This is Connect with Skip Heitzig. Thanks for joining us today. Here at Connect with Skip, we love helping you understand God's Word and apply it to your life through clear, practical Bible teaching and real encouragement. And if you'd like help to keep growing in your walk with Jesus, sign up for Pastor Skip's free weekly devotional. You'll receive biblical insight, teaching highlights, and exclusive resources designed to help you stay strong in your faith.
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Have you ever dreamed of visiting Israel? Leni and I want to invite you to join us for a life-changing journey through the land of the Bible in April of 2027. You can walk where Jesus walked. You can worship on the Sea of Galilee. You can celebrate baptisms at the Jordan River, and we're going to share communion at the Empty Tomb.
You'll also have the option to attend the Epicenter Summit in Jerusalem, where I'll be speaking alongside of Joel Rosenberg, Greg Laurie, and Graham Lotts, Jack. And more.
So join us April fifth through April sixteenth. You can learn more today at connectwithSkip dot com slash israel.
Now let's dive into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig. Also in Chapter eight, the dust becomes lice. Um. This was judgment on Geb, the earth god. In verse seventeen, it says the dust became lice throughout the land of Egypt.
Plague number four: a swarm of flies.
Some scholars believe the flies were the scarab beetles, and they were found in in many of the tombs, the graves of Egypt. It was a symbol of Egyptian eternal life.
So at this point, plague after plague after plague, Pharaoh's attention. Has been gotten, and Pharaoh now wants to negotiate. Chapter eight, verse twenty-five. He says, "Go, go, sacrifice, but don't leave the land. Do it in the land of Egypt." That's his first negotiation.
Then, verse twenty-eight. He says, "Go out into the wilderness, but don't go very far." And he also adds this footnote in verse twenty-eight: "Pray for me, intercede for me." When we get to chapter nine, the plagues continue. Plague number five is disease, sometimes translated murrain, a disease that affects livestock, especially cattle. This was aimed at the god Apis, the bull.
Now keep that in mind, Apis, the bull, because the children of Israel are going to build a golden what later on, calf, probably reminiscent of this god of Egypt, Apis, the bull, called Menes. In Greek culture, the judgment was to show the ineptness of that god. Also, in chapter nine, boils, ashes were thrown into the air, turned into sores. By the way, Egyptian priests used to throw soot in the air, ashes in the air, as a means of blessing people.
Now the blessing turns into a curse. Also, number seven in that same chapter, hail. And fire mingled with hail that fell from the sky. Why? To demonstrate God's power over the sky goddess called.
Get this, Nut. N-U-T. It's appropriate in my view. It's a nut job. God can't do anything.
Chapter nine, verse twenty-seven. Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and Aaron, and said to them, "I now watch this. I have sinned this time. What? I've sinned this time.
This is called selective memory disorder. You've sinned every time. I've sinned this time. I've really blown it." And then he says, "The Lord is righteous, and my people and I are wicked. Entreat the Lord that there may be no more mighty thundering and hail, for it is enough.
I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer." You go.
Well, that's good news, man. This is repentance. No, it is not. It's an emotional reaction. Because down in verse thirty-four, when Pharaoh saw that the rain, the hail, and the thunder ceased.
He sinned yet more, and he hardened his heart. He and his servants. Verse thirty-five.
So the heart of Pharaoh was hard. Neither would he let the children of Israel go, as the Lord had spoken by Moses.
Okay, so he almost did, but now he didn't.
So the Lord's answer: two more plagues. Chapter ten. Locusts. Locusts come in and eat. Everything left by the hail that was mingled with fire.
Now, most experts in the field believe that this locust was called the short-horned grasshopper. These particular grasshoppers breed in deserts. They reproduce rapidly. They migrate long distances. They can travel in columns of hundreds of feet, and the swarm can last for about four miles.
Imagine a four-mile, one hundred-plus-foot column of dark cloud coming at you. That's the swarm of locusts. When they appear, it looks like there's an eclipse of the sun. Things get so dark when they leave. The trees have been stripped, and the land looks like it's been scorched with fire.
A couple of examples of this: 1866, locusts invaded Algiers, northern Africa. That's the capital of Algeria. 200,000 people died in the famine that ensued after the plague of locusts in the following days. The worst. On record, the worst locust plague on record was 1951 in the Middle East, in Iran.
Every green thing was devoured, for hundreds of thousands of square miles. It is still considered the worst in history. Plague number nine was darkness. As the chapter continues, the darkness came not on Israel. But on Egypt, on the Egyptians, God is very selective in these plagues.
Now, the darkness isn't just like the cloud cover over the sun, like we had today. It was a darkness. It says that can be felt. The text says darkness that can be felt. This was aimed at Ra, R A, Ra, the sun god, one of the principal deities of Egypt.
According to the Babylonian Talmud, interesting tidbit: the Babylonian Talmud said that God sometimes reserves the judgment of darkness on particularly evil events, or on historic evils of of epic proportions. God will reserve the judgment of darkness for unusually wicked sin.
Now, to me, that's interesting because. The Bible speaks of another darkness when probably the worst thing ever happened when people decided to reject the Savior of the world and put him on a cross and get rid of him. Darkness covered the land, and that is found in other historical records besides the Bible. Three hours of darkness, chapter ten, verse twenty-seven. But the Lord, watch this.
But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart. And he would not let them go.
Now this is worth remarking. For the first five plagues, the first five plagues, the text says that Pharaoh hardened his heart. He hardened his heart. He just dug his heels in, rebelled against God. But in the sixth plague, and not until we're told that God hardened His heart.
Now, the the word for God hardening His heart is the Hebrew word hazak. It means to strengthen or to make firm.
So it's just like God saying, "Okay, that's the position you're going to take. I'm going to confirm or make firm your hardness." Now I believe that God does that. I believe that if you make a choice away from the Lord and you dig your heels in and you harden your heart, God will harden that, confirm that, enable that. If you make a step toward Him to soften your heart, God will make firm that. God will help you in that.
God will enable that to happen. And that's what we see here: God responding to the decisions that Pharaoh is making.
Now, these plagues, all of them totaled, probably lasted between three and six months. But we're not done yet. There is an ultimate plague, and that is plague number ten: the death of the firstborn. That takes us to chapter twelve. This is the climax of the book of Exodus.
On this night, it was the splattering of lambs' blood on lintels and doorposts of homes that caused the death angel to pass by or pass over. Chapter twelve, verse one.
Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, "This month, this month." Shall be your beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you.
So the calendar is now changed to correspond to the new season of life called redemption. And can I just say that the term "born again" perfectly sums up what happens when a person gives his or her life to Christ. You get a whole new life, and you reorient your life accordingly. Redemption changes your calendar, so to speak, clears everything up. It's the beginning of days to you, as it was for them.
Speak, verse three, to the congregation of Israel, saying, On the tenth day of this month, every man shall take for himself a lamb according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. And if the household is too small for the lamb, then let his neighbor next to his house. Take it according to the number of the persons, according to each man's need. You shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb, verse five, shall be without blemish, a male of the first year.
You may take it from the sheep or from the goats.
Now, I want you to just notice what we just read: verse three, a lamb; verse four, the lamb; verse five, your lamb. To some people, Jesus. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. He's he's a lamb. I've heard about what he's done.
I know many people believe that he died on a cross. But then, for some people, they get a little more serious. No, no, no. He's he's he's the lamb. There's nobody like Jesus.
But it's not till he becomes your lamb, where you personally receive him as your savior. Not your dads. Not your moms. Not your brothers. Not your sisters.
Not your kids. Your lamb. Is he your lamb? Has He redeemed you of your sin? Do you have your own personal relationship with Him?
Down to verse forty, I think it sums it up.
Now the sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. Back in Genesis, it said your descendants will be in this land four hundred years. That was a round number.
Now it's specific number. Four hundred and thirty years total. It came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years. On the very same day, it came to pass that all the armies of the Lord went out. Notice those words: went out, Exodus from the land of Egypt.
Now, this tenth plague. The people in the house were protected by one thing: blood, blood. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. The Bible is a big book—66 books filled with history, poetry, prophecy, letters, laws, and more. It's easy to lose sight of how it all fits together.
That's why Pastor Skip Heitzig wrote his new one-year devotional, Soaring Above It All. It gives you a panoramic view of Scripture, helping you understand the key people, events, and themes from Genesis to Revelation, while deepening your walk with God. Request soaring above it all as our thanks when you give fifty dollars or more today to help connect with Skip. Share clear verse by verse Bible teaching with people everywhere. Give now at connectwithSkip dot com slash offer or call eight hundred nine two two eighteen eighty eight.
Now, here is more from Pastor Skip. They weren't protected by race.
Well, I am Jewish, so what? If you don't have lamb's blood on, you are dead. Your firstborn are going to die, and if you were Egyptian but you're having dinner at a Jewish person's house that night and blood gets applied, you get spared. It's the blood that made the difference—not the race, not the genealogy, not how good you were. It's only blood.
Verse 24, back up there it says, "And you shall observe this thing that is Passover as an ordinance for you and your sons." Forever, so it is Passover has two roles: commemorative and predictive. You commemorate the deliverance from Egypt, if you're Jewish, but also it is predictive of, behold, the Lamb of God, Jesus, who takes away the sin of the world. First Corinthians five, Christ, our Passover, was slain for us.
So it's prophetic of our deliverance as well.
Now the rest of chapter twelve and thirteen, they pack their bags and they get ready to leave. And it says they plundered the Egyptians. They plundered them. Remember God said Abram, when they go out, they're going to be slaves four hundred years. When they go out, they're going to go out with great possessions, great plunder.
Here it is. They plundered the Egyptians.
Now at this point. Pharaoh changes his mind. The very guy who said go out says come back. And God is arranging it all. Look at chapter fourteen, verse four.
God said, "Then I will harden Pharaoh's heart so that he will pursue them, and I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army. That Egyptian, the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord." Now. Down in chapter thirteen, verse twenty one, is the mention of this odd pillar that goes before them, and then behind them, and then accompanies them for the next forty years in the wilderness. It's a pillar of cloud by day for shade in the desert sun. If if you don't have shade in a desert, especially with one hundred and twenty degrees as your ambient temperature.
You're not going to make it forty. You're not going to make it four months.
So God gave them graciously a cloud cover during the day and a pillar of fire by night, God's flashlight by night. Chapter fourteen and fifteen is the epic crossing of the Red Sea.
Some people have trouble with this, but some people have trouble with everything in the Bible, every story in the Bible. Again, if you can believe Genesis one verse. One, the rest is easy. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. If He can do that, clearing up a red sea or stopping it up or damming it up, not a problem.
Am I right? Verse, chapter fourteen, verse twenty-nine. But the children of Israel had walked on dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall to them. Notice that a wall. There's got to be substantial body of water on their right hand and on their left.
So the Lord saved Israel on that day out of the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. All sorts of naturalistic explanations—I have studied them and taught them when we were in Exodus last time. All of them, in my view, fall short of an adequate explanation, other than it was a miracle. Chapter sixteen and seventeen is their trek to Mount Sinai, which we're going to pick up next time, in in chapter nineteen onward. But sixteen and seventeen, they travel to Sinai, and a shift takes place in the heart of redeemed people.
And see if this mirrors some of us. They go from glory to groaning. They saw the glory of God, but you know what? That was then. I'm walking every day in this desert, and it's hot, and I need water, and I need food.
So, so they start complaining. And every time I read this, I reminisce. I had three brothers, mom and dad, and four boys. And my dad would drive us from Southern California to New Ulm, Minnesota, sometimes. He didn't like to stop for hotels; too expensive.
So he just gas up and drive through. Rambler station wagon, no air conditioning. Four boys in the back. Does that spell trouble? Oh, with a capital T.
So that happened on a grand scale.
So God feeds them with manna from heaven, bread from heaven, and water from a rock. Chapter sixteen, verse fourteen, and when the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a round, small substance as fine as the frost on the ground. When the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, "What is it?" For they did not know what it was. That's what you say when you don't know what something is. What is it?
Moses said to them, "This is the bread which the Lord has given you." We believe the word "man" m a n was an Egyptian word. In fact, Arabs to this day have the word "man" referring to a sweet, sticky juice from a shrub in the desert. Maybe that little white juice was reminiscent from the lore that is passed down from the manna in the desert. Verse thirty-one. Let's let's let's.
Move along, verse thirty-one. The house of Israel called its name manna, and it was like white coriander seed. The taste of it was like wafers made with honey. Man, this was God's baklava. This was God's Krispy Kreme donuts, and if it's in the desert, it's hot now, all the time.
So. According to Numbers 31, just a little preview, they fixed it a number of ways, and Mrs. Moses probably had a thousand and one ways to cook manna for all the wives in the desert for those years. Chapter 17: Water came from the rock, and though there was bread from heaven and water from a rock, all miraculous, the children of Israel complained. They complained.
God fed them. They complained. God gave them water. They complained. It takes a heavenly appetite to enjoy heavenly food.
And if you don't have a heavenly appetite, you will complain when heavenly food is given. It takes a heavenly appetite to enjoy heavenly food. And so the question is always, how hungry are you? You're hungry. I know you.
I mean, look at this is Wednesday night. Look at this place. Filled with hungry people, takes a heavenly appetite to enjoy heavenly food. Chapter eighteen. Where are we going to close?
Moses has a meeting back in Midian, back with Jethro, his father-in-law, who he had spent forty years working as a shepherd.
Now he wants to let Jethro know what God has done. He thinks Jethro, his dad-in-law, is going to be really proud. Verse thirteen.
So it was on the next day that Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood before Moses from morning till evening. Jethro is watching this. When Moses' father-in-law saw all that he did for the people, he said, "Attaboy, Mo! You are awesome. You work harder than anybody I know." He said, "What is this thing you are doing for the people?" Why do you alone sit, and all the people stand before you from morning till evening?
And Moses said to his father in law, "Because the people come to me to inquire of God, I'm awesome. And when they have a difficulty, they come to me, and I judge between one and the other, and I make known the statutes of God and His laws." And Moses' father in law said to him, "The thing that you do, not good." Both you and these people who are with you will surely wear yourselves out. For this thing is too much for you, and you are not able to perform it yourself. One person, no matter how gifted, one person can't do ministry alone. I don't care how awesome he or she is.
It takes a team. It takes others that you invest in, and you give ministry away. What Jethro saw bothered him because Moses turned into a problem shuffler. He was the executive branch, the judiciary, and the legislative branch all rolled into a single person. It would kill them.
Verse nineteen. Listen to my voice. I'll give you counsel, and God will be with you. Stand before God for the people that you may bring the difficulties to God. You will teach them the statutes.
You'll teach them the word, the laws, and show them the way in which they must walk, the work they must do. Moreover, you shall select from all the people able men such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness, and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, hundreds, fifties. Rulers of tens. Verse twenty three. If you do this thing and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure all.
This people will go to their place in peace.
So Moses heeded the voice of his father in law and did what he said.
Now I'm closing. We're done reading. Why the drama? Why all the drama with the children of Israel? Why all the persecution?
Why they almost destroyed by Egypt? Please note this: it is part of spiritual warfare. This is the drama played out from Genesis to Revelation. Here's the premise: if God's plan of redemption required the existence of a nation and the continuance of that nation. If you can destroy that nation, you will destroy God's plan for the world.
That's the warfare played out in the panorama of biblical history. The first move to exterminate the seed that would crush the head of Satan, Genesis three fifteen, was Cain killing Abel. God bypasses those two, goes right to Seth. But then the world gets wicked. God judges the whole world.
It was so bad at one time. Except Noah. Noah found grace or favor in the eyes of God. But third, Satan motivated Esau to kill Jacob. Why?
Because he was the son of promise—Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. The younger will be served by the older. Esau didn't like that. Tries to kill him.
Now Pharaoh wants to destroy all the male babies born who are Jewish. It won't be the last time. Herod is going to try it again. Why? To exterminate the seed, the nation that brings forth the deliverer, not Moses, Jesus.
It's all a spiritual warfare punch and counter punch to destroy the Jews because God's plan of salvation and redemption requires the existence of a nation and the continuation of that nation. Thanks for joining us today on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we go, remember that your generosity helps share clear verse by verse Bible teaching with people everywhere, helping them know God more deeply and live out His truth. And this month, when you give fifty dollars or more, we'll send you Pastor Skip's brand new devotional, Soaring Above It All, as our thanks. This one-year journey through the Bible will help you see how Scripture fits together, understand its key people, events, and themes, and grow deeper in God's Word each day.
Give today at connectwithSkip dot com slash offer or call eight hundred nine two two eighteen eighty eight. See you next time on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.
