God’s power, justice and mercy in Egypt

Last Sunday Tim Tszyu beat Joey Spencer in a super welterweight boxing match at Newcastle in Australia.

Thousands of New South Wales doctors went on strike last week in a dispute with the state government over pay and staffing levels. The doctors’ union is seeking a pay increase of up to 30%.

And in the Australian Federal election on 3 May we have Albanese versus Dutton.

Confrontation happens everywhere. Today we are looking at a confrontation that happened in Egypt about 3,470 years ago.

We will see that, The God of Israel was greater than Pharaoh and the gods of Egypt. And today the triune God is greater than all other leaders and gods.

Context

The Bible wasn’t written to us because it was written to people that lived thousands of years ago. The book of Exodus was written by Moses who lived about 3,500 years ago. So, we are reading ancient history. Before we can say what it means for us, we need to look at what it meant then.

Moses lived in Egypt, which was a superpower, with a strong army and massive building projects. Pharaohs built temples, pyramids, and statues to glorify themselves. Egypt was wealthy and religious. They worshipped hundreds of gods associated with natural forces (like Ra the sun god, and Hapi the Nile god).

The Pharaoh was considered both a political leader and a divine figure. His authority was absolute, and he was seen as the intermediary between the gods and the people. The economy was heavily dependent on farming along the fertile Nile River.

The book of Genesis describes the lives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. They lived in Canaan, in the Middle East. Joseph was sold as a slave in Egypt. After being jailed for over two years because of a false accusation, Joseph became the second in charge of Egypt under the Pharoah. He helped the nation survive a 7-year famine. During the famine his father’s family moved to Egypt.

About 400 years after the Israelites moved to Egypt, a new Pharaoh was concerned about their growing numbers and used them as slaves. So we have a problem. God’s people are in slavery in Egypt where they are ruled by a cruel and ungodly Pharaoh. What would God do about it?

Moses was preserved miraculously as a baby and tried to help his people, but he had to flee for his life to Midian near Mount Sinai. Then God appeared to Moses in flames of fire from a bush and sent him to Pharaoh to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. Moses was reluctant to obey God. He had many excuses. But God promised to help him. So, the confrontation begins.

There were nine fights before the main event last Sunday. And there were two preliminary rounds in Egypt.

Preliminary round 1
After Moses asked Pharaoh to let the Israelites go away from Egypt, Pharaoh refused “Who is the Lord, that I should obey Him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go” (Ex. 5:2NIV). And the oppression increased. But again God promised to rescue them.

The God of slaves was demanding obedience from the most powerful man in the world. Pharaoh was not going to let this happen and lose his working slaves.

Moses was still reluctant to obey God. But God promised to use his brother Aaron and to use miracles (signs and wonders) to rescue the Israelites and punish the Egyptians. So, they try again.

Preliminary round 2
Moses and Aaron obeyed God. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and it became a snake. Pharaoh’s magicians did the same thing (maybe as an illusion, like pulling a rabbit out of an empty hat). But Aaron’s snake ate the magicians snakes, demonstrating God’s mastery over Pharaoh and the gods of Egypt! By using a snake, God revealed that the symbol of power and sovereignty that Pharaoh displayed upon his crown belonged exclusively to the LORD. This was a warning to Pharaoh. But, “Pharaoh’s heart became hard and he would not listen to them” (Ex. 7:13).

So Pharaoh was stopping the Israelites leaving Egypt. What would God do about it? This was not an easy fight.

Round 1

God told Moses what to do. Moses warned Pharaoh, “Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the wilderness” (Ex. 7:16). Aaron struck the water of the Nile, and all the water in the river and in canals and ponds was changed into blood. Jesus did a similar miracle when He turned water into wine. The Nile River was central to Egypt’s economy, agriculture, and religion. It was their main source of water. This miracle showed God’s power over nature.

Pharaoh’s magicians did the same thing (maybe as an illusion, like using food coloring or fruit or vegetable extracts to color a small amount of water). But “Pharaoh’s heart became hard; he would not listen to Moses and Aaron” (Ex. 7:22). The Egyptians had to dig along the Nile to get drinking water.

Round 2

Seven days later, God told Moses what to do. Moses warned Pharaoh, “Let my people go, so that they may worship me. If you refuse to let them go, I will send a plague of frogs on your whole country” (Ex. 8:1-2). Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and frogs came up and covered the land. There were frogs everywhere! Pharaoh’s magicians did the same thing (maybe as an illusion, like pulling a rabbit out of an empty hat). After the frogs died, Pharaoh “saw that there was relief”, and “he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron” (Ex. 8:15).

Round 3

God told Moses what to do. But no warning was given to Pharaoh this time. When Aaron struck the dust of the ground, gnats came on people and animals. The gnats were biting insects like lice or mosquitoes. There were bugs everywhere! But Pharaoh’s magicians couldn’t produce gnats by their secret arts. They called it “the finger of God”. They acknowledged that the gnats were caused by a greater power than them. “But Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not listen” (Ex. 8:19).

Pattern

There is a clear pattern in these sequences of events and in the following ones.
– God gives an instruction to Moses
– Moses and Aaron give a request and warning to Pharaoh
– God brings a miraculous judgment
– The request is refused by Pharaoh
And the pattern repeats several times.

Tim Tszyu beat Joey Spencer in four rounds, but this fight between God and Pharaoh went for 10 rounds!

Why were there ten rounds of miraculous judgments before Pharaoh was defeated?  The judgments kept intensifying until Pharaoh obeyed God and let the Israelites go. God said, “Pharaoh will refuse to listen to you—so that my wonders may be multiplied in Egypt” (Ex. 11:9). It was part of God’s plan to become known across the Middle East.

Purpose

The Bible gives three reasons for the miraculous judgments in Egypt. They are to show:
– God’s power over nature and people
– God’s justice in His acts of judgment on Egypt, and
– God’s mercy in the deliverance of His people

These are mentioned many times in the book of Exodus. For example, God told Moses, “I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites. And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it.” (Ex. 7:4-5). We see:
– The miracles were “mighty acts of judgment” by God on the Egyptians
– God will “bring the Israelites out” of Egypt, and
– Because of His great power, “the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord”.
After ten devastating miracles, there will be no doubt that the Lord is supreme.

We will now look at each reason for the judgments.

1. God’s power over nature and people

God wanted to show His people that He is the Lord (Ex. 6:1-2). He wanted them to tell their children and grandchildren how God defeated the Egyptians (Ex. 10:1-2). And they did tell their descendants for many generations.

God wanted to show Pharaoh (Ex. 7:17; 8:10; 9:14-16) and the Egyptians that He is the Lord (Ex. 7:4-5). And that there’s no magic that can equal His power.

God was teaching Pharoah, the Egyptians and the Israelites about His existence and who He is.

For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth” (Rom. 9:17-18). God’s purpose in bringing Pharaoh to power in Egypt was to demonstrate His power to the world.

So, God’s enormous power was revealed through the miraculous judgments.

U.S. electric utilities are receiving massive requests for new power capacity as Big Tech scours the country for viable locations for new data centers to keep up with the demands of AI.

But God’s power surpasses all this, “Great is our Lord and mighty in power; His understanding has no limit” (Ps. 147:5).

2. God’s justice in His acts of judgment

The Egyptians had oppressed the Israelites with slavery and hash labour, including beating them (Ex. 1:11, 14; 2:11; 5:14-16) and hostile demands (Ex. 5:17-18). And they worshipped many idols.

God wanted to punish the Egyptians for their harsh treatment of the Israelites. The miracles were “mighty acts of judgment” on the Egyptians (Ex. 6:6; 7:4-5).

And the final miracle (the death of all the firstborn people and animals) was a “judgment on all the gods of Egypt” (Ex. 12:12; Num. 33:3-4).

So, God’s justice was revealed through the miraculous judgments.

In 2017 a man who masqueraded as a doctor in New South Wales hospitals for more than a decade was fined the maximum amount of $30,000 for stealing the identity of a qualified doctor. As he had left Australia, there were plans to seize his North Ryde home. Since then, fake doctors face jail time. In 2018, a fake doctor was jailed in Melbourne for 9.5 years for claiming to be an IVF specialist over a period of 10 years. It took time, but justice was eventually done.

3. God’s mercy in the deliverance of His people

Because of the judgments, Pharaoh will eventually let the Israelites go – “he will drive them out of his country” (Ex. 6:1-2). God said that he will “bring out my divisions” (7:4-5).

God promised the Israelites, “I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment” (6:6).

“They [the Israelites] marched out defiantly in full view of all the Egyptians, who were burying all their firstborn, whom the Lord had struck down among them; for the Lord had brought judgment on their gods (Num. 33:3-4).

The great confrontation in Exodus was not simply a dispute between Moses and Pharaoh, or a conflict between Israel and Egypt, but a battle between God and Satan. It was a spiritual battle.

So, God’s mercy was revealed through the miraculous judgments.

In 2020, four children were tragically killed in a car crash at Oatlands in Sydney. Mr and Ms Abdallah captured the hearts of the nation when they forgave the drunk driver who killed three of their children. And later the father visited the driver in prison. That’s a mercy that the driver didn’t deserve.

Meaning then – what it meant to the Israelites

The miraculous judgments in Egypt were a unique series of events. See the appendix for more information about miracles in the Bible.

To know: God displayed His power and glory through a series of miraculous judgments. The God of Israel was greater than Pharaoh and the gods of Egypt. And because Egypt was a superpower, the God of Israel was greater than all other leaders and gods.

The miracles demonstrate that God is the true and only God, capable of controlling nature and bringing about justice (to the Egyptians) and mercy (to the Israelites).

To feel: To fear God’s awesome power.

To do: To obey God in travelling from Egypt to Canaan. And to spread God’s fame across the Middle east. This is recorded in the book of Joshua. The Gibeonites had heard about all that God did in Egypt (Josh. 9:9) and those in Jericho had heard how the Lord had dried up the water of the Red Sea when the Israelites came out of Egypt (Josh. 2:10).

Meaning now – what it means to us

What has changed since then? In the remainder of the Old Testament, the Israelites lived in Canaan until they were defeated by the Assyrians and the Babylonians. Then the Jews returned from exile.

In the New Testament, Jesus lived and died and rose back into heaven. In mercy He took the punishment for the sins of the world so we can be forgiven. The physical deliverance from Egypt was a pattern prophecy of this miracle of spiritual deliverance. Then the church began on the Day of Pentecost.

To know: Today the triune God is greater than all other leaders and gods. God is powerful – not only over nature, but over sin, death and Satan. He is greater than anything else we trust in, such as false gods and idols.

Through Jesus there is justice and mercy, which is finalised in the life after death.

To feel: To fear God’s awesome power and to appreciate His justice and mercy.

To do: To trust and obey God like the Israelites instead of ignoring or rejecting Him like Pharaoh. And instead of following idols like wealth, abilities, possessions, entertainment, celebrities or technology. And to spread the good news about Jesus across the world.

Who are we like? Moses or Pharaoh?

How can the power of God be shown today?

^“Now to Him [God] who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen” (Eph. 3:20-21). God is still at work! The purpose of creation is to show God’s glory.

Where is God’s glory being displayed today? It’s being displayed as the power of God works within the people of God in the church through the work of Christ. What is the power of God doing within His people? Changing them into the image of Christ and using them to change others by spreading the good news about His mercy.

Appendix: Miracles in the Bible

You might think that there is no such thing as a miracle, because you haven’t seen one, or because the laws of science prohibit them.

There are six main peaks in the temporal pattern of miracles in the Bible. These are associated with:
– the creation of the universe in 6 days
– the global flood, which caused the ice age
– the Exodus from Egypt and the settlement of Canaan
– the time of Elijah/Elisha
– the first coming of Jesus and the early church
– the second coming of Jesus in the future

With regard to the future inheritance for those who trust in Jesus, the Bible says “salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard Him [the apostles]. God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will” (Heb. 2:3-4). The message of the apostles was confirmed “by signs, wonders and various miracles”. The grammar suggests that signs, wonders, and miracles ceased by the time the book of Hebrews was written, by the time of second-generation Christians in about AD 70. The “confirmation” of the apostles was no longer going on. “Testified to it” depends on the main verb “was confirmed”. It was past tense at that time.

For example, God confirmed the message of Paul and Barnabas “by enabling them to perform signs and wonders” (Acts 14:3). And Paul said that the marks of a true apostle included “signs, wonders and miracles” (2 Cor. 12:12).

With the completion of Scripture and the establishment of Christ’s church, we don’t need the same authenticating signs. The focus has shifted from authenticating new revelation to spreading the message of Christ through the Spirit-empowered preaching of God’s completed Word.

Miracles were intended to confirm and strengthen faith in those who were receptive, not to overwhelm skeptics with great displays of power.

We can demonstrate the law of gravity by dropping an object. But we can overcome gravity and make the object appear to levitate if we attach it to a string. This adds an extra force that counteracts gravity.

It is better to call miracles an addition to natural laws rather than a loophole within them. This is because natural laws are formulated in isolated systems.

If God exists, there is no truly isolated system. Thus there is no basis for disallowing miracles unless you could prove that God doesn’t exist, but you can’t prove a universal negative.

Scientific laws are descriptive of what we observe happening regularly.

Because creation finished at the end of day 6 (Gen. 2:1–3), since then God has mostly worked through ‘natural laws’ except where He has revealed in the Bible that He used a miracle.

God used miracles for creation, and in rare occasions at other times when working out His program, but normally He works and sustains the universe by what we call ‘natural law’.

Written, April 2025