I continue to find amazing ways in which Moses pictures Christ. I started this journey of correlating the two after reading this verse: And the LORD said unto me (Moses), They have well spoken that which they have spoken. I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee (Moses), and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. (Deut. 18:17) This opened my mind to the possibility that much of what went on with Moses pictures Christ’s work at His first coming, and later at His second coming.
As we see things today, I have to first point out that not everything in Moses’s life pictures Christ. Moses was literally his own meek self. Oh wait, wasn’t Jesus also meek? The Bible only ascribes meekness to Moses (Num. 12:3) and Jesus (Matt 11:29).
At any rate, after God finishes explaining to Moses how He plans to use him to deliver Israel (Oh wait, doesn’t God use Jesus to deliver Israel at His Second Coming), Moses pushes back in chapter 4. 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. (Exo. 4:1) In my almost 50 years of reading the Bible and listening to sermons, the takeaway from this verse has always been that Moses, like us, had a lot of self-doubt and lack of trust that what God promises, He’s able to perform. But with my new lens, I see that what Moses does in this verse is NOT to question God. Do you see a question mark? He didn’t ask, “What if they don’t believe me?” He made a statement. “But, behold, they will not believe me.” Do you see some Prophet Moses/Jesus here? He stated the fact, the people would not believe him. The “they” that wouldn’t believe him goes back to chapter 3 when God talked about the Egyptians. Egypt is a type of the world. Those in the world would not believe Moses—or Jesus. It was a prophetic statement.
From here, God introduces the rod in Moses’s hand. I won’t discuss that much here because I did a six-blog series on how the rod pictures Christ in 2012-13. (Check those out by clicking on the years to the left). But I’ll point out God’s command to Moses in Ex. 4:17: And thou shalt take this rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs.
Something fascinating happens next from a prophetic standpoint, and I only saw it when I meditated on the fact that God commissioned Moses with the rod (representing Christ in object form). But wasn’t it Aaron’s rod that budded that ended up going into the ark of the covenant in the holy of holies? I went back through the plagues and discovered that the catalyst for the miracle plagues was often Aaron and his rod. But didn’t we just read that Moses was to take his rod and do the signs? What happened? Here’s the main new thought for today. Moses was a type of Christ as prophet. Remember Jesus was Prophet, Priest and King—in that order. In fact, Jesus as king is still to come. In Exodus chapters 3 and 4, we have Moses positioned as prophet. He was first. In chapter 4, we are introduced to Aaron. He was not an afterthought, as it might appear. Aaron is a type of Christ as priest. You know, Moses and Aaron were brothers—both from the priestly line of Levi. Interesting that Moses was not a priest. Aaron was. Moses was prophet. They both picture Christ in their different roles. But now it makes sense that the rod (picturing Christ, in object form) was interchangeable between Moses and Aaron. They both picture Christ in different roles.
I’ll close with this. In the end, when it was time to cross the Red Sea, it was Moses’s “rod job.” The Lord said to Moses, But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. (Exo. 14:16) After the miracle, Moses sang a praise song in chapter 15. Look what he said:
Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? Thou stretchedst out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them. (Exo. 15:11-12) Does anyone else see what I see? Moses was the one who lifted up his hand with the rod in it, and he says God stretched out HIS right hand and did the miracle. I will leave you to meditate on that!
Meditation is observing, asking questions, praying, thinking, comparing Scripture with Scripture and being AMAZED at what you see.
Tell me what you think.
Jody
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