Ex. 4:1 "And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee. 2 And the LORD said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod. 3 And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. 4 And the LORD said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand: 5 That they may believe that the LORD God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee. 6 And the LORD said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow. 7 And he said, Put thine hand into thy bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again; and plucked it out of his bosom, and, behold, it was turned again as his other flesh. 8 And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign. 9 And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land: and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land."

The Lord gave Moses three signs to show unto the children of Israel as evidence that God had appeared unto him and had sent him to deliver the children of Israel out from under Egyptian bondage. While these signs were supernatural in their appearance and certainly show the power and wisdom of God, yet they are far more reaching in their extent as they point us to the work of Jesus Christ.

In the first sign, Moses was to take the rod in his hand and cast it on the ground and it became a serpent. The rod in the scriptures represents the authority of God. When God gave Adam a commandment and he cast the commandment down to the ground by disobeying it, it became to Adam and to his posterity a poisonous serpent of sin to destroy with death its victims. Moses was then commanded to take the serpent by its tail and it became a rod in his hand. This poisonous serpent of sin was man's problem. Christ through the covenant of God came down to deliver his people from their sins. As he was born without sin and since he kept the law to a jot and a tittle, he redeemed the elect family of God from their sins. Thus, he reversed the effects of Adam's and Adam-multiplied' sins. Thus, was God's authority and justice vindicated.

In the second sign, Moses was to put his hand into his bosom and it became leprous as snow. Leprosy is used in the scriptures as a figure or type of sin. There was no known cure for leprosy. A person polluted with leprosy was consigned to the spread of leprosy throughout his body. The hand is used in the scriptures as a symbol of the works of man. Beginning with fallen Adam and throughout Adam-multiplied, man is polluted with sin. He is a sinner by nature and by practice. He cannot recover himself from his sinful condition.

Just as Moses stuck his hand into his bosom the second time, so we see that Jesus came to reverse the effects of sin in the lives of his elect family. According to 2 Cor. 5:21, "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." Through the work of Jesus Christ, we are made righteous (without leprosy, i.e., without sin) before the eyes of a just and holy God: Rom. 8:33 "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth."

In the third sign, Moses was to take water out of the river and pour it on dry ground. The water out of the river would be turned into blood on the dry ground. Water is a sign of life, and shed blood is a symbol of death. Also, according to the scriptures: Heb. 9:22 "And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission." Thus, remission of sins comes through the shedding of blood. However, not just any blood would do. It took perfect sin free blood of a suitable sacrifice to remit the sins of God's elect. Christ had to give his life by shedding his life blood to redeem his people from their sins. This he did by dying on the cross of Calvary and by sprinkling his blood on the elect (dry ground):

1. Heb. 12:24 "And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel."
2. 1 Pet. 1:2 "Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied."

NEXT

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