Passage: Exodus 9:8-12
The Big Idea
The sixth plague came from ashes of a furnace thrown toward heaven, and it broke out in festering boils on Egypt’s people and animals. Even the magicians couldn’t stand. Isaiah later describes rebellious Israel the same way: sick from head to foot, nothing but wounds and festering sores, still offering sacrifices God was sick of. Our own sacrifices can’t cure the sickness of sin. What we need is washing, and the only thing that can wash away sin is the blood of Jesus.
The Plague of Boils (Exodus 9:8-12)
The Lord told Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of soot from a furnace, and have Moses toss it into the air in front of Pharaoh. It will become fine dust over all Egypt and cause festering boils on people and animals throughout the land.” They took soot from a furnace and stood before Pharaoh. Moses tossed it into the air, and festering boils broke out on people and animals. The magicians couldn’t stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils were on them and on all the Egyptians. But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he wouldn’t listen, just as the Lord had said.
What furnace?
Egypt didn’t need furnaces to keep warm. This was “the” furnace, a particular one. It may have been a kiln for the slaves’ bricks, the furnace of their oppression (Deuteronomy 4:20 calls Egypt an “iron furnace”). Some have suggested it was a furnace used for sacrifices to Egypt’s gods. Either way, the very thing Egypt used to serve itself or its gods became the source of its judgment.
(Speaking of furnaces, remember Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego? Daniel 3.)
Do Our Sacrifices Fix Things?
Sacrifices are what we give up to try to change our circumstances, to please God or the gods. They’re what we think God wants from us.
But is that what God wants? Does He want you bringing your own sacrifices to calm His anger or end your troubles? Are you living your life trying to make sacrifices to God, like Pharaoh?
What was Pharaoh told to do? Obey. He didn’t. He chose to sin, rebel and turn away.
God’s people do the same thing sometimes. We do.
Sick from Head to Foot (Isaiah 1)
Isaiah opens with God’s lament: He raised children, and they rebelled against Him. Even an ox knows its owner and a donkey knows where its master feeds it, but Israel didn’t know Him. They were a sinful nation, weighed down with guilt, who had abandoned the Lord. Why keep getting beaten? They just kept rebelling. From head to foot there was no healthy spot left on them, only wounds, welts and open sores, never cleaned, bandaged or soothed (Isaiah 1:2-6).
- Even God’s people experience this kind of “plague” when they live like Egypt.
- Look at their choices: rebellion, sin, guilt, evil-doing, corruption, forsaking the Lord, turning their backs.
So what should God’s people do once they’ve made bad choices and are living with the consequences?
Here’s what they did: tried their best. Got religious. Did what they figured they should have been doing all along. Made sacrifices. But God said, in effect:
Why all these sacrifices? I’ve had more than enough of your burnt offerings. I take no pleasure in the blood of your animals. Who asked you to come tramp through My courts? Stop bringing worthless offerings; your incense disgusts Me. Your holy days and gatherings mixed with sin, I hate them. They’re a burden I’m tired of carrying. When you lift your hands to pray, I’ll look away. However much you pray, I won’t listen, because your hands are covered with blood (Isaiah 1:11-15).
Here’s the puzzle: these were the very things God told them to do. It looks like they were following instructions. So why is God so displeased?
- Because they did it all without faith, trusting themselves and their efforts, not God’s grace and love.
- Think about it: if God only wanted the right actions, He couldn’t be upset when people outwardly do the right things. But if God commanded them to trust Him, then outward actions can be faked by unbelieving hearts.
- That’s hypocrisy: looking godly on the outside while not truly trusting Him on the inside.
Look at God’s heart toward empty religion: What’s the point? I’ve had enough. You dishonor Me. Your efforts are futile. It stinks to Me. I can’t bear it. I won’t even look. I won’t listen.
Maybe we thought God is so loving He just accepts whatever anyone wants to believe. No. He is holy. Sin makes it impossible for us to honor Him, and no number of sacrifices will fix it. They’ll only make it worse.
Wash and Be Clean (Isaiah 1:16-20)
But our loving God offers a wonderful solution:
Wash and make yourselves clean. Get your evil out of My sight. Stop doing wrong and learn to do right: pursue justice, stand up for the oppressed, defend orphans and widows. Then God invites, “Come, let’s settle this”: even if your sins are scarlet, they’ll be white as snow; even if they’re deep red, they’ll be like wool. If you’re willing and obedient, you’ll enjoy the good of the land; if you refuse and rebel, the sword will devour you (Isaiah 1:16-20).
- God says your sacrifice isn’t the answer. You need washing.
- There is a washing that takes sin away. That’s the solution.
- “Willing and obedient.” Obey what? God’s Word, the gospel. Peter asks what the outcome will be for those who don’t obey the gospel of God (1 Peter 4:17).
Law and faith
- God gave Israel many laws. But they came 430 years after Abraham was already in a covenant relationship with God (Galatians 3:17).
- So our relationship with God isn’t built on laws. It’s built on faith: faith in His Word and His promises to provide everything we need, including to wash us.
- The law is holy and perfect. But it measures us and shows us how sinful we are. Scripture never says we can measure up to it. The law says we’re guilty and dirty. It’s not there for us to imitate; it shows us the standard and convinces us we need a Savior (Galatians 3:24).
And Jesus is that Savior. When we realize we aren’t innocent and need cleaning, He comes into our hearts and cleans us from the inside out. The law can only make someone look good on the outside. It can’t change a heart.
That’s why Pharaoh’s sacrifices and our efforts don’t matter. Nothing can change the heart except God’s grace. It’s a real inner work of God, not our attempts to please Him.
“Wash Me” (Psalm 51:7)
David prayed, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”
- David was unclean. He’d committed sins deserving death, sins that wouldn’t go away on their own.
- Hyssop was the plant used to sprinkle sacrificial blood. David wanted the blood applied directly to him.
- He was confident that if God did the cleaning, he’d be whiter than snow, as if it never happened. God can change the inside.
Jesus knelt before Peter with a towel around His waist and said, “If I don’t wash you, you have no part with Me” (John 13:8). He still stands ready to do the work we so desperately need. We just need to humble ourselves and let Him.
To the praise of His glorious grace, He made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace (Ephesians 1:6-7).
This plague shows us our need for the blood of Jesus to cleanse us within.
Drawing Near
“Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Corinthians 7:1).
- These promises are the New Covenant’s better promises (Hebrews 8:6). God promises to supply all the cleansing we need through His Son. So we take hold of the Son and depend on Him.
How? “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded” (James 4:8).
- Draw near to God, God the Son.
- He purifies everyone who comes to Him in faith and dependence.
- Living by grace isn’t passive. It’s very active, but active in drawing near to God.
- He won’t wash someone who doesn’t want it or doesn’t think they need it. “I’ll keep living my way and doing what I want, and someday Jesus will just change me by magic” isn’t believing the gospel. It’s a counterfeit of grace. Real grace draws us to Him in humility and faith.
What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
It’s not our sacrifices that matter. It’s the sacrifice of Jesus our Savior. His blood was given so our hearts could be saved and changed.
Jesus said, “If anyone wants to follow Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow Me” (Luke 9:23). That’s impossible for the natural heart. But with a new heart, we come to want what He commands. He gives it all as we draw near in full assurance of faith (Hebrews 10:22).
Grace Takeaway
Boils are what sin looks like on the outside, and Isaiah says sin leaves us sick from head to foot. Religious effort can’t heal it; God was weary of sacrifices offered without faith. But He still says, “Come, let’s reason together. Though your sins are like scarlet, they’ll be white as snow.” The cure isn’t your sacrifice. It’s His. Draw near, and let Jesus wash you.
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