Tenth Round Knockout预览

His Power

Plague 7: Hail

The third set of plagues was the most powerful of all.

A violent storm ravaged Egypt, ripping the land apart. As Pharaoh’s resistance grew even stronger, Moses predicted a “category five” storm: “At this time tomorrow I will send the worst hailstorm that has ever fallen on Egypt, from the day it was founded until now.” Some of Pharaoh’s officials began preparing for the big storm when they heard Moses’ words—they had seen what his God could do. But Pharaoh did not let the Israelites go, and the storm headed straight for Egypt just as God said it would.

The Egyptians had a “weather” god, too—a sky goddess named Nut. No doubt, Pharaoh’s magicians called on Nut to control the storm, but their efforts were futile. They probably cried to Osiris, the Egyptian god of crops, too, but he proved useless to protect the fields of Egypt from blistering hail. Set, the storm god, had no power to stop this storm either. The little-g gods of Egypt were no matches for Almighty God. He alone controlled the weather—and why not? He made the winds and rain and hail.

When Jesus and His disciples encountered a storm some centuries later on the Sea of Galilee, Jesus shouted for the winds to cease, and they did. His disciples wondered at this, saying, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey Him!” They could see that His power was like nothing they’d ever seen before, and it filled them with amazement and awe.

God had a purpose in sending the storm to Egypt, and it was not only to force Pharaoh’s hand to release the Israelites. He had a bigger agenda than that. He meant for Pharaoh and all of Egypt to know “that there is no one like me in all the earth.” In fact, God declared that He had raised up Pharaoh just for this purpose: “That I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” God was making a name for Himself, and all Pharaoh and the Egyptians could do was hide and watch as hail fell from the sky, beat down the vegetation and killed everything that was not sheltered. It did not rain hail in the land of Goshen. And Pharaoh’s heart did not change to release the Israelites. Are you surprised?