“An Introduction to the Plagues of Egypt”
Acts 20:26-27 NKJV (26) Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. (27) For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.
Acts 20:27 AMP (27) For I never shrank or kept back or fell short from declaring to you the whole purpose and plan and counsel of God.
I must take the time to declare unto you all the counsel of God.
- A blessing is something that is uttered over someone.
- A curse is something that is uttered just like a blessing is something that is uttered.
God’s Word always comes to pass. Not one syllable will return to Him void.
Isaiah 55:10-11 NKJV (10) “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater, (11) So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
Proverbs 3:33 NKJV (33) The curse of the LORD is on the house of the wicked, But He blesses the home of the just.
Proverbs 3:33 AMP (33) The curse of the Lord is in and on the house of the wicked, but He declares blessed (joyful and favored with blessings) the home of the just and consistently righteous. [Ps. 37:22; Zech. 5:4; Mal. 2:2.]
Romans 11:22 NKJV (22) Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.
Remember, it is the Lord that pronounced the curse in the earth as a result of Adam’s sin. He rendered the judgment. He did not cause it; it came as a result of the disobedience. He simply declared what was going to happen.
Notice, the Amplified Translation of Proverbs 3:33 says that He declares a blessing. In the same way, He declares a curse.
When God speaks and says that “thus and so” are going to happen on the household of the evil, then as long as there is a household of the evil, God’s Word will come to pass. This is just like the blessing of the Lord that rests upon the righteous.
Romans 6:21-23 NKJV (21) What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. (22) But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. (23) For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Notice there is a fruit or wage that sin pays. The result of sin will always be death. There is no way around it.
Sin has already been judged and it has been determined that it carries the death penalty with no hope of appeal as in our justice system.
For the person outside of a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, there is direct exposure to the verdict that has already been rendered on sin (judgment for sin).
For the believer, you can still pay this price but it will be because of the decisions that we make to be disobedient and live in sin and thus we allow the enemy to bring destruction into our lives because we go outside of God’s protection.
This does not mean that the attacks of the enemy that come upon us all are a result of sin. What we are talking about are the effects of death or the curse that is in our lives on a consistent basis.
Psalms 34:19 NKJV (19) Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the LORD delivers him out of them all.
One thing that we need to remember about the story of the Children of Israel, is that the Egyptians kidnapped the people (God’s firstborn).
Exodus 4:22 NKJV (22) Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD: “Israel is My son, My firstborn.
God takes the mistreatment of His people very seriously. He wanted it stopped.
Acts 9:1-5 NKJV (1) Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest (2) and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. (3) As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. (4) Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (5) And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”
It is God that allowed the judgment or curse to come on the Egyptians, but it is also the same God that preserved and protected the Children of Israel in the midst of the plagues.
It really does not come down to Israelites or Egyptians, because as the Egyptians repented and accepted the God of the Hebrews, the curse was removed from them. It really comes to believers and unbelievers; the just and the unjust.
God always gives grace and mercy for repentance before judgment comes. God gave the Egyptians time (400 years) to repent before the plagues began.
The Children of Israel were protected from the plagues that came upon the Egyptians as they lived in the land of Goshen.
We can see the same scenario in the flood of Noah and how God protected the righteous in the ark. God “sent” or allowed the flood to come on the unjust because of their wickedness. They were given 100 years to repent.
The dwelling of righteous will be protected!
Wicked people are always exposed to the curse because they are wicked and separated from God.
Not every destruction in the earth is caused by Satan. It could be that evil people have brought the penalty of sin into their own lives as God has declared that it would be.
It could be the simple fact that we live in a planet that is bearing the curse of sin in it. This is something that it was never designed to do.
Sometimes, however, in the lives of believers, the enemy can come as we allow him because of our disobedience.
Let’s look at when believers get into disobedience and destruction comes.
- When the Children of Israel were in the wilderness and the serpents came into the camp, who sent them? Was it God? No, because it was the camp of the righteous, they were protected from God’s judgment, so Satan sent the serpents. God provided a way of healing for them.
- When Ananias and Sapphira died, who was responsible for their deaths? Was it God? No, their disobedience opened the door for death to come into their lives and it killed them. (Acts 5:1-11)
- If we are believers, and if the curse is persistent in our lives, it is we who are opening the door for those things.
Summary of the 10 Plagues that came upon the Egyptians:
Plagues List
Here are the Biblical passages on the individual plagues. Line references are to chapters in Exodus.
- Water to Blood
Exodus 7:19 NKJV (19) Then the LORD spoke to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your rod and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their streams, over their rivers, over their ponds, and over all their pools of water, that they may become blood. And there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in buckets of wood and pitchers of stone.’ “
- Frogs
Exodus 8:2-4 NKJV (2) But if you refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all your territory with frogs. (3) So the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly, which shall go up and come into your house, into your bedroom, on your bed, into the houses of your servants, on your people, into your ovens, and into your kneading bowls. (4) And the frogs shall come up on you, on your people, and on all your servants.” ‘ “
- Gnats or Lice
Exodus 8:16 NKJV (16) So the LORD said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your rod, and strike the dust of the land, so that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt.’ “
- Flies
Exodus 8:21 NKJV (21) Or else, if you will not let My people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies on you and your servants, on your people and into your houses. The houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground on which they stand.
- Livestock Diseased
Exodus 9:3 NKJV (3) behold, the hand of the LORD will be on your cattle in the field, on the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on the oxen, and on the sheep—a very severe pestilence.
- Boils
Exodus 9:8-9 NKJV (8) So the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Take for yourselves handfuls of ashes from a furnace, and let Moses scatter it toward the heavens in the sight of Pharaoh. (9) And it will become fine dust in all the land of Egypt, and it will cause boils that break out in sores on man and beast throughout all the land of Egypt.”
- Thunder and Hail
Exodus 9:18 NKJV (18) Behold, tomorrow about this time I will cause very heavy hail to rain down, such as has not been in Egypt since its founding until now.
- Locusts
Exodus 10:4-5 NKJV (4) Or else, if you refuse to let My people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your territory. (5) And they shall cover the face of the earth, so that no one will be able to see the earth; and they shall eat the residue of what is left, which remains to you from the hail, and they shall eat every tree which grows up for you out of the field.
- Darkness
Exodus 10:21-22 NKJV (21) Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, darkness which may even be felt.” (22) So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days.
- Death of the Firstborn
Exodus 11:4-5 NKJV (4) Then Moses said, “Thus says the LORD: ‘About midnight I will go out into the midst of Egypt; (5) and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the female servant who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the animals.
- The first nine miracles were performed by God through Moses. The tenth happened without Moses’ help.
- The first three miracles were designed to get Pharaoh’s attention.
- The first three plagues hit Egypt and Israel at the same time. Why? Because the Israelites were divided but afterwards they were unified in their belief in God.
- The magicians were able to imitate the first two plagues but could not imitate the third. By the fourth miracle they were ashamed or humiliated and by the sixth, they told Pharaoh that these things were happening by the hand of God.
- In each of the three groups, the first two were announced so that Pharaoh knew that it was coming. Numbers three, six and nine, he did not know was coming.
- The tenth plague came about simply to finally get the people out of Egypt.
- When the tenth plague came, the Children of Israel were spared because there was a sacrificial substitute for them. This was the Passover lamb. Jesus is our Passover Lamb and because of His sacrifice, we can be spared the penalty of sin.
The purpose of the plagues was for the one, true God, to totally discredit ten major gods of the people of Egypt. He took what they worshipped and made them detestable.
God challenged their arrogance.
Exodus 18:8-12 NKJV (8) And Moses told his father-in-law all that the LORD had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardship that had come upon them on the way, and how the LORD had delivered them. (9) Then Jethro rejoiced for all the good which the LORD had done for Israel, whom He had delivered out of the hand of the Egyptians. (10) And Jethro said, “Blessed be the LORD, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh, and who has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. (11) Now I know that the LORD is greater than all the gods; for in the very thing in which they behaved proudly, He was above them.” (12) Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took a burnt offering and other sacrifices to offer to God. And Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law before God.
Numbers 33:3-4 NKJV (3) They departed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the day after the Passover the children of Israel went out with boldness in the sight of all the Egyptians. (4) For the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn, whom the LORD had killed among them. Also on their gods the LORD had executed judgments.
Isaiah 19:1 NKJV (1) The burden against Egypt. Behold, the LORD rides on a swift cloud, And will come into Egypt; The idols of Egypt will totter at His presence, And the heart of Egypt will melt in its midst.
Religion of Egypt
To the Egyptians, everything that had life in it was a god to them.
- Major gods were light and water.
- The Nile River and the Sun were worshipped every morning.
- Minor gods were sustained by light and water. (fish, snakes, beetles, bugs, cows, etc.)
What we need to make sure that we understand after this lesson is:
- There is a curse already rendered on sin.
- Evil men apart from God are open to the curse of sin that is in the earth.
- Jesus came to be our substitute and pay the price of the wages of sin.
- Once you have been Born Again and are in Christ, the curse is removed.
- You can choose to open yourself up to the curse by your decisions.
- God does judge but only after many opportunities to repent and avoid the judgment.
- The judgment of God is simply when one is exposed directly to the holiness of God without the benefit of His mercy. Sinful flesh will not be able to stand in the presence of our Holy God.