The Greater Exodus, the Pattern Part 1 of 2

Almost everyone has heard of or read the story in Exodus of the 10 plagues of Egypt. Adventure doesn’t get much better than some of the stories of the Israelites’ journey to the Promised Land that come out of the Torah. The difference between the Words of the Torah and the words of a fiction story is just that ... one is truth; one is pure fabrication. 

And so it goes with the story of Moses, the Pharaoh of Egypt, and the 10 plagues, and the exodus out of Egypt ... a true story that points to a future event ... the Greater Exodus. After 430 years in Egypt, Yahweh heard (Shema) the groaning of His people and remembered His Covenant with them. He still hears and remembers His people today, and He will lead us out and through just as He did the Israelites. 

Remember that “Egypt” is a picture of the sinful world (bondage) and the plagues in Egypt point to the to the coming judgments in Revelation which ultimately leads to the Greater - and Final - Exodus of Yahweh’s people.

1. Blood 

Moses raised his staff in Exodus 7:14-25 and turned the Nile into a river of blood, taking direct aim at the god of the Nile, Hapi, defaming him in the eyes of the Egyptians. 

The blood plague is mentioned three times in Revelation.

Revelation 8 tells us ... 8“The second angel sounded, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea; and a third of the sea became blood, 9 and a third of the creatures which were in the sea and had life, died; and a third of the ships were destroyed.”

In Revelation 11:6 “These [Two Witnesses] have the power to shut up the sky, so that rain will not fall during the days of their prophesying; and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every plague, as often as they desire.”

And in Revelation 16, blood is once again the focus ... “3 The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became blood like that of a dead man; and every living thing in the sea died. 4 Then the third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of waters; and they became blood.”

2. Frogs 

Seven days later, following the purification period, the frog plague was unleashed (Exodus 8:1-11). This time, Yahweh attacked the toad goddess (of resurrection and procreation), Heka. Egyptians held toads and frogs in high esteem and killing one was punishable by death.

Likewise, there are frogs in Revelation. A read of Chapter 16 tells us ...

13 “And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs; 14 for they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty.”

Notice the picture of birthing (procreating) that is painted in this passage? Much like the frogs cover the land of Egypt in Exodus, the spirits of the demons will cover the land during the Great Tribulation. 

3. Lice 

The third plague begins in Exodus 8:16-19 when Yahweh, without warning, sends a dust bowl over the land that turns into gnats and lice. This time, the god of the earth and vegetation, Geb, was the target. The Egyptian priests were forced to shave their heads, stopping all the priestly rituals. 

It was the first plague the magicians could not duplicate and they said, “This is the finger of Yahweh.”

In my searching of Revelation, this is the only plague not replicated.

4. Swarms of Insects & Beetles 

Following on the heels of the gnats were the nasty swarms of insects (Exodus 8:16-28). This is the first plague that made a distinction between the people of Yahweh (clean - Olam Haba) and the Egyptians (unclean - Olam Hazeh) as the plague only affected the Egyptian people. 

Pestilence will return, and it is spoken about in multiple places in Revelation.

6:7 When the Lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come.” 8 I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth.

And again in Revelation 18:8 ...

“For this reason in one day her plagues will come, pestilence and mourning and famine, and she [Babylon, the Olam Hazeh) will be burned up with fire; for the Lord God who judges her is strong.”

Once again, Yahweh will differentiate between the world (Olam Hazeh) and his set-apart, holy people (Olam Haba).

5. Sickness on Cattle 

In making yet another distinction between “His” and “not-His,” Yahweh brought pestilence - and death - to the livestock owned by the Egyptians. (Exodus 9:1-6) Yahweh took direct aim at two additional false idols, the bull god and the cow goddess. According to one commentary, this plague was a type of anthrax carried by flies.

Pestilence will rear its ugly head again in the not-too-distant future and it will affect 1/4 of the world. Revelation 6 ... 

7 When the Lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come.” 8 I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth.

6. Blisters / Boils 

Exodus 9:8-11 tells of the instruction from Yahweh to Moses to throw handfuls of soot from a kiln into the air, creating a fine dust which covered only the land of Egypt (Olam Hazeh), and which turned into painful boils and sores. This plague targeted Thoth, the god of medicine, intelligence, and wisdom.

The boils of the Exodus will return as Yahweh again makes the distinction between “His” and “not-His.”

Revelation 16: 

1 Then I heard a loud voice from the temple, saying to the seven angels, “Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.” 2 So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth; and it became a loathsome and malignant sore on the people who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped his image.

10 Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became darkened; and they gnawed their tongues because of pain, 11 and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores; and they did not repent of their deeds. 

Can you even fathom boils so bad you gnaw your tongue from pain? I don’t want to.

(To be continued)