The Point Of The Plagues

I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt, for I am the LORD!   Exodus 12:12

It is all very well for the God of the Bible to say, “I AM,” but how do we know that he is and that the other gods are not? That is the point of the plagues. Pharaoh refused to obey God’s command to let his people go because he did not recognize the authority of God.

As long as Pharaoh believed he could worship his own gods, he would never submit to the authority of the one true God. So God gave proof of who he is by bringing down the powers behind Egypt’s gods—Osiris, the god of the Nile; Heqet, the goddess of fertility; and Ra, the sun god.

Much more was at stake in the plagues than a conflict between Moses and Pharaoh or between Israel and Egypt. The living God was bringing down the demonic powers masquerading behind Egypt’s false gods. Those powers were real. That is why the magicians were able to produce frogs—though they could not get rid of them! (See Exodus 8:7.)

In effect, God was saying, “You claim that the Nile sustains you, but I can turn the Nile into a lifeless swamp. You bow down to Heqet, the image of a frog, but I will give birth to so many frogs, you will wish you had never known her. You claim the power of the sun, but I will turn the sun to darkness. What you have put in my place will become a plague to you!”

God will not tolerate our putting anything in his place. He wants nothing to detract from the one true image of the invisible God. God took human flesh and entered the world, making himself known in Jesus Christ, “the exact imprint of his nature” (Hebrews 1:3, ESV). That is why Jesus could say, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). You won’t find your way to the God of the Bible through any other so-called “gods,” but God has drawn near to you in Jesus Christ.

For further reading, see 1 John 5