Exodus 10-12, Matthew 16:13-28

Okay so today we finish the plagues. We saw yesterday that Pharaoh’s heart kept hardening and even when he’d repent, he’d rush right back into sinning. God didn’t just do the plagues to get Pharaoh to set the Israelites free. We see in verse 1 and 2 of chapter 10 that it is to make it clear to the Egyptians that God is the Lord. As I said yesterday, sometimes we need big things to happen in our lives to remind us that we can’t do things on our own all the time. Life is much better if we follow where God is leading, he knows what is ahead of us. Pharaoh allowed his pride to control him and even when those around him were pointing out the obvious in verse 7, he continued to refuse God. For the first time Moses had asked to take the flocks with them and Pharaoh is afraid they will not come back so he refuses. He tries to bargain with God because he is afraid. We do that as well. We are afraid of what God is doing in our lives so we try to bargain our way out of some of it. We do a little, yet we refuse to do it all.
So the eighth plague is locusts. They demolished everything. SO after the locusts wipe the plants from the land, Pharaoh is again repentant. His repeated repentance when he’s suffering gets less and less believable. I think that is how we are as well. So often we repent of our sin and promise God that we will do differently, yet as soon as the danger is over, we slip back into those behaviors. True repentance isn’t saying sorry over and over yet changing nothing. Repentance is allowing God to help you change your behaviors so that you don’t repeat them. That is something I remind myself of on a daily basis. I want to be someone who truly repents and uses the pain to change my life not just repeat my mistakes.
The ninth plague attacked the Egyptians principle God, Re. He was the sun god. The ninth plague was total darkness. Verses 21 and 22 of chapter 10 say that it was a darkness that could be felt and was thick. This is more than just an eclipse. This is something dense in the air that blocks all light. We see Moses again raise his request. Now he wants Pharaoh to supply the sacrifices. Each time Pharaoh denies God, the stakes get higher. What a statement. Increasingly God shows Pharaoh that he is helpless against God. I look back on my life and I see times where I’ve turned back to sin and each time that sin gets me in more and more trouble. What a lesson to see that God allows us to slip in increments and always takes us back.
I especially like verses 27-29 because it culminates Pharoh’s loss of control because he refuses God, and Moses’ security because he follows him. We move into Chapter 11 which is a very sad story. The people of Egypt began to esteem Moses and the Israelites. This was not because of Moses, it was because of God. We forget that people achieve by the grace of God. That is real. It isn’t just some mumbled words from an awards platform. How we esteem what God is doing in our lives is evident in how we live our lives and how we use what he gives us for his glory. God lays out a terrible punishment for Egypt. In chapter 12, we read how God saved the Israelites from that plague.
Passover is not just a symbol of God’s power or the Jewish belief in his blessing. Passover is the beginning for Jews. It marks the beginning of the year and it testifies to where they truly became a nation after God. The things they had to do in order to prepare made no real sense, yet once the end of the story is told, they do. How often do we have to step out and prepare things and we have no idea why? Have you ever been asked to do something that you never really thought about doing and can’t see where it would take you? Yet, that opportunity keeps showing up and you have to acknowledge that it’s something you are being led to. At least the Jews had Moses to tell them what needed to be done. They were to be ready to travel because when God says move, you need to move in order to not have difficulty. There have been times in my life where that was necessary, literally. Passover is a very beautiful tradition and I have been able to celebrate it several times in my life. It is actually something I was planning on teaching my kids about this year. I would encourage you to find a book on it and read more about the traditions.
Now moving on to Matthew, we find one of my favorite passages. It is an important lesson for us even today. Jesus is many things to many people now just as he was then. This passage deals with a real issue in our world. First Jesus asks the disciples, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” Their answer was that people thought he was a prophet, or a teacher, a religious educator. How often I have heard those same things from people today, “Jesus was a good man.” “Jesus was a teacher.” “Jesus was a wise man.” He was all of those things yes, but they don’t go far enough. That is like saying that I am a woman. Yes I am that, but I am so much more than that and until you learn those other things, you truly don’t know me.
Jesus then moves them deeper into the subject. He accepts what they said others thought and then gets to the point. Who is it that THEY think he is? Peter does his usual and blurts out his answer. For once, it’s a good thing. Lol He claims Jesus as the Christ, the son of God. For a Jew this is a huge thing. This is the culmination of their faith. By calling him the Christ, Peter acknowledges that Jesus is the savior, and by calling him the son of God, he recognizes his divinity. This is not something that can be proven to us. People are always saying they will believe if there is proof. Well, what kind of faith is there if the truth is undisputable? We come by our faith not by our own merit, but by God speaking to us. That is what Jesus is getting to here. Some traditions point to verse 18 as saying that Peter is the head of the church. I don’t read it that way here. Jesus isn’t pointing to Peter as what the church will be built on, but to the statement Peter made. The church was built by the testimony of the disciples and other followers of Jesus. Jesus is the one who builds it, not us. He is the one that can keep hell from overcoming it. The key to heaven is to believe in Christ. Christ is talking about the disciples giving the gospel to preach to the world and that is the key to others entering the Kingdom of God. I also think that Jesus told them not to tell anyone because it would put them in danger too soon. God has his timing and sometimes we are to limit what we say so that we don’t take things into our own hands.
In verse 21, Jesus makes sure that his followers understand what it means to be the Christ. We see a new ministry for him. He is more open and deep with his disciples. I’m sure growing up Jesus heard all the tradition around the Messiah and it was very prevalent to believe that the Messiah would return to free them from the Romans. Jesus had to set the record straight and explain the truth to them. Obviously, it didn’t go over very well. I can imagine there was a lot of grumbling and mumbling to the point where Peter has to pull Jesus aside for a chat. Lol Peter thinks he can bargain with God just like Pharaoh did. You can’t. God’s ways are God’s ways and we either submit to them or we don’t. There is a purpose even in our pain that we may not even guess at. I have seen it in my own life over and over again. What happens when Peter tries to change Jesus’ mind? Jesus rebukes him. He points out to Peter that what Peter is saying is no different than what Satan told him in the wilderness. The easy road is not the pathway to heaven. We hear this over and over again in the Bible. The path to true happiness and fulfillment is often the hard one. Someone posted earlier this week a question about whether or not it was necessary to sacrifice your own happiness for someone else’s. I say wholeheartedly that if you love someone then yes it is necessary sometimes. Jesus did it for us, and I can’t imagine that we should feel like we should be exempt from the same. In verse 24 we see the core of following Jesus. We must deny ourselves and follow God’s will. That doesn’t mean that we push ourselves into misery, it means that we do what God wants in spite of what we would like. I can say truly that when we do, we get what truly makes us happy, the rest was just fluff.
Tomorrow’s reading 13-15:21 and Matthew 17:1-23.