The plague of hail sent upon Egypt directly targeted the immense pride of Pharaoh, who believed himself to be a god. It examines the historical and religious context of Pharaoh's divine claims, illustrating how his self-exaltation against God's people was a primary reason for divine judgment. The message highlights that human pride is an abomination to God, drawing parallels to the serpent's temptation of Eve and the self-aggrandizement of pharaohs like Ramses II. Ultimately, the sermon calls for humility before God and trust in Jesus Christ as Savior, warning that pride leads to destruction.
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Beloved radio, friends, we greet you in the other precious and the worthy name of the Lord Jesus, our Savior. We welcome you to the continued study of the precious Word of God. Humbly but very earnestly praying, God will, by His Holy Spirit, sanctify and bless the truth that we present from His Word in our story found in the book of Exodus. We continue in chapter nine in the book of Exodus, to begin the consideration of what could be called the sixth or the seventh plague, rather, the plague of hail that God sent upon the land of Egypt long ago.
We would like to read beginning at verse thirteen of this chapter, the ninth chapter in the book of Exodus, and the Lord said unto Moses, in verse thirteen, Rise up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh and say unto him, Thus said the Lord God of the Hebrews, Let my people go that they may serve me. For I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth. For now I will stretch out my hand that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence, and thou shalt be cut off from the earth, and in very deeds.
For this cause have I raised thee up for to show in thee my power, and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth. As yet exaltest thou thyself against my people, that thou will not let them go. Behold, tomorrow about this time I will cause it to reign a very grievous hail. Such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now. Send, therefore, now, and gather thy cattle and all that thou hast in the field. For upon every man and beast which shall be found in the field, and shall not be brought home, the hail shall come down upon them, and they shall die.
He that feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the houses. And he that regarded not the word of the Lord left his servants and his cattle in the field. May God bless the reading and the hearing of this section from his precious word, not the complete reading of the whole plague as we shall later see. But note with me, as we come thus far, reaching the southern plague in the land of Egypt, Pharaoh has constantly hardened his heart. You may perhaps be troubled in mind concerning the fact the scripture says the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh.
But may I please be careful to state, God does not harden a person's heart unless that person has first of all hardened his heart toward God. One must recognize that these judgments were God's voice to Pharaoh. They were pleading with him to let his people go. They were manifestations of God's power and of his intervention. that should have moved the heart of Pharaoh. But, beloved, when we come to the plague that is before us, the plague of hail, we might faithfully declare this plague was directly aimed at the pride of Pharaoh.
For in this plague, it's not the priests or the magicians that may be in view of even the people or the courtiers of the king, but rather the king himself for you may have noticed in the reading that we had that may I particularly read verse seventy thou exaltest thou thyself against my people says God to Pharaoh and you will not let them go now please note the expression thou exaltest thyself against my people now may I remind you it may not be commonly known but in Egyptian Egyptology It was well recorded that one of the common titles given to a Pharaoh was this.
His holiness in celebration of victories he may have won. Pharaoh was the great high priest of Egypt, through whom all of its gods heard the prayers of the inhabitants, the very priests of Egypt in their offices, ministering in Pharaoh's den. They prayed in his name. as the one who was in his holiness their great God. Furthermore, Pharaoh, above all others in Egypt, he had access to all the deities of Egypt at all times. He was privileged to see every God that they worship in their images and idols they erected.
He could see them face to face whenever he would. And they even claimed that he was of the gods. He was of the same race and of the same flesh with the gods. He, they believe, was the God incarnate, professedly divine. And at times you would find upon the monuments of Egypt, many trinities suggesting Egyptian idolatry, monuments that they believed themselves to be addressing the Pharaoh as a God. May I go even further, that in the Egyptian pantheism, Pharaoh was not only addressed as a God, but he could even offer incense and worship himself.
My goodness, if that isn't true of the pride of man, how much he thinks of himself. And what God is aiming at in this particular judgment, the seventh plague, the plague of hell, he was aiming directly his judgment upon the pride of Pharaoh. For man... in his personal majesty is ever proud, and never was found a greater pride amongst men than the powerful pride of the Pharaohs. Later on in human history in the book of God, the Bible, in Ezekiel chapter thirty-one, and verse two, God spoke unto a man that was even lesser than Pharaoh, saying, Whom art thou like in thy greatness?
And the greater the Pharaoh, the greater was his greed for the glory of his own name. One of the great pharaohs, by the name of Ramses, the second, he chiseled out of the walls of the temples in Egypt his own father's name, in order that he might place his own name there. And the pharaohs very often destroyed cities and monuments, that were erected by their ancestors in order to gratify and put another monument up for their own vulgar pride. My beloved, I just want to state a fact, and this is something that we very little realize as we ought to do.
Man by nature is proud, and the pride of man is an abomination to God. And the pride of this Pharaoh was an abomination to the heart of God. And his judgment was directed against him. Many, many years ago, probably four or forty years ago, be correct, speaking to a group of little primary children in Sunday school, maybe about eighty to a hundred children, giving them a simple object lesson. And amongst the objects I had to bring before the children, spiritual truth, was a picture of a human heart. I raised the question to these children and asked, What do you do with your heart?
And I received various answers. Most of them said, rightly, love. And then I raised another question when they answered that they used the heart for love. I said, Whom do you love? And right at the back of the little room, a little fellow sitting in the back shouted out, I love myself. Well, when I heard his words, I had to confess, Sonny, you're more truthful than grown-ups. My beloved, let's not minimize the sad fact, the sin of human pride. And the greater the Pharaoh in Egypt, the more vulgar and greater was his pride.
You remember what the serpent said to Eve in the Garden of Eden? when he came to tamter with the fruit of the forbidden tree of the tree of the knowledge of good and of evil he told her ye shall be as gods and when you think of Egyptian pantheism when you can if you could read its history its history is incomplete unless the pride of its kings must be considered also the court Pharaoh's court was just like the king. The chief nobles were little pharaohs in miniature.
Their servants cringed before them and crawled at their feet. Such was the court of the king before whom Moses stood. Moses knew this was the cruel tyrant, and everyone under him cringed at his feet. Now, if we can accept the claim of one of the pharaohs, one who was the son of Ramses the Great, as being the pharaoh of the Exodus, which we are considering. Who was contending against the Almighty God? He was a pharaoh who believed himself to be the incarnation of deity. Now, please let me say this.
Let me please bring it before you. I want you not to minimize the seriousness of this judgment upon Pharaoh, and the kind of a man he wants. It is believed he was the son of the great Ramses in the days of Moses, when this contest between Almighty God and Pharaoh began and went on. Now, he believed himself to be the incarnation of deity. And please note how he was called. Now listen to these words, and I'm quoting from history. He was called the living representation of the deity, and he was addressed as such and believed to be so by the people.
Yes, the pharaohs, many, if not most of them, believe themselves to be God. Believe you me, my radio friend, when the devil put into the mind and heart of Eve, and the whole human race ye shall be as God's men are trying to be it under Satan and in their pride they ultimately come under the judgment of the displeasure and the destruction of God to break their pride down oh my friend pride goeth before a fall and the haughty spirit before a fall May I say what Peter said, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon him.
And my radio listener, please remember, the pride of man, and we shall see it in the next message, is going to be visited with judgment in a very soon coming day. But may I suggest my radio listener, if never you have, Why not humble yourself now? And as a sinner, come and trust the Lord Jesus Christ as your own personal Savior. Oh, Father, bless thy word to thy glory in Jesus. Name our men.