IIW Sabbath School

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants:

Home

Series Code: IIWSS

Program Code: IIWSS025030S


00:00 [uplifting instrumental]
00:11 ♪♪♪
00:13 >>Eric Flickinger: Welcome to "Sabbath School,"
00:15 brought to you by It Is Written.
00:17 Glad to have you with us today.
00:19 We are studying the Exodus,
00:22 an incredible period in earth's history,
00:26 in the history of God's people, that gives us some lessons
00:29 that we can learn for our day and beyond.
00:32 We're going to dive deeply into it today:
00:34 lesson number four, "The Plagues."
00:37 If you've ever wondered how we can better understand
00:40 the plagues and get more out of them,
00:42 we're gonna see today why God sent the plagues,
00:45 their significance, and what we can learn from them.
00:48 Let's begin with prayer.
00:50 Father, we thank You for drawing us together today,
00:52 and we ask that You would bless us
00:53 with a deeper understanding of You,
00:56 Your character, Your will, and Your reasons for doing
01:00 the things that You do.
01:02 We ask Your blessing on us today, and we thank You
01:03 in advance for granting that, in Jesus' name, amen.
01:08 So we're glad that you are here, but we are also glad
01:10 that we have the author of this quarter's
01:12 "Sabbath School" lesson with us, Dr. Jiri Moskala.
01:16 Dr. Moskala, thank you again for being with us.
01:18 We're excited to learn something that you have been excited
01:21 about for a good long time.
01:24 >>Dr. Jiri Moskala: Yes, it's true.
01:25 I am very excited, and I'm very happy
01:27 to be with you to study this quarterly today.
01:30 >>Eric: So we're looking at the plagues today.
01:33 We've kind of led up to Moses' encounter with Pharaoh,
01:36 and Pharaoh's not keen on letting the people go
01:40 and makes life more difficult for them.
01:42 And now the plagues begin to come.
01:44 Before we delve into-- or dive into--these plagues,
01:47 I want to look at verse number 1 of chapter 7.
01:50 It's an interesting verse.
01:52 It says, "So the Lord said to Moses:
01:54 "'See, I have made you as God to Pharaoh,
01:58 and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet.'"
02:01 Now, here we have God telling Moses
02:03 that He's made Moses "as God to Pharaoh."
02:06 What's all wrapped up in this?
02:08 >>Dr. Moskala: Well, I think it's a very beautiful imagery
02:11 here that Aaron is playing prophet, and Moses, God.
02:18 So it's like a very good definition
02:22 to understand who is the prophet
02:24 because the prophet is a mouth of God.
02:28 So it's like Moses is speaking to Aaron.
02:33 So he is the full authority, like divine authority,
02:36 because he is under the God's commission.
02:38 And now speaking to Aaron, and now Aaron
02:41 will be his spokesperson to announce it.
02:46 So this tells us about the specific roles,
02:50 that God is the God who is in command, He is in charge,
02:56 He is in control here.
02:58 And prophet--and we have so many instances
03:02 in the Bible which speaks about the prophets.
03:06 A prophet is a spokesperson for God and has authority
03:10 coming from God.
03:12 So when Aaron is hearing the word from Moses,
03:18 it's like hearing from God and he's delivering it.
03:22 And this is authoritative word also for the audience.
03:27 >>Eric: So this is a significant role that Moses is playing here
03:31 and a significant role that Aaron is plaguing--
03:35 [amused] Aaron is plaguing here.
03:36 He's playing here, but it has to do with the plagues,
03:38 which we're diving into right now.
03:41 God typically doesn't do arbitrary things.
03:45 He has reasons for doing the things that He does.
03:48 And there are reasons behind these 10 plagues as well.
03:51 Help us to understand the reason that God sends these plagues.
03:54 What are they all about? What's behind them?
03:56 >>Dr. Moskala: Well, before I will speak about, you know,
03:58 why He's sending the plagues,
04:00 I think it's also very important to understand that
04:03 God is not sending these plagues right away.
04:06 He is working patiently, I would say,
04:10 with the stubborn Pharaoh.
04:12 We already heard in chapter 5 that, you know,
04:17 Moses and Aaron came and tell him,
04:19 "This is the word of God: 'Let my people go,'"
04:24 but he refused, and then situation got worse and worse.
04:27 But now, again, Moses and Pharaoh is--
04:32 and Moses and Aaron is with Pharaoh,
04:35 and the big miracle is performed.
04:39 You know, we read in chapter 7 from verse 8
04:43 that now, not Moses', but Aaron's stick,
04:47 you know, was put on the ground,
04:50 then it changed for the serpent.
04:56 But magicians could do a similar thing.
05:02 But the authority is very clear
05:05 because we read very clearly
05:07 that even though these magicians could do it,
05:12 it was the serpent of Aaron which swallowed other serpents.
05:18 And even though this miracle was done,
05:22 you can read at the end of the miracle,
05:25 verse 13, after Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs,
05:32 "Yet Pharaoh's heart became hard
05:35 and he would not listen to them, just as the Lord had said."
05:39 So now is for the second time
05:41 when God really gave the chance to Pharaoh.
05:46 And of course there were many other encounters
05:48 we don't know exactly how,
05:51 but the long history of oppression here.
05:55 And now it's the culmination point.
05:58 And before the plague starts, God wants to persuade him,
06:05 even with the sign,
06:07 with a special sign, that He is God,
06:10 a living God is in charge here.
06:12 And then even the plagues are going on--
06:16 there are situations where Pharaoh
06:19 has still possibility to let God's people go,
06:24 to really obey the word of God.
06:27 Even in some point his magicians is telling him
06:31 this is the finger of God,
06:33 this is the intervention from God,
06:35 "So you should"-- but no, he refused.
06:39 So if you go to the purpose of these plagues,
06:43 I think that very significant
06:45 is in chapter 12-- and we can go to the chapter 12,
06:51 verse 12, when it is stated in regard to the last plague,
06:58 you know, that what will happen: "I will pass through Egypt
07:02 "and strike down every firstborn...
07:04 "both [man] and animal,
07:06 and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt."
07:11 And I think that this is very significant statement here,
07:15 that what God was doing,
07:17 He was not fighting against Egypt.
07:19 He was not fighting against Egyptians,
07:21 but He was fighting against Egyptian gods,
07:24 because Egypt, Egyptians, and now even many Israelites,
07:29 were like slaves in their thinking,
07:32 in their feelings, in their behavior,
07:34 were slaves to these gods.
07:37 And there was a big pantheon of different gods.
07:40 So God intend to liberate them, to be free,
07:46 that they will be not afraid of these forces
07:50 and the interpretation and mythologies
07:53 and all the stories which were associated with
07:57 different gods, in order that made them subjugated, enslaved.
08:02 And then, of course, what you worship or what you fear,
08:07 you serve to it.
08:09 And God is doing these great things.
08:13 And this lesson actually is now speaking about
08:17 the first nine plagues.
08:19 And if you will go to some, you know,
08:23 companion book to the study of this lesson
08:28 and also teacher's edition, I'm giving some more insights
08:32 into these different plagues
08:35 which are playing a very significant role there.
08:38 But simply stated, you know, there are clusters
08:43 like three, three, and three of these plagues
08:46 and then culmination in the last one,
08:49 which will be the study for the next lesson.
08:52 And these clusters are also not only specifically,
08:59 you know, related to different events and so on,
09:03 but also they are showing that behind every plague
09:10 is not one but very often many Egyptian gods.
09:16 And the breakthrough must be done.
09:19 And how God can do it?
09:21 Well, first, by very simple statements,
09:25 but if you go and see the plagues,
09:28 their intensity, they are more and more severe.
09:33 And of course, the last one is the biggest stroke.
09:36 But again, God was always warning
09:39 and didn't want to bring more and more.
09:42 He want that the first one will bring the right results.
09:47 And if you go through it, like, the blood,
09:50 first, you know, statement, the plague
09:54 was about turning water into blood,
09:57 nobody would be hurt yet, from the human perspective,
10:01 from humans.
10:03 It will be turning to show that we are dependent on water,
10:08 but the water, the Nile, is not the Hapi god
10:12 who is giving the water and life.
10:16 This is God who is giving it.
10:18 So it was from the very beginning that not Hapi
10:22 or Osiris, but it is God who is the giver of life,
10:28 giver of water.
10:29 And every plague was against different gods,
10:33 like the second one about frogs.
10:36 And this is like the very famous, you know,
10:41 god of frog, Heqet,
10:45 in Egyptian pantheon of gods.
10:48 And again, God is showing that He is really in control of it.
10:53 He is the creator.
10:55 And Egyptians, you know,
10:58 cannot do anything to take them out.
11:03 So, like, those three plagues are going for everyone.
11:09 But then after the third one, the fourth, it's intensified
11:15 and is now must be seen big difference
11:18 between the Israelites, between God's camp
11:21 and the camp of the Pharaoh and the Egyptians.
11:26 And of course, if people will associate
11:31 with these Egyptian gods,
11:34 the judgment which comes upon the Egyptian gods
11:38 will fall also upon them.
11:40 But God always is warning before.
11:44 And this is probably also a very important lesson for us.
11:48 Then before God is sending His judgment,
11:51 He's always out of love, is warning us,
11:55 giving us His fatherly, motherly advice,
11:58 that this will come-- these are the consequences
12:01 of wrong choices.
12:03 If we have the decision which is bad, of course,
12:09 then the life will be reflected on that.
12:14 So all these plagues playing the role that Pharaoh
12:21 should come to his senses and that he will surrender
12:27 to God and open his heart
12:32 and let God's people go and liberate them.
12:37 So God is teaching the lesson of redemption,
12:40 salvation through all of this.
12:42 >>Eric: So He's giving Pharaoh opportunity after opportunity
12:45 to make a good decision.
12:47 But we see over and over again,
12:49 it says, "Pharaoh hardened his heart,"
12:51 "Pharaoh hardened his heart." >>Dr. Moskala: That's correct.
12:52 >>Eric: We're going to see shortly that it says,
12:54 "God hardened Pharaoh's heart."
12:55 But we're going to dive into that after our break
12:57 and see what does that mean,
12:59 because a lot of people have questions,
13:01 "What does it mean when it says, 'God hardened Pharaoh's heart'?
13:03 "If God hardened his heart, then isn't that unfair of God
13:06 to harden Pharaoh's heart?"
13:07 We're going to come to that very shortly.
13:09 You mentioned the companion book to this quarter's
13:11 "Sabbath School" lesson. Tell us a little bit
13:13 about what's in this chapter of the companion book.
13:15 >>Dr. Moskala: Well, in this chapter, I am really dealing
13:18 with the first nine plagues.
13:20 And I am showing the characteristics
13:23 of these plagues, what is behind,
13:25 what's going on, which gods are associated
13:29 with different plagues. Because each plague, as I said,
13:33 is, you know, connected with one or even more Egyptian gods,
13:38 because this was a big pantheon of gods in Egypt.
13:43 And He's helping them to really break through.
13:47 So this is the insight into it and the purpose
13:51 why these plagues and what is the meaning, really,
13:56 of God's judgment.
13:57 >>Eric: So if you're interested in digging
13:59 more deeply into that, understanding
14:01 why God sent each plague, which Egyptian god
14:05 God was endeavoring to show to be powerless,
14:09 then grab ahold of this companion book.
14:12 You will thoroughly enjoy it.
14:14 You can find the companion book to this quarter's
14:16 "Sabbath School" lesson at itiswritten.shop.
14:19 Again, that's itiswritten.shop.
14:21 Just look for the companion book to this quarter's
14:24 "Sabbath School" lesson on the "Exodus."
14:26 And incidentally, if you happen to have missed picking up
14:29 the companion books to any of the last
14:32 "Sabbath School" lessons or the most recent ones,
14:34 you can also order those as well and get caught up on them.
14:38 Again, itiswritten.shop.
14:40 We're going to come back in just a moment or two
14:43 as we continue looking at these plagues in Egypt,
14:47 here on "Sabbath School," brought to you by It Is Written.
14:49 ♪♪♪
14:55 >>male announcer: Loving well is a way of life.
14:59 And loving well means wanting the very best for others.
15:03 "Go ye therefore" becomes, "I'll go, send me."
15:08 Send me across the world or across town.
15:12 Work in me to impact lives for such a time as this.
15:16 And if I can't go myself, I want to send others
15:19 who can take the everlasting gospel to the world.
15:23 It Is Written's Office of Planned Giving
15:26 gives you the opportunity to leave a legacy,
15:29 to make a major impact for Christ,
15:33 to lead others to faith in Jesus in preparation
15:35 for eternity.
15:38 Let God use you to enable others to go.
15:42 To learn more, visit HisLegacy.com.
15:45 That's HisLegacy.com.
15:47 [gentle music]
15:54 ♪♪♪
15:59 >>Eric: Welcome back to "Sabbath School,"
16:00 brought to you by It Is Written.
16:03 We are delving into those nine plagues,
16:06 the first nine of the 10 plagues in Egypt.
16:08 And as I mentioned just before we went to break,
16:10 you can get the companion book that will give you
16:11 more insight and information.
16:13 You can also pick up the teacher's edition
16:16 of the "Sabbath School" lesson,
16:18 and they also have it available in Spanish as well.
16:21 So delve into those if you would like to get more
16:23 out of the lesson today.
16:25 Dr. Moskala, before we went to our break,
16:28 we talked about Pharaoh hardening his heart,
16:31 but also we find that it says God hardened Pharaoh's heart.
16:35 Help us to understand this.
16:37 We know God is love.
16:38 We know He's also just, but how do we deal
16:41 with God hardening Pharaoh's heart?
16:44 What's the explanation of that?
16:45 >>Dr. Moskala: Well, I think that this is a big puzzle
16:47 for many students of the Bible.
16:50 And I was also puzzled when, you know,
16:53 as a young theologian and student of the Bible
16:57 was going through and I said, "Well, God, help me
17:02 to make sense of it, to make sense."
17:04 And so I studied that very carefully.
17:09 And what I discovered is that you have,
17:12 like, two statements there.
17:15 Yes, it's true, it stated that God hardened Pharaoh's heart
17:19 or will harden Pharaoh's heart.
17:22 And then you have the statement that Pharaoh hardened his heart.
17:27 So is a contradiction?
17:30 Is God like the capricious God, that if He want to do
17:33 something good, He will still, because He's sovereign,
17:38 harden us and we will disobey,
17:41 and so, and then He will perform what He wants?
17:46 So where will be our responsibility, right?
17:48 So how is it with God's sovereignty
17:51 and also our freedom?
17:54 And it all plays here a very important role.
17:57 So I studied this very carefully and I discovered
18:01 that when we were starting to read in chapter 4
18:05 that God said, "I will harden his heart
18:08 so that he will not let the people go,"
18:11 it's a prediction.
18:13 Then in chapter 7, it was for the second time when God said,
18:17 yes, and in verse 3, "But I will harden Pharaoh's heart,
18:23 "and though I multiply my [miracles] signs
18:27 and wonders..., he will not listen to you."
18:30 And then, this is again prediction.
18:35 This is what He will do because I am here in charge.
18:40 He will harden his-- I will actually do it.
18:44 So now, does it mean that everything what will happen
18:50 will happen like on God's intervention,
18:55 that Pharaoh will be like a puppet?
18:57 If he wants or not, he will need to do and play his role,
19:02 this negative role?
19:04 Well, now, after these predictions
19:08 comes the story itself.
19:10 So narrative unfolds.
19:12 And the first narrative with the performance
19:17 even of the sign that God says, "Yes, let my people go.
19:22 "And here I am in charge, I am showing you my power.
19:27 Your magicians are powerless."
19:29 Then, you know, "My serpent will eat even your serpents."
19:33 Everything is different.
19:36 We read that even after this prelude, I would say,
19:41 we have the statement,
19:43 "And Pharaoh's heart became hard and would not listen to them."
19:52 So this is whose decision?
19:54 It's Pharaoh's decision, right?
19:57 And now you go through the plagues.
20:01 And it's very significant for me that at the end
20:05 of first plague you read,
20:09 like, in verse 22:
20:12 "And Pharaoh's heart became hard;
20:14 he would not listen to Moses and Aaron."
20:17 You go to the second plague, it's like against frogs--
20:21 with frogs. At the end, you have the statement in verse 15:
20:27 "And he"--Pharaoh--
20:29 "hardened his heart and would not listen."
20:32 You go through the third plague, the same statement at the end:
20:36 "But Pharaoh's heart was hard and he would not listen,
20:40 just as the Lord had said."
20:41 So God said that because He knew that Pharaoh will do it.
20:47 He will do it.
20:48 Now you go through the fourth plague:
20:50 "And God said, 'Let my people go.'"
20:53 And again, when you go to verse 32:
20:56 "But this time also Pharaoh hardened...heart
21:00 and would not let the people go."
21:02 You go to the fifth plague, at the end:
21:06 "Yet his heart was unyielding
21:09 and he would not let the people go."
21:13 Then you go to the sixth plague, and suddenly there is a change.
21:17 So in the first five and in the prelude,
21:21 it's always decision of the Pharaoh.
21:24 Pharaoh is hardening his heart, he's not listening to the Lord,
21:29 even though it's very clear
21:31 that this is extraordinary work of God.
21:35 He's always after that little end--"Well, yes,"
21:39 you know, "pray for me"; in some situations, "I will do it,"
21:43 and then again, doing the same, hardening his heart.
21:47 But now from the plague six on, you have the statement,
21:53 "But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart
21:55 "and he would not listen to Moses and Aaron,
21:58 just as the Lord had said to Moses."
22:01 So now it's God's intervention.
22:05 How to understand it?
22:08 I would give a simple illustration,
22:10 what I give also to my audience
22:12 when we talk about that and to my students, seminarians.
22:17 Imagine the sunshine
22:20 and then two different materials:
22:23 One will be like butter, and another will be mud.
22:27 So when the sun will bring this warmness of his beams
22:35 to the butter, the butter will melt.
22:40 But the same agent now will work with the mud,
22:47 and the mud will be hardened.
22:50 And I think that this is, you know,
22:52 like the condition of our heart.
22:56 And we should be not like mud, but like butter.
23:00 And I think that here is the very lesson
23:02 for each one of us, that our heart should be not hardened.
23:08 This is why in the Bible you have always the statement:
23:11 "If you hear today the word of God,
23:15 listen, do not harden your heart,"
23:17 as God's people in some situation, or even Pharaoh here.
23:23 We need to melt because of God's love.
23:27 We should open ourself to God as the flower is opening
23:33 to the warmness of the sunshine.
23:36 And if we will follow in this way,
23:39 then, of course, it will be different.
23:42 But Pharaoh consistently is hardening his heart.
23:47 So even though God would love to save him,
23:51 any other action of God's love,
23:54 God's intervention into his love,
23:56 is like the sun who is beating on the mud,
24:04 hard, who is hardened already, is like that mud,
24:07 and it's hardening more and more.
24:10 And it's blind because, you know, when we refuse God's Word,
24:15 we are more and more blind, and then, of course,
24:18 more and more severe calamities and judgments of God are coming.
24:23 >>Eric: So these are Pharaoh's decisions. He is choosing
24:28 to be in defiance of God. >>Dr. Moskala: Exactly.
24:31 >>Eric: And his heart is that clay-type heart, as opposed
24:34 to a butter-like heart, which God would have us have.
24:37 There's an interesting statement
24:39 in Exodus 8 and verse 19
24:41 made by the Egyptian magicians, and they say,
24:43 "This is the finger of God."
24:45 They see the plagues happening, and they say,
24:46 "This is the finger of God."
24:48 Help us, in the few minutes that we have left, to understand
24:51 what they were recognizing or what they were admitting.
24:55 >>Dr. Moskala: Well, they are now recognizing that they,
24:58 even though before they could counterpart
25:02 or make similar things, but they could not reverse it,
25:07 because this was all the magic, you know, play.
25:12 Now they are recognizing that they are not even able
25:16 to make it similar, to modify it somehow,
25:20 to look like they have these powers of magic arts.
25:28 They have to even admit, "We are powerless.
25:32 What is going on is really God's finger."
25:36 It means it's God's intervention;
25:38 it's God's judgment.
25:40 So if you are dealing with God, be careful.
25:45 Surrender. Let God's people go.
25:49 But now Pharaoh is not listening to God,
25:53 not listening to Moses and Aaron,
25:55 but he's not listening even to his close people,
25:59 whom he trusted all the time and who are misleading him.
26:03 And now they are openly, honestly saying,
26:06 "Well, we recognize
26:09 "it's not now what is human power.
26:13 Even we recognize it's God's power here is working."
26:19 >>Eric: And even though they recognized it
26:21 and professed that, even then,
26:23 Pharaoh did not soften his heart.
26:25 >>Dr. Moskala: That's correct.
26:27 >>Eric: We've got just about a minute left.
26:28 I wanna give you an opportunity to talk to somebody
26:31 who might be watching this program, who looks at themselves
26:34 and they say, "I sense that God has been reaching out to me
26:37 "and calling to me and guiding me and directing me,
26:40 "but I've been responding with a heart of mud,
26:42 a heart of clay that has been hardened."
26:45 What would you tell them if they're wondering
26:47 whether their heart of clay or heart of mud
26:50 could be transformed into a heart of butter,
26:53 to use your illustration-- what would you tell that person
26:56 about the possibility of that happening?
26:57 >>Dr. Moskala: I would say, if God is speaking to you,
27:01 listen carefully.
27:03 The very fact that God is speaking to you
27:06 is already a sign of His grace.
27:09 So you don't need to despair that now you already
27:13 in your life hardened your heart so far
27:16 that you are a mud and then you cannot make any change.
27:20 No, God is speaking to you, and even though the voice
27:25 of the Holy Spirit and His Word may be
27:28 very tiny and small, listen.
27:33 And more you will listen, and you will be prompt to follow Him
27:38 because it's obedience is also the result of God's call;
27:43 then you can really open your heart.
27:47 And every step when you will obey God's voice, it will be
27:53 easier and easier, and your life will be happier and happier.
27:58 >>Eric: Thank you, Dr. Moskala.
27:59 And thank you for joining us.
28:01 I want to invite you to join us again next week.
28:04 We're going to be delving into the Passover
28:07 here on "Sabbath School," brought to you by It Is Written.
28:09 [uplifting instrumental]
28:25 ♪♪♪
28:26 [Captions provided by Aberdeen Captioning www.aberdeen.io]


Home

Revised 2025-07-15