Exodus chapter 8, and reading
from verse 1. 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 to let
them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs. 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
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
Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and
the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. And the magicians
did so with their enchantments and brought up frogs upon the
land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh called for Moses
and Aaron 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. And Moses said unto
Pharaoh, Glory over me! 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. And he said, Be it according
to thy word, that thou mayest know that there is none like
unto the Lord our God. 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, out of the villages, and out of the
fields. And they gathered them together
upon heaps, and the land stank. But when Pharaoh saw that there
was respite, he hardened his heart and hearkened not unto
them, as the Lord had said. Amen. May the Lord bless to us
this reading from his word. The plague of blood was over
and God told Moses to go again to Pharaoh and repeat the demand
that the Lord's people were to be allowed to leave Egypt. This time No mention is made
of the length of time that they will be away, or indeed any return
that they might make. And this demand to let the people
go came from Moses to Pharaoh with a threat. If Pharaoh will
not let the people go, there would be a plague of frogs brought
upon Egypt, such as never had been seen before and was likely
unimaginable to Pharaoh and his servants. So Moses explains what
is about to happen and the picture that he paints for us here is
very grim indeed. He tells us that these frogs
would get everywhere. They would be upon Pharaoh, they
would be upon his servants, they would be upon the people throughout
the land of Egypt. And they would not be able to
keep these frogs back. The third verse tells us here
that the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly. they would
go into the houses, they would go into people's bedrooms, they
would be up on the bed, they would be on people's pillows,
they would be under their sheets, they would be completely in the
house of Pharaoh and his servants and the people. They would come
into their kitchens, they would be in their ovens, they would
be in their cooking utensils, they would be on their plates
and on their tables. and everywhere there would be
these frogs. If someone went to cook a meal,
there would be a frog in the bowl where they made the bread. And this is, I think, interesting
to note, that it seems as if Pharaoh says no immediately. Because we're told that while
Moses is still with him, Aaron is instructed to put out this
rod that he used and to cause the frogs to appear. We should note that when God
gives a warning like this, it is an opportunity to comply with
his word. Because this plague could have
been prevented if Pharaoh had listened to the voice of God
and the word of Moses. Plague is initiated and this
affair unfolds. Aaron raises his rod over the
waters of Egypt just as he had done with the plague of blood
and this time frogs appear in massive numbers and they emerge
from the river Nile and from every body of water in the country. And it's interesting to note
that, again, these magicians of Egypt, the book of Hebrews
talks about some names, Janus and Jambres, whether that was
the same people that were here concerned or not is another question. But these magicians were, again,
it seems, able to replicate, either really or in some illusionary
way, replicate these frogs. but he could not prevent them
or rid the country of them. And these were real frogs. It
was a plague of immense proportion, fouling their houses and their
beds and their cooking places and their food stores and causing
great distress to Pharaoh and to his people. So that very quickly,
Pharaoh calls for Moses and Aaron to come back again and asks that
they take away the frogs. And he promises that if they
do so, he will let the people go. And suddenly it appears Pharaoh
is much more reasonable and he knows the name of the Lord that
he didn't know before. And here it seems that Moses
shows some personal initiative and he inquires of Pharaoh, when
would the king like the frogs to be taken away? Pharaoh says
tomorrow. I wonder why he didn't say take
them away now, take them away immediately. He says tomorrow. Maybe it's because he was still
harboring this idea that maybe if I leave it one more night
they'll go away by themselves. But this is specifying of time
served the purpose of showing everyone that Moses was indeed
like a God to Pharaoh and that by Moses' word these things would
be done. And it also shows us Moses' confidence
in the Lord that he spoke in this way to Pharaoh and the faith
that he had in the miracles, so that it seems that Moses was
also learning as he served the Lord in this situation. The following
day, the Lord took away the frogs, or at least they began to die,
and the people had to brush them up and shovel them up and put
them into big piles. And again, we're told that there
was a terrible smell, a terrible stink in the land, as all these
creatures died and began to decay. So there was nothing imaginary
about this. However, we're also told that
when Pharaoh saw that the frogs were gone, he hardened his heart
and changed his mind and refused to let the people go. There's
a couple of lessons that I want to draw to your attention on
this matter, just as we reflect upon this little account. Despite warnings, despite God's
warnings to us, men and women and boys and girls by nature
do not and will not do God's will. And that opposition that
Pharaoh showed there to God, That opposition is in all of
us, in our natural state and condition. There is a deep-seated
rejection of God's authority. And we might imagine that such
a clear example of raw powers as changing the water of the
Nile into blood would prove to be a serious warning to Pharaoh. But it seems rather to have hardened
his heart and been seen as a challenge to him. The Bible warns us all
that there will be judgment for sin. But many people simply say,
no, no, I don't believe that's going to happen. I don't think
that that's true. But let you and I hear this fact,
that if God gives us a warning, It is an opportunity for mercy. God's mercy is found in trusting
the Lord Jesus Christ. Hebrews chapter 2 tells us, how
shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? And here's
another little lesson for us in this matter. Moses prayed
earnestly to God for what he already believed that God would
do. Actually, he prayed to God for
what he had already told Pharaoh that God would do. And I think
that there's a shift here in Moses' own understanding of what
was happening. Moses had, until very recently,
been anxious and fearful, even doubtful. And now it seems that
there is more confidence. Not in himself, but in God. You see, God was proving himself
to Moses and Moses was growing in his confidence and trust.
in the Lord and that's what happens when we walk with God. We have
more confidence, we have more of an understanding of the ways
of God and we see the hand of God at work and that's what was
happening with Moses. He had faith in the miracles
being accomplished and that helped him not to be so fearful. Our Lord taught us to pray to
God and the Lord Jesus Christ taught us to pray. The Lord himself
said as he prayed and taught his disciples to pray, thy will
be done on earth as it is in heaven. And so we are encouraged
for praying for things that we believe will happen and praying
for them in faith. That's what Moses did and that's
what the Lord Jesus Christ did and that's what we are called
to do too. The Lord says, ask and it shall
be given you. Seek and ye shall find. Knock
and it shall be opened unto you. But here's the sad thing about
this case. When things got better, Pharaoh's
heart was hardened and he changed his mind. When the plague was
lifted, Pharaoh went back on his word People often pray or
ask for prayer when they are facing a hard time. But when that hardship passes,
they forget God. They may even tell God that they
will change their ways and they will follow him if he will just
deliver them out of their trouble. but they very quickly go back
on their word. They quickly go back to their
old ways because they have forgotten what they said to God. That's
because there was never any real change in their heart. Just a
desire to get out from under a tough situation. Pharaoh's
heart was hard against God. May the Lord give us soft hearts. May the Lord give us hearts to
trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, hearts to believe the Word of
God, and hearts that will follow after our God and our King. May it be so. Amen.