The Plague of Frogs

OK, let's turn to Exodus chapter 8. The first plague has been wrought upon the land of Egypt. It was the rod of God touching the waters of the Nile River. And they turned the waters to blood. And on the face of that, just on the face of this, it's a judgment that speaks of death. one of death, it's a judgment of God upon Egypt.

However, we also saw last week how that it's a picture of the savor of God's knowledge being declared. When we preach the gospel, we're sending forth that savor of Christ into the world among those who are gathered together to hear that word. Unto Egypt, then, this was made a saver of death unto death, and them that perish." Because they didn't receive it, they didn't hear it. But to the people of God, this is looking towards, this is speaking of their promised deliverance from bondage. And in that sense, it's a saver of life unto life, and them that are saved.

And so this first plague upon the Egyptians, it's pointing to that. It's speaking to you that believe, hey, this is God appearing for us just as he promised. He's delivering us. He's laying into his enemies. Now, he's given it to them because he's going to bring us out of that bondage and deliverance. And then we see what that judgment of death looks like in verse 22 of chapter 7.

And Pharaoh's heart was hardened, neither did he hearken unto them as the Lord had said. And so we see that judgment worked. And that same judgment has worked in the hearts of men and women who don't believe the gospel, who hear Christ and don't receive it and don't believe it. There's a hardness there. They're hardened to it and they don't receive the word preached.

So with the first plague ignored by Pharaoh, our sovereign Lord brings a second plague now upon him. Because this has everything to do with sealing him up to judgment, but it's glorifying God's name in all the earth. It's glorifying God's name, especially in the hearts of God's people. It's gonna be for their deliverance, their salvation, for their good. And so he's now gonna bring this second plague here, and let's read in chapter eight, verse one and two.

And the Lord spake unto Moses, go unto Pharaoh and say unto him, thus saith the Lord, let my people go that they may serve me. And if thou refuse, this is what Moses is saying to Pharaoh, if you refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs. Pharaoh is a proud man. He's an arrogant man. And we see something of man's pride and the ugliness of it in these frogs, right? Because frogs, they puff up, just like man's pride, and it's ugly. When it comes up out of its banks, pride is ugly.

And it infects and infests all around it. It ruins everything. God said, I will smite all thy borders with frogs. In other words, it's going to go everywhere and into everything in the land so that Pharaoh and all his people from the greatest to the lowest, they're going to be troubled by this. It's going to infect all the borders of Egypt.

And so it reminds us Just looking at that, and let me just take a few moments to speak on this, it reminds us of Adam's fall. When Adam fell, that sin went to all the borders of man, as it were. It infected and infested everything about man. Everything about the fall of man was touched, everything about man was touched by this fall.

It altered, for the worse, his relation with God. He died spiritually, just as the Lord said, in the day that thou eatest thereof, ye shall surely die. And we see that in his fellowship with God, he was spiritually dead, so that when he heard God's voice, he ran from him. He counted God his enemy.

And it affects how man treats his neighbor. And so we see this in ourselves, we see this in others, but we see how the fall has reached to all the borders of man as it were. So that when Adam ate, death entered into the world through Adam's sin and so death passed upon all men because all men were in Adam when he sinned. We were partakers of that sin and we therefore come forth of corrupt seed, his spiritually dead, ruined seed. We are totally depraved because Adam died in that day, and we're born of that seed.

We are born of that same seed, and this is why the Lord Jesus Christ tells us, when he was speaking to Nicodemus, he's teaching the church, and he says, ye must be born again. We need a new birth, a second birth, not from Adam, but from above, a heavenly birth, which our Lord does for us through the giving of the Holy Ghost, who gives us a new birth, making us new creatures, making us who are spiritually dead alive unto the Lord. Alive on him. This is why the scriptures say in Ephesians 2, 1, and you, you that believe Christ and follow him, and you hath he quickened, made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins. He's given you a new birth. That second heavenly birth by his spirit.

Our Lord promises that he shall deliver his people from their bondage to the dominion of sin. He delivers His people from death. He delivers His people from the grave. He delivers His people from the dominion of their enemies. He does all these things for his people.

Paul, continuing in this same thing, he describes the delusion and the bondage that we were under by nature in Adam. So Ephesians 2, 2 and 3, wherein in time past, he walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. That describes what we are by nature, among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

You couldn't tell us from anyone else. We're all dead in trespasses and sins. And so this is what the blood of Christ saves us from. He delivers us. He washes us from that bondage to sin and death and being ignorant to the things of God. He gives us light and life to know Him, to believe Him, to trust Him.

As it says in Ephesians 2, 4, and 5, but God. He's the difference maker. But God, who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we hated him, he loved his people, chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. He loves them.

Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened, made us alive, together with Christ, by grace are ye saved. And so it's all of God, not because of anything in us, but all having its founding in him. And he, just like we see with Israel, he promised to deliver them when he promised it to Abraham, and now he's coming forth and doing it. They had forgotten all about it, but God didn't forget them. And he's returning now.

And so I bring this deliverance from the bondage of our way in the world and to the devil, because that's what's being pictured here in Israel's deliverance from Egyptian bondage. and frogs here, these frogs that we're seeing here in the scripture, they're a picture of the delusion that men are under, that course of the world, under the wicked one's sway and way, the way that we went in. That's what these frogs are picturing. They picture the delusion. They picture the false gospel. They picture deceitfulness and lies that turn away from trusting God and believing Him and hearing His voice. And so it's picturing that delusion.

Now turn over to Revelation 16, because I want you to see this with these frogs. In Revelation 16, and we're going to pick up in verse 12, And in this passage, you'll see that the wicked of the earth, the children of disobedience, those that follow that voice of the wicked one, they're being led and controlled by the lies of the wicked one, by the false gospel, by things that are not true, by things that deceive and destroy. And they're described as unclean spirits, described as frogs. They're unclean spirits described as frogs. So verse 12, and the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates. There's a river again. And the water thereof was dried up that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.

And so often in scripture, the east is where all those false religions flow out of. All those things, they just tend to flow west. And they come from the east, and you have ancient old religions further east, and they just flow this way. They're still coming this way. Thankfully, when Christ came, the gospel was established, and the gospel flowed west. And we're beneficiaries, and much of Europe was beneficiaries. Now it's going forth into other nations, thankfully, and getting established there, and a stronghold there, because These false religions are just everywhere. They're just accessible in every manner, just coming about. But watch this, this is why we're here, verse 13.

And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. for they are the spirits of devils, working miracles which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. They're under this strong delusion so that they are just swept up and are against God and against his Christ and against the gospel and against his church that preaches that gospel. And the Lord's just saying they're just being gathered and swept up under this strong delusion that reach up to the kings. If you ever wonder why the nation's the way they are, they're under strong delusion. right, of which we all were partakers, as Paul wrote in Ephesians 2.

And so based on this passage here in Revelation 16, now overlay that on Exodus here. And what we see pictured here with these unclean frogs coming up out of the banks of the Nile River to infest and infect everyone in every place so that there's not a place off limits to where this unclean spirit, these unclean creatures pictured in these unclean frogs go, just like unclean spirits. And so Moses says it this way in Exodus 3 and 8, verse 3 and 4. This is what he's saying to Pharaoh.

And the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly, which shall go up and come into thine house, and into thy bedchamber, and upon thy bed, and into the house of thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thine ovens, and into thy kneading troughs. And the frogs shall come up both on thee, and upon thy people, and upon all thy servants. And so, in other words, these frogs, they invade everything. They're in every part of life.

They go all the way to the bedchambers, to the bed of the king, a pharaoh, where a man's secrets are kept and hidden from everyone else. They're there. Those unclean spirits are right there. And it's not just him, from the greatest all the way down to the lowest servant. All are infected. It goes everywhere, it's in everywhere, and it's even in the things that they eat and consume. It's in thy ovens and thy meeting troughs. So in other words, it's just pervaded everywhere. the unclean doctrine, the falsehood, the lies, that just unclean spirits and just all that is just corrupting and defiles and ruins, it's gone everywhere.

And the Lord spake, verse five and six, the Lord spake unto Moses, say unto Aaron, stretch forth thine hand with thy rod over the streams, over the rivers and over the ponds and cause frogs to come up upon the land of Egypt. And so the bloody waters, they signified spiritual death. Well, now you see what spiritually dead things believe. They're infected, they're ruined with unclean spirits. It's just everywhere. And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt.

Now we've been seeing how this rod of God, it's a picture of Christ. It's a picture of his gospel. And it's a picture of us preaching the gospel, making known the savor of his knowledge in every place. Preaching Christ, that's how you make known the savor of God unto your hearers. Just preach Christ. Preach him. declare who he is, why he came, what he accomplished.

And as the rod here brought up the frogs from the banks of the River Nile, so the preaching of Christ exposes the frogs that are everywhere. It brings to light all that's infected with the false gospel, all that's infected with the devil and his lies. It makes known, because it's declaring and showing what our vain imaginations and things that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God, just by preaching Christ. Because it shows where we differ, and by nature, we differ entirely. from God and from the truth of God. Then we're told in verse seven, and the magicians did so with their enchantments and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt.

And what you notice, every time the magicians do it, it's not like they're countering what God has done, right? They don't roll back the bloody river and make it clean again. They don't roll back the frogs. No, they just make it worse. They just add to the plague, because that's all that man can do. He can just make things worse and worse. He can't make it better. So they're allowed to do that, but they can't undo what God has done and what God is making known. Such is the way of man.

The scriptures tell us who these men were. In 2 Timothy, I want you to turn there to 2 Timothy, because we're going to go to 2 Thessalonians in a moment. So in 2 Timothy chapter 3. which is going to come after Thessalonians. Chapter three in verse eight and nine. Now, as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, and you're wondering, well, who are these fellows?

I don't remember reading of them. Well, these fellows are those magicians. in Egypt. That's who these men are believed to be and said to be. So do these also resist the truth, men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith, right? Paul was dealing with them all the time. The Jews were following him around with standing and opposing. the truth that he was declaring. Well, Moses had that in type here in Janus and Jambres opposing him in these first two plagues. But they shall proceed no further, for their folly shall be manifest unto all men as theirs also was. And so these are those magicians striving with Moses. They made some blood out of the water, and they brought up some frogs and made it worse. And they did that, why? To deceive the heart of Pharaoh, and to deceive the people, and to cause them to not believe Moses.

But it comes to an end real quick, as soon as that's it. They can't do anything more. They're not allowed to do anything more. They've got nothing after this. And in fact, the Lord's going to break Pharaoh in this one. He's going to begin to overcome so that he doesn't even believe them anymore.

Now the Lord tells us that such is the lot of the wicked. Turn over to 2 Thessalonians 2. 2 Thessalonians 2, and we'll pick up in verse 7. And here, these frogs, what this is described as, it's called the mystery of iniquity, the unclean spirit. It's the mystery of iniquity doth already work, only he who now letteth will let.

He who prevents it from going further, as far as it would go, is preventing it. until he be taken out of the way. So in other words, what the Lord is saying is that his spirit is present. He has a people whom he is calling to himself, whom he is calling out and saving and blessing. And as long as he's here, he's preventing men from being as violently wicked as they would be.

Every once in a while, you'll see something where you're horrified to read in the news of something that's done. Well, it could be worse. It could be all of that all the time. But the spirit prevents that. He keeps man from every man being Cain to his brother Abel. The Lord restrains that greatly.

And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord, when he's taken out of the way, then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming. Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness, and them that perish, because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned to believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

And so that's what this plague of frogs is picturing. Strong delusion, which has come upon Egypt, and now by the rod of God, he's making it known through that picture of the frogs coming up. It's just pervaded everywhere. You guys are under strong delusion is what he's saying to Pharaoh and to Egypt. It speaks here of the corruption of man's nature. It speaks of our heart by nature.

This is why Christ says you must be born again. You're not going to come to God in the things of the flesh, only in the flesh, believing the flesh, trusting the flesh. It's just not going to happen. You're never going to get there. You need a new birth. You need a complete deliverance from ourselves, from our flesh, entirely by the Spirit of God doing it for us. That's what it's showing us.

Turn over to John, chapter 5. John, chapter 5. The gospel of John, chapter 5. And go to verse 37. Our Lord Jesus Christ is speaking to the religious Jews, and you can imagine how the religious Jews in that day, they would have said they hated Pharaoh and hated the pharaohs of Egypt, how they hated Rome and the governors of Rome and all that Rome does, and yet they're just like them.

They're under that same lying spirit. They're under the same power of the frogs as it were. And so it says, verse 37, and the father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me, ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape." That phrase really caught my attention, nor seen his shape.

How do men see the shape of their imaginary God? by their form of religion. That's how you get a shape of who you think God is, by your form of religion. And they're practicing their religions, and they have this form in their mind of who God is, this shape of Him. And Christ is saying, what you guys think is your salvation, you're under strong delusion, because you're not here in Christ. God reveals Himself in the person and work of Christ, right? There's the shape he's given to us is look to Christ, be conformed to him. That's the form that God has given you, is Christ.

He's all your salvation. He's everything to the people of God. And except God give us an ear to hear and an eye to see, we won't see it. We'll just keep looking to the form of the false god based on our form of religion. And ye have, verse 38, ye have not his word abiding in you, for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not. And again, just to point out, there's the telltale sign of those that are gods.

They believe Christ. It really is that simple. Those that believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, trusting him for all their righteousness. Because there are as many Jesuses, and people will tack on the name Jesus, but their trust in all the righteousness is in what they're doing. And in their form of religion, and their confession, and what they do or don't do, that's their hope.

Not the true and living God, not the true Lord and Savior. But the wicked, the difference there is the wicked of a hard heart, they don't believe Christ. They don't receive him. They don't follow him. That's what it comes down to. And yet the wicked will tell you, well, I'm a child of God. I believe God. And they'll put on a show. But they don't believe Christ. And they don't trust him for all the righteousness. And they don't follow him. It's a lie.

And we know people like that. We've met people like that from time to time. We've all been steeped in religion ourselves, and we're delivered from it. by the grace and power of God. And so God's word abides in his people. And he says to them, search the scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me. That's why I say it's all of Christ. That's what the Lord's going to bring you, his people, to see, that it's all of him. And if we're seeing anything else by His grace and power, He's going to strip that and bring us to see that it is all of Christ.

Because the unbelievers, they will not come to Christ that they might have life. They're just not going to do it. Our Lord continues, I receive not honor from men, but I know you that ye have not the love of God in you. In other words, you can't say, because people will say, well, I'm spiritual, or I'm a child of God, I'm fine with God, but they have no love for Christ. And what our Lord is saying is, if you have no love for Christ, if he's not all and everything to you, you're just deceiving yourself. You're not following the voice of God. How can you believe, verse 44, which receive honor one of another and seek not the honor that cometh from God only? Do not think that I will accuse you Oh, actually, I skipped 43. He said, I am come in my father's name, and you receive me not. If another shall come in his own name, him you will receive. And that's true, right? How many times will someone come to you and say, let me give you the secret to life? Let me give you the secret to my success? They're coming in their own name. And people will listen to that.

I mean, you've got YouTube and Facebook and social media full of people that can tell you, that come in their own name, how to be successful in life and everything. But if a man come to you faithfully preaching the one whom the Father sent, like our Lord did, who is the faithful one, the one whom the Father sent, and he said, I didn't come in my own name, I'm coming in the name of the Father who sent me, doing exactly what he said for me to do, saying exactly what he said for me to say, and it just made everybody angry, and they nailed him to a tree. And you come in that same voice, preaching the same one, people don't want to hear it. But if I stand up here and tell you how to get rich and be healthy, wealthy, and wise, people will love that. They'll line up for those things, because I'm coming in my own name.

And so our Lord says, verse 44, how can you believe which receive honor one of another and seek not the honor that cometh from God only? Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom you trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me, for he wrote of me." And that's true. But if you believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words? So men can say they're trusting Moses and following him for their righteousness, but they're deceived.

They're believing a frog as a word, an unclean spirit. All right, back in our text now. Men of this world And their unbelief are pictured in this plague of frogs and what we see here in the response of Pharaoh to this plague. And what you're going to see is something that we see all the time or have seen in life at various times. Men get into trouble, and they start to suffer, and they feel pain. And they get soft and humbled by it.

And then all of a sudden, they're much more open to coming to services. They're much more open to hear the gospel. They want to talk to you. They have some questions. And they're open now. Now they seem to be inquisitive and searching for God. And for a time, if that affliction and pain keeps on, if it keeps giving them pain and trouble, they're going to break more and more. And they're going to profess to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and they're going to become part and parcel with it for time. But then as soon as things calm down, they go right back to where they were before. They go right back to it. Once they have some rest, they go back to their wicked ways, and they forget God. And it just shows that it wasn't a godly repentance.

It was just, hey, I'm troubled. I'm feeling some pain. I just want to fix it. I do things like that, too. Like if I had a pain the other day, like right here, it just felt funny. And I thought, oh boy, I'm having a heart attack. And you start thinking, I better adjust my diet. And you do that for like half a day, and then it goes away, and you're right back to eating the same food again.

Right? That's how it is, too, even spiritually. But we do. We see that example in and of ourselves. It just eases up. I'm like, ah, forget it. I'm going back to what I like to do. And that's how man is. And so verse 8, then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and said, I entreat the Lord that he may take away the frogs from me. I'm sorry, and said, entreat the Lord that he may take away the frogs from me and from my people, and I will let the people go that they may do sacrifice unto the Lord. So there he is. I give up. You got me. You win. I'll do whatever the Lord your God wants, the God of the Hebrews. And Moses said unto Pharaoh, glory over me. Now, here's what Moses is saying.

He's not saying, now, you boast of me. I got you. You glory over me. He's not saying that. What he's saying is, I'll let you have the honor. You tell me when you want these frogs to go, and I'll pray, and the Lord will remove them. You get to decide. You have the honor. You tell me. You want them today, tomorrow, the next day? When do you want it to go away? When shall I entreat for thee, and for thy servants, and for thy people, to destroy the frogs from thee, and thy houses, that they may remain in the river only?" And he said, tomorrow.

So Pharaoh chose tomorrow. And he said, be it according to thy word, that thou mayest know that there is none like unto the Lord our God. And so God's even given Pharaoh and the people an extraordinary witness. It wasn't like Moses knew anything about how this was going to work. He said, you pick it, you get to choose it, and then I'll do it. I'll serve, I'll honor you. You have the glory here. You pick the day, and that's what it'll be.

And the frogs shall depart from thee, and from thy houses, and from thy servants, and from thy people. They shall remain in the river only. And Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh. And Moses cried unto the Lord because of the frogs which he had brought against Pharaoh. And the Lord did according to the word of Moses. And the frogs died out of the houses, and out of the villages, and out of the fields. And they gathered them together upon heaps, and the land stank. So that this was no apparition. This is real frogs, real bodies that died there, and they're stinking. So they knew this was a real, real thing here.

But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, there was a rest in it, his trouble ceased. He hardened his heart and hearken not unto them as the Lord had said. And so there it is, the sad state of man. As soon as he had rest and a little peace, he forgot how painful the experience was and he went right back to his hard-hearted ways. And so that's, you know, are we? like Pharaoh.

Is that how we are? With the Lord? I know we have ways that we can see the truth of this. We know we've all experienced this to some degree. But you that hear the voice of Christ and follow Him and stay upon Him, you confess, He's all my righteousness. That's the testimony of the Lord that He's delivered you from that way of death. And you're going to keep on in the Lord. Now, that doesn't mean that there aren't times where we're ignorant and we're far away, but the Lord always graciously calls our name. Adam, where are you? Right? Whatever your name is, where are you? And he draws us to himself, and he clothes us with the righteousness of Christ and blesses us, and keeps us, and is merciful to us.

And so in that day of trouble, there's some that won't seek Him. I'm sorry, that will seek Him. But when it eases, they go right back to the world and the way. And it's set. And that will be us, too, if not for the grace and mercy of God. And he makes us to know that. He lets us feel it and know it, because it's his good will and pleasure to keep you, and to draw you back, and to bring you back. It's his good pleasure. And he does that through the preaching of the gospel of Christ crucified. making us to see and be reminded what we are in self and how precious, how wonderful he is. And then we confess in glory in him of what he's done for us because he's the one that saved us from that. So bless God. If your heart isn't hard, it's soft. And you love the Lord Jesus Christ. And if your heart is hard, may he deliver you from it in seeing this testimony, this witness that he gives in his word.

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