Remember the burning bush? Remember how Moses learned God would use him to rescue Israel? How would our hero respond? Not like a hero should! He asked God to send someone else. But God gave Moses everything he needed to deliver his people. By using powerful signs, God proved to the Israelites that he had sent Moses to rescue them. And the people believed.

When God told Pharaoh to let the Israelites go, Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he refused. But God is always in charge, and nothing can stop him from rescuing his people. God sent ten terrible plagues on the Egyptians. First came blood, then frogs and gnats and flies, then dead animals, then boils and hail and locusts, then darkness, and finally death. Each plague made the gods and goddesses of Egypt look weak and showed that the God of Israel was in charge. When the final plague came, God provided a very peculiar form of protection for his people. Moses told them to kill a “lamb . . . without blemish” (Ex. 12:5) and to spread its blood on the doorposts of their houses. The lamb’s blood would save them. Strange. Strange, but important. God said, “I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt. . . . And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you” (Ex. 12:12–13). To this day, people remember this peculiar protection by calling it the Passover. But death fell on the homes of all without the blood; even Pharaoh’s firstborn son died. Finally, Pharaoh let God’s people go.

“Free at last!” Moses and the Israelites thought. But Pharaoh’s hard heart grew hard again, so he and his army chased after them. When they cornered Israel at the Red Sea, God showed his power. He blew the water into walls, and the Israelites escaped through the sea on dry ground. The Egyptians chased them, but again God showed he was in charge. He made the walls of water crash down on those mighty men. On the shore the Israelites danced and sang praises to the Lord. Finally, free at last! God had answered the cries of his people and delivered them by the hand of Moses.