Series: Exodus
Title: The Accomplishing Word
Text: Exodus 7: 8-13
Date: June 4, 2017
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
Exodus 7: 8: And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 9: When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying, Shew a miracle for you: then thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and cast it before Pharaoh, and it shall become a serpent. 10: And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the LORD had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent. 11: Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments. 12: For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods. 13: And he hardened Pharaoh’s heart, that he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said.
The rod is a type of Christ set forth in the preaching of the gospel. The LORD gives us the message to preach—“And the LORD spake unto Moses…” And God makes us speak it to whom he will have it spoken unto. The LORD commanded Moses to cast this rod “before Pharaoh.”
Jeremiah 1: 7: the LORD said unto me,…thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.
Ezekiel 3:11: And go, get thee to them of the captivity, unto the children of thy people, and speak unto them, and tell them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.
Matthew 28: 18…All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19: Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
So Aaron’s rod is a type of Christ as he is preached in the gospel.
Our subject is: “The Accomplishing Word”
Proposition: The gospel that our great God and Savior sends forth always accomplishes whatever he is pleased to accomplish by it.
Isaiah 55: 11: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
2 Corinthians 2: 14: Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. 15: For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: 16: To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?
NO SIGN BUT CHRIST
Exodus 7: 9: When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying, Shew a miracle for you: then thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and cast it before Pharaoh, and it shall become a serpent.
Before God sends us forth to preach Christ, the LORD teaches us what to expect and what we are to do—“When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying, Shew a miracle for you:” Unregenerate sinners—with no spiritual sight—want a visible, outward sign. They asked a sign of Christ.
Matthew 12: 38: Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. 39: But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: 40: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
The greatest miracle ever performed in this earth is God coming in human flesh—the redemption Christ accomplished on the cross—the regeneration he accomplishes in his people.
Therefore, no other sign shall be given than Christ preached through the gospel—“…then thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and cast it before Pharaoh, and it shall become a serpent.” Christ is our one Sign and the gospel is the one way this sign is set forth. So when men seek a sign, the LORD commands his witnesses to preach the gospel of Christ—“then thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and cast it before Pharaoh, and it shall become a serpent.” This was the same as saying, “Preach the gospel of Christ and him crucified!”
The LORD tells Moses to say to Aaron “cast the rod before Pharaoh” because Aaron is a type of Christ. As the LORD taught Moses to ask Aaron, so the LORD teaches us to ask Christ to make the gospel effectual and Christ does so when he sends it!
Be sure to get this! The gospel word always accomplishes Christ’s will because when Christ sends it then it goes forth out of his mouth! The word of the gospel is made effectual by Christ the Word! Christ is the Rod who works his will in the earth with the rod of his mouth!
Isaiah 11: 1: And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:…4:…and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked….6: The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid...
Christ the Rod speaks with the rod of his mouth. The two fold effect he always accomplishes: 1) he smites the wicked and 2) he makes his people lie down together. Does Christ still do this from his throne in glory?
Revelation 19: 11: And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war….13: And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God…15: And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 16: And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
So Aaron cast the rod to the ground and it turned into a serpent. We have here is a picture of how God delivers his people from the bondage of the devil through the gospel of Christ crucified. Pharaoh represents the devil. Pharaoh’s emblem was a serpent like the devil. The serpent, satan, beguiled Eve which led to Adam’s fall and the poison of sin killed God’s people. Later in the wilderness, serpents will inflict poison into the children of Israel.
Numbers 21: 8: And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.
God’s cure was to lift up a brass serpent on a pole—the brass was made the very thing that was biting them. It pictured our sinless Substitute made sin for his people—made the thing that was killing us—Christ said,
John 3: 14: And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
So the rod cast to the ground typified Christ coming to this earth—made flesh, made under the law. The rod turning into a serpent typified Christ made sin, and made a curse by which Christ bore the wrath of God and satisfied divine justice for his people, declared the righteousness of God and crushed satan’s head.
2Later in scripture, Aaron’s rod budded to life and brought forth almonds. Through the preaching of Christ and him crucified, Christ causes life to bud in the hearts of his people and brings forth the fruit of faith through the Holy Spirit. Therefore, all who have experienced God’s grace through the preaching of the gospel say with Paul,
Romans 1: 16: For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 17: For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
Ezekiel 20: 36: Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord GOD. 37: And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant: 38: And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me: I will bring them forth…and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
Psalm 110: 2: The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. 3: Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power,…
THE IMITATION GOSPEL
Exodus 7: 11: Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments. 12: For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents:…
The devil and his ministers imitate the gospel. Satan does his most deceptive work in religion.
2 Corinthians 11: 13: For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. 14: And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 15: Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.
This is why Paul greatly feared for the Corinthian’s:
2 Corinthians 11: 2: For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. 3: But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 4: For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.
Can you imagine how painful that was for Paul? He had stood between the Corinthians and the enemy as he bore the arrows of the enemy for them. Yet, some began receiving the very men that fired those arrows at Paul.
Still, our assurance is that God shall not allow false prophets to be successful against his elect.
2 Timothy 3: 8: Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. 9: But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all [God’s elect], as theirs also was.
FOLLY MANIFEST
Exodus 7: 12:…but Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods.
This is when the folly of Jannes and Jambres was manifest before God’s elect, Moses and Aaron. The devil’s deception can be so deceitful that if it were possible it would deceive the very elect. But it is not possible because Christ always prevails through the preaching of his gospel! By Christ’s sin-atoning sacrifice, “The prince of this world is judged”. (Jn 12:31-33; 16:11; Rev 20:1-6). Therefore, by our risen Lord Jesus, his Church and his Gospel always prevail over the gates of hell (2 Tim 3:1-9).
Think about how Christ has prevailed through his gospel in the lives of you who believe. The prince of the power of the air deceived us while dead in sin but Christ’s rod swallowed up that serpent. The devil held some of us under a false gospel but Christ’s rod swallowed up that serpent. The devil has used many means to tempt us to compromise the gospel or walk away but Christ’s rod swallowed up that old serpent. The devil appealed to our earthly affections but Christ’s rod swallows up the serpent bringing all our affections to one affection, commanding in our hearts, “set your affection [singular] on things above, not on things of the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.”
Brethren, this is why Christ sends us forth to bear witness of Christ and says to us, “Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD.” (Jer 1: 8)
Jeremiah 1: 18: For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land. 19: And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the LORD, to deliver thee.
THE ACCOMPLISHING WORD
Exodus 7: 13: And he hardened Pharaoh’s heart, that he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said.
God’s word always accomplishes his will. Just as God is in sovereign control over his ministers and his gospel, so God is in sovereign control over the hearts of all men, even his enemies.
Revelation 17: 17: For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
Romans 9: 17: For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. 18: Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. 19: Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? 20: Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? 21: Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? 22: What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: 23: And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, 24: Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
It is just for God to harden sinners because we are all guilty, God-hating rebels by nature. When God describes rebels rejecting the gospel it describes you and me while in our natural state. The only difference between God’s elect and those he hardens is the grace and mercy of God.
Romans 9: 14: What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. 15: For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 16: So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Let us pray that through the preaching of the gospel this day God is doing just—showing mercy—to one of his elect. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved!
Amen!