Title: Ex 15:11, "Who is like Thee among the gods, O LORD
Author: Theodore S. Enke
Last saved by: Theodore Enke
Company: Conejo Koinonia Church

Sunday, September 5, 2026

1 Kings 13:4, Now it came about when the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar in Bethel, that Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, "Seize him." But his hand which he stretched out against him dried up, so that he could not draw it back to himself. 
In this morning’s reading we are presented with something that seems to be readily part of our natural makeup as human beings operating in this physical realm that surrounds us. We want to see things take place before our eyes, often before we will accept anything as true or real. And then, when we may see those things that are not expected or beyond the grasp of our intellect, we pull back and subject it to the most intense and doubtful scrutiny. It is not something that is unique to our culture as it has been a recorded happenstance of the doubtful mind of humanity almost from the beginning of recorded time. 
Let us return to the period of history in which Jehovah chose Moses to bring His people out of their slavery and misery in Egypt. Moses was on the mountain shepherding the flock of his father-in-law when God spoke to him from the burning bush. Moses was astounded and it was evident in the fact that the bush was not consumed that there was something beyond his mental ability of human reasoning to comprehend. All he knew was that the voice from the bush was more than a dream or a delusion. 
As God laid forth the plan for Moses to go back to Egypt and to present himself before Pharaoh and demand that the people be set free, he was less than willing. There was a natural fear that hindered his complete and immediate positive response to The Lord God Almighty, Creator of Heaven and earth. Moses was rooted in that stance of stubborn refusal to acknowledge that God was beyond the grasp of human intellect and that His ways far superseded the ideas and the conceptual abilities of the human mind. 
God had to shake Moses from his natural stance of stubborn denial and cause him to agree to the will and the power of God going before him in the purposed plan to tell Pharaoh to let God’s people go. This made no sense to Moses that Pharaoh, one of the most powerful monarchs of that day, would even listen to a ragged shepherd from the desert regions of the Negev. Why would he? And then to be told to let go of the labor force that sustained the building projects and provided for the flocks and fields that maintained the prosperity of Egypt that was utterly ludicrous! At least it was to the mind of a man who had spent the last 40 years tending sheep day in and day out.
 So Moses argued with The Lord in an effort to turn away from that course of action that would put him before the most powerful man of the region. Moses tried to find some loophole; some means of setting aside that which was proclaimed by the Angel of The Lord. But God would have nothing of it! Every direction that Moses tried to steer the conversation into the favor of just letting him go back to being a shepherd of his father-in-law’s flock, just kept bringing him closer and closer to the will of Jehovah that Moses would be the shepherd of the ragtag flock of the Children of Israel. 
Please return to the passage in which Moses declared that the people would not listen to him, let alone Pharaoh. Why would they? God’s response resulted in the manifestation of one of the most well known of signs that are listed in scripture. In Ex 4:1-5, The Lord showed Moses a sign that would soon bring him into direct conflict with the sages and the magicians of Egypt.
Ex 4:1-5, Then Moses answered and said, "What if they will not believe me, or listen to what I say? For they may say, 'The Lord has not appeared to you.'" And the Lord said to him, "What is that in your hand?" And he said, "A staff." Then He said, "Throw it on the ground." So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. But the Lord said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand and grasp it by its tail" — so he stretched out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand — "that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you." 
	And, as that might not be enough to convince Moses that he should concede to the will of God in this entire matter, the voice of The Lord then made evident much the same as was set before Jeroboam in this morning’s reading. In verses 6-9 of Exodus 4, Moses received a similar sign from Jehovah in order to change the mind of Moses to come into line with that which was set before him. The Lord also proclaimed to Moses, in this passage, the beginning signs of the 10 plagues that would be needed in order for Pharaoh to let the Children of Israel leave Egypt.
	Ex 4:6-9, And the Lord furthermore said to him, "Now put your hand into your bosom." So he put his hand into his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow. Then He said, "Put your hand into your bosom again." So he put his hand into his bosom again; and when he took it out of his bosom, behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh. And it shall come about that if they will not believe you or heed the witness of the first sign, they may believe the witness of the last sign. But it shall be that if they will not believe even these two signs or heed what you say, then you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground; and the water which you take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground." 
	After God had set Moses on the path of the delivery of the tribes of Israel from their captivity to Pharaoh, through the means of those signs and marvels that filled the mind and the heart of Moses with awe and wonder at what Jehovah was about to do, it was time for Pharaoh to accede to this amazing plan of God’s redemption of His people. This would take far more in the stubborn heart of Pharaoh than it did in the course of bringing forth the obedience of Moses.
	We find the initial meeting of Moses with Pharaoh recorded in Ex 7:10-13. Please open to it as we read about the encounter that would put all the rest of the plagues of Egypt into place. Here is the relating of how Moses showed Pharaoh the power of God over all the magicians of Egypt.
	Ex 7:10-13, So Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh, and thus they did just as the Lord had commanded; and Aaron threw his staff down before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers, and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did the same with their secret arts. For each one threw down his staff and they turned into serpents. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs. Yet Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had said. 
	We know that The Lord then proceeded to manifest His Sovereignty over all the powers of the demonic gods that Pharaoh could summon in order to try to stop Jehovah from accomplishing that for which He had brought forth through Moses. In turn, step by step, plague by plague, each of those powers of the gods of Egypt were utterly devastated by the awesome and divine Omnipotence of the Lord God Almighty, Yahweh, the Only Living God. He manifested the turning of hearts of both Israel and Egypt in the release and the rescue of His people from all the powers of this creation through those signs and wonders which culminated on the other side of the Red Sea with the utter annihilation of the forces of Pharaoh and his demonic gods.
	This was such a powerful demonstration of the Awesome Lord God Almighty of the Hebrews that the report of the devastation wrought upon Egypt spread throughout that region of the Middle East. As the Jews began to trust God and inhabit the Promised Land under His guidance and in obedience and trust to His Word, the fear of God went before them. This is recounted so vividly by Rahab when she hid the spies who were searching out the environs of Jericho. It was very clearly evident that the signs performed by God upon the host of the Egyptians were also foremost in the fears of those who inhabited the land that was given to the Tribes of Israel. 
Please turn to Josh 2:9-11, wherein we hear how Rahab spoke so earnestly of the reports about the God Who went before the Hebrews. The signs and wonders of God were not lost on those who were on the front line of His wrath and fury. 
Josh 2:9-11, … and said to the men, "I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. And when we heard it, our hearts melted and no courage remained in any man any longer because of you; for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.
	Such was the power of the signs that God performed among the nations as He was establishing His people as the testimony and the witness of how to live before the Lord God Jehovah, the Creator of all that has been made. He used the natural elements of this, His universe and manifested realm, to display His glory in a manner that showed all the peoples of the region the splendor and the majesty was His, Alone! No other god and no other person could usurp that which belonged to Jehovah, especially the land that He was holding forth in His promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. What was His was to be given to the people for whom He had created it.
	As the Children of Israel were being prepared to inhabit the Promised Land, The Lord made it very clear how they were to deal with any who would try to seduce them away from Jehovah through the means of dreams and schemes and signs and wonders. The powers of this age are riff with the ability to use smoke and mirrors to work its dark artistry of magic in the vile and despicable course of distraction and deflection. It will try every form of trickery and smokescreens to draw away the hearts of those who are not firmly rooted in their foundation in Yahweh. 
	In Deut 13, verses 1-5, the warning is fundamentally established concerning the manner in which the people were not to allow themselves to be drawn away from the consistent and intentional walk with Jehovah. They were to live by His every Word and not the wispy and fleeting allurements and lies of this age. Please turn to it as we will read how foundational it is as our stand in the way and the will of God above all the schemes of those dreamers and false prophets who would seduce our minds and hearts from serving The Lord, Alone.
	Deut 13:1-5, "If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying,' Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,' you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the Lord your God is testing you to find out if you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall follow the Lord your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him. But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has counseled rebellion against the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to seduce you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from among you.
	This was the trap that the prophet in our morning’s reading fell into. God had told him very specifically to leave the land of Israel in a different direction, and not to eat or drink there. He was observant of this stipulated obedience when the king of Israel tried to cause him to come to the royal table to eat. 
However, when the old prophet lied to him about hearing the voice of the Angel of the Lord, that lie was allowed to supersede the clear and faithful and unshakeable word that had been directly received from God. Therefore the consequence of that disobedience was swift and certain, despite the fact that there had been deception in the midst of it all. 
Signs that are from God, and yes He still shows forth His Sovereignty over all the forces of this realm and the natural elements of His creation, those signs and wonders will always point us to God. They will serve to show the veracity of that which is clearly stated and held forth in His Word. Those marvels and miracles will always serve to reinforce Who God is and how He is to be honored and obeyed no matter what! They serve to change hearts unto Jesus with absolute obedience to that which will bring honor and praise to His Holy Name. 
The key that we need to take to heart is that the Word of God is not wavering and fleeting. God does not change! Human ideas and morals and principles ebb and flow with the emotional and social pressures and mores, but never that which is from Jehovah! We can count on His Word to be truth today, tomorrow, and for all of eternity! 
Whenever we are faced with a choice that contradicts the Word of God, we must never give way. Even if this age puts forth a barrage of signs and wonders and amazements, when faced with a choice to obey God or to swerve to the path of unrighteousness, even though enticed by this world’s supposed wisdom and logic and pressures, we must ever and always hold to Jehovah above all else! Even when it means that we lose the prestige and the honor and the wealth and the gains that this age sets before us, we hold to The Way, The Truth, and The Life! 
Lord willing, we will continue with this look at scripture as The Lord shows us how much He has invested of Himself in the manner in which His Word never changes, never falters, never fails, and never contradicts itself! Jesus is our living and vital standard of life and always will be! So be it!
Now it came about when the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar in Bethel, that Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, "Seize him." But his hand which he stretched out against him dried up, so that he could not draw it back to himself. Amen.

This morning’s benediction is Isa 46:9+10. "Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying,'My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure'; Amen.