Moses' Snake - Healing From Our Sin

The picture of deception and death will show us the means of grace and eternal life.

Numbers 21:6-9 So the LORD sent poisonous snakes among the people, and many were bitten and died. 7 Then the people came to Moses and cried out, "We have sinned by speaking against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take away the snakes." So Moses prayed for the people. 

8 Then the LORD told him, "Make a replica of a poisonous snake and attach it to a pole. All who are bitten will live if they simply look at it!" 9 So Moses made a snake out of bronze and attached it to a pole. Then anyone who was bitten by a snake could look at the bronze snake and be healed!

Snakes have been a part of God's story from the beginning, just about anybody that knows something about God's word knows about the snake that deceived Adam and Eve in the garden, but that is just the beginning.

God's people learned about the importance of snakes while they were living in Egypt. The Egyptian people saw the snake as a political and religious symbol that they worshiped. The cobra goddess was supposed to be the protector of Egypt so imagine how surprising it must have been when God used the snake as the first miraculous sign to validate Moses' and Aaron's authority. 

God proved his superiority when he changed Aaron's staff into a snake but then it went to the next level when Pharaoh's magicians did the same. God had Aaron's snake swallow all of the other snakes so that there should have been no doubt about who was in control. (Exodus 7:8-12)

The next encounter with snakes was forty years later while God's people are on their extended tour of the wilderness on the way to the Promised Land. They have already been to the edge of the Promised Land once but they doubted their ability to be victorious against the Canaanites.

They could have been eating the awesome food in the Promised Land but instead they despise the food that God is still providing for them in the wilderness. The same God that was miraculously brought them out of Egypt proved to them daily that he was still in control of nature as he provided them with food but they didn't respect that power.

They were anxious to tell God that he wasn't coming through for them. God's power and his blessings in there lives was not appreciated so God used his power through snakes again. This time be uses them to discipline his people by sending poisonous snakes. God is very good at making his people aware of their sins so that they can repent and beg for mercy. 

God provides salvation for his people

God reveals the method that he will use to allow his people to be healed from the wound that the snake caused. Moses had to craft a snake out of bronze and attach it to a pole so that the people could look to it and be saved.

It is interesting to note that bronze was used in the Tabernacle on the altar of burnt offering where the sacrifices were made for sin and also for the basin that the priest used for purification. The use of bronze stands in contrast to the use of gold in the Holy of Holies.

It is also interesting to consider that the cure did not come immediately, it would probably take a few hours or maybe a day or so to make the bronze snake, we don't know why used human interaction as a part of the remedy instead of healing them instantly. It seems likely that more people died before the cure for the snake bite was in place.

Perhaps God was showing us that we don't usually get relief from the fallout of our sin immediately, the consequences can be severe and long lasting. 

But why did God choose to use a snake?

It is ironic that the snake brought healing to everyone that could look up in faith and see it. The snake already has a bad history of deception, pain and death. so it seems a bit peculiar to see the snake in a positive light as a source of hope and healing.

God doesn't erase the negatives, he works through them for a much greater good, he took the symbol of everything wrong in our world and repurposed it into a symbol of life and healing. That sounds a lot like what he did with the cross.

It's just like God to re-purpose a negative into a positive.

John 3:14-16 And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life. 16 "For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

I don't know how you feel about snakes but it seems a little bit disturbing to think that the snake on the pole is a symbol or type of Christ but even Jesus compared himself to this symbol in his first recorded gospel conversation with Nicodemus.

The snake on the pole was a foreshadowing of Jesus redemptive work. God's judgement was on me until I looked to the cross and saw my Savior there. Jesus took the curse of sin and redeemed me from the kingdom of darkness. The same cross that was an instrument of death and shame became a symbol of victory and salvation!

The snake points to Jesus, but Jesus surpasses it, embodying the ultimate expression of God’s love and grace. Jesus isn't like the snake at all, he is actually the antithesis of what the snake represents, as with every foreshadowing of Jesus the symbol has limitations.

The man made snake didn't have any power on it's own, through God's power it offered physical healing but it was powerless as a remedy for the consequence of sin. It did not offer forgiveness or eternal life. When Jesus was lifted up on the cross he became the means for my spiritual healing. Jesus sacrifice went beyond judgement and discipline to offer me complete redemption and reconciliation with God. (Romans 5:10)

The dead snake on a pole pointed to Jesus but perhaps it also foreshadows the ultimate fate of Satan as the serpent in Revelation. Just as the bronze snake was destroyed by King Hezekiah because it became a source of idolatry, Jesus will destroy the serpent at the end of time. (2 Kings 18:4, Revelation 12:9)

God's story began and it ends with the snake. Satan is described as “that ancient serpent, called the devil,” linking him directly to the snake in the Garden of Eden. Remember God's promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent’s head? That day is still in the future but it will finally happen as Satan will be powerless against God's judgement.

Thank you God for going above and beyond the temporary, physical healing to provide the only eternal, spiritual healing that I desperately needed. I was powerless to help myself on judgement day but I know how to overcome by relying on your power to reverse the curse of the snake so I will not share in his fate!

God Gave Us His Word - Old Testament

The Bible confirms that Jesus is our Savior.

Luke 24:21  We had hoped he was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel. This all happened three days ago.

Luke 24:27  Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

Just before Jesus leaves us behind here on Earth he encourages his followers to examine the Bible. He did not actually tell them to examine the scripture, instead he personally led them through the writings of Moses and the prophets to encourage his followers to find their hope again in the Messiah. 

They needed to look back at the Old Testament to understand that these things happened just as God promised. So many people that like to read the Bible do not consider the importance of the Old Testament but today I want to help us see why God gave it to us.

The Bible is mostly a book about predictions, there are over 1,800 prophecies in the Bible, the fact that almost half of them have already come true helps us to be reasonable, and logical with our faith in God and his message he preserved for us. 

The Bible is a necessary part of God's plan for his followers, without it we wouldn't be able to trust the teachings about God that are passed down orally, it would all just be rumors passed down through the ages that would have been altered each time the message was passed to the next generation.

God made it clear before Jesus came so that we can be certain and not miss his arrival.

The Messiah Will Come:

Genesis 3:15  And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”

God created perfection, man corrupted and brought about catastrophe and confusion. God's perfect creation included a perfect plan to redeem us and as soon as the need for redemption came the plan was revealed to the first sinners. But God's promise to Adam and Eve was just the beginning. Just look at how many times he affirmed the promise over hundreds of years.

Genesis 22:17-18  I will certainly bless you. I will multiply your descendants beyond number, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will conquer the cities of their enemies.  18  And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed—all because you have obeyed me.”

The scriptures continue to speak of Jesus in the life of Abraham and his descendants. God promised to bless Abraham and then he renewed his commitment by restating the promises to Abraham's son and his grandson (Isaac and Jacob) which then passed the promise down to Abraham's great grandson (Judah). (Genesis 26:1-5, 28:13-15, 49:9-12)

Exodus 12:23  For the LORD will pass through the land to strike down the Egyptians. But when he sees the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe, the LORD will pass over your home. He will not permit his death angel to enter your house and strike you down.

The Old Testament continues to teach us about the Messiah as we remember the original Passover lambs that saved the children of God from the angel of death. They could only save their sons through their obedience to God's word and their exodus from Egypt would occur as a result of the death of the first born sons of Egypt.

Why Is The Messiah Coming

Deuteronomy 4:13 He proclaimed his covenant-the Ten Commandments-which he commanded you to keep, and which he wrote on two stone tablets.

The law of God shows us why the Messiah is needed. We are too stubborn and insist on doing things the way the world does them instead of living God's way. That's why we need the Messiah to come and give us forgiveness from sins and the power to live for God.

God's law showed us that we could never save ourselves, it taught us that God's standards are much higher than we can ever achieve, it shows us that we don't deserve to be a child of God without a Savior.

Who Will Be The Messiah

2 Samuel 7:12, 16 For when you die and are buried with your ancestors, I will raise up one of your descendants, your own offspring, and I will make his kingdom strong. 16 Your house and your kingdom will continue before me for all time, and your throne will be secure forever.'"

We already know that he will be a descendant of the family of Abraham (Isaac, Jacob, Judah) but as their family line continues throughout the ages we will see that King David is also a descendant of Abraham.

The promise was revealed to David through the prophet Nathan during a time when David's kingdom was prospering and peaceful, just as God had promised. He was living in a beautiful palace but his heart was unsettled because the Ark of God was still in the tent that was used to transport it to the Promised Land.

God's promise to David stated that the lineage of his family that started with Abraham will continue and it will become a dynasty of kings that the world has never seen before. Other kingdoms have come and gone but this one will be eternal.

Isaiah 53:5 But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.

The Messiah would be a king but not just any king. This king would leave the splendor of Heaven to live on earth in an unexpected lifestyle and to be treated in an unexpected manner. This isn't what a king does, kings collect taxes, make the rules and live in luxury, but not this king.

This king lived in poverty and allowed himself to be mistreated, instead of demanding his rights as king he submitted himself to the needs of his people. This king loved his people to the point of death so that he could save his people.

The Messiah Has Come

Matthew 1:1This is a record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of David and of Abraham.

After Jesus was dead and gone, Matthew connects the dots in his book, to show God's people that their Savior had arrived. Matthew helps us connect the Torah and the prophets with the life and death of Jesus. 

Matthew primarily wrote to a Jewish community close to Jerusalem, a community of Christ followers that would have to deal with the influence of the Jewish traditions in their daily life. He wants to prove to the Jews that the promises have come to pass, the fulfilment of their traditions and the promise of salvation had come.

Hebrews 1:3 The Son radiates God's own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven.

The "god of this world" has made his word more popular than God's word, Satan doesn't care what your theology is just as long as it isn't based on God's word, just as long as it doesn't acknowledge that Jesus is God and that he came to cleanse us from our sin.

The original followers of Jesus were so confused, it was probably more difficult for them to understand that Jesus was "God with us." We can analyze the incredible amount of detail that the Old Testament gives us about who Jesus is and figure it out easily.

The Old Testament told us:

• Jesus Birth - How he would come to be with us
• Jesus Life - What he came to do for us
• Jesus Resurrection - Why he wouldn't stay dead

Very smart, logical people have studied God's word in the Old Testament and determined that there is no other way to explain the fulfilled prophecy, this must be God's promises. He gave us the promise and then he came through and made them happen.

We have the luxury of looking back at the big picture, we have God's word in our homes and on our phones, we can study it and learn for ourselves so that we can determine to build our life on God's word or on man's word.

Even today it is easy to lose our hope and get discouraged while we wait for the next arrival of Jesus. It is helpful for all of us to get into God's word and remember what he predicted in the past and that it came true. That's a great indicator that we can trust his promises for our future.

Saved And Sent

We are sent out to show the world how awesome our God is.

Exodus 12:31-33 Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron during the night. “Get out!” he ordered. “Leave my people— and take the rest of the Israelites with you! Go and worship the LORD as you have requested. 32 Take your flocks and herds, as you said, and be gone. Go, but bless me as you leave.” 33 All the Egyptians urged the people of Israel to get out of the land as quickly as possible, for they thought, “We will all die!”

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We have seen God's glory and power on display as he sent the plagues to Egypt, we saw that sometimes he exempted his people from the devastation, but for the final plague we saw that God required his people to do something in order to receive his protection.

God offered his chosen people a way to be saved from the destroying angels if they obeyed him and followed his plan of salvation. God's people were saved by the Passover Lamb and released from their bondage but they still had a long way to go to get to the Promised Land.

God's people were ordered to leave by Pharaoh and the rest of the people of Egypt also urged them to go and willingly gave them their stuff. The great number of people and the amount of livestock and riches that they have are all according to God's promises. It is very clear at this point who is in control and we know that it isn't the earthly kingdom. (Genesis 26:3-4)

God's promise to his people came to pass in God's timing, we cannot comprehend why God allowed thousands of his people to live and die in Egypt before he took them out but when it was time they left in the manner that he said it would happen. It's been a long wait and surely God's people are ready to get to the Promised Land right away but God has other plans that haven't been revealed to them yet.

Exodus 13:17 When Pharaoh finally let the people go, God did not lead them along the main road that runs through Philistine territory, even though that was the shortest route to the Promised Land. God said, “If the people are faced with a battle, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.”

God is in control and he shows it again by directing his people to take the scenic route to their destination rather than taking them straight there. God's route to the new home that he has prepared for his people will force his people to wait on him.

Even with the explanation that scripture gives it is still difficult to understand why God didn't send his people on the short route to their land. He could have intervened and caused their enemies to be afraid of them so that they would not change their minds and return to Egypt. 

God's people want to see results and when it doesn't appear that God is at work we get discouraged. A lot of the time we fail to realize that God's timeline is much bigger than the span of our lifetime. Generations of God's people have lived and died crying out to God to see his plan come to pass without any indication that he had listened to their prayers.

Trust Isn't Easy
A. Trusting in the Lord requires seeing your weakness and need, but His power and provision. B. Trusting in the Lord requires remembering that He always keeps His promises. C. When we trust in the Lord, He gets the glory and we get the blessings. - God’s Means of Salvation (Steven J Cole on Bible.org)

Trusting God isn't easy so we try to make things happen that God isn't ready to do even if he has promised to do it someday. Between the book of Genesis and the first thirteen chapters of Exodus we have seen God work slow and steady in the lives of his people. 

Because God saved his people from the sting of death, the world reacted by sending them away, instead of realizing that God is for real and they should submit to his authority. They chose to ignore all of the evidence and continue to live their lives embracing the powerless gods that they had created.

God's people have been sent out to show the world how amazing God is. Israel was saved from and sent out of bondage to Egypt and likewise we are saved to be sent. They were sent to judge the inhabitants of the Promised Land but we are saved and sent to show the world God's perfect love, mercy and forgiveness on our way to our Promised Land.

The same amazing God that led his children to Canaan will also lead us safely home. The route to get there is long and hard, just like it was for Israel, so that we will learn to trust and glorify our gracious Lord as we get closer to home.

Saved By The Passover Lamb

Apply the blood to your life so you can be saved from God's judgment.

Exodus 12:12-14  On that night I will pass through the land of Egypt and strike down every firstborn son and firstborn male animal in the land of Egypt. I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt, for I am the LORD!

13  But the blood on your doorposts will serve as a sign, marking the houses where you are staying. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. This plague of death will not touch you when I strike the land of Egypt.  

14  “This is a day to remember. Each year, from generation to generation, you must celebrate it as a special festival to the LORD. This is a law for all time.

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In the previous post we saw that Pharaoh's magicians could imitate the real deal sometimes but as God sent more and more plagues that they couldn't counterfeit they proved that Satan may come close but God's Mighty Power is not available anywhere else. God's power couild not be matched as he used it to devastate nature, command animal life and now in today's scripture we will see that he has power over death.

God has been more than fair enough in his dealings with the Egyptians, the Bible focuses on Pharaoh but he isn't the only Egyptian to have a hard heart toward God, most of the citizens of Egypt are guilty of treating God's people harshly even when Pharaoh attempted to kill all of the Hebrew babies. It is amazing that Moses was protected from death by the daughter of the man that wanted him dead and she knew that he was a Hebrew baby that should have been killed by her father's decree. (Exodus 2:6)

God always protects his own, before God judges the world he warns his chosen people that there is a way to escape judgment, they can receive mercy if they believe in the power of the blood to save them. But they were not allowed to just believe, real belief requires action, if they didn't follow God's instruction then they would not be any better off than the rest of Egypt.

Psalms 78:49-52  He loosed on them his fierce anger—all his fury, rage, and hostility. He dispatched against them a band of destroying angels.  50  He turned his anger against them; he did not spare the Egyptians’ lives but ravaged them with the plague.  51  He killed the oldest son in each Egyptian family, the flower of youth throughout the land of Egypt.  52  But he led his own people like a flock of sheep, guiding them safely through the wilderness.

God offers his chosen people protection from the destroying angels, he didn't exempt his people from this plague like he did some of the others, instead he told them how to avoid it through their obedience.

God told them that the Passover lamb must be the best of the best, a young lamb without defect, this lamb became known as the symbol of the perfect lamb that would come to be the final sacrifice.

Isaiah 53:7 He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth.

Jesus is the only sacrifice that pleased God, unlike those lambs that died before him, he is the only one that has God's complete approval. Without his life of sinless obedience his sacrifice would have had no value at all. We need to see that not only did Jesus die for us, He also lived for us.

Most of us fail to see that we are all slaves in a foreign country under the reign of an evil dictator. You can come out of the kingdom of darkness and become a child of God that will not be punished with the rest of this crazy world someday.

1 Peter 1:18-19  For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value.  19  It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.

The value of silver and gold will fluctuate but the commodity used to pay our ransom from slavery never changes. The blood of our Passover lamb is priceless yet it is meaningless if it isn't applied to your life by your personal faith. 

Have you had your own personal Passover moment? Find out how you can have peace with God.

RELATED ARTICLES

God’s Means of Salvation (bible.org)

The Passover Symbols and Their Messianic Significance (jewsforjesus.org)

How Jesus Fulfills Passover (thegospelcoalition.org)

Special Babies

When God wants to do something big he usually sends something small.

Isaiah 9:6-7  For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  7  His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!

Galatians 4:4 But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law.

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Most of us have heard that the best gifts come in small packages, we know that the smallest gifts are usually the most valuable, but this is especially true when the small package is a baby. We are usually drawn toward the baby with a desire to nurture it, protect it and celebrate it.

Unfortunately there have been too many babies that have been anything but good news and they have not been treasured as a gift from God. We will never know how much good may have been accomplished by a baby that was unwanted and therefore it was unprotected. 

The Bible has a lot of stories about babies that were sent to do something special. I cannot imagine how different the world would be if any of these babies had been destroyed.

Special babies that were sent by God:

• Moses - Born under an evil dictator that sought to kill every Jewish baby. His life had to be preserved so that 80 years later he would rescue God's people.
• Samuel - A barren mother promises to give her child to God, the baby grows up in the temple, and he becomes Israel's first prophet.
• John the Baptist - Elderly parents that are unable to have a child, his dad's unbelief caused him to be unable to speak, Jesus says he is the greatest man.
• Jesus - Virgin birth, born under an evil dictator that sought to kill him, called out of Egypt, came to be the perfect Passover lamb.

One of the most difficult things to understand is why God loves to send a baby to do a man's job. Why can't a full grown man arrive on the scene and take care of things right away? We want someone with strength, know how and determination but God prefers to send someone that doesn't even know that we need him yet.

God's special babies come in his timing to unlikely moms. The proof that God is in control can be seen many times by using ladies that couldn't get pregnant for a long time. Many of the important mom's in the Bible were barren until God was ready to send the special baby that his people needed.

Waiting for God's special babies to be born is difficult, but then when they finally arrive they are vulnerable and must be protected, then they have to grow up physically and then sometimes God still doesn't use them until they are old and they have had time to grow up spiritually.

Meanwhile generations of God's people live and die without seeing God's mercy and generations of worldly people live and die without seeing God's judgment. That's what happened in Moses' day, the Canaanites continued to live in sin without suffering the consequences that God promised would come someday and God's people suffered and many of them died in Egypt without the fulfillment of the promise to save them.

1 John 4:14-15  Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.  15  All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God.

It doesn't seem fair to us, God doesn't satisfy our desire to fix things right away, all of Israel waited for hundreds of years for the greatest baby that was ever promised. Meanwhile it seemed that God wasn't paying attention or he didn't care. 

Our idea of being in control doesn't look like God's, he was aware of our plight and he was still on track with his original plan to send his son to be "God with us." In the midst of the chaos of political and economic woes he sent Jesus as a baby to eventually grow up to be the man that would save us.

The day is coming when "God with us" will happen again, God will send his son back to earth, but don't expect him to be the sweet baby that they saw the first time and don't expect him to be a humble servant either. 

We all need to learn about the greatest gift ever that comes through Jesus but the only way to experience a gift is to receive it. Have you received the only gift that can give you peace with God?

Saved By God’s Mighty Power

The power to save us from bondage if we will submit to his control.

Exodus 7:3-5  But I will make Pharaoh’s heart stubborn so I can multiply my miraculous signs and wonders in the land of Egypt.  4  Even then Pharaoh will refuse to listen to you. So I will bring down my fist on Egypt. Then I will rescue my forces—my people, the Israelites—from the land of Egypt with great acts of judgment.  5  When I raise my powerful hand and bring out the Israelites, the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD.”

Exodus 7:10-13 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did what the LORD had commanded them. Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a serpent! 

11 Then Pharaoh called in his own wise men and sorcerers, and these Egyptian magicians did the same thing with their magic. 12 They threw down their staffs, which also became serpents! But then Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs.

13 Pharaoh’s heart, however, remained hard. He still refused to listen, just as the LORD had predicted.

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Moses' call to serve God required a lot of perseverance, he had opposition from the world and also from God's people that he was called to help, but the opposition is only going to get worse as Moses returns to meet with Pharaoh over and over again.

Pharaoh would receive a greater revelation of God with each plague that was coming but Pharaoh wasn't the only person that needed to learn more about God and how to please him. God's chosen people needed to learn about God as well, they had already embraced the false gods of Egypt even as the one true God was working to secure their freedom. (Joshua 24:14, Ezekiel 20:7-8)

Through the encounters that Moses had with Pharaoh, God showed the whole world that he is the only all powerful God that was superior to the overwhelming number of deities that were worshiped in Egypt. Even Pharaoh was considered to be a god so it's no wonder that he had a difficult time dealing with the truth.

The plagues should have been a wakeup call for everybody, think about it, God announced what would happen, he said precisely when it would start and when it would stop happening and yet they wouldn't acknowledge that he was in control.

Man has been consistent with his rebellion against God from the start of world history. From the Garden of Eden, to the conditions that led to the flood, the Tower of Babel, it just doesn't stop despite all of the proof that points to the real God who is all powerful, all knowing and completely in control of every situation.

Exodus 5:2 “Is that so?” retorted Pharaoh. “And who is the LORD? Why should I listen to him and let Israel go? I don’t know the LORD, and I will not let Israel go.” 

God will soon answer his question but Pharaoh won't accept it, instead of allowing the Israelites to leave with Egypt unharmed, he forces the slaves to stay and causes the destruction of his country and the misery of all of his people. 

At first Pharaoh wasn't impressed because his magicians could counterfeit the real deal but as the plagues continue we see that Satan's counterfeits don't stand a chance. Warren Wiersbe's Old Testament Commentary says that Satan always has inferior counterfeits that he uses to deceive the world:

• Satan counterfeits the works of God (2 Tim. 3:8)
• Satan counterfeits the children of God (Matt. 13:24-30, 36-43 / 2 Cor. 11:26)
• Satan counterfeits the gospel (Gal. 1:6-9)
• Satan counterfeits true righteousness (Rom. 10:1-3)
• Satan counterfeits ministers who spread his lies (2 Cor. 11:13-15)
• Satan counterfeits Christ (2 Thess. 2:1-12)

God made it obvious to everyone that the powers of darkness were not powerful enough and they were not in control. After they are free from slavery, Moses encourages God's people to recall the miraculous work that God had accomplished for his chosen people, they have plenty of proof that there is one God that deserves our worship and every other god is a counterfeit.

Deuteronomy 4:32-34  “Now search all of history, from the time God created people on the earth until now, and search from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything as great as this ever been seen or heard before?

33  Has any nation ever heard the voice of God speaking from fire—as you did—and survived?  34  Has any other god dared to take a nation for himself out of another nation by means of trials, miraculous signs, wonders, war, a strong hand, a powerful arm, and terrifying acts?

Yet that is what the LORD your God did for you in Egypt, right before your eyes.

What has God done to show you favor? Have you been freed from slavery? If you are not a child of God then you are in bondage to the death penalty that is required to atone for your sin. But thankfully that isn't where God leaves us! The same all powerful God that is your judge is also the provider of your pardon.

Exodus 9:1 This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go, so they can worship me.

The day is coming when God's people will be freed from this world of sin to worship him for eternity. Everyone that thought that they were in control of their destiny will be left behind to face God's judgment through the events that Revelation tells us about. God will prove himself to mankind again but just like Pharaoh they will refuse to repent. (Revelation 6:15-17; 9:20,21; 16:9,11)

Thank you Lord for revealing your mighty power to save so that I can know how to escape your mighty power to judge. Help me to give up my throne and submit completely to your control.