The first plague demonstrates the tragic consequences of disregarding God’s commandments and celebrates the blessings of obeying them as a gift of grace. 

I. The Lord (Exodus 7:14-19)

God eventually forces every person to acknowledge that he alone is the Lord. Lord is that name that conveys God’s utter sovereignty and self-existence. David especially loved this title for God. In fact, he added a redundant name to emphasize God’s utter superiority, “Sovereign Lord” (Adonai Yahweh). It’s like saying “Unsurpassed God.” David uses this combination five times in the Psalter to relieve disciples of fear of every enemy:

II. Our God (Exodus 7:23-24)

Rather than repent and “cry out to the Lord,” the Egyptians turned to their own devices to “provide cisterns” for themselves. This is not the only time in the Bible this image is used. Jeremiah relayed the Lord’s assessment of Judah’s rebellion this way: “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water” (Jeremiah 2:13).

III. Redeemer (Exodus 7:20-22)

Worship occurs in response to redemption. When we turn our backs on beautiful and free grace, the redemption we try to produce for ourselves is grotesque and costly. We have moved from the lowest to the highest motivation for obeying God. You should obey him at the very least because he is the Lord. A higher motivation is to obey him because he has crafted you with dignity and desires a relationship with you. The highest motivation is to obey the Lord God because he has redeemed you through the sacrifice of his only Son.