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The Finger of God
Exodus 7:8–9:12 (Reading - Exodus 7:8-25; 8:5-7, 12-19, 24, 28, 30-32; 9:1-12)
We know the look - a teenager who’s heard the arguments, the pleas, and knows the consequences, but still walks out the door. Or the addict who goes back to drugs after witnessing its devastation. Or the member who knows the Bible and recites the catechism, but whose heart is intent on secret sin. Or even those under discipline, who refuse admonition. We’ve seen it. If we’re honest, we’ve all struggled with repentance too. Though the Spirit reveals our sin, something in us stiffens. After Agrippa heard Paul’s sermon, he scoffed - “You think you can persuade me to become a Christian so quickly?” Or Judas, who was with Jesus 3 years and saw great wonders, denied the King of Glory. They all saw the finger of God and still didn’t soften. But there’s a difference. King Jesus has broken the power of Satan and the hardness of believers’ hearts. That’s why while Peter denied Christ at first, his heart was tender. He was restored. As we examine this passage, let’s learn to respond rightly to our Creator King and Savior. We’ll consider this passage under two headings: first, how God stretched forth his hand in judgment; and second, how they recognized and denied that it was his finger.
Firstly, how God stretched forth his hand in judgment. In Exodus 7:5, God said the Egyptians would know he’s the LORD, when he stretched his hand against them to rescue his people Israel. And we see how God did it through 10 plagues. Each plague was a sermon declaring he was God. Today, we see 6 of the 10 plagues. God used each to demolish the false creation that Egypt had promoted. In Genesis 1, God created the world by separating and filling. He separated light from darkness, the waters above from waters below, and dry land from the waters. The filled them with fish, birds, animals, and humans. Everything was very good. There was order, fruitfulness, and blessings. On the other hand, Egypt was a counterfeit creation - to replace God with self. It was a great empire - with pyramids, irrigation, and civilization. But it was not done to glorify God. It was done to elevate man - like Babel. This was Satan’s timeless tactic - “God knows the day you eat the fruit, you’ll be like him!” And a specific man at that - Pharaoh. He claimed to be god in Egypt. He built a great paradise; promised life, fertility, and prosperity. But where did such prosperity come from? By using and controlling slaves, by killing babies. So his creation was actually fake; an anti-creation built on death. So God demolished this false creation. How? By using plagues, He destroyed water, land, sky, creatures, light, and finally life. He showed that Egypt’s version was never good in the first place. Just as he destroyed the earth by water because of sin, and scattered the people at Babel because of self, he destroyed Egypt for her self and sin.
In Genesis, God separated the waters and gathered them into seas, rivers, and made dry lands. The water teemed with life. But this river now brought death. By turning the Nile into blood, God declared he alone was the source of life.
In Genesis, he created the sea and sky creatures and blessed them. He told them to be fruitful and multiply. But in the plague of frogs, their multiplication was a curse. Creatures which filled the waters, now invaded land. And they invaded every sphere of human life - the palace, bedroom, bed, oven, and kneading bowl.
In Genesis, God formed man from dust and breathed life into him. Dust was the raw material of human creation. But in Egypt, it became lice or gnats - which swarmed, bit, and tormented. The dust was like a relentless pestilence. Then after this, God filled the land with swarms of flies or beetles. These were not the orderly creatures of Genesis, but creatures of chaos, bringing disease and decay.
And there’s a natural order to these things. When the Nile turned to blood, it forced frogs onto land where they died and caused a stink. Then insects populations exploded - feasting on the frogs, and beetles that feasted on the gnats. But when these bit the animals, epizootic diseases spread, killing animals, and subsequently spreading infection like anthrax to people. But God sent Moses to save his people. That’s why, at this point before the fifth plague, God divided the people. The subsequent plagues would not harm God’s people in Goshen.
In Genesis, God created livestock and gave Adam and Eve dominion over them. But here, the livestock died. Some theorized it was anthrax. And the economy of Egypt was built on livestock. It’s what made Pharaoh rich. But this false creator couldn’t even protect his own creatures or economy. He couldn’t even protect his own skin!
Also in Genesis, God formed Adam from dust and breathed life into him. At the fall, when they sinned, God pronounced the curse - “for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” And that’s what he was enacting here, in this curse. Dust was thrown into the air and it became boils on the Egyptians. Pharaoh’s magicians couldn’t even stand before Moses because of the severe itch. So when we look at these plagues, we don’t see them as isolated events - but acts of God to demolish man’s attachment to what he had created. So these false creators were confronted with the demolition of their created order. Now, this demolition was not an end in itself. Egypt was destroyed so Israel could be formed. And the plagues were the means of destruction. One can say that Exodus birthed a nation, where the plagues were birthing pangs, and the Red Sea crossing the delivery. These plagues were needed to judge Pharaoh. But these plagues were also meant to show Israel who their true Creator and where their true home was.
And they also showed that Pharaoh was not a god - that all the idolatry was false. Remember, Israel had lived under that oppression and superstition. But God stretched his hand to oppose the false pantheon of gods in Egypt. In Exodus 8:19, when God turned dust into lice or gnats, the magicians confessed - “This is the finger of God.” They admitted their own gods were bested. In Egyptian religion, magic was the divine power made available to priests. And at first, these magicians also turned water into blood and summoned frogs. Now to be clear, these were dark arts, not magic tricks; used to deceive and control people. As 1 Corinthians 10:20 says, behind every idol is a demon. As Deuteronomy 32:16–17 says, the worship of other gods is actually the worship of demons. So these were powers energized by Satan - the god of this world. But ultimately, these magicians failed. They were unable to replicate because Satan is powerless before God.
Now, each plague targeted a specific deity. In turning the Nile into blood, God defeated Hapi, the god of the Nile. To them, the Nile was a god, the giver of life. It was also thought to be its bloodstream. So by turning it into blood, God showed himself to be the sole source of life; their false god’s blood was deadly, and only God could reverse blood back to water.
In the multiplying frogs, Heqet, the frog-headed fertility goddess was targeted. Frogs symbolized life emerging from the Nile mud. But these frogs didn’t bring life. They brought death when their carcasses piled up. So they actually worshiped the giver of chaos not life, and only God could remove the chaos.
The plague of dust into gnats, was a challenge to Geb, the god of earth. Soil needed for growth and fertility now became the source of pestilence. And the magicians called it the finger of God. They could no longer replicate it. It showed that even the earth belonged to God. And the flies or beetles challenged Khepri, the beetle-headed god of creation. The Egyptians honored the scarab beetle - which symbolized life and rebirth, but was now an instrument of death. So the false creator’s symbols were all being turned against him.
The plague on cattle challenged Apis and Hathor, the bull god and goddess, worshiped as deities of fertility. But the plague was an assault on life. Animals that symbolized divine power were now corpses. As a result, boils afflicted the Egyptians, this being an assault against Sekhmet, the goddess of healing. She was supposed to protect Egypt from plague. But her healers couldn’t even stand before Moses because of the itch.
Beloved, God continues to stretch out his hand - even today. Why? Because mankind has created his own fake paradise. We believe the lie of Satan. This is why God humbles mankind through natural disasters, wars, market collapses, illnesses, work disappointments. Why? To break down what we’ve created to serve ourselves as gods. But it’s fake. We’ve built great cities but are suffocated by haze and smog. And we’re helpless. But God stretching out his hand is also meant for his people. The initial plagues also struck Israel, to wean her from Egypt. Some were weaned. Others sadly weren’t. Only weeks later, they crafted a golden calf when cattle were struck with disease! Then they craved the leeks and garlic, wanting to return to a land destroyed by locusts. Why? Because not everyone responds to God’s revelation and his outstretched arm. It’s because of hardened hearts. Sometimes God’s people have false hope in demolished things and can’t see God revealing himself to us by his stretched forth hand and finger. But the stretched forth hand is gracious, if we’re willing to see God through it.
But not everyone is willing. Secondly, they recognized and denied it was his finger. In Exodus 8:12-15, when the magicians couldn’t turn dust to gnats, they realized it was God’s finger. But Pharaoh hardened his heart. Some recognized, one denied. These are two responses of sinners to divine revelation. We’ll look first at the magician’s response and their progressive weakening. At the start, when Moses came to Pharaoh, he cast down the rod as instructed; it turned into a snake. Exodus 7:11 says all the magicians were able to replicate it - “they also did in like manner with their enchantments.” But Aaron’s snake ate their snake. The point of this is to show that while they could replicate, they couldn’t overcome. Yes, they could also replicate water into blood, but they couldn’t turn blood back into water. Same thing with the frogs - they could call out the frogs but couldn’t remove them - which was the whole point isn’t it? So Pharaoh had to ask Moses to intercede. They had ability to create, to maintain a semblance of control, but they had no power to solve it. And by the 6th plague - the boils - they could no longer stand before Moses. They couldn’t function. From a semblance of control to no control whatsoever.
But they tried to still control. Even when they realized it was the finger of God, and even when they realized they had no power; they still tried. Exodus 8:18 says they tried to bring forth lice but couldn’t. Now, that’s odd. Why would they want to replicate lice? Did you ever think of that? What’s the purpose? Wouldn’t it be to remove it? Why replicate and not remove? Why didn’t they call on Moses to remove the lice? Consider the stubborn mindset that’s in sinners. We can’t lose. We’ll still stick to our guns to do foolish things. Maybe for them, it was to assert that they still had some control. If they could do what Moses did, then Moses isn’t that special. Or they couldn’t stop - their addiction to power motivated them to conjure up destructive things. But whatever it was, their arts proved insufficient. They couldn’t do it. And so they admitted defeat to Pharaoh; verse 19 - “This is the finger of God.” The finger of a deity, in the ancient Near East, represented divine power in creation and judgment. Meaning, they acknowledged this was God’s judgment. Now, to be sure, they didn’t convert. They simply acknowledged the power displayed was far greater. So to them, this wasn’t magic versus magic, or god versus god, but the true finger of the living and true God working. No comparison! But sadly, this recognition didn’t lead to repentance. Perhaps the allure of this fake paradise and the hoped for rewards as magicians was too great. They were doing the proverbial banging their heads repeatedly against the wall; or in biblical language, they were kicking against the pricks.
And we also see that but in greater degree in Pharaoh. While the magicians were weakened, Pharaoh’s resistance was strengthened by God’s stretched hand and finger. His heart progressively hardened. When the magicians’ snakes were eaten by Aaron’s, we see this phrase in Exodus 7:13 - “And he hardened Pharaoh’s heart.” Meaning, Pharaoh hardened Pharaoh’ heart. He didn’t like what he saw and hardened his heart. This continued with every plague. After the Nile turned to blood, verse 22 - “Pharaoh’s heart was hardened.” Same thing. Frogs; Exodus 8:15 - “he hardened his heart.” The insects in Exodus 8:19, when the magicians said it was God’s finger, “Pharaoh’s heart was hardened.” The animal pestilence and death, “And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened”, Exodus 9:7. But in verse 12, after the boils, “the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh.” Pharaoh still refused to recognize God’s finger. Why? Because he was his own god! That’s why revelation produced resistance.
Now, what’s this hardening? Two verbs are used to describe Pharaoh hardening his own heart. These verbs mean to be hard, severe, stubborn, dull, and insensitive. This is what Pharaoh did to his own heart. But the verb used of God hardening Pharaoh’s heart means to strengthen in firmness. Meaning, while Pharaoh was the one who hardened his heart first in stubbornness, God removed any grace needed to soften the heart, and so strengthened Pharaoh’s own hardening. It’s not an active hardening, but a giving Pharaoh up to what he was already doing. “Since you want to die, go and die!” What began as an act of the will became a state of the heart. The one who refused to see eventually lost the ability to see. So when one refuses to recognize but resists the finger of God, there will be hardening.
This is what Paul wrote of Romans 3 - because sinners suppress the truth in unrighteousness, refusing to glorify God despite clear revelation, God gives them up to their idolatry. Sinners want their own autonomy because Satan, their god, has taught them that. So God allows this to happen unto their own destruction. And this was what Pharaoh exhibited. He loved his anti-creation, that he refused to see God demolishing it. He wanted to preserve it. This was the same with the Pharisees and chief priests. Jesus said in Luke 11:20, if it’s by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come. But they refused to believe and see.
Beloved, the finger of God is always at work - it’s God’s kingdom breaking into the world - in the Exodus, in Elijah’s and Jesus’ time. In those times, many rejected, despite clear revelation. But there were also those who believed - Israel whom God divided for himself in Goshen; the 7,000 who hadn’t bowed their knees to Baal; and the centurion at the cross. “Surely, this was the Son of God!” This finger is also at work around us, even in our lives, to break down the fake creation we’ve built for ourselves.
Some marriages are a struggling - but like Pharaoh’s magicians - we do nothing to fix it, but maintain a false appearances - replicating what thousands of other failing marriages are doing. But we don’t repent. And that only produces more frogs. More stink. Can we not see the finger? Some of us are struggling with a besetting sin - but we’re not serious in repentance - to put off sin and put on Christ. We continue with life as per normal. That only leads to weakening of your spiritual life. When will you buckle from the pain? Christ confronts the powers of darkness and defeats them - by breaking them. We must cry out to God to soften our hearts, to open our eyes, and to turn our resistance into faith. We must admit we can’t remove the plague, but to cry out to the one who can.
And that’s Christ, who on the cross endured the finger of God displayed in his judgment. Judgment that fell on Egypt, fell on Christ; his blood was the Passover blood to shield us from God’s judgment. He endured darkness so we’d have light. He took our sickness and sin that we might be healed. His death, proved by blood and water that came from his side, saves his people. God’s first born died so that we might live. And Christ experienced that demolition of creation so we might be gloriously transformed one day. Because you’ve been divided from the people of the world, that great judgment will never befall you. Does this gospel soften your heart to go to him? And we thank God for your tender heart - for the heart that weeps for sin, and goes to him. Because you have been set apart, divided from this world, you as God’s people will respond to his finger in your life.
1. How God Stretched Forth His Hand in Judgment
A. His demolition of a false creation
B. His opposition of a false pantheon
2. They Recognized and Denied It Was His Finger
A. Their progressive weakening
B. His progressive hardening
* As a matter of courtesy please advise Rev. Mark Chen, if you plan to use this sermon in a worship service. Thank-you.
(c) Copyright 2026, Rev. Mark Chen
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