The first miracle in Exodus 7:8-13 as the beginning of a cosmic conflict between God and Satan, illustrated by the contest between Moses' rod and the magicians' rods. The sermon highlights that while the Egyptian magicians, empowered by the devil, could imitate God's power by turning their rods into serpents, Aaron's rod ultimately swallowed theirs, signifying God's superior authority. This event is presented as an antitype of the gospel, where God delivers people from the power of sin and Satan, symbolized by the serpent, into His kingdom. The core lesson is that God's power is supreme over Satan's deceptive imitations, and believers are on the winning side through Christ. The message concludes with an urgent call to accept Christ's redemption and escape the devil's dominion.
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Beloved radio friends, we greet you warmly in the ever precious and worthy name of our wonderful Redeemer and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Continuing in the book of Exodus and giving you a hearty invitation to have an earnest and a soul interest in the teaching of the Word of God, we would be very faithful to declare with deep conviction, we believe the Bible to be the Word of God. We believe also that it is the responsibility of the servant of God to teach and to preach the word of God to the whole world.
And it is with deep and earnest desire we continue our ministry through this radio facility to bring you the word of God for your soul. Our continuation of our story in the book of Exodus now begins in its reading in chapter seven. And beginning at verse eight, we read through verse twelve, or even verse thirteen, where we have the introductory miracle that begins the great contest between Pharaoh and God's servants, Moses and Aaron, or between, as we have already stated, the contest that raged between God himself upon his throne.
and the mighty power of Satan the devil. Let us read the words. Chapter seven in the book of Exodus, beginning in verse eight, read through thirteen. And the Lord speak unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying, Show a miracle, meaning show a sign for you. Then thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, cast it before Pharaoh. and it shall become a serpent. And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so, as the Lord had commanded. And Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent.
Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers, and now the magicians of Egypt. They also did in like manner with their enchantment. for they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents. But Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods, and he hardened Pharaoh's heart that he harkened none unto them, as the Lord had said. May the Lord bless the reading and the hearing of this precious portion of his word. But may I emphasize to my listening friends, this is the introductory miracle beginning the great conflict and it has its lessons for you and for me to learn in relation to the conflict of the ages where upon one hand God has been seeking the deliverance and the redemption of sinners by his grace and matchless love and mighty power to save sinners from going to hell and following the devil into the eternal burnings and what a contest it is And I want you to recognize in the story of the book of Exodus what
we are now going to see is the true character of the world in the light of the events that transpired long ago in the realm of Egypt. For what we have is the great antitype of the gospel illustrated by this great story. As God delivered his people Israel from the land and the power and the tyranny of Egypt and the Egyptians and Pharaoh and translated them out of his kingdom and brought them to his own land that he had promised them. It is the great story of the gospel how that God is seeking to transform as well as to translate men and women out of the power and the realm of the serpent, the devil, and bring them into the kingdom of his dear son and in the kingdom of his love.
Oh, what a translation. And may I say to my listening friends, if never you have, God wants to save you out and from the power of sin and Satan which fills this world. Now let's look at the contest. It begins. There are challenges. He says, Moses and Aaron do a miracle. Well, at the command of God, Aaron cast down his rod. before Pharaoh and all of his servants, and it becomes a serpent. And then the magicians of Egypt, they were clever chaps.
Now you may ask, how could they do such a thing that they also could and did cast their rods down? And their rods became serpents? Now please let me say, don't you minimize the power of these boys and these fellows long ago? They were wise, but not in the wisdom of God. They were wise in the tricks of the devil. And I want you to be reminded that the devil is smarter than men. And the devil can pull some very clever, mysterious, and miraculous tricks. And they imitated what Aaron did when he threw down his rod.
They threw down their rods. Their rods also became serpents. But please don't forget, we'll emphasize it later. Don't forget, Aaron's rods swallowed up their rods. And there you can realize who had the greater power. But now I want you to know something. These rods, one in the hand of Aaron, the other rods in the hand of the Egyptians, Now what you've got is the symbol of power and authority in the rod. God's rod in the hand of Aaron. Satan's rods in the hands of the Egyptians.
Now may I remind you that from Egyptology, that is the study of the Egyptian powers and realm of long ago, the rod was the emblem of Egypt's power. There were hundreds of old monuments concerning their gods and their men, that held in their hands a sceptre-like rod. And what you have is that many rods of the Egyptians were opposing the one rod of God. In other words, Egypt had many gods. Israel had but one God. And when you see that the rod was changed into a serpent, I want you to get the symbolic meaning of this serpent.
The serpent indicated Satan's authority and his dominion over the earth. And in Egypt, the emblem of the serpent composed the royal arms of Egypt. The winged serpent, a serpent adorned with wings, was upon every temple entrance. Their gods, whether they were gods of heaven, which they worshipped, the gods of earth and the gods of hell, was seen with the serpent always, and even their goddesses. And when a Pharaoh was born, he was placed under the protection of the serpent-headed God by the name of Rannu in the Egyptian mythology.
Egyptian pantheism had its satanic trinity of gods, and every one of these gods, in that satanic trinity they worshipped, they had a serpent upon their head. The god Osiris, with a lofty crown representing the sun, and serpents with it. Isis, who was the sister and wife of Osiris in Egyptian pantheism, had a throne on her head and a serpent upon her forehead. And she was the mother of a god that was called Horus. A hawk-headed God with a serpent upon his crown. And my beloved, let me please say, in Egyptian worship, they had a Trinity.
They had what they called the Father of the Gods, the Mother of the Gods, and the Son of the Gods. A complete perversion of the Holy Trinity. And in every conceivable form, the serpent appeared in Egypt in relation to man. Now why did they worship the serpent? Let me remind you of what God said in chapter two of the book of Genesis when he condemned the serpent and cursed the serpent who brought sin into this world. Upon thy belly thou shalt go. And God's edict against the serpent meant nothing to the Egyptians. It was unsuitable to Egyptian wisdom and religion.
And instead of realizing that God said the serpent should crawl on its belly in the dust. They exalted the serpent, and the serpent became the ideal of majesty in Egypt, winged, crowned, whether in representation of life or representation of death. And it all symbolized that old serpent who is the devil and Satan. You know, it's a strange fact. Instead of men worshipping God, they worship the serpent. The serpent that is man's enemy. that if man seducer and a mighty rebel against God, men will worship him.
And these priests in the land of Egypt, may I remind you, may I remind you, they were priests and they were magicians who were skilled in all the wonders and mysteries of the occult that was controlled and empowered by none other than the devil, Satan, the serpent himself. And when you think of these men, they had a God they called the God of letters. And even this God called Thoth was represented on the monuments of Egypt with a rod in his hand and a serpent twisted around that rod that was in his hand.
And it represented to the Egyptian priest their God of intelligence. Now I want to tell you something, the devil can make men wise. He's not dumb. The devil's got more intelligence than even human beings. And he's able to pass on some of his supernatural satanic intelligence. And these priests in the land of Egypt long ago, many of them were the greatest of Egyptian noblemen and of royal blood, in fact. But they had special powers. that related to the fascination and the repelling of serpents. And these were the men who withstood Moses by the help of their gods.
Oh, may I remind you that we are facing a battle. And I want you to realize, please realize, here you see God's rod cast to the ground and becoming a serpent. Then you see the devil's rods cast into the ground and they become serpent. But the victory was ultimately errant. There was rods swallowed up their rods. And may I remind you that when the complete battle and the warfare is finished, you're going to find the devil and all of his power destroyed, but only Christ in his glory and power with the saints will remain victorious. I want to say again, I'm glad I belong to Christ and I'm on the winning side.
My friend, listen. Don't let the devil take you to hell. Come to Christ the Redeemer today and be saved. Oh, Father, use thy word like a sharp-to-edged sword with blessing. In Jesus' name, amen.