The Powers Are Good, Fallen, and Redeemable

The seventh plague brings thunder, hail, and fire, and the plagues are getting worse. The first cycles showed God’s power over nature and Egypt’s livestock. This third cycle brings death to human beings. Egypt cannot keep treating Pharaoh’s authority as ultimate when God is Lord over all the earth.

Moses gives Egypt a warning before the hail falls. God tells Egyptians to bring their people and livestock under shelter, and that warning shows concern for needless loss of life. The hail is not only about getting the Hebrew slaves free. The plague gives theological instruction to Egypt: there is no one like God in all the earth. Some of Pharaoh’s courtiers fear God enough to act on the warning. Their faith is small, but fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.

Pharaoh admits his offense while the storm is falling, but his heart hardens again when the danger passes. Pharaoh is committed to an unjust status quo. His refusal to let the people go reveals that Egypt’s regime is in a death spiral. The earth itself cries out against tyranny, just as Abel’s blood cried out from the ground. Pharaoh brings the plagues upon himself because oppression damages people, creation, and the whole fabric of life.

The Holocaust makes raw claims about God’s power hard to say. Elie Wiesel’s image of God hanging on the gallows with the suffering boy names a God who is present in evil rather than standing far away from it. Evil breaks God’s heart. Moses nevertheless sees that Pharaoh’s regime cannot continue without bringing death, and God opens the prophet’s eyes to name that truth.

Egypt represents the powers that dominate and shape life: businesses, schools, governments, and institutions. The powers were created good, the powers have fallen, and the powers must be redeemed. Businesses have a divine purpose when they serve the public and provide real goods. Businesses become idolatrous when profit, market share, brand, or shareholder value becomes the highest good.

God does not give up on Egypt because God is the God of Egypt too. Christ holds together thrones, dominions, rulers, and powers. The church therefore cannot simply bless institutions as good, nor dismiss them as hopelessly corrupt. God seeks to redeem the world, call the powers back to their divine purpose, and make life what it was intended to be.

##

---

Key Takeaways

• 1. God warns before judgment falls. God’s warning to Egypt opens a way of shelter even for people inside the oppressive society. Judgment is not presented as careless destruction, because God gives people a chance to respond. Fear of God begins when people stop trusting Pharaoh’s world and take God’s word seriously. [13:50]
• 2. Tyranny makes creation cry out. Pharaoh’s oppression is not merely a political problem between rulers and slaves. His tyranny tears at creation itself, just as Cain’s violence caused Abel’s blood to cry from the ground. Sin always damages more than the sinner intends, because human beings live in relationship with other people and the earth. [22:41]
• 3. God suffers in the midst of evil. The horror of Auschwitz refuses easy claims that every disaster is God’s direct punishment. Wiesel’s gallows image points toward God’s presence with those who suffer under evil. Evil breaks God’s heart, and God’s solidarity with suffering people does not make evil less evil. [19:28]
• 4. The powers were created for good. Businesses, governments, schools, and institutions have a divine purpose because all things were created through Christ and for Christ. Their goodness is not proved by their size, success, or profit. Their goodness appears when they serve the common good rather than their own self-interest. [24:03]
• 5. The powers must be redeemed. Faith cannot settle for saying that institutions are simply good or simply corrupt. God seeks to transform the powers, even when old leadership and old habits cling to death. The church is called to help bring institutions back to the purposes for which God created them.
  
  ## [30:11]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [12:07] - The Seventh Plague Begins
• [13:25] - Hail as Warning and Judgment
• [14:38] - God of All the Earth
• [15:52] - Shelter for Egypt
• [17:12] - Pharaoh’s Hardened Heart
• [18:07] - God’s Power and Human Suffering
• [19:05] - Elie Wiesel and the Gallows
• [21:24] - Moses Names Egypt’s Death Spiral
• [22:41] - Creation Cries Out Against Tyranny
• [23:41] - The Powers Created, Fallen, Redeemed
• [25:27] - Businesses and Their Divine Purpose
• [29:10] - God Seeks to Redeem the Powers
• [31:24] - The Church Calls Powers Back
• [32:37] - God Keeps Reaching Out

Bible Reading

Exodus 9:13-35
“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."'"' Those among the servants of Pharaoh who feared the word of the Lord hurried to bring his servants and his livestock into the houses, but those who did not pay attention to the word of the Lord left his servants 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.” [12:07]

Colossians 1:16-17
“For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” [24:46]

Genesis 4:10
“And the Lord said, 'What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground.” [22:41]

Observation questions

1. What warning does Moses give Egypt before the hail begins, and what practical shelter is offered to people and livestock? [14:14]
2. How do some of Pharaoh’s officials respond differently from Pharaoh when they hear God’s warning? [16:30]
3. What does Pharaoh confess during the storm, and what changes once the hail and rain stop? [17:19]
4. What kinds of “powers” or institutions are named as shaping people’s lives, and what purpose are they meant to serve? [25:21]

Interpretation questions

1. Why might God give Egyptians an opportunity to seek shelter instead of allowing the plague to fall without warning? What does that reveal about God’s concern even for people living within an oppressive society? [16:14]
2. Pharaoh admits wrongdoing while he is afraid, yet returns to the same injustice once the danger is gone. What does this pattern suggest about the difference between regret over consequences and genuine repentance? [17:37]
3. Genesis describes Abel’s blood crying out from the ground. How does that image help explain the claim that Pharaoh’s oppression harms not only enslaved people but also the whole creation? [22:44]
4. Colossians says that rulers and powers were created through and for Christ. How does that keep Christians from treating governments, businesses, and schools as either automatically good or completely beyond hope? [30:09]

Application questions

1. God’s warning gave people in Egypt a real opportunity to respond. Is there an area of life where God may be calling you to take a warning seriously—through Scripture, prayer, a trusted friend, or the consequences of your choices? What might it look like to seek shelter in God rather than delay? [13:41]
2. Pharaoh’s heart hardens again when the crisis passes. Have you ever made promises to God during a difficult season but drifted back to old habits after things improved? What practice could help you remain faithful when life becomes easier? [17:37]
3. Sin damages more than the person who commits it; it affects neighbors, communities, and creation. Where can you see the effects of self-interest or injustice in relationships, workplaces, or the wider community? How might you respond without becoming cynical? [23:11]
4. God is present with those who suffer, and evil breaks God’s heart. When someone is suffering from violence, loss, or injustice, what words or actions communicate God’s compassion better than quick explanations? [20:43]
5. Think about a workplace, school, business, government agency, or other institution that affects your daily life. What good purpose does it serve, and where might it be tempted to value profit, image, power, or self-protection above the common good? [26:13]
6. The powers were created good, have fallen, and must be redeemed. Which of those three truths is easiest for you to believe, and which is hardest? How could holding all three together change the way you speak about institutions you support or criticize? [32:54]
7. God seeks to redeem the world, not merely rescue individuals from it. What is one small but concrete way you or this group could encourage a local institution to better serve people and reflect its God-given purpose? [31:24]