The Significance of Signs

Moses said, “I can't”; God said, “But I can.”

Moses said, “I don't have anything to say”; God said, “But I do. Say ’I am that I am.’”

Moses said, “They won't believe me!” God said, “Oh, yes, they will. I will give you three signs by which they will believe.”

Exodus 4:8–9 NASB95

“If they will not believe you or heed the witness of the first sign, they may believe the witness of the last sign. “But if they will not believe even these two signs or heed what you say, then you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground; and the water which you take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.”

1. The Three Signs, 4:1-9

Three signs are given to Moses and these signs are especially important.

A. The staff, 4:1-5

Moses’s badge of identification, as it were, was the shepherd’s rod or staff. Shepherds were despised by the Egyptians, yet Moses was to bear the reproach of being a bond slave of the Lord. He was to humble himself and be obedient in all things just as the Lord Jesus Christ was.

God is taking the foolish, weak, base, despise things and even the things that are nothing, to bring to nothing the things that are (1 Corinthians 1:27-29).

So full is the meaning of this one sign alone that it cannot be fully considered under just one point. First, lets us consider something of its significance directly to Moses himself.

1) Significance to Moses

The staff was the means of support as he watched his sheep. He leaned on it and it sustained him, for a Shepherd tending his sheep could not lie down on the job. This staff was sufficient for Moses’s every need as a Shepherd of sheep. It had never let him down. Moses had faith in that shepherd’s rod.

But when he cast it to the ground, it became a serpent and Moses became fearful. When Moses acted in faith once again and took the rod by the tail, at God's direction, believing God's word, the serpent became a rod of power once again in Moses his hand.

Moses understands the lesson for himself. When he leans upon the Lord, everything is fine. The Lord is a rod of power. When he casts away his confidence in the Lord, then he stands alone with no support whatever, and in place of support Moses became fearful, and Satan gains the mastery and the victory. It is only as Moses operates “by faith” believing what God has said that the old serpent is conquered, and the Lord gains the victory and the glory.

This is not only a lesson for Moses to learn; It is a lesson for every one of us to learn (1 John 5:4b; Hebrews 10:35).

2) Significance to children of Israel

Second, this was a sign with significance to the children of Israel. It was designed as proof positive that Moses was sent of God and this was one sign by which they could know this. If they realized its true significance, they need have no other sign to convince them. If they were hard-hearted, then two other signs were as backups to this one.

What was so significant about this sign that it proved Moses was commissioned by the Lord? Even the Egyptian magicians performed this same act by evil supernaturalism (Exodus 7:10-12); how then could it prove that the Lord was in it?

The act of taking that serpent by the tail and turning it back into a staff at Moses’s will is to show that he is master and not servant of the serpent. Being master of evil he must be commissioned of the Lord. It is this very argument that our Lord uses against the Pharisees by which he says they have committed the unpardonable sin.

3) Significance to Egypt and to Satan

Third, there is a message in this sign to Egypt and to Satan whether either one will receive it or not.

Douglas White tells us “the serpent was the symbol of power in Egypt. It was on the royal throne; it was the seal of Egyptian might and power and authority … This miracle pictured the crushing of Egyptian power by God and through his servant.” Egypt could have known when this first miracle was performed before Pharaoh (Exodus 7:8-13) that God would be victorious in the end and Egypt together with evil power would be defeated.

4) Significance for the future

Fourth, this is a picture of the final conquest of Satan's forces by the Lord Jesus Christ at the second advent.

The very same word for the rod/staff is used in Psalm 110:2 of the Lord Jesus Christ and of his rulership in the Millennium:

Psalm 110:2 NASB95

The Lord will stretch forth Your strong scepter from Zion, saying, “Rule in the midst of Your enemies.”

The first man was given rulership, but the rod was cast to the ground and the serpent took over the rulership and control of this world. Man is in fear and bondage to him. But God's Man is to take the serpent by the tail for God does control him and the serpent will be completely conquered by the Lord. The right to rule will once again be in the power and authority of God's Man who rules the world.

5) Significance in typology

Finally, we are able also to realize that there is a typical significance in this rod and in it becoming a serpent, and with this serpent devouring the serpents of the magicians of Egypt and then afterward becoming a staff again. Here we have a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and of his cross work and power over the enemy because of it.

Our Lord Himself compared Himself with the serpent. He said, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up” (John 3:14). Because Christ identified Himself with the cross and sin, Satan and his forces were defeated (John 12:31). The change back again into the rod of God that shall rule is a picture of His resurrection and ascension. Christ becoming sin has conquered sin.

Hebrews 2:14 NASB95

Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,

Let us draw the comparison even a little closer.

The sign of a shepherd’s staff was an abomination to Egypt. The sign of a cross was a curse to the Israelites (Gal. 3:13).

The staff was a sign of Moses’s call and commission; the sign of the cross was the Lord’s call and commission (Acts 3:13-18). It was His mark of identification

The staff was used as the basis on which the judgments fell on Egypt; so it is that the cross is the basis for all judgment to be executed upon Satan and his kingdom (John 12:31-33; 16:11).

The staff was the basis of deliverance through the Red Sea from the land of Egypt and from the power of the god-king (Exodus 17:5); so the cross is the basis of deliverance for the child of God (1 Cor. 1:18, 21; Rom. 1:16; 1 Peter 1:18-19; etc.)

The staff was used to strike the rock (Exodus 17:6) which rock is Christ (1 Cor. 10:4). Christ is only to be smitten once. When Moses later in anger strikes it twice more when he was told to merely speak to the rock (Num. 20:8), he broke God's typology. So serious was this act that Moses was for this one sin not permitted to go into Canaan.

This was the first sign. But there was a second one.

B. The hand, 4:6-8.

God showed in the first sign that He could take and use anything -- even a dead stick -- to glorify himself. If He did use anything, it was then no credit to the object that He used whatsoever. The glory belonged to the Lord alone.

1) Personal message to Moses

Now God is showing that the one who uses the rod of God must have clean hands and a pure heart. The hand and the heart of God's man may be instantaneously “unclean” or “holy,” but at any one time they are either one or the other. With the Lord we are either right or wrong, there is no in-between; there is no gray. If we are wrong, we are all wrong; if we are right, we are all right.

Because of this we can realize that falling is not a process in which the believer gradually becomes contaminated, but it is an event. It is not slow; it is instantaneous. We either act and react with the sin nature or with the new nature. We either produce the works of the flesh or the fruit of the Spirit. If one is operative, the other cannot be operative (Galatians 5: 16). This is but one of the many lessons God is teaching his servant Moses.

Leprosy all through Scripture becomes a symbol of sin -- loathsome, contagious, defiling, and, as far as Scripture is concerned, incurable. It is only been in the last century that medical science can arrest the disease. This is the first reference to leprosy in Scripture, but it sets the stage for all that follows in both testaments.

Moses put his hand into his bosom, the place of the heart, and when he withdrew it, his hand was leprous. He did it again and his hand was whole.

God is showing Moses that the heart defiles the hand and makes it unfit for service. The seat of the problem is with the heart, not the hand. It is the heart that affects the hand, not the hand the heart.

Matthew 15:19–20 NASB95

“For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. “These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man.”

It is out of the heart that proceeds evil thoughts and all the rest of the acts of men (Matthew 15:19). Christ said it was not the hand that defiled the person (Matthew 15:20).

The leprous hand exposed a leprous heart and a clean hand exposed a clean heart. The hand did not cleanse the heart -- God alone could do this. But once God has cleansed the heart, this will cleanse the defiled hand.

The hand speaks of our actions, or what we do. The bosom or heart speaks of what we are. The man God uses must have both a pure heart and clean hands (Psalm 24:3-4).

Psalm 24:3–4 NASB95

Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? And who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood And has not sworn deceitfully.

You do not start with the hand; you must start with the heart. The service of the hand must flow as the expression of the heart to be acceptable to the Lord. By nature, our service is unacceptable. This is why we cannot be saved by “good works.” We are saved by grace through faith, and then the good works follow as an expression of the cleansed heart.

There was a personal message in this sign also to the children of Israel.

2) Personal Message to the children of Israel

Again, the marvelous power of the Lord is seen as well as his character. The Lord can completely remove all defilement instantaneously. God has no problem to suddenly smite or cure. Not only can he turn weakness into strength, and fear into faith, but he can turn uncleanness into purity and righteousness through obedience.

This demonstration reveals that the Lord is a holy God, and that He demands holiness for those who follow Him. The lesson is both clear and vital. They had a need, but God was abundantly able to meet all their needs. So, He can meet all our need.

3) The message through typology

There is no indication that this sign was ever performed before Pharaoh. The message does not seem to include the Egyptians. However, there is a typical significance in this action. This act, as the previous one, is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. He who knew no sin was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). He was holy (Isaiah 6:3), but He bore our sins upon Himself in a point of time so that the Father forsook Him on the cross.

But soon the process of bearing our sins and defilement was over and now He is the Holy One (Acts 3:14-15). As the Holy One, He will come to His people, Israel, without sin to salvation for His righteous acts have been revealed (Revelation 15:3-4).

Moses bore the sins of the children of Israel the first time he came to them because they betrayed him to the King. When he appears the second time, it will be without sin to salvation (Hebrews 9:28).

In the first sign, the Lord Jesus Christ is seen defeating Satan; in the second sign, He is manifest as taking our defilement without permanently defiling Himself. Christ came (1 John 3:8) and (1 John 3:5).

One final sign remains.

C. Water, 4:9.

The first thing we need to observe is that this sign was not performed now in Sinai before Moses and the Lord. It was only to be performed if the testimony of the first two signs was refused by the children of Israel. All of this is significant to our understanding of this final sign.

1) Not a sign for Moses

First, this sign is not for Moses himself. Therefore, it was not done there in the wilderness of Sinai. The other signs had a personal message to Moses; this one does not.

2) Sign for children of Israel if they refused the first two signs

Second, this sign was only for the children of Israel if they refused the first two. It would then come into being. Why? It is because it is a message of judgment because of unbelief.

The water of the Nile River poured out upon the dry land of Egypt was the life of Egypt. Through the process of irrigation, the Egyptians had two crops each year. As the water of the Nile poured out on the land becomes blood, it signifies that the river, rather than bringing life, will bring death. In place of crops, there will be corruption and destruction.

When life is refused, that life becomes death. When light is refused that light becomes darkness, and our Lord had said Himself (Matthew 6:23b).

Matthew 6:23b NASB95

“But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

When mercy is refused, only justice is left.

Israel believed and this sign did not have to be performed for her. So it will be at the second coming of Christ that “all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, there shall come out of Zion the deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob ” (Romans 11:26). They will believe the first two signs -- conqueror of evil and clean cleanser of iniquity -- so that the last sign will not be performed. Praise God!

3) This sign the basis for the first plague of Egypt

Last of all, however, we need to observe before we leave this final sign that this last sign for Israel became the basis for the first plague for Egypt (Exodus 7:19-25).

Moses was commanded to stretch out his hand upon all the waters of Egypt and turn them into blood, “and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood.” The reason this was done was because Pharaoh had already hardened his heart and there was nothing left but judgment.

This is also a sign or a foretaste of what is yet to come. When the water of life is spurned, it becomes death. If the word of God goes unheeded, it becomes judgment rather than grace. Blood is used in scripture of death (cf. Rev. 6:4). Either they received the word (water) or they will receive the wrath of the blood poured out upon the whole earth, (Rev 19:13, 15).

This truth has a practical application for all time. In the Old Testament, the altar of blood sacrifice was either the place of mercy or the place of judgment. For those who came by faith, believing the word of God, it was a place of mercy and grace. For those who did not come, or came with a hardened heart, this place became a place of judgment. Man made it one or the other.

So it is today. The cross is a throne of grace, and out from the smitten rock flows the water of life ready for all to drink and not die. If that water is rejected, there is nothing left but the wrath of the Lamb.