The Comprehensive Power of God

The God whom we worship is the God who has revealed Himself to us. He has clearly shown us who He is and what His nature and character are in His word. We therefore have no excuse to remain ignorant about this God of the Bible. One of the truths that has been revealed to us in the word of God again and again is the absolute and comprehensive power of the living God. The Lord is Almighty, therefore, as Creator of the entire universe, there is nothing that does not come under the sway of His power and of His greatness. He is the possessor of all things, He is Lord over all things. From the time that we see His power in creation in the book of Genesis and begin to move on and coming to the book of Exodus ... we still see a God who is mighty in His power and in His expression of that power. His power is exercised over His enemies, over the enemies of His people and even over those whom He loves ... in order to deliver them, to show that He cares for them and that He loves them.

One of the ways in which we see the power of God demonstrated in the book of Exodus is the deliverance that God brings for His people from the Egyptian bondage. He delivers them by inflicting decisively, irreversibly, unchangeably ... His wrath upon Pharaoh and his people who drowned in the Red Sea. The passage before us is an account of the ninth plague — Darkness. What defence can anyone have when God unleashes His power? In the plagues we see God demonstrating that creation is at His command both to deliver His people and to destroy His enemies. Like the third and sixth plague, this plague comes without any prior warning. This was a very peculiar kind of darkness; peculiar in its thickness, heaviness and density. Verse 21 describes it as "a darkness to be felt". God displayed His power to stop the sun from shining its light upon the land of Egypt. When God displays His power, we are incapacitated and paralyzed, we are able to see ourselves for who we are — powerless, little creatures that cannot stand in the way of The Almighty God.

What can we learn from this ninth plague? Firstly, we learn that God is sovereign over the greatest of Egypt's gods. He is sovereign over all things — His creation, activities of men and women who inhabit the Earth ... He is sovereign over all other idols that claim to be gods. In bringing about the darkness, God was bringing about a direct attack against the Egyptian sun-god. God was standing up and declaring that He has no equal, He was glorifying Himself by judging the supreme god of Egypt and rendering him incapable of standing before the God of the Bible ... defeating him and sending across the message to the Egyptians, that what they worshipped as their god, was an idol that could not save them, an idol that could do nothing for them.

Secondly, we learn that man has no power to reverse or escape the judgement of God. In the Bible, darkness is a Biblical sign of God's judgement, it's a Biblical sign of God's displeasure. When darkness descended upon Egypt for three days, there was nothing that Pharaoh or his wise men and magicians could do ... it is hinted that they were unable to supply any sought of remedy for this darkness.

Thirdly, we learn that God's grace is clear and obvious even in judgement. We see this in the latter part of verse 23. In the midst of a darkness that could be felt, there was light in Goshen, where the children of Israel lived. God demonstrates His love for His people, and He sent His Son to come and die for them.

Now, this chapter ends in a rather tragic way — instead of being brought on his knees and acknowledging the God of the Bible, Pharaoh shut out Moses from his own life, thereby shutting out the grace of God from his own life. This is what a heart bent on sin often does. Pharaoh squandered his last chance, and this is repeated over and over again by all those who refuse to obey the Word of God, those who refuse to hearken to the message of the gospel, and do not want to meet again with the servant of God who shares with them the good news of salvation. These warnings are meant to sober us up and point us to the God who is mighty and powerful, who displays His power in mercy and judgement, who delivers and yet He also judges and punishes. He loves you, and this is why He is warning you today, that is why He is giving you the opportunity to listen to the warnings of His grace. What will you do with the word that God gives to you? Will you not turn in repentance and humility? Will you not turn away from your sin and come to the Saviour?