The Rod and the Serpent

WHEN Jehovah sent His servant Moses to the great king of Egypt commanding Pharaoh to let His people go, the first sign He gave was the victory of the rod over the serpent. The temples and palaces of Egypt bore upon their lintels the sign of the serpent; there it stood with its uplifted head on either side of the sign of the sun, as if to tell to all who entered in those mighty and glorious buildings, that wisdom like the serpent's and power as the sun's, were Egypt's own. Idols and wonders and signs abounded in the land of those temples and palaces where the children of Israel were enslaved, and were building for Pharaoh great treasure cities. In his land, Pharaoh was supreme in power, his greatness and authority were beyond all question. How amazed then must he have been when the message from Jehovah reached him; "Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Let My people go, that they may hold a feast unto Me in the wilderness.”
He proudly answered, “Who is Jehovah, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I know not Jehovah, neither will I let Israel go." He knew the sun god and the serpents and the hundreds of other gods and sacred creatures worshipped in his land, but Jehovah, the living and the true God, Him he knew not.
Now, when Pharaoh said to Moses and Aaron, "Show a miracle for you"—a wonder to evidence that they were truly sent by the God whom they proclaimed—Jehovah had bidden Aaron to take His "rod and cast it before Pharaoh, and it shall become a serpent." The rod of God was that staff which Moses had in his hand when being a shepherd he fed the flocks of his father-in-law in the desert of Horeb. That rod was the outward and visible sign of Jehovah's power, before which the gods of Egypt and king Pharaoh himself should bow.
We can picture to ourselves the great king in his state and surrounded by his grandees, and Moses and Aaron standing before him having the rod of God with them. Then Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent.
Pharaoh was accustomed to the signs and wonders of his wise men, sorcerers, and magicians who had power from Satan to deceive men, and to keep them in the bands of idol-worship. So he called for his priests to do as Moses and Aaron had done. Our picture gives us a faint idea of the scene. Pharaoh sits upon his throne surrounded by his great men, before them are the priests with their garments of leopard skins; see they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents!
No doubt Pharaoh said to himself, "The priests of Egypt can show forth as great power as the servants of the God of these Hebrews, my slaves! Who then is Jehovah, that I should obey Him?”
But lo! Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods, and then, when the strange scene before the king had come to its end, the sign of the power that Egypt's priests wielded was taken from them—they had no rods left! The power they possessed none could question, God permitted it, and none can question the power of Satan the god of this world, of which the Bible speaks; but the power of God is almighty, and in the end there will be no power and no sign of power left in the enemy's hand.
One thing, however, remained in the king of Egypt, even hardness of heart; this was never changed, and though Satan be stripped of all his power, still his enmity to God will abide. Thank God, He begins with poor sinners by making our hearts to love Him, and we love God because He first loved us.
The rod of God's power will in the end subdue the wisdom and strength of the serpent, though God may now allow Satan to seem to have his own way. We remember what God said at the very first to the serpent in Paradise, when He foretold the coming of Christ the promised Seed, "It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel." (Gen. 3:15.) And so it was when God began in Egypt to work for the deliverance of His people there; His first sign to the ruler of Egypt was the overthrow of the serpent by the rod. And when we reach the record of the end of this world's history, we come to the time when Satan's power shall be taken from him; the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil (the accuser), and Satan (the enemy), shall be bound with a chain, and held prisoner in the bottomless pit. And then, after a further interval, he shall be sealed up in hell forever, and his power, and all sign of his power, shall be seen no more, but the power and wisdom of God shall rule alone.
Bible Lessons for the Little Ones
(Read Matt. 8:5-14; Luke 7)
THE centurion of whom we have been reading was not a Jew; he was a Roman captain, who had charge of soldiers in the city of Capernaum.
What more do we know about him?
We are not told even one of his names, and the Romans generally had three; but we are told of his kindness to God's people. We know, too, that he had heard of Jesus, and that he wanted the Lord to come to him when he was in trouble, but he did not think he was worthy to have Him come under his roof. Yet, when the Jews spoke to the Lord about him, they said, "He is worthy; he loveth our nation, and he hath built us a synagogue.”
They praised him very much, and begged Jesus to help him.
Why was this Roman captain in such trouble?
One of his servants was sick and ready to die. This made his master very sad, for he loved that servant, and could not bear to see him suffering dreadful pain in all his limbs, and to know that no one could give him any medicine which would cure him. The Romans often had a great many servants or slaves, and they were not accustomed to think very much about them if they were ill, but God had given this captain a tender heart to feel for the sufferings of others, and he was not ashamed of loving his poor sick servant.
But what had he heard about the Lord Jesus?
We cannot tell. Perhaps the story of that leper, who could not help telling everywhere about Jesus and what He had done for him, had come to the ears of the centurion. One thing he knew—he was quite sure that Jesus had power over everything, just as he had authority over his soldiers.
The first thing a Roman soldier learned was to obey. If he did not obey the orders of his captain, his punishment was very severe. This captain thought how his word was enough for the soldiers who were under him. And so when the Lord Jesus, who was told of the sick servant, said, "I will come and heal him," the captain sent a message to Him—
“Lord, trouble not Thyself: for I am not worthy that Thou shouldest enter under my roof: wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto Thee; but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed. For I also am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say unto one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.”
This was the message, and you can read it in the seventh chapter of Luke. The Lord marveled—that means wondered—when He heard it, and turning round, said to the crowd who were following Him, "I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.”
What a beautiful word from the Lord the centurion had—"As thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee." It was just so, for when the friends, who had brought the message from the centurion to the Lord returned, all was done. The Lord had spoken the word, and the servant was healed at that very time. The Lord had never come to the house; He had not sent any wonderful medicine; He had never looked upon the poor man who was at the point of death; He had not laid His hand upon him with that touch which had brought cure to the leper. Yet "they found the servant whole "—that means quite strong and well— “who had been sick.”
What a happy day that must have been for the centurion and all who were in his house. He loved his servant before, but he must have loved him much more now that he had been given back to him from the gates of death by the word of the Lord.
Christ said He had not found such great faith in Israel. Among the people whom God had chosen for His own people, and had taught for so many years, there were none who understood the power of the Son of God as this Roman, who had been brought up to worship many false gods.
Faith is the gift of God. It was not by any cleverness of his own that the centurion knew there was only One who could heal his dying slave, and that He had but to say to the dreadful sickness, "Go," and it would let go its hold at once.
The Lord told His disciples that many poor Gentiles, like this Roman captain, should sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. Abraham and Isaac and Jacob all had faith in God; Abraham is the first person of whom we are told that he "believed God," and God counts this faith in His word, which is His own gift, a very precious thing. Do you know what it means, dear children?