The Three Signs

Transcript

so yeah tonight we want to look at those x three signs that uh Butch just read from x uh Exodus chapter 4 when Moses was at x the burning bush you know the god x revealed his memorial name to Moses but x he also gave him in the story continues x that event continues into chapter four x when God gives him these three x signs and tonight I want to look at how x these three signs I I think point back x to three x lies uh x the a lot of I x say majority of what I share tonight uh x is not like original to me I have to uh x give credit x to a Jewish rabbi by the name of uh x David Foreman who has a podcast that x actually brought out a lot of these x things uh and thinking x about how lies really x are HID are hidden here in this text and x actually pointed to uh when you dig into x it it brought out uh some some cool x things to help really understand how the x genocide really that that the Egyptians x were carrying out start with with with x lies and the current events and seeing x like the horrible things that people x were doing in x in x Israel uh you know a week and a half ago x and and you know the horrible things x that continue in war it it kind of got x me thinking about like how could people x do the things they're x doing to children and and it really x comes down to these lies these lies are x what allowed the Egyptians to do x horrible things to x children x and to to to be able to without feeling x guilty you know cast children into the x into the Nile River uh and kill them x that kind of you know heus acts come x because ofc because of these lies that x are at the source and God with these x three signs is really addressing these x lies and uh so when I saw the news it x kind of made me think back this this x podcast I think I heard like a year and x a half ago um but the the lessons were x pretty power ful so um I thought I would x share those with you guys x tonight um so we we had those three lies x that Butch uh read for us the lie or x sorry the three signs sorry the staff uh x that becomes a serpent uh the hand that x becomes leprous and x the and then the Nile that become or x sorry the the the water of the Nile that x becomes Blood on the dry x ground so those are the three signs and x the first question is like why why did x these signs why did God give these signs x to Moses so in the context as we said x remember this is when when God was x speaking to to Moses at the burning bush x and he Reveals His name God gives a x message to bring to pharaoh and to x Israel uh x in verses x 16 of chapter three God says go and x gather the Elders of Israel together and x say to them the Lord the god of your x fathers the god of Abraham the god of x Isaac the god of Jacob has appeared to x me saying I have observed you and what x has been done in Egypt and I promise x that I will bring you up out of the x Affliction of Egypt to the land the land x of the Canaanites uh perizzites and so x on and up to the je jebusites so God's x promising Deliverance for his people so x this is the the context x and uh that word that's that's there in x the ESV I have observed you uh is I x think translated in the King James x is sure visit maybe surely visit x you I did you know some research into x this word and one uh lexicon mentions x that uh out of all the the verb in the x Hebrew language this one which actually x occurs over 300 times is the most x probably this given translator is the x most difficulty um it's just a it's a x really hard word to to to pin down x somewhat uh and x the the the word the way the way that x foreman translated it was to say that it x means to remember with intent to x redeem and uh that I think is powerful x ful powerful way that x it's that capturing the meaning of that x word uh in the ne translation which has x excellent notes they they have a note x about this word that says pakad the x Hebrew word there has traditionally been x rendered to visit but this only x partially communicates the point of the x word when God visited someone it meant x that he intervened in their lives to x change their circumstance or their x Destiny when he visited the amalekites x he destroyed them when he visited Sarah x same word he provided the long awaited x child in Genesis 21 verse one it it x refers to God's active involvement in x human Affairs for blessing or for x cursing so here it could mean that God x had begun to act to deliver the x Israelites from bondage and to give them x the blessing of the Covenant the form is x joined here with the infinitive x absolutive there's a grammatical term x that just means the doubling of the x words that we have like you will surely x die or you will um in Genesis 3 being x the most famous example of that so it x underscores the certainty I've indeed x visited you some translate it to x remember others say watch over the ESV x had uh observed x you these do not capture the idea of x intervention to bless as and often with x the idea of Vengeance or judgment on the x oppressors if God were to visit what the x Egyptians did he would stop the x oppression and also bring retribution x for it end quote so there's a richness x to this message that we we we miss and x and the difficulty that translators have x of capturing the meaning of this word um x so this is why God was giving them x giving him the signs he's he's he's x going to well it's coming sorry in the x next let's look at one more verse and x we'll understand why God was giving x Moses the x signs it says and chapter 4 verse one x then Moses answered but behold they will x not believe me or listen to my voice for x they they will say the Lord did not x appear to you so God's telling Moses go x and and tell him that I've I've observed x you I've uh I've seen what you're going x through I intend to redeem you I intend x to bring x justice but Moses was fearing that the x people wouldn't wouldn't believe x him so the x signs that that God gave Moses were x God's response to this assertion that x they won't believe me so that's why x there were signs but why these x particular signs why these x three so ask yourself if if some x traveling preacher were coming through x and he did these three particular magic x tricks to convince you to believe that x he was sent from God would they be x enough to convince you to follow x him or you know if you were God think x about you have the ability to give Moses x way more oppressive signs than these to x ensure the people are convinced x right so it's not x about it's not about just x the the miraculousness of the signs it's x about something that they x communicate um I mean just to drive home x the point think about some of the signs x have overlap like in chapter five Moses x Pharaoh's magicians uh cast their staffs x and they turn into snakes and they they x poured water and had it turned into x blood um so x you know God could have picked something x more dramatic and he could have picked x something that the regular magicians of x Pharaoh's Court couldn't do but yet he x chose these particular x signs so on one sense you might think x they're not quite impressive enough um x and yet when Moses meets the elders at x the end of chapter four they x believe uh we read in chapter 4: 29 then x Moses and Aaron went and gathered x together all the Elders of the people of x Israel Aaron spoke all the words that x the Lord had spoken to Moses and did the x signs in the sight of the x people and the people believed and when x they heard that the Lord had visited the x people of Israel and that he had seen x their Affliction they bowed their heads x and x worshiped x so these the signs did their job they x convinced the people x uh but I don't think it's just because x of the fact that they were Miracles I x think it was that there must have been x something in those signs um that that x communicated an important message to the x Israelites so let's put to help us x answer the question why these signs x let's put on the top here I'm putting re x putting again God's message that he's x saying that Moses had to bring to the x Elders that I have observed you so put x that with the result from chapter 4 x together uh oops I shouldn't have put x that all on build but anyway of so x there's the linkage first of all there's x the linkage um that God said I've x observed you that x I've uh seen with the intent to and I'm x remembering with the intent to redeem x what happened to you that's that word x pakad and the belief of the of the x people is expressed with the same Hebrew x word but in English we get a different x translated word um where it says visited x the people of Israel the people believed x they heard that the Lord had visited the x people that was that same word okay that x so there's that linkage that there's it x has to one connection is it has to do x with x this what God is doing here he's he's x telling them he he's remembering with x the intent to redeem x them uh so it's not just x believing in God as an intellectual way x the signs are about what this what this x what they they're about communicating to x the people that God really knows what x they've been suffering and what they've x been going through it was meant it meant x that he was intervening in their lives x to change both their circumstances and x their destiny he was remembering them x and what was done to them with the x intent to redeem both so it wasn't just x I've observed you uh I will come and and x and miraculously uh change your destiny x but it's I'm remembering what has been x done to you and and uh and then the the x people saw that he visited the people of x Israel them and he had seen their x Affliction so there's this connection x it's not just what he was going to do in x in promising to to uh rescue them from x their current Affliction but he was x going to redeem the past um the past why x was the past so important why did it x have to go back to the x past is because the suffering in Egypt x wasn't just about the suffering in x slavery but it was also about the x lies when when people are x victimized and lied about or lied to x it's especially harmful the combination x of those x two Redemption involves addressing the x lies what happened to the victims is x acknowledged and it's made clear that it x was real that's part of the Redemption x process the three signs convince the x Israelites because they those signs x addressed the x lies so how did these signs communicate x this to the x Israelites why x um well to try to answer that question x we want to try to look for the meanings x of the signs well the first or sorry the x third sign was the most obvious x according to what God was telling he x said okay you know do the first sign and x if they don't believe then do the second x sign and if they still don't believe x then do the first first sign and they're x definitely going to with the with the x implication they're definitely going to x believe after the third sign so there's x something about the third sign that x would have helped them get it first or x most obviously and then as they x reflected on the earlier signs they x would understand as well I think is the x idea that's being um hidden or being x revealed to us so let's think about it x what is it about that first x sign the x um the water going x onto the ground what's the meaning of x that x sign to have to understand that I think x we have a hint if we look forward to the x first x plague because the first plague mirrors x this this first sign uh somewhat or the x third sign I'm sorry the the first x plague mirrors the third x sign when the Nile turned to blood x and if we think about the two of them x they are so pouring out the water of the x Nile and and it's revealed as blood and x the Nile itself turning to blood and x what is that pointing to what is God x revealing I think God is revealing the x worst thing that the Israelites had x endured when the genocide went to the x point of like casting those boys baby x boys into the Nile why did the they were x killing the baby boys why did Pharaoh x have them use the Nile to do x it if you think about it the point was x to to kind of cover up the crime to x cover up their sin the victims would be x hidden we read in in uh chapter 1 verse x 22 that when Pharaoh commanded all his x people every son that is born to the x Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile but x you shall let every daughter x live x so he was having them throw those x victims the baby boys into the Nile x because it was hiding the uh the crime x and a medieval uh Jewish scholar by the x name of ROM uh suggested that the all x his people in this verse wasn't just the x servants like his all his hired you know x Serv or or something like that but it x was all the people of the nation were x being called to commit these heus acts x um and they would so in his imagination x he's thinking through you know what x could that have been like he's thinking x in the middle of the night Egyptians x should go could go in and take a a x Hebrew boy throw them in the Nile and x then you know the the if if the the x Jewish victims are like you what they've x done to us x bring in the authorities where's the x where's the evidence there's no evidence x nothing happened here so it's it's a a x lie that's being used to cover up the x the violence that was done to the x Israelites and and and as this is x happening it's does it does bad things x to your mind to be victimized and lied x about and having the the truth covered x up really by Nature the denial is hiding x the truth of the reality that their x children were murdered until the Nile x turns to blood they x realize it's clear they there weren't x crazy the Egyptians were really killing x their children the Nile is not hiding it x anymore and God is showing he's making x it clear for all to see God says I see x your suffering I know what they did to x you Egyptians now have a choice could x they could own up to it Pharaoh could x say x yeah oh I get what the message is um I x really wrong you guys um he could let x the Israelites x go but instead the process continues x because he hardened his heart so that's x I think what the first sign is is x pointing to the lie that you know x nothing's really happened to your your x baby boys x it there's no evidence okay that that's x that's made clear when the Nile reveals x that it was it was filled with the blood x of innocent x children so what about the second x sign uh what could that leprous hand be x pointing x to part of the hint is that only one x other person in the Torah was ever x afflicted by Le with x Leprosy and that was that was of course x Miriam and when Aaron described it uh uh x this is what we read in Numbers Chapter x 12 um when the cloud removed from over x the tent behold Miriam was leprous like x snow and Aaron turned toward Miriam and x behold she was leprous and Aaron said to x Moses oh my Lord do not punish us x because we have done foolishly and we x have sinned let her not be as one x dead so Aaron makes a connection to the x leprosy and x death x and he continues it's not just any x particular death he says who uh whose x flesh has eaten away when he comes out x of his mother's x womb what's Aaron x describing he's describing a stillborn x baby the Torah links leprosy with the x white colorless skin of a baby born x stillborn so come back to the the second x sign if we consider that Moses hand was x kind of a a fake leprosy because a x moment later he puts it in his cloak and x pulls out it again and it's and it's and x it's x restored what could that be referring to x in the Israelite suffering back in x Exodus x 1 did Israel ever experience a lie x related to x stillborns or fake x stillborns well x um so in Exodus 1:15 I think we have the x connection then the king of Egypt said x to the Hebrew midwives one of whom was x named shiah and the other named Pua when x you serve as Midwife to the Hebrew women x and see them on the birth stool if it's x a son you shall kill him but if it's a x daughter he shall x live so uh um another Hebrew commentator x Jewish commentator from the M medeval x time said named even Ezra commented that x Pharaoh was asking the midwives to x secretly kill the male children as they x came out of the womb and then you know x present the child and say I'm sorry um x you've given birth to a stillborn child x this was what what Pharaoh was asking x those midwives to do it was to be a fake x stillborn x which x um which was to that was that was x Pharaoh's plan but it didn't work x obviously because the heroic resistance x of shifra and Pua who who risk their x lives to to disobey Pharaoh's x um Pharaoh's command and and and tell a x lie to try to protect the lies of these x children that that that heroic thing x brother uh x um H I'm not going to remember x um anyway a dear brother whom whom you x all know I'm just I can see his face but x my brain is forgetting uh made a point x once in a series of classes that God is x like never names the pharaoh's name in x Genesis one or throughout the whole x thing but he names these midwives here x for and Pua they're they're being x elevated and named and honored and and x Pharaoh is not is being Dishonored by x not by his name not even been mentioned x so just a a small point there um which I x thought was powerful um x so Pharaoh's uh lie that he was asking x them to make about the about these x stillborns about these children who call x them stillborn um his his plan was x foiled by the by the faith and heroism x of these two x midwives um so that forced pharaoh to go x to the Nile as his murder method instead x which which we looked at x already God is saying in the second sign x he knew those lies too that that Pharaoh x was was commanding The Midwives to do so x what about the third x sign uh what could that be representing x the the what could the staff turning x into a snake and then coming back to uh x becoming a staff again what could that x be pointing x to well a clue is in the the third sign x this third sign uh or sorry back back to x the third sign the water turning into x blood was the um first plague the second x sign going back one step was referring x to before the plagues with the with a x lie that Pharaoh wanted the midwives to x tell so if you follow the pattern going x back um so this um sorry not the third x sign sign the first sign here would go x back to even x earlier and I think x that that that earlier time had to be x before the Midwife part of the story and x one chapter 1 vers1 15 is told we have x to look earlier that would be I think in x chapter 1 verse 7 when the people of x Israel were fruitful and increased x greatly they multiplied and grew x exceedingly strong so that the land was x filled with x them so when we read that um there's x there's there's a lot there the x the we can see how there's Echoes back x to Genesis one this being fruitful and x multiply this is what was happening they x they started out as 70 people who went x down to Egypt uh and now they've become x this vast multitude God has blessed them x but looking at the p Mage carefully you x can look at it from more than one x perspective and in in some of the the x the vocabulary there's actually a x looking at it from from Pharaoh's x perspective and and and that continues x as you read further in in in chapter one x it seems like the Egyptian perspective x of this x multiplying um is also in one of the x words here that goes back to Genesis 1 x the word that's translated increased x greatly x uh is the word in Genesis 1 for the x swarming x creatures used for the sea creatures in x chapter 1 verse 20 um when God said let x the let the waters swarm or team with x swarms of living creatures it's x describing a population explosion uh x like some of the other vocabulary in in x in here in chapter one of Exodus is is x is x using but that word is often used in a x negative context later in Exodus that's x this is the word that's used for the x teeming frogs of the second plague which x Pharaoh you saw as a rightly you saw as x as a as a horrible thing they were they x were taking over everything this teeming x swarm of creepy crawly things um that x kind of terminology this word kind of x has that kind of terminology to it from x from the so from the Egyptian x perspective the people were like these x swarm of x of uh horrible pests uh the the x incredible Faith fruitfulness of the x Israelites was like the threat of an x army of swarming creatures that were x invading somebody's x home this picture here is a picture of x uh locusts this is a a little a photo of x locusts in in North Africa um I forget x which country but in North Africa just x filling the sky um there's just so many x countless uh swarms of of of locust and x this happens I remember um just a few x years back this happened in Kenya where x we lived um after we had come back home x I remember hearing about how how that x horrible thing had happened there um x thinking back to our time in Kenya we x had an experience that was kind of like x this overwhelming swarm taking over our x home when uh this swarm of x bees just filled our home they they x decided to take over our home and we we x all got out as quick as we could and um x except for actually Aaliyah had to stay x but that's another story um but she was x under x an an insect net a mosquito net to x protect her from from the bees but x anyway I kind of know what that feels x like to to have this swarm taking over x your home and that's how Pharaoh was x looking at the Israelites he was x thinking of this of of the Swarm that x was growing exceedingly strong which was x kind of taking over his x house and that's why Pharaoh says um in x verse 9 behold the people of Israel are x too many and too Mighty for us so we x have to deal wisely with x them so that sense of threat that pharoh x had really just came from his x imagination um and as a result he acted x on that that sense of fear of threat and x oppressed the Israelites but the more x they were oppressed we we know that God x blessed them and the more they x multiplied the more they spread x abroad and it says in verse 12 of Exodus x 1 that the Egyptians were in dread of x the people of x Israel this that that word there has a x sense of recoiling and horror from these x teeming swarming multitudes of Hebrews x that they saw as a threat the swarm of x creepy crawly things that had taken over x their x home this was really the beginning of a x propaganda CA campaign x that Pharaoh was using uh against the x Jews to convince his people to become x accompli to genocide culminating in the x throwing of the of the uh baby boys into x the Nile the first idea is that the x people were a threat or could easily x become a threat the second idea was that x they were more cunning and so we have to x outsmart x them and that's that's really gets at x the a way of avoiding your people from x listening to the cries of the of the x victims because you know a cry from x people for help you know would tear at x the heartstrings of of most x people when when they're dying um but if x you convince your people that this could x be a trick don't give in to that then x then they go through they can more x easily go through with the atrocious x acts against these human beings fellow x human x beings um for was saying you can't trust x these people they're too smart they're x too cunning and the third idea which is x captured in in this word for um becoming x a swarm really is that the that they're x less than human they're imposters x they're x subhuman This creepy crawly x language uh fits with that purpose to to x view the Israelites as less than human x like like x insects and and it's it's a strategy x that's been us used in and many a x horrible atrocity that's been carried x out against other peoples the Nazis x referred to the Jews as unmention and a x subhuman uh or as rats or x um x as lice cockroaches foxes vultures Etc x um there there was a a book that um was x uh I saw a little article about called x less than human how we how we um x dehumanize enslave and exterminate x others that's so it's about viewing x others as less than human that's really x the the start of of of genocide the x hutus in Rwanda referred to the tsis as x cockroaches um they're not human x exterminate them and the people could do x atrocious things because they view these x people as less than x human so Pharaoh is preparing his people x to do horrible things against the Jews x as well in the same x way x um to feel you know disgust repugnance x and Dread uh for these people um when x they saw them when they saw the x Swarms so you know that that kind of x thing kind of when I was asking like how x in the world could people do the things x that were being done um in Israel lately x and Gaza it makes me you know think back x to this lesson that I saw that it x actually we can see it here in Exodus as x well so Pharaoh saw the Jews as a threat x as cunning as x subhuman and you think about if God were x to try to C capture those lies in a word x in a symbol what would he x choose well the serpent is something x that captures all three of those uh for x people who are familiar with the x biblical text so that's why that that x third sign would have spoken to the x Israelites the x snake or so the staff is cast down and x becomes a snake and the snake is like x think back to Genesis 3 it's like an x impostor human uh you know it as part of x the curse it had to go um on its U on x its belly which seems to indicate that x before that maybe it had legs and could x walk and so it walks and it talks like a x human uh it seems to have human-like x intelligence and yet it's not quite x human and so The Serpent and the serpent x of Genesis 3 was more cunning and crafty x than any beast of the field so you can x think of why it would be that that x Pharaoh would use or sorry what God x would use this symbol to represent the x way that x Pharaoh viewed the children of Israel x the lie that these were subhuman people x the snake perfect per per perfectly x captures uh what the Egyptians thought x of the Israelites as an impostor as a x threat as x subhuman which which would make it x easier to justify mistreatment and and x heinous acts of x violence so why the the thinking about x that that symbol the sign a little bit x more uh in detail it was a staff then it x became a snake and then Moses picks it x up and it becomes a staff again what's x with that is there something hidden in x that those chain of x events well the word staff the Hebrew x word x mate is a word that's more often x translated as x tribe x interesting staff and tribe are the same x word in Hebrew now I think part of the x reason for that is like a staff is x something you can lean upon you can x trust uh that can support you and help x you in your walk well that's what a x tribe can do as well your people your x people are there to support you and and x and help lift you up when you're going x through x difficulties so the staff is a perfect x symbol of of a of a people of a tribe x that were cast down to the ground and x treated as snakes and then is treated as x as x subhuman but then Moses reached for the x serpent well actually first think about x his his uh response when when when it x first happened Moses like was like ah x and he he he ran from it he was he was x repulsed with fear just like the x Egyptians were repulsed with fear by the x by the teeming numbers of x Israelites so God was exposing the LIE x this wasn't really a snake this was a x staff this these people this tribe of x Israel were not really subhuman they x were they were people they were a tribe x and God's like exposing the lie because x when Moses picks it up by the tail x um now think about that you x wouldn't if you're trying to catch a x snake you don't grab a snake by the tail x because they just Arc around and like x bite you you you grab it right behind x the head so that it can't get you but x God told them to pick it up by the tail x which is not something you would do to a x snake but this wasn't really a snake x this it was just a fake snake it was an x illusion and the illusion evaporates x when he picks up the snake because it x becomes a x again God in this s in this sign in is x in this first sign was telling the x Israelites I understand how you've been x treated and I understand the lie that's x been perpetrated against you that's the x root of the killing the enslavement the x mistreatment the lies that culminated in x the blood of the Nile started with this x lie and God said I understand this I x understand what you how you've been lied x about so when you see this you see how x those three signs show God's empathetic x compassionate understanding for his x people that he understands what had been x happening to him the lies that were x behind the Egyptians x mistreatment and this helps the people x believe they believe that God knows and x understands the secret things that were x being done to them and so now we can x understand why um they x they responded with belief and and and x and and praise and thanksgiving to x God ah I forgot my slides forgive me um x so we answered why it was a staff uh it x was a tribe cast to The Ground God x exposes the LIE it really x was H A Tribe and so x when Moses grabbed by the by the tail um x he was demonstrating that this wasn't x really a snake this was a staff so the x people believed and when they heard that x the Lord had visited the people of x Israel and had seen their Affliction x they bowed their heads and they x worshiped they give thanks to x God x so so what we've seen so far we've seen x the three signs the snake Lep's hand the x water to blood and we've seen how all x three point back to lie this the the x snake points back to the subhuman LIE x the lepers hand points back to a still x the stillborn lie the water to blood x points back to children that were not x killed but the x reality uh was made evident that God saw x the blood that was in the Nile he saw x the blood that was there hidden in that x water and he revealed it to the x Israelites first with the sign that x Moses brought to the elders but we also x saw that help to help us understand it x that it pointed forward to the first x plague it pointed forward to the whole x Nile turning to blood so the signs don't x just point backward to the lies they x also point forward to the exposing of x the lie and the Redemption that comes x with x truth x and when the truth is x revealed again thinking of another you x know just horrible um acts of of of x human x mistreatment the power of truth could be x seen another thing in history um the the x Truth and Reconciliation committee or or x commission I think it was called in x South Africa after apartheid came to an x end the there was wisdom in in actually x setting up this opportunity to to bring x things that had been hidden that x horrible things that had been done were x brought to light and that was so x important to help the victims in the x nation he heal and start to bring x healing to the rift uh between the White x and the black of South x Africa um so it makes sense here when x God is revealing the truth when when he x made the whole M the whole Nile turned x to blood and revealed made it clear for x all to see that there is blood of x innocent children in those Waters God x was bringing the truth to light and that x was the beginning of the uh the x Redemption x process so it it magnified the symbol x and brought the truth to x light now could the first and second x signs also portend to a future uh x Redemption and uh revealing of the truth x well do we hear Echoes of the first x signs later the leprous x hand that we went back to the the LIE of x the x of the the babies that you know Pharaoh x was x saying kill the babies and pretend their x firstborns that was the the LIE of the x leper's hand so if you think about what x that points forward to that would point x forward to death of children in the 10th x plague but you know there's things some x things that don't seem to connect you x know we have children dying but is that x all there is I mean the Egyptians x firstborn didn't get leprosy and they x weren't really dying at Birth they were x firstborn but some were you know older x and some were kids but it was just the x firstborn in every house died um but x they weren't really dying at Birth uh so x is there is there more evidence that we x could say that the second sign really x points forward to the the 10th plague x well there's a vocabulary a couple x vocabulary hints as well that really I x think confirm this the in Exodus 11 x verse one the Lord said to Moses yet one x more x plague uh one plague more I will bring x upon pharaoh and upon Egypt that word x plague believe it or not is only used x once in Exodus the other nine acts of x judgment upon Egypt weren't named as x neim the the the Hebrew word Nea is this x is the word here used for the x plague um if you look at um on in my x computer program I I pulled up that word x in a bar chart and you can see in Exodus x it only appears one time I don't know if x my cursor will show up on the screen I'm x not gonna try um but there's a little x blip in EX in Genesis and there's a x little blip in in Exodus when uh the x 10th plague happened what we call the x 10th x plague no no place else but look at that x big spike in Leviticus what's that all x about what was happening there um so and x that comes from all of these verses x in Leviticus 13 and 14 and don't worry x we're not going to read them all I know x you can't even probably see them unless x you really squint at your screen um but x let's let's zoom in on a couple what's x what's Exodus Leviticus 13- 14 all about x well it's all about leprosy a plague of x leprosy a plague in the skin of Flesh a x plague x is turned white um and the plague in x sight deeper than the Skin So plague of x leprosy over and over again licus 13:14 x are all about x leprosy so God is in his in his word is x connecting the 10th plague with Leprosy x which then connects us back to that x second sign and there's more hints um x the Egyptian firstborn die in a womb of x Swords there there it's just described x that there wasn't a house in which the x child didn't x die and those houses are x really portrayed as wombs containing x children because think about how the x Israelite children or the Israelite x homes were on this Passover night there x was x blood of the Lamb on the doorposts and x on the top of the door and when the word x came that it's x time the people came through that Bloody x opening to leave Egypt that's a picture x of a x birth and look at Exodus 4:22 think x about what God Said ahead of time th you x shall say to Pharaoh thus says the Lord x Israel is my firstborn son and I will x say to you let my son go that he may x serve me if you refuse to let him go x well let's pause there so God is x likening his people as being born on x Passover uh well yeah later it would be x clear that this was happening on x Passover as they emerge from the womb of x their homes through the through that x opening that Bloody opening they're x being born as a x people um so so he said to so God said x to x Moses uh relaying God's words to Pharaoh x says if you refuse to let him go behold x I will kill your firstborn x son this was being fulfilled in the 10th x plague a nation was being born it was x birth um but at the same time that's x happening with Israel in the Egyptian x homes there's others that don't x successfully live leave their homes they x don't leave the womb alive they were x like children in a womb that were x stillborn x and and the morning parents carry out x their dead firstborn through that x opening of the x doorway as a they have a stillborn child x in their hands or a stillborn it could x be you know an older person but it still x captures that image of a still of of a x stillborn so now the lies of Pharaoh's x plan in this in the 10th plague are x reflecting back upon him and upon his x people when the firstborn are becoming x the x stillborn x so what about the first sign okay that x first x sign there's a what's the Redemption x what did that point forward to so it x pointed back to the lies of the serpent x so what would that point forward to well x if you think about the x timing the third third sign went with x the first plague going backwards the x second sign went forward to the 10th x plague so going back to the first sign x should bring us forwards to something x after the 10th x plague well there's a language hint as x well um sorry that should say 43 Exodus x 4:3 in describing the sign God said x throw it on the ground and Moses threw x it on the ground and it became a serpent x and Moses ran from it the Hebrew there x is really ran from the face of the snake x um literally and there's only one other x place that uses that word for run x and that word from the face and x that's in Exodus 14 when the Israelites x cross the Red Sea after the 10th x plague the Egyptians their chariot x wheels are clogging and the Egyptians x said let us flee from before Israel x that's the same words it's it's the I x mean it's it's conjugated differently x because it's it's they're saying it to x each other let us flee but it's the same x Ro same verb that's used of Moses x fleeing from before the snake and it's x from before the face literally of Israel x instead of um from the face of the snake x so there's a x connection Israel the face of Israel and x the face of the snake so if this if you x take that x hint then you can see that or the the C x cross going across the Red Sea is this x vast line of people that x are the snake that Moses or sorry x Pharaoh called him a snake and now they x literally looked like a x snake and and Pharaoh was wanting and x the Egyptians want to flee from before x the face because God was fighting on x their x side um you know think about when when x uh Moses said catch them by the tail or x catch cat the serpent by the tail here x Pharaoh the Egyptians have one last x opportunity they x could grab hold and and treat Israel as x as not subhuman but real humans who have x been victims that they were the x aggressors towards and and they have a x chance to to repent one more time um but x but they don't do x it and the the last uh link is uh the x the belief idea God said in four in x Exodus 4:4 you know catch it by the tail x and it will become a that they may x believe that the Israelites May believe x that the Lord the god of your fathers x the god of Abraham Isaac and Jacob has x appeared to you well that belief word x doesn't happen x again um other than when they did sorry x in chapter F uh four they x believe uh at the end of the at the end x of the x signs when the signs were actually x carried out before the before the elders x but we don't see it again through all x the the signs of the 10 plagues it x doesn't say that Israelites believed x it's not again mentioned until now when x they're crossing the Red x Sea and that snake you know the word x snake is not there there's a staff but x there's no snake there but if you think x of a picture it you know I don't think x the Israelites would have taken a x straight shot straight across the Red x Sea because under the under the water on x the ocean floor the or the sea floor x there's going to be obstacles and things x that they're going to have to twist and x turn around and if you imagine this big x mass of people going back and forth or x sorry going forward but kind of winding x back and x forth it would look very much like like x uh like the way that a snake looks upon x the ground you look at one spot on the x curve curving of the snake's body and x it's like it doesn't move side to x side it doesn't move I say laterally x from the L length of the snake's body it x only is like moving forward and but yet x it looks like it's kind of standing x still I mean in the uh the Proverbs it x talks about you know the mysterious way x of the serpent on the rock that that x that the way that looks you can imagine x that that's the way the the x snaking tribe of Israel would have x looked but they weren't really a snake x it just appeared that way they were x really a and God was redeeming them and x the people believed they believed in the x Lord and they believed in Moses who sent x who who God sent them um and it's just x this beautiful picture of God redeeming x his x people so those x lies God saw he knew the lies that the x people were uh that were told about his x people and he knew their x suffering and when he was going to x rescue them he didn't just pull them x out um but God provided the x acknowledgment that the things that they x were x suffering were x um he knew the truth and he made an x effort to make that truth visible x clearly to people that were witnessing x these events as well um God was x redeeming his people and redeeming them x from the lies as well and that just x shows the power and the Wonder and the x compassion of our x God and it made me think about you know x like so many things we can see scripture x points forward to Jesus think about x Jesus he suffered at the x hands of liars as well they saw him as a x threat just like the Egyptians saw x Israel as a threat um we have the x connection out of Egypt I called my son x it's brought for in the gospels as x quoting x as referring to Jesus we have that x parallel and and these people the the x the ruling people with power in the x Jewish culture they saw Jesus as a x threat they saw him as an impostor not x one of them he was something less than x them in their eyes um there's so many x there's so many Echoes and and x mirrorings back to what we what we just x saw in Exodus and when x God saw Jes x uh suffering when God made x sure and in in the scriptures we x see that God was revealing Truth for all x to see when the ruling Jews were trying x to have Jesus put to death you know what x was there on on above Jesus on the cross x in three languages so it would be x clearly declared to all to see this is x Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jew Jews x there was a x declaration this is this is the x king there was a declaration by x pilate this man has done nothing x deserving of death the truth was being x proclaimed and revealed even as x Jesus went to suffer for x us and a deeper meaning to that came to x me as I was you know pondering these x things yesterday I never saw I mean I x always thought of is a Judicial thing x like okay he's done nothing deserving x the death penalty but think about the x the Declaration there he's done nothing x deserving of death well all have sinned x and fallen short of the glory of God and x have x sinned and the wages of sin is death but x Jesus did nothing deserving of death in x his whole life he was sinless God's x proclaiming that he's x he's putting down the lies the lies of x of the Pharisees and and the ruling Jews x and and saying this is my beloved Son uh x he he says he makes it clear the Roman x Centurion x declares this surely was the son of God x all this truth is being x proclaimed to to combat the lies that x were spoken about x Jesus um it's just really really cool to x to see the echo uh forward and and x there's The Echoes of course x of how Jesus redeems us and what it what x it can tell us about why we can trust in x God and and grow closer to God knowing x that he's a God who cares you know think x about the lies the lies of the serpent x uh of sin we are in bondage to sin x because those lies that told us the x wrong way to go those lies that um that x say you will not surely die x um God's God brings the consequences of x sin to light when Jesus died on the x cross he died because of our x sins it's not okay to listen to the x voice of the serpent we need to we need x to to fight our human nature our sin and x and put it aside and instead turn to x God's ways um Jesus is is drawing us out x away from those lies and and setting us x on a path to life he's G he's giving us x a new life um and and you know those x lies also say to us you're you're not x really worthy you're x you're you're x um you know God wouldn't want you God x wouldn't care about saving you those are x lies that we can tell ourselves when we x fall and we sin and we you know we x realize we really screwed up but Jesus x when he suffered for us was telling us x the truth that God so loved the world x that he gave his only begotten son that x we could be set free from our Egypt our x bondage to sin to a new life to become x his people once you were not a people x but now you are a x people um sin tried to kill us at our x birth within the house but the Blood on x the doorpost the blood of our lamb x allowed us to be born again to a new x life so when we see the sign x the signs of the Prophet like unto Moses x him shall we hear we see that we have a x great God who knows and sees our pain x and our suffering and we x believe we see the signs point what they x pointed to and brought to the fullness x of light and that that we see the x revealing of truth that sin tried to x conceal the sin the signs are declaring x the truth about Sin that and that we x have a God who brings truth Truth and x Reconciliation and Redemption to his x people and the destruction of sin and we x believe and rejoice x greatly thank x you