Nine plagues and Pharaoh has not moved. His heart has been hardened and softened and hardened again like metal worked in a forge. And God tells Moses something that should stop us: I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these signs among them that you may tell your children and grandchildren how I dealt harshly with the Egyptians and performed my signs among them, and that you may know that I am the Lord.

The plagues are not just about Israel’s freedom. They are a story being written for every generation that follows. Every child who hears this and asks: what does this mean? is the audience God had in mind when He sent the first plague. He was writing something into history that would be retold for thousands of years. And it still is.

God does not just work in your life for you. He works in your life so that the story of what He did becomes the inheritance of those who come after you. Your testimony is not just your testimony. It is a legacy.

The locusts arrive in Exodus 10 so dense that the land is dark with them. They devour every remaining plant, every piece of fruit on every tree. Nothing green is left in all of Egypt. And Pharaoh’s officials finally break: how long will this man be a snare to us? Let the people go. Can you not see that Egypt is ruined? Even Pharaoh’s inner circle has seen enough.

But Pharaoh negotiates again: you may go, but not your children. Moses says no. Not your children is not freedom. A faith that cannot be passed to your children is not faith it is a personal preference with an expiration date.

The enemy has always tried to separate the faith from the next generation. Let the adults go, but keep the children. The battle over what children believe is as old as Exodus. Fight for it.

The darkness comes. Three days of complete, tangible darkness darkness that can be felt. But in the dwellings of the Israelites, there is light. Pharaoh calls Moses: go, but leave your flocks and herds. Moses says no again. Not a hoof is to be left behind. Our God requires sacrifice. We do not know yet what He will ask us to offer. We cannot go empty-handed.

Not a hoof is to be left behind. Nothing that belongs to you and your worship stays in Egypt. You don’t negotiate with Pharaoh about what you bring to God.

Pharaoh’s last word to Moses: get away from me. On the day you see my face again you will die. Moses says: you are right. I will not appear before you again. This is the end of the negotiation. One more plague is coming and after it, Pharaoh will not just allow them to leave. He will drive them out.

Chapter 12 is one of the holiest chapters in all of Scripture. God speaks to Moses and Aaron about the Passover and what He describes is not just a ritual. It is a picture of something that will not be fully understood for another fifteen hundred years.

Each household is to take a lamb on the tenth day of the month. A male, without defect. They are to keep it until the fourteenth day, examine it, know it. And at twilight, the whole assembly of Israel is to slaughter it.

“Then they are to take some of the blood

and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes

of the houses where they eat the lambs.”

Exodus 12:7