Counterfeit Power Is No Match For God

<Ex 7> 1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet. 2 You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country. 3 But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in Egypt, 4 he will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites. 5 And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it.”

6 Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord commanded them. 7 Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.

8 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 9 “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Perform a miracle,’ then say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,’ and it will become a snake.”

10 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake. 11 Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts: 12 Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. 13 Yet Pharaoh’s heart became hard and he would not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.

Superiority of God over other powers.

• All magicians’ staffs combined no match for one staff of Aaron.
• All false gods cannot triumph over Yahweh, the one true God.
• Whatever tough strongholds in our lives can be broken down.
• God’s word can swallow up our doubts, love for sin, ignorance, folly, etc.
• God can crush all our other faiths.
• “Snakes” that contest God can be sweet temptations or fiery trials, to turn us from the worship of God.
• Easy to say “God is God, and I am not”?
• If God is superior than all others, let us give our undivided heart to the King of kings, and let Him rule over us.

Counterfeit power is no match for God’s real power.

• Imitated power is highly deceptive.
• Can imitate but never outdo.
• Satan disguises as an angel of light <2 Co 11:14>.
• The devil wants people to think that “any god” can do what the real God can, so don’t need to worship that only God.
• <2 Th 2:9-10>: Satanworks by using “all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing.”
• Satan fools even Christians.
• Miracles don’t necessarily refer to God’s working.
• Miracles prove something is supernatural but can’t prove if it is right.

Reactions after seeing miracle is more important than the miracle itself.

• Pharaoh saw many miracles yet still defied God.
• That worsens his judgment.
• God had been merciful to first show the miracle before He sent the plagues.
• When God gave us a sign, may we be quick to heed.
• God’s miracles built up faith of His people, but Pharaoh became more determined to defeat God.
• Miracle itself does not save. Miracles are not the remedy to unbelief.
• God wants us to trust and obey His word.

Reflection

1. Have you ever been deceived by any counterfeit power that may not have come from God? Why was it powerful, and why was it so hard to recognize that it is counterfeit?
2. How have you seen God’s power being superior to “swallow up” other powerful influences/strongholds in your life (e.g., sin, pride, unbelief, love for world/money, self-reliance, etc.)