The Finger of God

Exodus 8:16-24

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Exodus 8:17-19 Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod and struck the dust of the earth, and it became lice on man and beast.  All the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt.  Now the magicians so worked with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not.  So there were lice on man and beast.  Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “this is the finger of God.”

Dear fellow redeemed in Christ our Lord…  God’s mercy in the face of gross sin is truly amazing.  You know the story: God’s people are captive in Egypt.  They are Pharaoh’s slaves used by him to build a city as a monument to himself.

In time God raised up Moses to be the one to get the children of Israel out of their Egyptian slavery and bondage.  Moses called on Pharaoh to repent of his wickedness and let his people go.  When Pharaoh refused the Lord sent him unmistakable signs of just whom he is dealing with…

But Pharaoh, certain that his power as “god on earth” – as his nation considered him – certain that he and the other gods of Egypt had the right and the power to rule over Egypt however he might see fit, has his own magicians try to duplicate the plagues God has sent upon them.  And as Pharaoh and his magicians managed to work similar signs, their hearts grew harder and harder against Yahweh.

However, when we come to the days spoken of here in Exodus chapter 8, we see Yahweh make things even clearer, again giving Pharaoh a chance to repent, and making his condemnation even deeper if Pharaoh’s heart should remain hard.  Yahweh now made a distinction between Himself and the false gods of Egypt – including Pharaoh himself – and a distinction between who His people are, and who are not His people.

Up until now, God had used Moses and Aaron, themselves never having been trained in the secret arts of Pharaoh’s sorcerers, to bring news of dramatic plagues that could be copied, though, likely, on a much smaller scale, by the Egyptians.  And it is no surprise that the spirit of those magicians is still alive and well today as critics and skeptics dream up ways in which they can explain away all of these plagues as “natural phenomena.”  Funny, though, how these “accidents” always seemed to occur exactly when Moses said they would.  Too bad our weather and stock market forecasters cannot do as well today.

Now, however, all of the tricks of the Egyptian sorcerers are overturned by what Yahweh does next: He sends a plague that the Egyptians cannot duplicate.  And in their fear and frustration, they cry out, “We cannot do this!  It is the finger of God.”

What an extraordinary expression this is, “The finger of God.”  We see it not only here but also in the writing of the Ten Commandments which was done, as Moses records, with God’s own finger.  We see it also in our Gospel for today in our Lord’s answer to those who said He was casting out demons by the ruler of the demons.

Note this well: the “finger of God” seems always to be involved with the destruction of false gods, whether here in Egypt, or in the Commandments, or in Jesus’ casting out those fake gods who would rule over man, even Satan and his minions.

Even when Pharaoh stubbornly denies the true God’s existence and is not swayed by the plague of lice, God is still gracious toward him; He sends him another plague in the hope that He would not have to show Pharaoh the true power of His might, the full force not only of the finger of God but the almighty and powerful hand of God.

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How many signs indeed.  Even though it eventually cost him his own firstborn as well as the firstborn of all his people and their flocks and herds, Pharaoh never did receive the Lord’s mercy; he only spurned it.  Every plague that showed him to be powerless over the true God he considered to be merely another offense against his position as “god over Egypt.”  In order to manifest His glory, Yahweh sent to Pharaoh plague after plague, sign after sign, opportunity after opportunity to repent.

It was the same in Luke’s Gospel for today where the “finger of God” again becomes visible as the true God in the flesh, Jesus Christ, casts out demons.  And yet, what is the reaction of the people?  They say, “He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons.”

Jesus comes to set men free, to do the work that keeps men’s souls from perishing for eternity!  And yet, when He does that work thoroughly, sinners want something else; they want another sign.  Even after God’s fingers were extended on the cross; even after God’s hands and feet were nailed into place; even after the dead God rises on the third day; even after He ascends into heaven – sinners still want another sign.  “Is that all there is?  There must be more!  Just give me some sort of a sign, and then I will believe!”

In His overwhelming mercy Jesus did leave behind signs for us doubters.  In the first sign, like the priests of Israel, Christ’s servants dip their fingers in water and, by joining God’s Word of promise to that water, those fingers become the finger of God, washing the sinner clean from sin in Holy Baptism.  In the second sign, the servant’s fingers become God’s finger as they hold the bread and the cup that are, by God’s Word, the real body and blood of Jesus.  By these works the finger of God once again casts out the devil and all his works and all his ways, and sets the sinner free as a new and holy creation.

But there is a problem.  The problem is that there is a little bit of Pharaoh – and maybe more than a little bit – in all of us.  God is always at work in our lives, and especially here in the Divine Service through water, words, bread and wine.  And yet we continue to insist on more signs.  We want good health, wealth, a happy marriage, good neighbors, a world series victory for the appropriate team, and so on.  And we will worship whatever it is that promises to give us such things, and we will disown the true God if we do not think He is providing for us according to our wishes.

Remembering all of what Pharaoh lost because of such an attitude, we must give heed to the sings the Lord has already given to us!

It might all seem very simple and plain and ordinary and, some may even say, boring.  And indeed, other places may even have something that sounds similar.  But the fact is that the Word of God is being proclaimed right here, and the works of God are being done right here in this place week in and week out, without compromise and without substitution.  It is to these things that we gladly run!  This is the place, dear friends, where God displays His finger, the place where He delivers to you all the blessings and benefits of His Son’s suffering, death, and resurrection for you.

Yes, here is where God displays His finger.  This is the place where the hand of God sets the captives free.  Here the hand of the Lord is mighty to deliver, forgiving sin, covering iniquity, and dispensing the gift of everlasting life.

Consider the crucifix and why it is here – to have you think about this.  See those hands!  See those fingers!  There you see the finger of God raised up in the most excellent and powerful way – fingers treated by God the Father as sinful so that yours would be made holy and forgiven in Jesus’ blood.

It looked like an ordinary plague; but it was the finger of God.  It looks like ordinary water, but it is the finger of God.  It looks like ordinary bread and wine, but it is the finger of God.  And when your pastor raises his hand to make the sign of the cross at the Absolution and the Benediction, the Word of God added to this action declares that it is not the pastor’s hand – for if it were it would do you no good – but, by that Word it is now the very finger of God which is raised to bless and deliver you, to make you a possessor of the deliverance Christ has won for you.

It looked like an ordinary crucifixion; but it was the finger of God, raised in wrath against His very own Son, yet raised in mercy toward you.  Truly it was the whole hand and arm of God, working your deliverance from sin, death, and hell.  Though it may look like a small thing to the world, through these ordinary means of water, word, bread, and wine, this wisdom and power is yours; the wisdom and power of the Gospel of Christ – the very thing that has set you free!

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.