast. And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils; for the boil was upon the magicians, and upon all the Egyptians.” – Exodus 9:8-11.
“for the boil was upon the magicians,” Did you ever have a boil? They truly are something awful, and quite painful. This is proof that the devil has no power on God, even he has to submit to His authority. Now, some of the Egyptians are getting pretty tired of all this, and I imagine many of them were telling the Pharaoh to let them go. So, when the seventh plague was announced, many of them listened and took cover. This time, God was going send hail, which must have been the size of golf balls because man and beast alike would be killed.
“And the LORD said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me. Behold, to morrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now. Send therefore now, and gather thy cattle, and all that thou hast in the field; for upon every man and beast which shall be found in the field, and shall not be brought home, the hail shall come down upon them, and they shall die. He that feared the word of the LORD among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the houses: And he that regarded not the word of the LORD left his servants and his cattle in the field. And the hail smote throughout all the land of Egypt all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail smote every herb of the field, and brake every tree of the field.” – Exodus 9:13,18-21,25.
“He that feared the word of the LORD among the servants of Pharaoh” This is proof that it does not matter what nation we come from, if we fear God’s Word, He will save us. Today, we must fear God’s Word in asking Jesus to save us if we want to survive the worse plague of all, death. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” – John 5:24. Amen!
Jesus Christ Magnified: “And the LORD said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.” – Exodus 7:1.
Today’s Prayer: God, It is only when I trust in You with all my heart that I realize everything You allow in my life has a purpose. When You are first in my thoughts, my attitudes, my actions will prove that You are my God. Instead of being doubtful I will pray to You, instead of being afraid, I will be courageous in You, instead of being weak, I will be strong in You. When affliction comes, I will not resort to my own understanding, but trust that Your hand is in it, and You will bring me through it. Lord, lead me and guide me, soften my heart, remove from it anything that keeps me from serving You on Your terms. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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