Passage: Exodus 7:14-25

The Big Idea

The ten plagues display the Redeemer’s power, judge Egypt’s false gods and show that the LORD alone is God. The first plague strikes the Nile, the river Egypt worshiped as a source of life, and turns it to blood. To a rebellious world, God’s Word sounds only like law and death. But Jesus’ first miracle turned water into wine. The law brings death; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. When the river of the world stinks, stop digging. Look up and receive living water.

Ten in the Bible

The number ten often shows up in Scripture connected with law, measuring up and judgment:

The Ten Commandments: the standard we’re measured against.
The ten plagues: judgment on Egypt.
The Passover lamb chosen on the tenth day of the month (Exodus 12:3): judgment on sin borne by a substitute.
The ten horns in Daniel and Revelation: the final world system under judgment.

Why the Plagues?

They show God’s mighty power, the power of the Redeemer.
They express God’s anger at Pharaoh’s sin and his cruelty to the Hebrews.
They are judgment on the gods of Egypt (Exodus 12:12), the dark spiritual powers behind Egypt’s idolatry.
They prove that the LORD is the Most High God, above every spiritual being.
They warn the nations that God will curse those who curse His people (Genesis 12:3).
They test and teach Israel.

How the plagues are arranged

The tenth stands apart, because it’s tied directly to redemption: the Passover.
The first nine fall into three groups of three. In each group, the first two come with a warning to Pharaoh; the third comes without warning.
They grow more severe:
1-3 strike Egypt’s comforts: water, frogs, gnats.
4-6 strike their possessions and bodies: flies, livestock, boils.
7-9 bring desolation: hail, locusts, darkness.

What they picture

Egypt is a picture of the world. Older Bible teachers like Arthur Pink saw in the plagues a portrait of how God deals with the world’s rebellion:

Blood: the river they worshiped couldn’t save them.
Frogs: creatures that puff themselves up, picturing the world’s pride and self-sufficiency.
Gnats or lice: the uncleanness that comes from the desires of the flesh.
Flies: the world’s link to “Beelzebub,” often explained as “lord of the flies.”
Dead livestock: the world’s supports and systems collapsing.
Boils: the condition of the unregenerate heart, which Isaiah describes as sick from head to foot, nothing but wounds and sores (Isaiah 1:5-6).
Hail and fire: God’s wrath on the disobedient.
Locusts: the spiritual barrenness of the world, a wasteland for the soul.
Darkness: the world’s alienation from God, who is light.
Death of the firstborn: the final judgment that awaits hearts hardened against God.

The River Turned to Blood (Exodus 7:14-21)

The Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is hard; he refuses to let the people go. Meet him in the morning as he goes out to the river, and take the staff that turned into a snake. Tell him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to say, “Let My people go so they can worship Me in the wilderness,” but you haven’t listened. So the LORD says, “By this you will know that I am the LORD: I will strike the water of the Nile with this staff, and it will turn to blood. The fish will die, the river will stink, and the Egyptians won’t be able to drink from it.”‘” The Lord told Aaron to stretch his staff over all of Egypt’s waters, its rivers, canals, ponds and reservoirs, even water in wooden and stone containers. Aaron struck the Nile in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and all the water turned to blood. The fish died, the river stank, and there was blood throughout Egypt.

Egypt worshiped the Nile. They even had a Nile god, Hapi, pictured as a figure of fertility and abundance.
The very thing they trusted for life couldn’t save them from the hand of God.

Counterfeit Signs (Exodus 7:22-23)

Egypt’s magicians did the same thing by their secret arts, so Pharaoh’s heart stayed hard, and he went into his palace without taking even this to heart.

Again, the servants of darkness could imitate a sign.
Paul warns that the lawless one will come with all kinds of power, signs and false wonders, deceiving those who are perishing because they refused to love the truth and be saved (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10).
Truth is our guide, not miracles. Test every experience, feeling and sign by the Word of God. Some groups teach people to trust an inner feeling as proof of truth. But feelings, and even miracles, can deceive. God’s Word won’t.

Water and Blood

(Did you hear about the two blood cells? They loved in vein.)

What does water turned to blood mean?

Water often pictures the Word (Ephesians 5:26).
Blood, here, pictures death.

To a rebellious world, God’s Word sounds like nothing but law: “You broke the law. The penalty for breaking the law is death.”

When we speak God’s Word, we speak both law and grace. Paul says that to some we’re the smell of death leading to death, and to others the fragrance of life leading to life (2 Corinthians 2:16).

Water into wine

Now remember Jesus’ first miracle: turning water into wine (John 2:1-11). Moses turned water into blood; Jesus turned water into wine, the drink of celebration.

The law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (John 1:17).

What’s the difference? Jesus brings life. The law, by itself, brings death.
There’s no life in law-keeping and performance-measuring, and no life in rebellious law-breaking like Pharaoh’s.
Life is found only in trusting Jesus and receiving His gift of grace.
The law can only measure: “Let’s check your performance… Buzz! Sinner. Death.” It tells us God’s demands, but does nothing to help us meet them. That’s what Jesus came to do.

“The fish will die”

What you thought the river provided is death. It won’t satisfy you. The world sells a big lie, that it will give you what you really want. And God will make sure it doesn’t.

“The river will stink”

Every hope we put in worldly things eventually turns rotten. Whatever we put before Jesus has to go. He makes no peace treaties with other gods. He asks for complete surrender, the way a pen is fully yielded to the hand that writes with it.

“They couldn’t drink”

This isn’t the life God wants for anyone. People need water! But it’s what we get when we refuse His will. God won’t let substitutes satisfy.

Jesus is the fountain of living water. He told the Samaritan woman that whoever drinks the water He gives will never thirst again (John 4:13-14). And whoever believes in Him, rivers of living water will flow from within (John 7:38).

Digging for Water (Exodus 7:24-25)

All the Egyptians dug along the Nile for drinking water, because they couldn’t drink the river water. Seven days passed after the Lord struck the Nile.

Instead of repenting and turning to the Lord, they tried harder to find what they needed.
If that’s you, stop and ask why the rivers of your life are plagued. Have you stubbornly insisted on running your own life? And it isn’t working, because the river is death?
The high never makes you happier. The relationship outside God’s design never satisfies. The drink is never a real escape.
Stop digging for water in places other than Jesus.
Instead of digging down, look up. Lift your hands in surrender and receive His living water.

“Jesus, I’ve been wrong. I won’t trust those things anymore. I’ll trust You alone, starting now.”

Grace Takeaway

God struck the river Egypt trusted, and it turned to blood. Whatever we trust in place of Him will do the same. But Moses’ first sign was water to blood, and Jesus’ first sign was water to wine. The law shows us death; Jesus gives us life. If your river stinks and you’re digging for water, stop. Look up. Jesus is the fountain of living water, and He gives it freely to everyone who comes.

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Plagues 101: Water into Blood