The Tenth Plague: Death of the Firstborn

 

Exodus 12:29-32

 

August 27, 2024

 

 

The Tenth Plague: Death of the Firstborn

At midnight, the Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock.  And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead.  Then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, “Up, go out from among my people, both you and the people of Israel; and go, serve the Lord, as you have said.  Take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone, and bless me also!”

 

Two areas we need to give thought to as followers of Christ, first, nations that worship little gods and will not acknowledge that God has total authority over all people and, things, is on dangerous ground.  The next are leaders or people who are consumed with self, who are to be pitied.  Pharaoh has just lost his firstborn, and he is thinking only of himself, Bless me also!”

What our take away from this Scripture is that God allowed His Son, His only Son, to leave His place as God, and where He was worshiped, to take the form of a man, to be born of a virgin, and to live under the authority of a dad & mother who did not always understand what the angels had told them before He was born. 

 Pharaoh and the others had more children, but God sent His only Son to take your punishment, by dying for your sins and mine.  The price has been paid. What is the price of your redemption; death to all you value, all the things you sought to fill that hole in your heart, without Jesus?  Now let me tell you, the gift that is waiting, peace, joy, being loved by God, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

 

The Passover

  

Exodus 12:1-28

 

August 25, 2024

 

The Passover

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,  “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you.  Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month, every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household.  And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat, you shall make your count for the lamb.  Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats,  and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight. 

This was a very important time in the congregation of Israel. Obedience would bring blessing and disobedience God’s Wrath.  Do we, as part of the body of Christ, His Church, seek obedience?  Do we believe that obedience brings blessing?  If so, what does disobedience bring?

“Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.  They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it.  Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts.  And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn.  In this manner, you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover.  For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord.  The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.

We have this insight from Hebrews 9:22, “Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.”  Would God have your undivided attention if you were an Israelite?  As a follower of Christ, does He have your undivided attention?  What is your boundary? Is the Written Word of God? If not, you may be much like many children who are not given boundaries, and it is common knowledge that they live in confusion and frustration.  God has boundaries, such as loving the Lord your God with all your heart and mind.  Love your neighbor as yourself.  We are subject to all authority.  And many more, what happens when you live as if you are in Charge?

“This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast.  Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day, you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.  On the first day, you shall hold a holy assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly. No work shall be done on those days. But what everyone needs to eat, that alone may be prepared by you.   And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore, you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever.  In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening.  For seven days, no leaven is to be found in your houses. If anyone eats what is leavened, that person will be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land.  You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwelling places you shall eat unleavened bread.”

Did Jesus tell you and me to be on guard against the leaven of this world, against false teaching, and the love of money?  The yeast of the Pharisees was hypocrisy; he talks about that in Mark 8:15, “And he cautioned them, saying, “Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” And in Matthew 16:6, and Luke 12:1, “In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, 'Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.”

Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and select lambs for yourselves according to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb.  Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning.  For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you.  You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever.  And when you come to the land that the Lord will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this service.  And when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’  you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.’” And the people bowed their heads and worshiped.

Then the people of Israel went and did so; as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.

Many of our law enforcement agencies use safe houses, but we know that sometimes bad things still happen to those in the safe house.  That was not true; the Israelites were under the full protection of God as long as they obeyed and stayed in the house while the death angel passed over.  It was the blood on the door; it is the blood that Jesus shed for you and me that gives us safe passage 

into our Father’s arms.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

A Final Plague Threatened

Exodus 11:1-10

 

August 24, 2024

 

A Final Plague Threatened

The Lord said to Moses, “Yet one plague more I will bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt. Afterward, he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will drive you away completely.   Speak now in the hearing of the people, that they ask, every man of his neighbor and every woman of her neighbor, for silver and gold jewelry.”  And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants, and in the sight of the people.

So, Moses said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘About midnight I w                                                                   ill go out in the midst of Egypt,  and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the cattle.  There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor ever will be again.  But not a dog shall growl against any of the people of Israel, either man or beast, that you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.’  And all these your servants shall come down to me and bow down to me, saying, ‘Get out, you and all the people who follow you.’ And after that, I will go out.” And he went out from Pharaoh in hot anger.  Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not listen to you, that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.”

Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh, and the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the people of Israel go out of his land.

 

A final plague threatened, and after all the other plagues that Moses had told Pharaoh, God was going to do if he did not let the people of Israel leave.  One must wonder if Pharaoh cared about the people, not even his firstborn.  Scripture is quiet on if the word leaked out to the people of Egypt, but if it did, they as a whole are saying let the people go, we experience blood, frogs, gnats, flies, Livestock die, boils, hail, Locusts, darkness, and why should our firstborn of everything die.  Pharaoh was put there by God, and it is God who has hardened Pharaoh's heart.  It brings us back to this Scripture to what God spoke to the prophet Isaiah, found in Isaiah 55:8-9, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

 

Neither you nor I would have done it this way, and that is why you are not God. Moses and Aaron knew that God was in charge, and that is what God wants you and me to understand.  Your worst fear of how this Presidential election will turn out is VP Harris or President Trump leading our nation.  One back to some semblance of our Constitution, the other to Marxism.  And just like Pharaoh God will do His will, and it will have much to do with, this Scripture that many quote, 2 Chronicles 7:14 “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

A nation that hopes hangs on the word “IF” God is not referring to non-believers in Jesus, but those who have entered into a personal relationship with Him.  It was true with the people of Israel then and now, and it is true with His Church, and we are not referring to those who go by the title Christian, but those who are His children by grace and faith in the finished work of the Cross.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

 

 

The Ninth Plague: Darkness

 Exodus 10:21-29

 

August 23, 2024

 

The Ninth Plague: Darkness

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness to be felt.” So, Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was pitch darkness in all the land of Egypt three days.  They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days, but all the people of Israel had light where they lived.  Then Pharaoh called Moses and said, “Go, serve the Lord; your little ones also may go with you; only let your flocks and your herds remain behind.”  But Moses said, “You must also let us have sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.  Our livestock also must go with us; not a hoof shall be left behind, for we must take of them to serve the Lord our God, and we do not know with what we must serve the Lord until we arrive there.”  But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let them go.  Then Pharaoh said to him, “Get away from me; take care never to see my face again, for on the day you see my face you shall die.”  Moses said, “As you say! I will not see your face again.”

 

When I was in my teens, our family went to Carlsbad Caverns. As we went farther into the cave, they stopped in a large room, turned off the lights, and sang Rock of Ages.  I could not see my hand in front of my face, nor anyone else in that large group of people.

 

Neither you nor I could navigate in such darkness, and yet God is still keeping Pharaoh's heart hardened, for a reason we will see on the final day of the plague.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

 

The Eighth Plague: Locusts

  

Exodus 10:1-20

 

August 22, 2024

 

The Eighth Plague: Locusts

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go into Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may show these signs of mine among them,  and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and of your grandson how I have dealt harshly with the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them, that you may know that I am the Lord.”

 

Have you shared this with your family, your wife, sons, and daughters?

 

So, Moses and Aaron went into Pharaoh and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me.  For if you refuse to let my people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country, and they shall cover the face of the land so that no one can see the land. And they shall eat what is left to you after the hail, and they shall eat every tree of yours that grows in the field, and they shall fill your houses and the houses of all your servants and of all the Egyptians, as neither your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen, from the day they came on earth to this day.’” Then he turned and went out from Pharaoh.

 

Then Pharaoh's servants said to him, “How long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not yet understand that Egypt is ruined?”  So, Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. And he said to them, “Go, serve the Lord your God. But which ones are to go?”  Moses said, “We will go with our young and our old. We will go with our sons and daughters and with our flocks and herds, for we must hold a feast to the Lord.”  But he said to them, “The Lord be with you, if ever I let you and your little ones go! Look, you have some evil purpose in mind. No! Go, the men among you, and serve the Lord, for that is what you are asking.” And they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence.

 

Pharaoh is not stupid; he knows if they take everything, they have no reason to come back.

 

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, so that they may come upon the land of Egypt and eat every plant in the land, all that the hail has left.”  So, Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind upon the land all that day and all that night. When it was morning, the east wind had brought the locusts. The locusts came up over all the land of Egypt and settled on the whole country of Egypt, such a dense swarm of locusts as had never been before, nor ever will be again. They covered the face of the whole land, so that the land was darkened, and they ate all the plants in the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Not a green thing remained, neither tree nor plant of the field, through all the land of Egypt.  Then Pharaoh hastily called Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against the Lord your God, and against you.  Now therefore, forgive my sin, please, only this once, and plead with the Lord your God only to remove this death from me.”  So, he went out from Pharaoh and pleaded with the Lord.  And the Lord turned the wind into a very strong west wind, which lifted the locusts and drove them into the Red Sea. Not a single locust was left in all the country of Egypt. But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the people of Israel go.

 

One must wonder what God wants, not only for His people to see, and the Egyptians, that He keeps hardening the heart of Pharaoh.  Yes, it is so they will acknowledge that He is God over all people and things, but there is more He wants them and you and me to fully understand.

 

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

The Seventh Plague: Hail

 Exodus 9: 3-35

 

August 29, 2025

 

The Seventh Plague: Hail

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Rise up early in the morning and present yourself before Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “Let my people go, that they may serve me.  For this time, I will send all my plagues on you yourself, and on your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth.  For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth.  But for this purpose, I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.  You are still exalting yourself against my people and will not let them go.  Behold, about this time tomorrow, I will cause very heavy hail to fall, such as never has been in Egypt from the day it was founded until now.  Now therefore send, get your livestock and all that you have in the field into safe shelter, for every man and beast that is in the field and is not brought home will die when the hail falls on them.” Then whoever feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh hurried his slaves and his livestock into the houses,  but whoever did not pay attention to the word of the Lord left his slaves and his livestock in the field.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, so that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, on man and beast and every plant of the field, in the land of Egypt.”  Then Moses stretched out his staff toward heaven, and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down to the earth. And the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt.  There was hail and fire flashing continually in the midst of the hail, very heavy hail, such as had never been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. The hail struck down everything that was in the field in all the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And the hail struck down every plant of the field and broke every tree of the field.  Only in the land of Goshen, where the people of Israel were, was there no hail.

Then Pharaoh sent and called Moses and Aaron and said to them, “This time I have sinned; the Lord is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong.  Plead with the Lord, for there has been enough of God's thunder and hail. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.”  Moses said to him, “As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will stretch out my hands to the Lord. The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth is the Lord's.  But as for you and your servants, I know that you do not yet fear the Lord God.”  (The flax and the barley were struck down, for the barley was in the ear and the flax was in bud.  But the wheat and the emmer were not struck down, for they are late in coming up.)  So Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh and stretched out his hands to the Lord, and the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain no longer poured upon the earth.  But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet again and hardened his heart, he and his servants.  So, the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people of Israel go, just as the Lord had spoken through Moses.

 

Have you ever wondered what grace and mercy look like and gone to the New Testament to understand?  Then you missed much of what God has shown us in the Old Testament about grace and mercy.  Maybe rereading the very top of the paper highlighted in yellow, once more, will help.  First, God allowed a hardhearted Pharaoh to rule, to show God’s authority over all things.  Why, so not only the Egyptians but also the chosen people, the Jewish people, would believe in Him.  In August 2025, not one thing has changed. God is still sending the same message to the nations; it is not about you, it is all about God.  And He will use leaders of nations to show His power; some will be like Pharaoh, and do evil, and some will be like King David and repent when they have done evil.

 

It reminds me of a family that lived down the street from us and were not seekers of Truth; Jesus is the Truth.  They had an older daughter, a son my age with whom we were best friends, and a younger son, who became very sick, and things did not look like he would live long.  Our pastor visited them, and they vowed that if God would heal their son, they would come to church.  God healed their son, but like Pharaoh, they hardened their hearts, and the young son lived a life that only brought the same on his family, and died at a young age.  A vow to God is not something one should do as a bargaining chip; He always holds us to our promises.

 

From our Back Porch,

Bob Rice

A Time for Confession

                                                           A Time for Confession

 

Sixty years of Marriage

 

Now, I will address some issues that need to be addressed before I confess.  Some of you came to our 57wedding anniversary dinner and celebration.  I had given a detailed instruction on how and who I wanted to thank for being used of God to get us to 57 years of marriage.  In my instruction, I had left out the most important name, Jesus Christ. 

How my older grandson, John Mark, called me and said, Bob- Bob, that's what they have called me from the beginning, we do not need a fore mat, we will wing it.  And that's how it was done.

Why 57 years? It was because neither Jan nor I was sure that we would see a 60^th at that time.  On December 28, 2020 I went into the hospital believing I had covid 19, on the 27, I had a treatment where they put some chemical in my body at the Seguin hospital that took three hours, one hour and a half, to put it in my veins, and then I had to sit for another hour and a half to see if it was going to have side effect. 

 

The next morning, my brother called to check on me, and I told him I had never felt that bad in my life.  Before taking the stuff, I was not feeling bad at all.  When I was admitted into the hospital, they told my daughter it was not COVID, but my sodium levels were way below 100.  Now, I’m a child of God, and I had no way of knowing that He had a kidney doctor in the Hospital visiting patients, and they grab her and say We've never seen anyone with sodium this low, what should we do.  And she told them what to do.  The next morning, Dr. Banks came into my room and introduced herself.  Mr. Rice, good morning. I’m Dr. Banks, and this morning God woke me at 1:30, praying for you.  I began to cry like a small child. My daughter was also in the room, and she began to visit with Dr. Banks, and when I got my composure, I thanked her and told her what it meant to me, that God spoke to her, and she did as instructed. Now that the kind of Doctor I would wish for everyone.

 

So, when are we going to arrive at your confession, and I feel a few more facts are needed to make you have a better understanding of my confession.

 

Jan was 18, and I was 23, when we got married; neither of us understood what we were promising in our wedding vows.  However, we both understood that we had seen our parents live together for many years and raise a family.  But love, I understood lust and commitment, but had no real understanding of love.  We were both Baptists, we tithed and had attended Church regularly till marriage.  

After attending a Bible Study for six months, I came to understand that the other 5 men knew the Jesus I was informed about.  One night after trying for months to make a deal with God, He confronted me as I put the key into my hotel room. At about 10 pm, I heard a voice in my head say, Tonight, the last time my Spirit will deal with you.  I ran for the hotel Bible and it opened to Romans 10, and my eyes went to verses 9-10, “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For with the heart, one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”  

That night, my identity was changed.  From Baptist to a Child of God, and once more, I had no clue what all that meant.  About a year later, Jan told me she had asked Christ to be her Lord. I had not learned at this point, but had read that God loves me.  Now I knew what a rascal I was and had a hard time loving myself, much less believing God could love me.  My friend John Anderson’s who often calls Jan by the wrong name, but being single, loves to come to dinner and eat her pies.  Johnny often would say; Bob, you're too harsh with Jan, and I knew that was true.  Once more, I was learning how to allow God to show His love for me.  

So, my confession is that for many years, I was searching for how to be loved, and Jesus began to show me. My first mentor, Jack Archer, said I want you to read this book.  It was “Faith is the Victory.” My eyes were open to how much God loves you and me.  And over the many years and great men God sent to teach me how to love my wife, Carrol Ray Jr. was used to open my eyes to the key to love, Jan, ask Jesus to love her through me.  And I did, and He did as promised.

We both have had many people ask us what the secret to 60 years of marriage is, and I have never told the truth; it had not one nothing to do with our actions.  It had everything to do with Jesus, who lives in us, giving us the desire to obey him, and I now know how to love, Jan.  She is not only my best friend, but we have become one.  And in our thirties, I almost left my wife and little girls. It haunts me that I could have lost what God has done for us and allowed us to be part of watching Byron and Natalie raise our two grandsons to become men who love the Lord.

So, my confession is that the reason for 60 years of marriage is Jesus doing it all for us.

From our Back Porch,

Bob Rice