Plague Pops – Salvation only comes from God (Exodus 7-12)

Presented to Maple Creek Corps of The Salvation Army, 10 August, 2014 and Swift Current Saskatchewan, 17 August 2014,by Sarah-Grace Ramsay (Junior Soldier, Swift Current Corps) and to Alberni Valley Ministries in Port Alberni BC on 21 October 2018

If you want to follow along with this recording of Sarah-Grace's practice run of her message, click the links below. Don't forget to read this page here. This is where the good visuals of her cake pops are.

listen to part 1 of the message: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylWQiQ9qaoU&feature=youtu.be
listen to part 2 of the message: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZ3L4JHAgFE&feature=youtu.be
  
God told the Hebrews to always remember the Salvation He provided for them. God sent the plagues to show even Pharaoh and the Egyptians where salvation comes from. Today as we look at the plagues in Exodus, the main thing I want us to remember that Salvation only comes from God. What is the main thing I want us to remember? (Salvation only comes from God)

Reading from Exodus 3:7&8 and 6:1:

3 ⁷ The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering.⁸ So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land a land flowing with milk and honey—

6:1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because of my mighty hand he will let them go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country.”

Does everyone know what a cake pop is? (hold one up) A little dessert. God sent the plagues so that the Egyptians and the Israelites could remember what He has done to and for them. I have made these cake pops so that we will remember what God has done for us. And as the Israelites enjoyed salvation through the plagues, I hope that you will remember God’s salvation as you enjoy the Plague Pops that I have made. Today as we look at the plagues in Exodus, the main thing I want us to remember is that Salvation only comes from God. What is the main thing I want us to remember?

1. Snake Cake Pop

And this brings us to our first cake pop today to help us remember God’s Salvation: the Snake Pop of Aaron. Reading from Exodus: 7:8-9,11-13:

7 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.”

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.

Something I have noticed about this plague is… sometimes, like the magicians we might think that we can do things that God can do without honouring God, but if we fight Him in this way, He will swallow up our rebellion, like Aaron's staff swallowed the magicians’ staffs. So we should think about this as we swallow our Snake Pops after the service today.

Now we are eating snake pops so we will remember that salvation only comes from God - like the Egyptians and the Israelites were to remember - but I am also going to test as we go along here today so that we can try to remember the plagues God used to save them, so what is the first cake pop today? (Snake) What is the main thing I want us to remember? (Salvation only comes from God)

2. Blood

And this brings us to our second plague cake pop today to help us remember God’s Salvation: the Cake Pop of Blood. Reading from Exodus: 7:14-15, 20-22:

7 ¹⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go. ¹⁵ Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes out to the river. Confront him on the bank of the Nile, and take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake. 

²⁰ Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded. He raised his staff in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials and struck the water of the Nile, and all the water was changed into blood. ²¹ The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink its water. Blood was everywhere in Egypt.

²² But the Egyptian magicians did the same things by their secret arts, and Pharaoh’s heart became hard; he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said. 

One question I had when I read about the plague of blood was: Do we ever, like the magicians, try to copy what God is doing in our own strength and just wind up making things worse? The magicians couldn't make water clean (to make things better), they could just make more water turn into blood (making things worse). We can't do or undo what God can do; if we do, we really only will make things worse. This is one thing we should remember as we eat the Plague Pops of Blood.

Again we are eating cake pops so we will remember God’s salvation like the Egyptians and the Israelites were to remember that Salvation comes only from God but we are also going to try to remember what each of the plague pops are; so what is the first cake pop today? (snake) what was the second cake pop? (blood) What is the main thing we should remember about the plague pops? (Salvation only comes from God)

3. Frogs

And this brings us to the 3rd Plague Pop for Salvation: The Cake Pop of the Frogs. Reading from Exodus 8:1-4,7,15:

8 ¹ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so that they may worship e. ² If you refuse to let them go, I will send a plague of frogs on your whole country. ³ The Nile will teem with frogs. They will come up into your palace and your bedroom and onto your bed, into the houses of your officials and on your people, and into your ovens and kneading troughs,⁴ The frogs will come up on you and your people and all your officials.’”

⁷ But the magicians did the same things by their secret arts; they also made frogs come up on the land of Egypt.¹⁵ … [Later] when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart nd would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said.

Something I have noticed about this plague is… Like with the Blood Cake Pop, the magicians could have tried to make things better (which only God really can do) instead of trying to make things worse by adding more frogs that they couldn't get rid of - but they didn’t. When we're in trouble do we give our problems to God to deal with or do we make things worse like the magicians? One thing that struck me as I read about the frogs was that we need to remember to give our problems to God as we experience His salvation.

Review: So what was our first plague pop for Salvation? Second? Third? Very good. What is the main thing for us to remember?

4. Gnats

And this brings us to the 4^th Plague Pop of Salvation, the Cake Pop of the Gnats. Reading from Exodus: 8:16-19:

8 ¹⁶ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the ground,’ and throughout the land of Egypt the dust will become gnats.” ¹⁷ They did this, and when Aaron stretched out his hand with the staff and struck the dust of the ground, gnats came on people and animals. All the dust throughout the land of Egypt became gnats. ¹⁸ But when the magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, they could not.

Since the gnats were on people and animals everywhere, ¹⁹ the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not listen, just as the Lord had said.

Something I have noticed about this plague is…  this time the magicians could not even pretend to do what God did. They couldn't make gnats. But, Pharaoh still didn't turn to God, like God wanted Him to. This is interesting: did you know the word for gnats can also be translated as lice or mosquitoes. Can you imagine what a plague of lice would be like? Or have you ever seen huge swarms of mosquitoes? It would be even worse than that because the plague is so bad that only God (not the magicians) can make that many mosquitoes. So as you eat your Mosquito Pops to remember God’s salvation, let us realize that there are some things that only God can do. 

Review: So what was our first plague pop for Salvation? Second? Third? Fourth? Very good. What is the main thing for us to remember?

5. Flies

This brings us to the 5^th Cake Pop of Salvation: the Plague Pop of the Flies. Reading from Exodus: 8:20-21, 28,32:

²⁰ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and confront Pharaoh as he goes to the river and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me.²¹ If you do not let my people go, I will send swarms of flies on you and your officials, on your people and into your houses. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of flies; even the ground will be covered with them.

²⁸ Pharaoh said, “I will let you go to offer sacrifices to the Lord your God in the wilderness, but you must not go very far. Now pray for me.”

³² But this time also Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not let the people go.

Something I have noticed about this plague is… In the summer we often see flies in our houses. When we see these flies we should always remember to keep our word just as Pharaoh should have kept his word. As well as remembering God’s Salvation, we can also remember this as we devour our fly cake pops.

Review: So what was our first plague pop for Salvation? Second? Third? Fourth? Fifth? Very good. What is the main thing God sent the plagues for us to remember?

6. Cows

This brings us to the next Plague Cake Pop: the Plague Pop of the Dead Livestock. Reading from Exodus: 9:1-7:

9 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: “Let my people go, so that they may worship me.” ² If you refuse to let them go and continue to hold them back, ³ the hand of the Lord will bring a terrible plague on your livestock in the field—on your horses, donkeys and camels and on your cattle, sheep and goats. ⁴ But the Lord will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and that of Egypt, so that no animal belonging to the Israelites will die.’”

⁵ The Lord set a time and said, “Tomorrow the Lord will do this in the land.” ⁶ And the next day the Lord did it: All the livestock of the Egyptians died, but not one animal belonging to the Israelites died. ⁷ Pharaoh investigated and found that not even one of the animals of the Israelites had died. Yet his heart was unyielding and he would not let the people go.

So this is interesting… Something I have noticed about this plague is… God let the Israelites see some of the other plagues but he spared them from this one. God will never give us more than we can handle; just as God helped them with the livestock God will help us when we really need it. We will remember this as we eat our cake pops.

Review: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Most Important thing to remember about the plagues?

7. Boils

And this brings us to our 7^th Cake Pop: the Plague Pop of Boils. Reading from Exodus 9:8-12:

⁸ Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of soot from a furnace and have Moses toss it into the air in the presence of Pharaoh. ⁹ It will become fine dust over the whole land of Egypt, and festering boils will break out on people and animals throughout the land.”

¹⁰ So 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. ¹¹ The magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils that were on them and on all the Egyptians. ¹² But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart and he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said to Moses.

Something I have noticed about this plague is… Note how this time the scripture says, "The Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart", but other times so far it said "Pharaoh hardened his heart" or "Pharaoh's heart was hardened". So, we need to remember that sometimes if we want to harden our hearts, God will harden our hearts for us even though if breaks His heart to do it. We can think about this too as we remember the Salvation that only comes from God while we eat the Plague Pops of the Boils.

Review: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Most Important thing to remember about the plagues?

8. The Plague of Hail

And this brings us to the Cake Pop of the Hail Storm for God’s Salvation. Reading from Exodus: 9:13,14, 18-20:

¹³ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning, confront Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me, ¹⁴ or this time I will send the full force of my plagues against you and against your officials and your people, so you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth…¹⁸ Therefore, at this time tomorrow I will send the worst hailstorm that has ever fallen on Egypt, from the day it was founded till now.¹⁹ Give an order now to bring your livestock and everything you have in the field to a place of shelter, because the hail will fall on every person and animal that has not been brought in and is still out in the field, and they will die.’”

²⁰ Those officials of Pharaoh who feared the word of the Lord hurried to bring their slaves and their livestock inside. ²¹ But those who ignored the word of the Lord left their slaves and livestock in the field.

Something I have noticed about this plague is… God said, "So that you may know there is no one like Me in all the earth." And look, it said that even some of Pharaoh’s officials obeyed God and their people and even their animals were saved. God's doing these plagues because He loves Pharaoh and wants Pharaoh to get to know Him and love Him as well, so Pharaoh will be saved. God doesn’t want anyone to be lost and salvation comes through God alone; So, as we eat our Hail Plague Pop let us remember that Salvation only comes from God and God loves us too and He wants us to be in His Love Family.

Review: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Most Important thing to remember about the plagues?

9. The Plague of Locusts

This will bring us to our next cake pop of Salvation: The Plague Pop of the Locusts. Reading from Exodus: 10:1-6:

10 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these signs of mine among them ² that you may tell your children and grandchildren how I dealt harshly with the Egyptians and how I performed my signs among them, and that you may know that I am the Lord.”

³ So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, “This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, so that they may worship me. ⁴ If you refuse to let them go, I will bring locusts into your country tomorrow. ⁵ They will cover the face of the ground so that it cannot be seen. They will devour what little you have left after the hail, including every tree that is growing in your fields.⁶ They will fill your houses and those of all your officials and all the Egyptians—something neither your parents nor your ancestors have ever seen from the day they settled in this land till now.’” Then Moses turned and left Pharaoh.

Something I have noticed about this plague is… God said, "You may tell your children and grandchildren how I dealt harshly  with the Egyptians and how I performed my signs among them, and that you may know that I am the Lord." So God did the plagues because He loved Pharaoh and also because He loved the Israelites. As we eat these Plague Pops of Locusts, let us remember one more time how much God loves us. This is the most important thing: We are to REMEMBER, we are to remember forever that Salvation only comes from God. 

Review: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. What is the Most Important thing to remember about the plagues?

10. The Plague of Darkness

This leads us to the Plague Pop of Darkness. Reading from Exodus: 10:21-23, 27-29:

²¹ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness spreads over Egypt—darkness that can be felt.” ²² So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and total darkness covered all Egypt for three days. ²³ No one could see anyone else or move about for three days. Yet all the Israelites had light in the places where they lived.

²⁷ But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he was not willing to let them go. ²⁸ Pharaoh said to Moses, “Get out of my sight! Make sure you do not appear before me again! The day you see my face you will die.”

²⁹ “Just as you say,” Moses replied. “I will never appear before you again.”

There is something I find amusing about this plague… The Bible says that it was so dark that no one could see anything or move about for 3 days because it was so dark, yet Pharaoh still says to Moses, "Get out of my sight! Make sure you do not appear before me again!" You see, even in tough times, no matter how hard things get God will give us something to smile about. J Salvation only comes from God.

Review: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8, 9. 10. What is the most Important thing to remember about the plagues?

11. The Plague on the Firstborn

And finally this will bring us to our last Plague Pop: The Plague Pop of Death. Reading from Exodus: 11:1-8:

Now the Lord had said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that, he will let you go from here, and when he does, he will drive you out completely.

⁴ So Moses said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘About midnight I will go throughout Egypt. ⁵ Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the female slave, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well. ⁶ There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt—worse than there has ever been or ever will be again. ⁷ But among the Israelites not a dog will bark at any person or animal.’ Then you will know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel. ⁸ All these officials of yours will come to me, bowing down before me and saying, ‘Go, you and all the people who follow you!’ After that I will leave.” Then Moses, hot with anger, left Pharaoh.

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, ² “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. ³ Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household.

¹² “On that same night [when] I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. ¹³ The blood [of the Passover lamb] will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt. ¹⁴ “This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—a lasting ordinance.

Something I have noticed about this plague is…
Just like God saved His people, the Israelites when the Egyptians firstborns died, God has saved us when His firstborn Son, Jesus died. God saved them through the blood of the Lamb and God saves us through the blood of the lamb. Salvation comes from Christ alone. Review: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8, 9,10, 11. What is the Most Important thing to remember about the plagues?

To go with these plague pops that I have been speaking about, we have made enough cake pops for everyone to have at least one after the service and it really is my hope that as we share these cake pops today that we will do it in remembrance of Jesus and all that God has done for us and I truly do hope that from now on whenever we see a cake pop that we might remember that Salvation only comes from God.

Let us pray: Dear God, Please let us remember that salvation only comes from You, from Christ alone. Amen.