God gave Moses three signs while he was at the burning bush.
These three signs prophesied the manner in which the people
would come to believe in the true God. If they did not believe the
first sign, they would believe the second. If they did not believe
the second, they would believe the third. But in the end, all would
believe. The first sign is recorded in Exodus 4:1-5,
1 Then Moses answered and said, “What if they will not
believe me, or listen to what I say? For they may say, ‘The
Lord has not appeared to you'.”
2 And the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?”
And he said, “a staff.”
3 Then He said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw it
on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled
from it.
4 But the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand and
grasp it by its tail”—so he stretched out his hand and
caught it, and it became a staff in his hand—
5 “that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their
fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the
God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”
Moses' rod was a staff of authority. Authority has the force
of law, for that which a person decrees by authority carries
the force of law to those that it affects. And so, Moses' staff
represents divine authority and the law that proceeds from
it.
This first sign was illustrated in the experience of Israel in
the wilderness. In Numbers 21, the people began to
complain and rebel. The Lord then sent “fiery serpents”
(Num. 21:6) to judge them. Many died.
When the people repented of disobedience, the Lord said
in verse 8,
8 ... Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it
shall come about that everyone who is bitten, when he
looks at it, he shall live.
This became a type of the cross, and Jesus became a type
of the serpent in the wilderness. John 3:15, 16 says,
15 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of Man be lifted up;
16 that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.
The fiery serpents represent the judgment of the law upon the
disobedient, including the unbelieving believers in the Church
in the wilderness. They had cast down the law and rejected
the authority and word of Moses. Thus, the law became a
serpent to them.
Exodus 4:6-8 gives us the second sign.
6 And the Lord furthermore said to him, “Now put your hand
into your bosom.” So he put his hand into his bosom, and
when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow.
7 Then He said, “Put your hand into your bosom again.” So
he put his hand into his bosom again; and when he took it
out of his bosom, behold, it was restored like the rest of his
flesh.
8 “And it shall come about that if they will not believe you or
heed the witness of the first sign, they may believe the
witness of the last sign.”
Leprosy is a symbol of death (mortality) in the Bible, because it
was a disease in which people died a slow death. Some have
said that leprosy is a symbol of sin, but that is not precisely the
case. When the mortality was translated into action ( Moses hand),
then and only then did it represent sin. Sin is the action that
proceeds from death in one's heart. Romans 5:12,
Paul tells us here that sin entered the world through Adam's sin,
and that His sin was imputed to all of us, making us all liable for
his sin. Therefore, the penalty for his sin was passed down to all
of us, and that penalty is death, or mortality.
God was showing Moses the condition of all mankind.
In regard to the second sign given to Moses, we find that Moses
was told to put his leprous hand back into his bosom. When he
withdrew it, he found that it was whole again. What does this
mean? It is a sign of resurrection, passing from death into life.
It comes in two forms or phases: the first is when God imputes life
to us, even as He imputes righteousness to us. Imputation is
defined in Romans 4:17, “calling those things which are not as
though they were.”
In other words, God calls sinners righteous, and He calls mortal
ones immortal. He calls what is NOT as though they were. This
establishes our legal standing before God as righteous and
immortal, even though we continue to sin, to sicken, to age, and
to die.
The second phase is where the legal standing becomes fully
appropriated into actual experience. This is the point where
actual resurrection from the dead takes place, and where
corruption puts on incorruption (1 Cor. 15:53).
And so, if the people do not believe the first sign, which was
given to mankind at the cross, they may believe at the time
of the second sign—the resurrection of the dead. In that day,
the overcomers will be raised incorruptible and immortal. The
work of evangelism will take a quantum leap, as these
overcomers bear witness of the Word to all parts of the earth.
In that day, the Word will go forth from the new Mount Zion and
from the New Jerusalem (Isaiah 2:3; Heb. 12:22). Representatives
of all nations will come to learn of His ways, and the kingdoms
of this world will become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His
Christ (Rev. 11:15). The great Stone Kingdom will grow until it
becomes a great mountain and fills the whole earth (Dan. 2:35).
In that day, many will believe this second sign that was given to
Moses. Though most of the people did not believe the first sign,
they will believe the second. But this is not all, for many throughout
history have lived and died without ever hearing of Jesus Christ
or having opportunity to believe either sign. Is there no sign for
them? Yes, that is the third sign given to Moses.
The third sign is given in Exodus 4:9,
9 But it shall be that if they will not believe even these two signs
or heed what you say, then you shall take some water from the
Nile and pour it on the dry ground; and the water which you
take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.
In the actual outworking of this sign in the days of Moses, he turned
all the water of Egypt into blood. This was, of course, a judgment of
the law upon Egypt, and the Egyptians saw this as a disaster. But
nonetheless, it was a positive sign, for it signified the blood of Christ
covering the land of Egypt.
Egypt represents the world, and the blood throughout the land of
Egypt represents the blood of Christ. It is true, of course, that it
was a mixed blessing. It prophesied of the ultimate salvation of
the world, but yet this salvation came only through the judgment
of the law.
The law is corrective, and is therefore a blessing, even if it appears
to be painful to those being corrected.
The unbelievers... who are the main focus of the third sign of Moses,
will be given the sign of blood that will turn their hearts to God, so
that they may be saved in the great Creation Jubilee at the end of time.
Romans 8:21,
21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery
to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
Perhaps the main thing that characterizes this third sign of Moses is
the fact that the Egyptian unbelievers were forced to drink blood or
die of thirst. In an Old Testament context, this sign is quite negative.
But what is negative in the Old Testament is positive in the New.
It was against the law to drink blood (Lev. 17:10-14; Acts 21:25),
because blood was to be used as atonement for our souls. But
yet in John 6:53 Jesus says,
53 ... Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son
of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.
54 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life,
and I will raise him up at the last day.
In that day, all will eat His flesh and drink His blood, for that is the
third sign of Moses for all ex-unbelievers. They will do this, because
there will be no other “water.” Revelation 12:15.
What a Plan... What a God!
Logabe
