3rd Sunday in Lent (Oculi) – March 3rd, 2024
Trinity Ev. Lutheran Church, Block, Kansas
Rev. Joshua Woelmer
Text: Exodus 8:16-24
“The Finger of God”
Theme: The finger of God is stronger than anything the devil can bring.
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Recently when putting our kids to bed, one of them realized that her stuffed animal was not in the bedroom with her. So she got understandably nervous and needed to find it. She said something like, “I’ve got to find it so it won’t get lonely!” Kids always do this: they attribute human emotions to things around them that they play with. It’s pretty endearing for parents to see, because they are learning to interact with things under their control similarly to how they will in the future. Of course, we have only girls right now, so there’s a lot of loving baby dolls like we love them. But I’m guessing with boys that they also attribute human characteristics to their toys as they send army soldiers to war or as they have some of their toys fight with each other or tell trucks to move dirt from one place to another. Now, the fancy term for all this is “anthropomorphism.”
This doesn’t only happen to those things below us, like kids and toys. God reveals himself to us in ways that we can better understand him. We should not take these literally, for God is pure spirit. Here is a list of body parts that God uses to explain his actions: Eyes (Deut 11:12; Ps 34:15; Amos 9:3); Ears (Dan 9:18); Hands (Exod 7:5; Isa 5:25; 23:11), Feet (Gen 3:8; Isa 63:3), and Face (Lev 20:6; Num 6:25).
Here are actions that God undertakes: He molds man out of the dust, plants a garden, and rests (Genesis 2–3). He closes the door of Noah’s ark (Gen 7:16). He even whistles (Isa 7:18). Some of the most important passages in the Bible deal with these anthropomorphisms. God tells Moses, “You cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live” (Exod 33:20). And yet, God pronounces that his gracious countenance will be upon his people as the Benediction is pronounced—pay attention to that at the end of this service.
I want to look at three of these in particular: the arm, the hand, and the finger of God. The Arm and Hand of God are always mentioned together. They symbolize strength. God tells his people to remember this strength of God: “You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm” (Deut 5:15). By my count, this phrase occurs eleven times in the Bible (footnote1). We all get why arms and hands are connected with strength. Every martial art involves fighting or grappling with them.
Many jobs then and today involve using the strength of your hands and arms to accomplish tasks. So when God uses his mighty hand and outstretched arm, it is to demonstrate his strength. Think of what he did to Sodom and Gomorrah, raining down fire from heaven to consume them. That’s the hand of God. He sent fire to consume Isaiah’s sacrifice in the contest with the priests of Baal. Our God is a mighty God. This power is described in Isaiah 40:12, “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?” When challenging Job, God asks, “Have you an arm like God, and can you thunder with a voice like his?” (Job 40:9).
Pastors are often keen to say that when the “fear of God” shows up in the Bible, it doesn’t mean a servile fear where we run away from God. But we should respect him for his mighty arm and power. We can pray that it is used against our enemies.
On the other hand, there is the finger of God. Fingers seem to be the opposite of the mighty arm. Fingers seem to be the weakest members of your body. They are easily broken or injured. They are much more fragile than your humerus and ulna and radius bones. One finger can’t do much by itself as compared with an arm. Your thumb is perhaps your most important finger—you need it to pinch anything. And yet, fingers can also be incredibly precise. You need them to fix engines and sew and do all sorts of intricate tasks.
The finger of God tells us two things. First, “the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Cor 1:25). Even if you could say God has a weakness, it is still more powerful than anything we humans could ever bring to the table. God’s “pinky finger” has more power in it than anything man can bring.
Second, God can be extremely controlled in His actions. For example, Psalm 8 uses this phrase to describe creation. It says, “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?” (3–4). This world is designed to be precisely balanced and beautiful. God is also controlled and precise as He punishes evil.
This comes up especially in the Plagues of Egypt. Each plague combats one of the gods of Egypt or turns their power against Egypt. The first plague is the Nile turning to blood. And yet, the people can still drink water by digging along the Nile to get water to drink. The second is frogs. Somehow, by unknown ways, the magicians of Egypt were able to replicate these first two plagues.
However, they could not replicate the third plague of gnats. Here is where they say that phrase: “This is the finger of God” (8:19). Even the pagan magicians admit something remarkable. From here on out, God does something special. The next plagues of flies, livestock dying, boils, and hail do not affect the Hebrews in Goshen. There is a precision that God is demonstrating as he punishes Egypt and her false gods. This is especially the case with the last plague: the Death of the Firstborn. Anyone that has the blood of the lamb on their lintel and doorposts are protected. Those that don’t will lose the firstborn of man and animal. God’s finger is powerful and precise.
Jesus uses this phrase “finger of God” to describe what He is doing when he casts out demons. “If it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Luke 11:20). Jesus casts out demons without destroying the soul that is in the person. He is like a doctor who cuts out the cancerous tumor without causing damage to other organs. God works this way in your life as well. God is patient and powerful and precise as he establishes his kingdom in your heart. Isaiah 42:3 says, “a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice.” This conveys that God does not destroy where he means to heal.
At the same time, we should also notice that the “arm of God” fell one last time upon Jesus Himself when he was on the cross. God the Father poured out his wrath upon Jesus. Jesus took all of this wrath in our place. He became the worst sinner of all and paid that price. The worst of his sufferings was not physical, but was how God was forsaking him. The hymn “Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted” puts it this way: “But the deepest stroke that pierced Him Was the stroke that Justice gave” (stz 2).
And yet, Jesus rose again, conquering sin and death. Thus is fulfilled what Isaiah 52:10 says, “The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.” Jesus has a strong arm, to save you. Jesus bares that arm still to protect you.
It is important to understand these anthropomorphisms in the Bible. because God uses these phrases to remind us of his care for us. Even though God the Father is pure spirit, nonetheless, he uses these words to convey the gospel to us. God uses his mighty arm and strength to save his people—whether from the Egyptians who are crossing the Red Sea or from sin, death, and the power of the devil by punishing Jesus in our place. God uses his fingers to work in your life as well, to heal and comfort you. God shines his face now upon you. Although we do not get the brunt force of God’s holy yet destructive face upon us sinners, God’s face in Jesus is pronounced upon us, that it may bless us and keep us, shine upon us and be gracious to us, that his countenance would be lifted up and give us peace.
Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.
(1) Deut 4:34; 5:15; 7:19; 11:2; 26:8; 1 Kings 8:42; 2 Chron 6:32; Ps 89:13; Isa 62:8; Ezek 20:33, 34)
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