How does Exodus 7:15 connect to God's deliverance themes throughout the Bible? Setting the scene in Exodus 7:15 “Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he is going out to the water. Stand on the bank of the Nile to meet him and take in your hand the staff that was turned into a serpent.” • Egypt’s king is about to meet Israel’s God at the Nile—the nation’s lifeline. • The same staff that swallowed Pharaoh’s magicians’ serpents (Exodus 7:12) becomes a visible reminder that the Lord has already proven supreme. • Everything that follows—the plagues, the Passover, the parting of the sea—flows from this first riverside confrontation, setting in motion a story of rescue that echoes through all of Scripture. A pattern of confrontation and deliverance • God steps toward the oppressor; His people need not initiate the fight. • The showdown is public. Pharaoh goes to the water at dawn; Moses stands waiting, staff in hand. • The Lord’s method is consistent: expose counterfeit power, reveal His own superiority, and free those in bondage. Echoes in Israel’s history • Red Sea – “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the LORD’s salvation…” (Exodus 14:13-14) – The same staff raised over the sea (14:16) repeats the Nile moment on a cosmic scale. • Jordan River – “When the soles of the feet of the priests… touch the waters of the Jordan, its flowing waters will be cut off…” (Joshua 3:13) – New generation, same God, same watery barrier miraculously opened. • Gideon’s three hundred (Judges 7:7) – Overwhelming odds shrink so that the Lord alone receives glory for the rescue. • David and Goliath – “It is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves…” (1 Samuel 17:47) – One shepherd confronts a tyrant, echoing Moses before Pharaoh. Foreshadowing the ultimate Deliverer • Passover lamb → Christ – “For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.” (1 Corinthians 5:7) • River to wilderness → Jordan to Galilee – Jesus is baptized in the same river that once parted, stepping forth to announce liberty to captives (Luke 4:18). • Staff in hand → Cross on shoulder – “Having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” (Colossians 2:15) – Pharaoh falls in Exodus; Satan falls at Calvary. • Freedom from fear of death – “He… might destroy him who holds the power of death… and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.” (Hebrews 2:14-15) Consummation of deliverance • Revelation sings the combined “song of Moses and of the Lamb” beside “a sea of glass” (Revelation 15:2-3). • The final Exodus is global and eternal—every Pharaoh-like power silenced, every captive child of God secure. Living in the light of deliverance • Past: “He has delivered us from such a deadly peril…” (2 Colossians 1:10) • Present: He “will deliver us again” (same verse). • Future: “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31-32) • Therefore, like Moses on the Nile’s bank, we stand firm, staff of faith in hand, confident that the Lord who once parted the waters still confronts tyranny and still carries His people through. |
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