Closer To Heaven
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21 July 2025 | According to an article by the North American Division publication Adventist Journey, “On Thursday, July 10, 2025, as the General Conference Session was winding down, G. Alexander Bryant wound up his pitching arm as he chose a different dinner venue — and experience — than the rest of the week. At […] Source: https://atoday.org/nad-president-bryant-makes-heartfelt-pitch-at-cardinals-game/
Daily Lesson for Tuesday 22nd of July 2025
The ten plagues in Egypt were aimed not at the Egyptian people but at their gods. Each plague hit at least one of them.
God instructed Moses that the dialogue with Pharaoh would be difficult and almost impossible (Exodus 7:14). However, God wanted to reveal Himself to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians. Thus, He decided to communicate with them in a way that they could understand. Also, the Hebrews would benefit from this confrontation because they would learn more about their God.
Image © Review & Herald Publishing at Goodsalt.com
The first plague was aimed against Hapi, the god of the Nile (Exodus 7:17-25). Life in Egypt was totally dependent on water from the Nile. Where there was water, there was life. Water was the source of life, so they invented their god Hapi and worshiped him as the provider of life.
Of course, only the living God is the Source of life, the Creator of everything, including water and food (Genesis 1:1-2,20-22; Psalms 104:27-28; Psalms 136:25; John 11:25; John 14:6). Changing water into blood symbolizes transforming life into death. Hapi was not able to provide and protect life. These are possible only through the power of the Lord.
God then gives Pharaoh another chance. This time the frog goddess, Heqet, is directly confronted (Exodus 8:1-15). Instead of life, the Nile produces frogs, which the Egyptians fear, detest, and abhor. They want to get rid of them. The precise time when this plague was taken away demonstrated that God’s power was also behind this plague.
The third plague has the shortest description (Exodus 8:16-19). The type of insect here (Heb. kinnim) is not clear (gnats, mosquitoes, ticks, lice?). It was directed against the god Geb, the Egyptian god of the earth. Out of the dust of the earth (echoes of the biblical Creation story) God brought forth gnats, which spread throughout the land. Unable to duplicate this miracle (only God can create life), the magicians declared, “This is the finger of God” (Exodus 8:19). Pharaoh, however, still refused to budge.
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Think how hard Pharaoh’s heart was. Repeated rejection of God’s prompting only made it worse. What lessons are here for each of us about the constant rejection of the Lord’s prompting? |
(0)Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25c-04-the-first-three-plagues/
Comments of the Week July 14-20 “I often wonder about the people who lived before 1844. The way I was raised, only SDAs will make it to heaven, only if they follow all the rules. That leaves a lot of people out!” –Ruby Parmele MacFarlane on Aunt Sevvy’s answer to whether we are supposed to […] Source: https://atoday.org/comments-of-the-week-july14-20/
Daily Lesson for Monday 21st of July 2025
Nine times in Exodus the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart is ascribed to God (Exodus 4:21; Exodus 7:3; Exodus 9:12; Exodus 10:1,20,27; Exodus 11:10; Exodus 14:4,8; see also Romans 9:17-18). Another nine times Pharaoh is said to have hardened his own heart (Exodus 7:13-14,22; Exodus 8:15,19,32; Exodus 9:7,34-35).
Who hardened the king’s heart—God, or Pharaoh himself?
Image © Educational Concepts Collection at Goodsalt.com
It is significant that in the Exodus story of the ten plagues, in each of the first five plagues, Pharaoh alone was the agent of his heart hardening. Thus, he initiated the hardening of his own heart. From the sixth plague on, however, the biblical text states that it was God who hardened Pharaoh’s heart (Exodus 9:12). What all this means is that God strengthened or deepened Pharaoh’s own choice, his willful action, as God had told Moses He would do (Exodus 4:21).
In other words, God sent plagues to help Pharaoh repent and to free him from the darkness and error of his mind. God did not create fresh evil in Pharaoh’s heart; instead, He simply gave Pharaoh over to his own malign impulses. He left him without God’s restraining grace and thus abandoned him to his own wickedness (see Romans 1:24-32).
Pharaoh had his free will—he could choose for or against God—and he decided against.
The lessons are obvious. We have been given the ability to choose between right and wrong, good and evil, obedience or disobedience. From Lucifer in heaven, to Adam and Eve in Eden, to Pharaoh in Egypt, and to us today—wherever we abide, we choose either life or death (Deuteronomy 30:19).
An analogy: imagine sunshine that beats on butter and clay. Butter melts but clay hardens. The heat of the sun is the same in both cases, but there are two different reactions to the heat, and two different results. The effect depends on the material. In the case of Pharaoh, one may say that it depended upon the attitudes of his heart toward God and His people.
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What freewill choice(s) are you going to make in the next day or so? If you know what the right choice is, how can you prepare yourself to make it? |
(0)Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25c-04-who-hardened-pharaohs-heart/
Daily Lesson for Sunday 20th of July 2025
The upcoming battles were going to be between the living God and the Egyptian “gods.” What made things worse was that Pharaoh considered himself to be one of those gods.
Image © S. M. Davis at Goodsalt.com
The Lord did not fight against the Egyptians, or even Egypt per se, but against their deities (the Egyptians venerated more than 1,500 gods and goddesses). The biblical text is explicit: “On all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord” (Exodus 12:12, ESV). Later, it is once again emphasized, this time when Israel’s journey from Egypt was recounted: “The Lord had brought judgment on their gods” (Numbers 33:4, NIV).
An example of this judgment on their gods was well demonstrated by the miracle of the rod turning into a serpent (Exodus 7:9-12). In Egypt, the Uraeus goddess Wadjet was personified by a cobra and represented sovereign power over lower Egypt. The symbol of a cobra appeared in Pharaoh’s crown, a sign of his power, deity, royalty, and divine authority, because this goddess would spit venom at Pharaoh’s enemies. The Egyptians also believed that the sacred serpent would guide the Pharaoh to his afterlife.
When Aaron’s staff became a snake and ate all the other serpents before the king, the supremacy of the living God over Egyptian magic and sorcery was manifested. Not only was the emblem of Pharaoh’s might conquered, but Aaron and Moses clutched it in their hands (Exodus 7:12,15). The initial confrontation demonstrated God’s power and lordship over Egypt. Moses, as God’s representative, had greater authority and power than did the “god” Pharaoh himself.
It is also significant that the ancient Egyptians considered a snake god, Nehebkau (“he who harnesses the spirits”), to be sacred, adored, and worshiped. According to their mythology, this serpent god had great power because he swallowed seven cobras. Thus, God communicated to the Egyptians that He, not the serpent god, has sovereign power and authority. After such a powerful confrontation, they were able to understand this message immediately and distinctly.
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How can we allow the Lord to have sovereignty over any of the “gods” seeking supremacy in our lives? |
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