Moses' Arm & Staff

The original Korean text: https://blog.naver.com/stevision/50025430228

 

We read how God called Moses to be his servant in Exodus 3. God said to Moses, "Put your hand in your bosom, then take it out," when Moses said, "How can I, an 80-year-old man, do God's work?" When Moses put his hand in his bosom and took it out, he found it to be leprotic. God again commanded the frightened Moses to put his hand in his bosom and to take it out. Moses did so and saw his hand healed of leprosy. God ordered Moses who was still doubtful and hesitating, to throw the staff in his hand to the ground. Moses did so and it turned into a snake. When God ordered him to hold the snake's tail, Moses held it and it returned to the staff.

 

This word of God teaches us how servants of God should behave themselves. God's servants must know that their diseases are caused by God's providence. God sometimes gives a severe illness to a man when he does not respond to the calling of God to be a servant of God. If he realizes God's calling and obeys him, God heals his disease. God sometimes allows someone to suffer from a serious illness before he calls him to be a servant of God and heals him, in order for him to realize deeply that the goal of his life is not in the world but for the God. God sometimes gives a man like Paul a lifelong illness, so that he may rely on God every moment, think of him, understand his will deeply, and can be equal to God's work. This kind of disease is like a hotline that God has connected to his servants. God installed it because he needed it. Therefore do not complain to him too much about it. And you don't have to worry about it too much. Have you ever seen any apostles in the Bible who died of illness? Moses lived healthy until 120 years. Apostle Paul lived enough and was martyred. I mean, don't worry about dying of illness, if you're a servant of God.

 

Moses' staff is a symbol of God's power. Moses worked miracles by it in Egypt and delivered Israel from there. That is, Moses' staff represents God's dominion, truth, and authority. But the staff suddenly turned into a snake, which is a symbol of falsity and wickedness. However, Moses caused this snake to turn into the staff again. What does this mean? A servant of God should make people see rightly the truth, which the people of the world misunderstand as a thing like a snake for a while, as the real truth. In Moses' time, polytheism was considered the truth, while under such circumstances, monotheism was considered crude. Even the Israelites who lived in Egypt were living in the polytheistic society, affected by this polytheism. Monotheism is the truth, but people regarded this truth as a harmful snake. So Moses went to Egypt to let the people, Egyptians as well as Israelites, know the only true God, Jehovah, and showed his power to them. So the Israelites escaped from Egypt and served only the God Jehovah. Apostle Paul also was an important servant of God. What did Apostle Paul do? In the time Paul lived, Israelites were obsessed with monotheism. The law of God called it a sin of idolatry to worship anything, including humans, like God. However, what is the real truth? God appeared in a form of man to humans. This is the true truth and the power of God. But people regarded it evil and falsity, that is, a snake, for a man to behave like a God. At this time, Paul explained well to the people the right truth that Jesus was the Incarnation of the God, and helped them worship Jesus as God.

 

God's servants have a lot to do, and the important thing they should do is to teach the people to know the true truth when they misunderstand God's truth. What is God's truth that some churches or the people in the world misunderstand as a snake these days? Today, people put greater emphasis on humanism than on the word of God. So the real commands of God are interpreted and taught within the boundary of humanism today. God orders that a murderer should be put to death, but some Christians say the death penalty is wrong. Some pastors even bring homosexuals into the church. In the midst of this confusing world, true servants of God should not add something to the word of God or remove something from it, but must teach the people rightly so that they realize that the law of God is not wicked like a snake.