MasterTruth

Why Did the Rod Become a Serpent?

Believe it or not, the first five books of the Old Testament, traditionally called “the law” or “the books of Moses” aren’t merely a history lesson. Much of it actually points to Christ. Jesus said so himself. And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. (Luke 24:27)

It would be interesting to hear which of the things in the books of Moses Jesus showed them that related to him. But I have one. Go back to that rod in Exodus 4.

God told Moses how he would use him to deliver the Israelites. After God laid out his big plan, Moses said “But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee. And the Lord said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod. 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. 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. 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.” (4:1-5)

We saw in my last blog post that elsewhere the Bible says…And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: (Isaiah 11:1)

The rod is Christ.  

In Exodus, the rod (Christ), becomes a serpent. That’s not the only time Christ is pictured as a serpent. And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. (Numbers 21:8) We know that was representative of Christ because Jesus said so himself. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: (John 3:14)

But wait. I know in Genesis that the serpent was Satan? How come the rod becomes a serpent, and this time represents Christ?

The First Serpent	Christ
And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.  And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: (Genesis 3:13-14)	Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:  That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. (Galatians 3:13-14)
The serpent was cursed for causing the woman to sin	Christ was made a curse for us, that blessings might come on us through Christ.
The Application 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. 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. (Ex. 4:4-5) He had to grab hold of that cursed thing, and it became a rod. He had to personally take it.	The Application …that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.(Gal. 3:14b) We have to believe.

In light of all this, look here again:

Moses said to God: But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee. And the Lord said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod.(Ex 4:1-2)

The sign that God chose to answer that dilemma (that the people wouldn’t believe the Lord had appeared to Moses) was the rod/Christ prophetically. Christ was the physical manifestation of God. He was God in the flesh, and he became sin and all we have to do is believe.

What if people don’t believe? Show them Christ (the rod). He became sin (cursed, like the serpent) on their behalf. All they have to do is look and believe.

Jody

What is the Meaning of the Rod in Exodus?

I recently discovered some hidden treasure when studying “the rod” in Exodus. What I intended to unearth was “how God uses what’s in your hand,” starting with the example of the rod that Moses had in his hand when God spoke to him in Exodus 4. But I saw something much deeper in the rod, and when I was done with my study, I told God I was sorry that “I” was the center of what I expected to learn. Because in reality, He is the center of that story.

Let me explain. I was conditioned to read the Bible and grasp what it says historically (the facts) and then see what I can glean personally or devotionally. I call that two-dimensional. After you’ve been around the block a few times, you get pretty good at this. So I thought the lesson on “how God uses what’s in your hand” would take 45 minutes or less for my morning devotions. Except I saw the third dimension. That is, beyond historically and devotionally, there’s a prophetic view of “the rod” in Exodus 4. Scripture is meant to be studied historically, personally and prophetically. In Bible college, I just learned about the first two. But here’s an example of the third dimension, and I’ll show you how I found it and what I learned.

This will take several blog posts, but I promise, it will be worth it when you see the depth that God has for you if you go beyond the surface and start comparing scripture with scripture. And it’s not even a stretch. Even Christ taught to look for the third dimension. Remember when He said, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life?” (John 3:14-15). Obviously, when you read that, you’re compelled to go back and read the story in Numbers and look at it another way to see the prophetic message in that story.

Well, I’m saying there’s a prophetic message in the rod Moses had in his hand.

God told Moses how he would use him to deliver the Israelites. After God laid out his big plan, Moses said in Exodus 4:1-5, “But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee. And the Lord said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod. 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. 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. 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.”

God’s use of the rod in Moses’ hand was what he would use to convince/prove to the people of his (God’s) power. This physical manifestation of God’s power is like Christ. He was the physical manifestation of God’s power.

This is the first mention of “rod” in the Bible, and it has to do with God’s strength.  Here are some other significant mentions of the rod related to Christ, and don’t miss this:

The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.  The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. (Psalms 110:1-2) This is Christ.

And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: (Isaiah 11:1) This also is Christ.

I started looking at the rod in Moses’s hand as Christ prophetically, simply because other places in the Bible refer to the rod as Christ. In my next blog posts I’ll show how a look at this animated rod indeed does picture Christ, and it makes other scriptures come alive. Be prepared. The third dimension is amazing!

Jody