The book of Exodus illustrates redemption, or deliverance, through the story of God freeing Israel from Egypt, mirroring Christ's deliverance of sinners from Satan's realm. Egypt represents the world system, Pharaoh symbolizes Satan, and Israel typifies humanity enslaved by sin. Moses, the deliverer of Israel, represents Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil world. To assure Moses of his divine commission, God provided three signs: a rod turning into a serpent and back, a hand becoming leprous and then healed, and water from the Nile turning to blood, all signifying God's power and judgment.
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Peloved radio, friends, we greet you in the other precious and the worthy name of our blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is your Bible Teacher of the Air speaking, J.W. Bram Hall. We give you a hearty welcome to our continued study in the book of Exodus concerning the revelation of the world in its character, as revealed in the early story of the children of Israel found in the first twelve chapters of this book. The second book of the Bible, the book of Exodus. We read today a portion beginning in chapter three from verses one through nine.
And Moses answered to God 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. 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. And the Lord said further, 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 of snow. 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 or former flesh. 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. 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.
May God, by his Holy Spirit, bless the reading of his precious word, and also impart to us through the self-same Blessed Holy Spirit the revelation of divine truth that we find here in this precious portion of God's holy book. May I briefly review what we have been seeking to cover from this story in the book of Exodus in the history of God's earthly people Israel long ago. The theme of the book of Exodus could be stated in one word, that one word is redemption.
Or in another expression, the word redemption meaning deliverance. Every reader of the scriptures well knows the story of this book and the early chapters particularly, how God in his mighty power and by his matchless grace redeemed or delivered his earthly people Israel, numbering any amount from two million to three million, delivered them out of the land of Egypt. from the bondage of Pharaoh and the Egyptians. We have suggested that this story is an illustration of that greater story of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
A story in the gospel that reveals, through Christ the deliverer, God's delivering power for lost sinners to take them out of the realm of the serpent or the realm of Satan. and to translate them by His grace and power into the realm of the Savior, even our Lord Jesus. We have pointed out certain features regarding this story that typify the great gospel. We repeat it again. Our repetition of these truths is given without any apology. We have repeated this over and over, and again we do so.
In this story, the great empire of Egypt is a fitting illustration in type of the world, the entire world system in which you and I are living in. And also Pharaoh, who was the despotic ruler over the land of Egypt and cruelly oppressed the Egyptians, or rather oppressed the Israelites, is a fitting representation of one who is the God of this world, the God of this age, sometimes called the Prince of this world, even Satan.
Then we have also noted the fitting illustration of Israel, the people of Israel as a great nation being a type of the multitudes of humanity. that are under the tyranny, that are in the bondage of sin, and under the power and the authority of Satan, as they went their way through this earthly scene of life. How many such there are. But then in our story, we have a type of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that type of the Lord Jesus we have noted rests in Moses.
one who was the emancipator, the great deliverer under God, in bringing the nation of Israel out of Egypt, across the Red Sea, into the wilderness, and on to the Promised Land. Now these illustrate the great gospel story. And we would remind our listeners regarding the theme that we have taken that in this story we see the true character of the world and we shall see it more fully developed when we come to later chapters but in the story we have this New Testament truth in Galatians chapter one verses three and four our Lord Jesus Christ gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us out of this present evil world my beloved radio friend may I suggest you should be concerned if never you have before as to how you will get out of this world will you get out of this world when the journey
is finished below will you get out of this world and go into a place of divine and eternal blessing or will you get out of this world and enter into an eternity that will bring you immeasurable and eternal suffering in the lake of fire. One thing is very certain, and I assure you of the fact, and may God the Spirit emphasize it to you, you're going to leave here. And where will your soul be? Our story reveals the great antitope of the gospel. And within it, we find Christ represented as the mighty deliverer to bring you and me, saved by his grace and power, into an eternal blessing.
We noted in the preceding chapter, chapter three of our book, Moses was divinely commissioned of God to go and demand from Pharaoh the deliverance of his people Israel. We found also that Moses was very reluctant to go and demanded of God that he would be given definite, miraculous, divine signs of authority when he would approach his earthly people. In the reading of our fourth chapter in the first verse, Moses answered and said to God, But behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice.
for they will say the Lord had not appeared unto thee. In the reluctance of his mind and heart, he realized he might not be well received or not even wanted at all by his earthly people when he would approach them and declare that God had sent him on a divine commission to bring them out of Egypt. Well, may they doubt for they would be in bondage and under the tyranny of Pharaoh and great oppression, as we well know. Now God gives to him, in answer to his query, God gives to him three definite signs that he may manifest to the people of Israel.
He was divinely commissioned. Have you ever read in the epistle of Corinthians the first epistle? where the beloved apostle Paul declares, I believe it's in the second chapter, or perhaps the first, that the Jews require a sign and the Greeks' knowledge. It was a Jewish custom to demand from many proposed prophets any person who presented himself as a prophet in Israel a definite divine sign to prove his authority. God gives Moses three signs to manifest to his people of Israel, as we have read in chapter four from verse two, going down through verse nine.
Let me repeat them briefly before we touch upon them in detail in our ensuing message in the will of God. The three signs are these. First a sign of the rod, the rod that was cast to the ground and became a serpent. At the command of God, when Moses took it by the tail, it became a rod again within his own hand. This was the first symbol of divine power and authority, the rod that was in the hand of Moses. The second sign and miracle that God gave to him was the hand in the bosom, placed within his bosom and withdrawn.
It was as leprous as snow, replaced again and withdrawn again. It was as to form a flesh, an indication of a divine miracle and sign to prove its divine authority. The third sign, if it were needed, water would be turned into blood. Taking out of the ribbon aisle, a basin of water, a vessel of water, and pouring it upon the ground, it would turn into blood, indicative of the judgment that would follow if his offer of deliverance was refused. We shall see the meaning of these signs in our following message. The sign of the rod, the sign of the hand in the bosom, and the sign of water turned into blood.
May God make them real to us. Father, bless the truth of thy word in the Savior's name. We humbly pray. Amen.