Signs of God’s Sovereignty
“And it shall be, if they do not believe even these two signs, or listen to your voice, that you shall take water from the river and pour it on the dry land. The water which you take from the river will become blood on the dry land.” Exodus 4:9
The two signs given to Moses for the Israelites symbolized God's power and authority to deliver them from slavery. The first sign, where Moses' staff turned into a serpent, represented God's control over evil, while the second sign, involving Moses' leprous hand, symbolized healing and redemption from sin and affliction. The third sign (and every subsequent plague) was meant to show the Lord's superiority over all the gods of Egypt.
The public relations firm working with the Egyptian pharaohs had successfully built up a god-like mystique. The core of the Egyptian propaganda campaign was that Pharaoh is a god-man with the divine right of kings to rule all of Egypt, including the people of Israel. What's worse, most of Israel had grown up in this Egyptian culture and completely believed in their gods and their god-man leader Pharaoh. When Moses was confronted about his credentials to be a ruler and judge over Israel ("Who made you ruler and judge over us?" Exodus 2:14), it wasn't just a rhetorical question, "Who are you?" but a question of whether he had the legitimacy of the Egyptian divine right of kings to rule because Moses was Hebrew and not Egyptian.
We see the prophet, Isaiah, many years later directly attack the wrong perceptions that the Jews had about Egypt: "The Egyptians are man, and not God, and their horses are flesh, and not spirit. (Isaiah 31:3 ESV). The Lord gave Moses three supernatural signs to boldly authenticate that "I AM" is who has sent Moses and has given him legitimacy. We likewise have been sent by the great I AM and have all the power and resources of heaven to give us legitimacy to preach the gospel of the Kingdom (Matthew 28:16-20). May we walk with boldness today knowing the Lord has sent us to preach a message of deliverance from the slavery of sin and to set the captives free.
The two signs given to Moses for the Israelites symbolized God's power and authority to deliver them from slavery. The first sign, where Moses' staff turned into a serpent, represented God's control over evil, while the second sign, involving Moses' leprous hand, symbolized healing and redemption from sin and affliction. The third sign (and every subsequent plague) was meant to show the Lord's superiority over all the gods of Egypt.
The public relations firm working with the Egyptian pharaohs had successfully built up a god-like mystique. The core of the Egyptian propaganda campaign was that Pharaoh is a god-man with the divine right of kings to rule all of Egypt, including the people of Israel. What's worse, most of Israel had grown up in this Egyptian culture and completely believed in their gods and their god-man leader Pharaoh. When Moses was confronted about his credentials to be a ruler and judge over Israel ("Who made you ruler and judge over us?" Exodus 2:14), it wasn't just a rhetorical question, "Who are you?" but a question of whether he had the legitimacy of the Egyptian divine right of kings to rule because Moses was Hebrew and not Egyptian.
We see the prophet, Isaiah, many years later directly attack the wrong perceptions that the Jews had about Egypt: "The Egyptians are man, and not God, and their horses are flesh, and not spirit. (Isaiah 31:3 ESV). The Lord gave Moses three supernatural signs to boldly authenticate that "I AM" is who has sent Moses and has given him legitimacy. We likewise have been sent by the great I AM and have all the power and resources of heaven to give us legitimacy to preach the gospel of the Kingdom (Matthew 28:16-20). May we walk with boldness today knowing the Lord has sent us to preach a message of deliverance from the slavery of sin and to set the captives free.