Exodus 7 is the beginning of a literary crescendo. If you were watching a movie, the music is soft but growing in intensity. Two leaders, Moses and Pharoah, from two different nations, Israel and Egypt, are meeting. This meeting is not to negotiate a truce or to sign a peace treaty; rather, it is to see who gets what in the Yahweh-imposed divorce decree. Pharaoh, the Egyptian ruler, is considered a god to be worshiped by Egyptians. Furthermore, scripture tells us that God has made Moses (not literally) a god to Pharoah with Aaron being the prophet (Exodus 7:1). On the surface, Exodus 7 appears to be a battle between two men leading two nations. Essentially, Pharoah is saying that everything Yahweh or Israel does, I or Egypt will do better. In reality, this is a battle of cosmic proportion: God versus Satan or the God of Creation versus the Serpent to see who controls the heart of man and who controls the supernatural world. This chapter kicks off the battle for Israel’s soul, Egypt’s mind and the knowledge of God for both.
In Exodus 7:6, we see that Moses and Aaron proclaim God’s word to Pharoah exactly as God instructed; yet, it will prove to be fruitless in changing Pharaoh’s heart. This passage presents three surprising ways God proves His divine authority and superiority even when we do not get the results we desire. The first way is….
Yahweh, the God over faithful (yet fruitless) preachers
The account of Moses and the Israelites is not the only time scripture records God-ordained fruitless preaching. Another such example is Noah, the preacher of righteousness. In Genesis 6 and 7, we see that Noah preached for approximately 120 years as he built the ark. However, when the flood came, only he and his family (seven converts) got into the ark and were delivered from God’s judgment.
In Exodus 6:30, as he did many times before (Exodus 3:3-10; 4: 1-17; 6:12), Moses expresses doubt in his ability to fulfill his God assigned commission. This time, however, Moses has more evidence to support his doubt since he and Aaron have now previously met with Pharoah and the Israelites plight became worse than before (Exodus 5). And, as stated above, Moses and Aaron will have yet another fruitless experience preaching God’s word to Pharoah (Exodus 7:1-13). The problem is that Moses had the wrong expectation. He misunderstood his calling as a prophet. His responsibility was to repeat the specific message God told him to proclaim to Pharoah and nothing more. God would do the rest. Brothers and sisters, like Moses was called to proclaim this very specific message to Pharoah, we too are called to proclaim a very specific message to the world, the gospel of Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:16-20, Mark 16:15). However, just as Moses was not responsible for Pharoah’s response, we, too are not responsible for the response of others. As God’s word in Mark 16:16 tells us, some people will believe the good news and will experience eternal life. Others will reject this message and be forever condemned. When others reject the message we proclaim and our efforts appear fruitless, it is our tendency to doubt, to feel unworthy of our calling and to become discouraged like Moses did. However, scripture tells us that our commission is simply this: to faithfully spread this gospel message to others and to let God do the rest!
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