At Sydney’s Bondi Beach, an eerie scene unfolded. The water began to turn to a horrifying, blood red. As one might imagine, swimmers and spectators became alarmed and fled out of the water. It turns out the red water came as a result of a sudden increase in red algae. The algae turned out to be mostly harmless, but swimmers were still discouraged from going into the water (ABC).

While the water on this day was not actually blood, it does bring to mind the day when the waters did literally turn to blood. Exodus 7:20-21 details out, “So Moses and Aaron did even as the Lord had commanded.  And he lifted up the staff and struck the water that was in the Nile, in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants, and all the water that was in the Nile was turned to blood.  The fish that were in the Nile died, and the Nile became foul, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile.  And the blood was through all the land of Egypt.”

During this time in Egypt, some of the most awe-inspiring miracles were about to take place.  Besides having the water turn to blood, the Egyptian people were going to suffer through plagues of frogs, gnats, flies, death of cattle, boils, hail, locust, darkness, and the death of the first born (Exodus 7-12). Soon after this, God was going to deliver His people from Egypt by parting the Red Sea, allowing them to escape, and destroying Pharaoh’s army (Exodus 14).

What was God’s purpose in all of this? To deliver His people and display His power (3:7-8, 20; 6:6-7). God most definitely accomplished His goals. In fact, He accomplished them so well that this scene in Sydney invokes strong reminders of the remarkable events in Egypt that happened thousands of years ago.

While the red algae in Sydney was quite a strange scene, we can imagine how much more impactful it was when the water actually turned to blood. The message is simple: God is powerful. This makes Him so very worthy of our worship, honor, and praise.

Brett Petrillo