God is looking for a home... a study in Exodus 25

Introduction

House hunting is a lonely, cruel, disappointing enterprise. Oh, if you are wealthy and have no time limit as well as no funding limitations, then buying a place or renting a stable for your horses is as easy as telling Jeevz to go and fetch something. But if you are like the rest of us, hunting an apartment or a house for you, for your relatives, for your business… it’s a tough go out there. 

 

Contribution

We’ll get back to consider housing in a moment, but let’s look at the beginning of this 25^th chapter and recall a word from previous lessons. The Hebrew word is “lee” and means ‘to me’ or “for me”. It’s found again here twice, once as is, and once in construct form in verses 1 and 2, where we read, “The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Tell the sons of Israel to raise a contribution for Me; from every man whose heart moves him you shall raise My contribution.” The phrase “my contribution” stands out, doesn’t it? 

 

The contribution is for God, and then the contribution is his! Things done for God are significant; things that belong to God are even more significant, aren’t they?

 

What is included in the donation box? Gold and silver, of course. Remember, the children of Israel secured much of that from the Egyptian women (Ex. 3.22) as well as articles of clothing and fabric. All will be useful in the Tabernacle yet to be built. People brought everything to the elders, with gladness. The text says, “every man whose heart moves him.” That’s a powerful statement of willingness. The Jewish people had spoiled the Egyptians and any one of them could have kept all those goods for himself, but in gladness, the people knew that all they had belonged to God, and they willingly donated. That’s what donations and offerings should say of the donors.

 

Housing (part 2)

Verse eight tells us that God wanted a house, and he told the people that they should build a ‘mishkan’ (translate Tabernacle) where he could dwell (shochan).

The Mishkan is the place of dwelling. It’s not simply a religious centre or a shrine. It’s not a museum of historic significance. It’s not designed as a gallery of creative expression. It’s God’s house, and he wants it decorated according to a specific pattern. (.9, .40)

 

Furniture

The mishkan contained an ark (a box) with specifications for its length and width, some rings and poles by which it is to be carried. On the ark some artistic renderings of angels and even details about their wings. Of note is the phrase in verse 22, “There I will meet with you; and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, I will speak to you about all that I will give you in commandment for the sons of Israel.”

 

Here we read that God wants three things: 1) to meet with the people, 2) to speak with the people, and 3) to give the people instructions. All at his house, and above the item rendered in many Bible translations as “the mercy seat.”

 

Compare your home

What happens at your home? You eat and sleep and visit others via zoom meetings. You decorate it with your own furniture and put down roots in veggie and flower gardens. You make it home. And there you meet with those closest to you. That’s what God wants with us, his people. 

 

In our days, we don’t have a single physical space where God wants to meet with us. Yeshua told us “when you pray, ^ago into your inner room or closet, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”

 

Fantastic, isn’t it? We don’t need a singular tabernacle thousands of kilometres away where only the elect officers and priests can be with the Almighty. And where only Jewish people could surround. Here in Australia, and now our own room, our beach, our garden, our church can be a place where God ‘shochans’ with us. Where he dwells with us. The point of the story is not the where, but the who… It’s a place for him and a place for us. It’s about a relationship. 

 

God’s final house hunting

God is still looking for a home, since if I read the first Christian martyr Stephen’s testimony correctly, “The Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands; as the prophet says: ‘HEAVEN IS MY THRONE, AND EARTH IS THE FOOTSTOOL OF MY FEET; WHAT KIND OF HOUSE WILL YOU BUILD FOR ME?’ says the Lord,” (Acts 7.48-49). 

 

Where is God’s house hunting leading him today? Through our missionaries and our entire staff, God is using our workers to find open hearts where Yeshua will live. He told his disciples on that Passover evening, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make Our abode with him” (John 14.23) You will be his mishkan!

 

Please pray for us to find those open hearts and willing students who are going to be God’s house, who will in turn make disciples themselves as we preach the love of God in Yeshua. Thank you and Shalom!

 

 

Meet me at Mt Sinai... a study in Exodus 19

(With apologies for those expecting the daily Bible teachings… ran into timelessness… but now we are ‘back.’ Thanks for your patience)

 

Introduction

Today’s lesson is to the point. And it’s a powerful and needful reminder of the role of Israel in the world in 1500 BCE and our role in the world in 2025. After a couple of months of wilderness wandering and God’s daily provisions, the people came to a place well known to Moses. Mt Sinai was the location of the burning bush. That was where God instructed the 80-year-old future leader of the Israelites and answered his objections to the job. In today’s chapter, the people, remember there are near 3 million of them, gather in the orderliness assigned them, at the foot of this mountain. 

We are not privy to the time it would take or did take to conduct the conversations between all the players: the Almighty and Moses, Moses and the elders, the elders and the people, the people and Moses, and the Almighty and Moses again. There seems to be significant back-and-forth, and we are only reading the highlights. Even so, they are powerful and relevant to them in their days and us in ours.

The setting

For those with biblical literacy, we know that in the next chapter we will be reading the 10 commandments. That this pair of tablets with those 10 phrases are going to be handed to Moses is historical and deep in our memory banks. But the people of Israel did not know what was going to happen. They had been setting up camp and then at the whim of the cloud or fire, they had to move. Camping is not a fun exercise, unless you are an outdoorsy type of person, and I’m imagining that most of the recently-freed slaves wanted to settle a bit, for a month or two, or return to the ‘permanence’ of life in Egypt. But God had something else in mind for his people.

The setting for the encounter is a mountain. The one today labelled as Mt Sinai is about 2,280 metres tall which is about 50 metres taller than Mt Kosciuszko, Australia’s highest mountain. In the wilderness of the Arabian desert, it would have been a significant site. And Moses leads the people there, and I’m imagining that he feels comfortable about this situation. The last time he was there, Moses was commissioned to go get the Hebrews out of Egypt and bring them to meet God and worship God there. (Ex. 3.12) Job complete. Done and dusted.

But don’t miss this return to Sinai had a major purpose for Moses. We read in 3.12, “And He said, “Certainly I will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain.”

When the people are gathered at Sinai, God promised to confirm that it was actually he who sent Moses to Egypt to bring the people out. As I read this agan today, I project myself into the scene and agree that it would be really important to have such a confirmation that God was still involved in our lives. That confirmation would serve Moses well over the next few decades.

Also the people were to worship God at this mountain. The setting was therefore not merely a resort or a landscape, but mostly a chapel; a place of worship. No matter what else you have done in your life, or the people of Israel had done in their lives, when you get to this Sacred Space, it’s time to worship. It’s time to exalt the name of the Almighty. Worship changes everything. Fixing your eyes on the Lord of life puts your own life in perspective. All the troubles, all the heartaches, the disappointments, as well as the pleasures, the happiness… all of it is subjugated to reality in worship to God.

The mandate

God’s preamble through Moses to the people of Israel is “you have seen… what I did…I bore you…I brought you to myself.”  All very active verbs. All reminders of the purposes of God in history. But then the words shift to the future. 

^“ If you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” (19.5-6)

We have a role to play; it’s not a drama; it’s not a film from a Hollywood studio. It’s the mandate of the Almighty for Israel and then later for the entire people of God. Here are the two conditions: We are told that we are to listen (that’s not the first, nor will it be the last, time we hear that—if we hear it at all) to God and also to keep his covenant. His Bris. His agreement. His statement of who he is and who we are. Simple, eh?

Three times in these two verses (.5-6) the Hebrew word LEE is used. It means “to me” or “for me.” It makes these commandments and in fact this entire setting very personal. It’s not the same as Mission Impossible. “Your mission, Mr Phelps, should you decide to accept it is… As always, the secretary will disavow … this tape will self-destruct in 5 seconds. Good luck, Jim.” That’s not the type of mission on which Moses is assigned. It’s not a rule book or an assignment for espionage. It’s a personal mission of representation. 

What are those three declarations? 

1)        You will be to me a special treasure. 

2)        All the earth is mine (for me)

3)        You will be for me a kingdom of priests

Israel’s role as a community is clear, succinct and personal. We are to be a treasure to God. Then as representatives ( ambassadors) of God to the world, to bring the nations (all the earth) to him. 

Is that how Israel imagined itself in 1500 BCE? Maybe as a treasure. And maybe even as God’s personal representatives, but priests to serve the nations? I doubt it. In fact, throughout our ancient history, and dare I say it, even in modern history, we insulate ourselves and then modulate this 3^rd saying to mean something like this.

Yes, God wants us to be priestly, and thus we should be a light to the nations by living distinct from them, learning Torah or Jewish life and customs, being noble and righteous so that they may see who we are and if they want, they can join us. Solidarity, not salvation, is offered.

Yes, this may be a simplification but conduct a survey of 100 Jewish people and I will aver that 95% would say something similar to the previous paragraph.  But if all the earth belongs to God, and we are responsible to bring God’s truths (Torah, respect, Yeshua, covenant, etc…), then we are obligated to speak and to act. Some use the phrase “practice what you preach” which assumes we should “preach what we practice” as well. 

My challenge today is that we should be a praying people, for the Jewish people, and all in our sphere of influence, that each of them might know Yeshua personally. And to know God wants to make them his special treasure, and to use them as his agents to bring the world to himself. And that includes me today en route to Istanbul and you wherever you are in the world. 

 

A notification about the last plague. A short study in Exodus 11

It's almost time. Anticipation is great. The news about the plagues that befell the Egyptians was huge. Every week another mode of desolation hit the communities of the oppressors of the Jewish people. Darkness was so thick yesterday they couldn't see the ground or one another. No one moved. The people of Israel lived in Goshen, their detention centre, for decades, perhaps centuries, and had plenty of light. They knew that they were special. Now in the tenth plague, God was going to ensure that they understood the separation, the distinction, so that they would live differently when they left into the wilderness.

Remember, the rabbis teach that it took one whole year and nine plagues to do two things. 1) To convince the Egyptians to let my people go and 2) to convince the Hebrews that Moses was our leader. (See Ex. 2.14, 16.2, 17.3, Num. 14.2, 16.41, Acts 7.27) I know this is hard to imagine, but Moses probably didn't look like Charlton Heston or Chris Hemsworth. Imagine, if you can, Moses looking more like Woody Allen or Adam Sandler. Then this makes sense. It's no miracle for 3 million Jews to follow Hemsworth into the wilderness. It is a miracle indeed if even 30 Jews follow Woody anywhere. God used the plague to convince both camps. 

One more plague is coming, then a comprehensive exodus. No Jewish person will remain. Think about this. Almost as soon as they left, there was significant grumbling among the people. Why did you bring us out here to die? Where's the water? Where's the beef? Where's the garlic and leeks and onions? But the prediction of the final plague after 400 years of slavery and sadness, will cause everyone to depart. At midnight!

Whatever prevention God caused in the full escape of all the Jewish people previously, now, God says, he would ensure a final exodus by saying, "I will bring on Egypt." (.1)

Moses is told to ramp up the notification to all the Jewish people. First he says, tell the women to go and spoil the neighbours of silver and gold. (.2) And they might have wondered what this would accomplish. Was it only retribution for the troubles of the past? Was it only an "Oh yeah? We're going to take things from you like you took things from us?" No, as we find out later (Ex. 25.3), those items were needful for the construction of the furniture and other goods in the Holy Tabernacle. They also took textiles (Ex. 12.35) which would be employed in the Tabernacle as well. 

Was the spoiling deceptive as some aver? I need to borrow some things for our weekend retreat... could I borrow from you? I don't think so.  According to the Word Biblical Commentary, "Each of the four occurrences of the “despoiling” narrative in the OT (Exod.3:19–22; 11:2–3; 12:35–36; Ps. 105:36–38) makes plain that the Egyptians give their precious possessions to the Israelites gladly, because of Yahweh’s intervention. There is no hint of any deception, any “borrowing” with even an implied promise of a return of the borrowed items."

The problem, of course, in having goods like these is that they could be used for wrong things, like an idol of gold (Ex. 32.2) which brought 3,000 people to their deaths that day.  Having goods is not wrong; misusing them is what is wrong. Or another way of thinking that is, having goods is not wrong; when the goods have you, that's wrong. 

So God gave favour to the Hebrews. (.3) Each person who went to her neighbour received what they needed. The Egyptians were done with us. They wanted us gone, because they wanted the plagues to be gone. If we left, they thought, there would be no more blight, no more locusts, no more hail to ruin the crops, no more blood in the Nile, etc. They wanted the 'good old days.'

Even Moses was greatly esteemed in the people. Whatever had been the reports about him previously... now he is very great in their eyes. Why? He did what their magicians could not do. And he brought AND ended plagues on their houses. And in their lives. Anyone who can do all that?... they are significant.

Prediction of the comprehensive destruction of the first borns. That would end family lines as they understood them. Primogeniture is the norm, genealogically, but that would be decimated as a result of this plague. (.5)

There will be a great cry throughout Egypt. (.6) but against Israel, not even a dog would bark. (.7) The people of Egypt knew the story. They knew they were not responsible. They knew Moses was not responsible. They knew that there was a power encounter between the God of the Hebrews and the gods of Egypt and that their team lost. They didn't blame the umpires. They didn't blame the Jews. They blamed Pharaoh. 

GREAT favour, but not in the government. That may be something we should ponder in our days. With whom do we seek favour? From whom? Sometimes, our God will have us live in such a way that the kingdoms of this world are not on board with who we are. We don't need to run governments; we need to live in God's kingdom. We don't need to make his kingdom here on earth; that's his job, not ours. No matter who misquotes a Bible text about "if my people.. shall humble themselves and pray...." and applies it to a democracy (which was never in view in Bible days), seek first God's Kingdom and His righteousness. It's not about our power; it's about God's power. (John 18.36, Matthew 6.33)

When Yeshua returns, then the kingdom of this world will become His kingdom (Rev. 11.15). Until then, we have our work cut out for us. To live in righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14.17). To speak peace one with another and to love one another as He loved us. (John 13.34)

Back in Egypt, Moses is speaking to Pharaoh, (although we don't see when he went there) and said that all his servants would bow down to Moses.  That's an 'in-your-face' proclamation. It's not new, but it's dramatic. But don't miss this. The purpose of the final plague is listed. "So that you understand God made a distinction between Egypt and Israel." (.7) Distinction or separation is a key lesson from the beginning of the Bible and throughout Torah. Even throughout the entire Bible. 

God separated light from darkness. He separated clean from unclean animals. He separates us from the nations. At its root, the word KDSH (holy) includes this notion as well. You shall be holy, or separate, so that the nations of the world will know that I am the Lord. The whole purpose of holiness was not for Israel to be smug or proud of their goodness, but rather that the peoples of the earth would know who He is and get to know Him. Come out from among them and be separate. (2 Cor. 6.17)

Conclusion: What do I learn today as a result of reading this lesson?

1) Be holy so that others are DRAWN to Yeshua

2) Seek God's kingdom in my life and in the lives of my family

3) God can and will use ordinary people empowered by the Lord to bring about His purposes on earth

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ACTUAL TEXT

Ex. 11:1   Now the LORD said to Moses, “One more plague I will bring on Pharaoh and on Egypt; ^aafter that he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will surely drive you out from here completely. ² “Speak now in the ¹hearing of the people that ^aeach man ask from his neighbor and each woman from her neighbor for articles of silver and articles of gold.” ^{3 a}The LORD gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. ^bFurthermore, the man Moses himself was ¹greatly esteemed in the land of Egypt, both in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants and in the sight of the people.

Ex. 11:4   Moses said, “Thus says the LORD, ‘About ^amidnight I am going out into the midst of Egypt, ⁵ and ^aall the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of the Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the millstones; all the firstborn of the cattle as well. ⁶ ‘Moreover, there shall be ^aa great cry in all the land of Egypt, such as there has not been before and such as shall never be again. ⁷ ‘^aBut against any of the sons of Israel a dog will not even ¹bark, whether against man or beast, that you may ²understand how the LORD makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.’ ⁸ “^aAll these your servants will come down to me and bow themselves ¹before me, saying, ‘Go out, you and all the people who ²follow you,’ and after that I will go out.” ^bAnd he went out from Pharaoh in hot anger.

Ex. 11:9   Then the LORD said to Moses, “^aPharaoh will not listen to you, so ^bthat My wonders will be multiplied in the land of Egypt.” ^{10 a}Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh; yet ^bthe LORD ¹hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the sons of Israel go out of his land.

Hard hearts ... a study in Exodus 7

Introduction 

Knowledge is an odd thing. When we were kids and sat the HSC or studied in school, we at times hated the requirements of knowledge especially teachers, the acknowledged brokers of knowledge. Eddie McGuire has made lots of money and given away heaps on "Who wants to be a millionaire?" testing people's knowledge of the most trivial bits of data. Newspapers are filled with knowledge, and the internet almost sells itself in speed to get information to you. You should know and you should know it now. And right now, there are people buying the astrological charts for the year so they can know what their year will be like. Knowledge is good money. 

Your response to life determines the next stage of your life. Do you believe this? What you did on New Year's Eve and what you are doing this morning and what you will do this next week...they all play into a greater scheme of things, called your life. And your life is integrally linked with others and with the Almighty, even if you are not sure there is even a God who notices, much more demands from or cares about you. 

Let me ask you, do you have a soft or a hard heart towards God? Do you know that He, more than Santa, knows if you are sleeping or if you've been good or not-so-good this year? The condition of your heart, soft or hard, will determine what happens to you in the months and years to come, and bring you satisfaction or redemption or trouble or plagues. And the bottom line of all God's dealings with us as people is, may I quote, "then they shall know that I am Yahweh." This phrase is found here in Torah in both relating to the Jewish people and the Gentile nation who had enslaved us. It's found in Ezekiel 28 about the returning Israel and its future blessing, and it's found in Ezekiel's narrative 57 other times. More than any other prophet he wanted everyone to know that what happens and what would happen would be designed for one major purpose: for people to know that Yahweh is God. And no other. And this was downright evangelistic, in his day and in ours. 

Knowing doesn't mean you know, you know?

 Burghardt DuBois, the great black educator, sociologist, and historian, upon completion of studies at Fisk and Harvard Universities and the University of Berlin, was convinced that change in the condition of the American black could be affected by careful scientific investigations into the truth about the black in America. As a result, he proceeded. His research was flawless and his graphs and charts impeccable. After waiting several years and hearing not the slightest stir of reform, Dr. DuBois had to accept the truth about Truth: Its being available does not mean it will be appropriated. Information is often confused with knowledge. And knowledge confused with wisdom.

 And there's no way to keep up, is there? Knowledge is exploding at such a rate--more than 2000 pages a minute--that even Einstein couldn't keep up. In fact, if you read 24 hours a day, from age 21 to 70, and retained all you read, you would be one and a half million years behind when you finished. Arthur Clarke said, "For every man, education should be a process which continues all his life. We must abandon, as swiftly as possible, the idea that schooling is something restricted to youth. How can it be, in a world where half the things a man knows at 20 are no longer true at 40--and half the things he knows at 40 hadn't been discovered when he was 20? " (Clarke in The View From Serendip.) We play Wordle and Sudoku and…Quizzes and knowledge and information, that's something on which many of us right brainers will thrive. But is it enough? 

Let's look at the text In today's story, we see the central characters Moses and Aaron on the Hebrew side; Pharaoh on the Egyptian side. I sometimes feel that I'm watching ESPN or Fox Sports when I read this section. The sports commentators interview the parents of the stars on both sides. They tell us of their family background and what would make them good players. Verse one tells us that the ministry of a prophet in God's perspective is one of mediation. "You will be as God... Aaron shall be your prophet" This means that Aaron will be more than a sidekick in a buddy movie; he will speak for the deity. He will mediate between Moses and Pharaoh. This was God's answer to Moses' excuse in chapter 4 of Moses' seeming inability to speak well. We've spoken about the ordinariness of Moses before. He was not so great. Let me compare the celebrations I watched with Patty and Anne the other night. We went to the midnight show of the fireworks in North Sydney. Great views from McMahons Point. And for a moment the bridge was ablaze and the sky lit up. In fact for 20 minutes or so. And then the smoke drifted past and the ships again moved in the harbour. The crowds of 750,000 of my closest friends and I tried to catch the bus and the train back to our homes. It took about 90 minutes for me to make the usual 20 minute trip. What made the fireworks so spectacular included the making of an ordinary thing into an extraordinary thing. The bridge is ... well, a bridge, and as bridges go, it's pretty ordinary. A great feat, when it was built over 70 years ago, to be sure, but hey, it's a bridge of steel and concrete. Nothing to get 3/4 of a million people to come watch each night.

Maybe that's a subplot of this whole Exodus story. The unlikely hero Moses, the ordinary leader of the pack, takes the 3 million ordinary people out for a spin in the wilderness. Or at least, he is trying to convince Pharaoh that this should take place. Just a simple house party, that's all he wants.

The whole point was not for the Jewish people to escape; the whole point for God was that all the world would know He was God. This is a huge point and one that we to this day, still miss. God is not content to get people off from prison or out of sickness or into good feelings, if that's their preference. He wants all people in all places to "Know that He is God" and that there is no other. Knowledge matters, not just to your school teacher or to Eddie McGuire. It's for you and me...and the object of our instruction is the Living God.

The point is our heart

Remember I asked you about your heart earlier? Is it soft or hard? This is more than a momentary condition. This is a way to determine your future, better than a tarot card or palm reader. Is your heart soft towards God or is it hard?

Pharaoh hardened his heart and as a result God hardened it yet further. "Vaani ak'sheh et lev pahro"  

Remember, what God wants though is not to show His own bossness. He doesn't want to make life easy for us Jews. He has one thing to communicate and to get through to us: this is to get Egypt to the place of admitting Yahweh is God.

Ex. 7.5 And the Egyptians shall know that I am Yahweh.

Actually the Hebrew is not the people of Egypt only, but the land of Egypt. Mitzraim shall know that Yahweh is God and that there is no other. The river Nile is considered as a god to the Egyptians. The Almighty is saying, "don't look to Sydney Water" or to either the Warragamba Dam and the Prospect Reservoir. 

This is crucial in our lives as well as the history of the Egyptians 3500 years ago. To whom do we look when things are messy? To what do we run to find peace and meaning? It's 2025, where will I find new life?

Pharaoh hardened (literally "strengthened") his heart (verse 13) and as a result would not listen. The word speak (dabar is used 5 times in this text, Shema is used 4 times; tsiva (command) is used 4 as well) is not just a conversational devise by the author; it's a reminder of how this works. If you listen, you do. If you don't listen, you won't do. How simple is that? When Pharaoh hardened his heart, the result was 'he did not listen" (verse 13, verse 22)

Consider the major testing of the Jewish people later on in the wilderness. Psalm 95 records this.

“Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, As in the day of Massah in the wilderness; When your fathers tested Me, They tried Me, though they had seen My work.” (verses 8-9)

How did they harden their hearts, but by not listening to the voice of the Lord and demanding what they wanted. The people of Israel did not listen to God and chose to listen to popular reason and personal demands. God help us in our days to avoid the popular and the reasonable demands of the media and the society. May we follow the Lord in all our hearts and with all our beings.  Don't harden your hearts. Listen to God and do what He says.

Yeshua was speaking with Moses and Elijah one day. The Bible records what happened. ' While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and behold, a voice out of the cloud, saying,  “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!” (Matthew 17.5).  This was God speaking. Don't miss it, friends in Sydney!

From God's beckoning to us, we learn that what matters is not our creativity of ministry or our activities in His name, but listening to Him and doing what He wants, and what he principally wants is for us to Follow Yeshua. Malachi the final Older Testament prophet said this “If you do not listen, and if you do not take it to heart to give honor to My name,” says the LORD of hosts,  “then I will send the curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings; and indeed, I have cursed them already, because you are not taking it to heart." (2.2)

OK, note the condition of your heart. It's not a permanent condition. What you have done in the past is changeable. You can harden it as Pharaoh did, or you can soften it. How, you ask? By admitting to the Lord you have hardened it, and asking Him to forgive you and to make your heart new in Him. 

The Bible uses another term for this. 

‘Thus says the Lord GOD,  “It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. And I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight. For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands, and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 36.22-26)

The text uses the term "heart of flesh". This depicts what Moses in Exodus 7 and I'm trying to communicate. God wants you moldable and fleshy, not rocky and stone like. He wants you to yield to His purposes and to know Him personally. That's the message today.

Tomorrow we will speak about preparation from chapter 8. But let me hold back about that until then.

Conclusion: What lessons do we learn from today's teaching?

1)        Hardening your heart against God has consequences

2)        Plagues are not God's original idea for the people of Egypt

3)        Mediation is a principle for a prophet and his main job

4)        The Egyptians should have been smart and copied the good things of Moses and Aaron and not the plagues!

5)        Jesus is God's ultimate answer and the one to whom we should be listening, with all our fleshy hearts.