July 20, 2025 - I Have Made You as God to Pharaoh (Exodus 7:1-7)

I have made you as God to Pharaoh (Exodus 7:1-7)

Rev. Myung-Sin Choi

1 So the Lord said to Moses: “See, I have made you as God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet. 2 You shall speak all that I command you. And Aaron your brother shall tell Pharaoh to send the children of Israel out of his land. 3 And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt. 4 But Pharaoh will not heed you, so that I may lay My hand on Egypt and bring My armies and My people, the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. 5 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out My hand on Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from among them.” 6 Then Moses and Aaron did so; just as the Lord commanded them, so they did. 7 And Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three years old when they spoke to Pharaoh. 

Introduction

Last week, our remnants had the Vacation Bible School (VBS) in Oklahoma and it was able to end well. During the day, I listened to the sermon and on YouTube, I saw some videos. I saw all of the floods that were happening all over the world. I was wondering what God’s plan was when looking at these videos. There are many unfortunate events happening right now. But while watching these videos, I thought that the angels that are with me right now, they are also seeing what I am seeing. Also, God sees and knows what is going on right now. Thinking about all of my footsteps and everything I am doing, God is constantly watching and with me. I don’t know about you but when you watch a video, do you think about how angels and God are always watching you? If you think about this while seeing things, then you should be thankful. I wonder what angels and God are thinking when they see these things? What is absolute is that, we may not see it with our visible eyes but God is always watching and with you. Last week, we received a very important message. Moses received God’s command and told God that his lips were incompetent. This means that his lips were uncircumcised lips. He was saying that he was incompetent. He was acknowledging his powerlessness to God. 

1. The Lord's Answer

(1) I have made you as God

What Moses felt when he confessed this, we can see in Exodus 6:12, 20 “And Moses spoke before the Lord, saying, ‘The children of Israel have not heeded me. How then shall Pharaoh heed me, for I am of uncircumcised lips?’ 20 Now Amram took for himself Jochebed, his father’s sister, as wife; and she bore him Aaron and Moses. And the years of the life of Amram were one hundred and thirty-seven.” - Even Moses felt shameful about his family line and family background. Moses kept confessing his family background was incompetent but God was pleased with Moses’ confessions and acknowledgements. 

Before God used Jeremiah, God received Jeremiah’s confession. Jeremiah 1:6 “Then said I: ‘Ah, Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth.’ ” - God was pleased with this confession and told Jeremiah not to worry because God was with him. 

What we must always remember is 1 Corinthians 1:27 “But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty.” - Hold onto the covenant. Who is God pleased with? Who will God use? Hold onto these things. We may be lacking and weak but that has nothing to do with God. God uses those who confess that they are lacking and powerless. 

When Moses confessed to God that he was powerless and incompetent, God gave him an answer in Verse 1 - I pray that you receive this blessing. The blessing that Moses received, may you receive the same blessing. 

(2) The testimony of the prophet

Verse 2 - This is an important message. Moses had to take the role as God’s servant. This was what God was telling Moses. Moses’ brother, Aaron, will be his prophet. In other words, Moses will be God’s servant and Aaron will take on the role as God’s prophet. A servant just needs to relay the words of his master. Moses had the role of a servant, where he just relays God’s words. A servant just takes the words of his master and relays it to the people. What the servants say to the people, it is not his own words but they are the words of the master. When is God’s power revealed? People’s power and wisdom does not matter. When God’s words are relayed, the power of God shows. A servant just needs to relay the words of God. It has nothing to do with the amount of power or intellect you have. I listened to a testimony of an elder and I was very moved. He is basically known as a president of having great economical power in this world. He was determined and went to Europe to learn more about finances, and his mother had a great walk of faith. Before he left for Europe, his mother gave him a letter. On the airplane, he opened the letter and there was no money inside but just a letter. When he read the letter, his mother told him that his Father God of your father will protect and guide you. So, he held onto this as his covenant and left for Europe. This started his journey in Europe. His dream was to go to Oxford University because it is known as one of the best universities in Europe. When he arrived in Oxford, before he entered, he walked around the campus and prayed for two days. He prayed to God and prayed that he needed to get admitted to Oxford. After two days, he finally went inside and met with the professor. When he was filling out paperwork, the secretary asked him what his purpose was for his visit to Oxford. And, the elder said that he wanted to attend this school so the secretary went inside to talk with the dean of the school and told him that he could not be admitted to Oxford. After he received this denial, he was not disappointed because he believed in the power of God. He continuously continued to walk around the campus just like the Israelites circled around the wall of Jericho for a couple of days. The secretary kept seeing this elder walking around the campus for numerous days. She felt sorry for him and asked him why he was walking around this campus. The elder told the secretary that he wanted to meet with the dean to know the reason why he was denied admission to Oxford so the secretary let him meet the dean. The dean told this elder that Oxford is a very expensive school and you need great credentials to enter this school. This student told the dean that he had great skills and credentials, and if he is lacking, he wants to learn from this school. When the dean heard this, the dean asked this student if he had money to study at this school. The student told the dean that he needs scholarships from this school. Eventually, this student was able to receive a scholarship and was able to study at Oxford. He relied on God and held onto God’s covenant, and he was able to experience God’s power. He studied very hard at Oxford and after he finished his studies, he went to America. It was a very hard journey to go from Europe to America so before he went to America, he wrote down 10 reasons why he needed to go to America to the immigration services. The last reason he wrote was, if you don’t let me in, then you will lose something great. The person who read his letter, the person asked the elder if America really needed him? The elder confidently replied saying yes. The person who heard his response was deeply moved. After his interview, he was approved to go to America. This elder was able to receive all of his answers through his prayers. It is very hard to live and study in America so he sold socks to make a living and to pay for his studies. A Korean business owner told him that the challenge of going to America is like trying to break a rock with an egg. But this elder had an assurance of faith that having faith is like breaking a rock with an egg. Eventually he received answers from God and became the president of the World Trade Center. 

Philippians 2:13 “For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” - This means that those who hold onto God’s word with faith, God will use those people. God will use these people as witnesses in the field. Even now, God is searching for these people. May you become witnesses of God like this. 

2. The Lord's Glory

(1) Signs and wonders

Verse 3 - What is important is that God will harden Pharaoh’s heart means that God will block Pharaoh’s ignorant heart. 

Romans 1:28 “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting.” - An ignorant person, God will block His grace from them and make them fall into destruction. 

Verse 4 - Pharaoh’s ignorant heart was challenging God. No matter how many times God was trying to speak to Pharaoh, Pharaoh continued to reject and ignore God’s words. What did God end up doing? God showed His great powers and showed that He was alive to Pharaoh. 

Verse 5 - After Egypt faced God’s judgments through the 10 plagues, then Pharaoh will end up letting the Israelites go. This happened exactly as God’s word was proclaimed. The Egyptians would know that God is the Lord. There is no god or idol who can explain the words of God and fulfill exactly the words of God. God was proclaiming that He is the Lord God and His words will be fulfilled exactly as He says and said. The Lord God will fulfill exactly as He proclaimed He will. This means that He is showing that He is the Lord God and that He is alive. Our Lord God was there from the beginning and in the end. This Lord God continues to work in our lives and continues to show that He is alive even now. He continues to work and fulfill His words through our lives, family, church, and in our fields. This is because He is the Lord God. 

(2) The obedience of Moses and Aaron

Verses 6-7 - Aaron and Moses did exactly as God told them to do. The work of the Exodus occurred because they did exactly what God commanded them to do. Moses was 80 years old and Aaron was 83 years old. Why is this recorded in this Bible? They were at an age where they couldn’t really do much but it was God who worked through them. Our remnants may confess that they are so weak and incompetent, and give up. But our remnants must not think like this at all. If God does it, then it is possible. God used Moses at the age of 80 and Aaron at the age of 83, which means God will make the impossible into possible. What makes God pleased? If you know this and hold onto this, then God will use you. I talked to you about the elder in the beginning of the message and he lived a life of faith, and I was so moved by his life and testimony. When he came to America and finished his studies, he became a professor. When you become a professor, you have a high ranking and a good spot in life. His wife came to speak to him and told him that God told you to serve Him as you continue to do your Bible studies. The best time to dedicate and serve God is right now as a professor. So his wife told him that they should go to Mexico and become missionaries right now in his life. The professor agreed to this and they went to Mexico as missionaries. People told them that they were crazy because he gave up his job as a professor. He took his entire family and went to Mexico. But in Mexico, his daughter got into a really bad car accident. But when the police were at the scene of the accident, the police told the professor that his daughter was going to die. So they took their daughter to the hospital but the doctor told them that there is no hope for his daughter and she will die. The professor and his wife went to the bathroom and started praying to God, and pleaded to God to save their daughter. By the miracle of God, the daughter did end up living and surviving. The daughter survived and resolved to become a doctor. But this daughter possessed no skills or knowledge set to become a doctor. Since she lacked skills, she couldn’t apply to medical school. The daughter wrote an essay to a medical school with the title, “The story of grace” about her near experience with death. When a professor read her essay, he was moved and accepted her to medical school. They went back to America and he continued his job as a professor. They bought a nice house when he returned back to America. This house was bought with a cheap price but the land and property value increased, and they were able to make a lot of money out of it. They sold the house when he got invited to work at the World Trade Center. When he sold the house, they made a lot of money. The wife told her husband, let us settle this with God. Let us give the earnings of the house to God. The professor agreed and decided to give the earnings to offerings to make a center in China. They received a letter from China and that center became a center where refugees could come from North Korea and receive the gospel. I realized that these individuals were going to receive a lot of crowns and glory from God in heaven. 

Mark 9:41 “For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in My name, because you belong to Christ, assuredly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.” - I believe that many rewards are prepared for you in heaven. When you look towards heaven, look towards the rewards that you will receive in heaven. Think about how many rewards you will receive in heaven. You need to live with this hope. 

3. The Blessings For You to Receive

(1) Fundamental power

2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” - Restore the faith to start anew. Then, God’s power will come upon your life. 

(2) The power to change your imprints

Philippians 3:20 “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” - How do we change our imprints? Enjoy the power of the heavenly throne. Enjoy prayer. The same power of prayer that this elder received, may you also receive and enjoy the same answers of the power of prayer. 

(3) The power of re-creation

Acts 1:8 “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” - What is recreation? It is restoring evangelism and mission. This is the eternal power. You will receive rewards in heaven. Receive great blessings. You have received great answers until now. You will receive great rewards in heaven. Look towards the rewards in heaven. 

Conclusion

Philippians 4:1 “Therefore, my beloved and longed-for brethren, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, beloved.” - You are the beloved and longed for brethren. This is the word of God to you. God is telling you that you are beloved and longed for, and we are His joy and crown. What must we hold onto? In the Lord. Receive great answers.