Exodus chapter 7 begins with God answering Moses’ lack of faith; “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh and your brother Aaron will be your prophet.” But God adds one very important thing, “You are to say everything I command you“. God works in the hearts of non-believers through you and I. If you publicly acknowledge that you worship Jesus Christ, then you will represent God to those around you. We must be careful not to add or take away from His word. Acts 20:21 tells us there are only two things that are required, “solemnly testify to both Jews and Greeks of REPENTANCE toward God and FAITH in our Lord Jesus Christ“. We must be careful not to complicate the simplicity of salvation. God also tells Moses, “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart“. God even tells Moses why; “I will lay My hand on Egypt… and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord“. The Bible teaches that some will reject Jesus as Savior and will hold on to their rebellion. Romans 1:18-32 tells us, “For though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God…Professing to be wise they became fools…Therefore God gave them over to the lusts in their hearts… For they exchanged the truths of God for a lie and worshiped the creature rather than the Creator… for this reason God gave them over to their degrading passions“. While it is NEVER too late to repent, some must experience the rebuking of God before they can accept His forgiveness.
Next, Moses and Aaron perform the first miracle as God commanded; “Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh and his officials and it became a snake“. Then Pharaoh summoned his sorcerers and magicians and “they also did the same thing“. Remember, Satan is a deceiver, he imitates the miracles of God, but his imitations are inferior. Notice, “But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs“. Satan is not equal to God, his tricks are designed to lead God’s children to destruction. Beware of anyone, no matter how miraculous they appear, if their words do not line up with scripture and they point you toward ANYTHING but faith in Jesus as the only way to salvation. “Pharaoh’s heart became hard and he would not listen them, just as God said.” Next, God told Moses to go to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes out to the water, and tell him to “let My people go so they might worship Me“. “By this you will know that I am the Lord“, and Moses is instructed to strike the Nile river with the staff and it will turn into blood. “The fish in the river will die and the river will stink… blood will be everywhere in Egypt, even in the wooden buckets and clay jars.” We also read, “But the Egyptian magicians did the same thing by their secret arts, and Pharaoh’s heart became hardened“. Notice, they could not make the river clean- God is the only one that can change the polluted things in our lives into spotless perfection.
All of the plagues that God unleashes on Egypt are designed to systematically prove Gods superiority over all of the Egyptian gods. 1 Timothy 2:4-6 teaches, God “desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all“. Jesus became our spotless sacrifice, He paid the price for our rebellion, and now we have access to God through Christ alone. If your heart has been hardened repent and believe and He will restore you today.