The Salvation

And the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land. But I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.” Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as the Lord commanded them. Now Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh. (Exodus 7: 1 to 7)

God made Moses to be like Him to Pharaoh and Aaron to be the prophet. The reason could be that God wanted Pharaoh and the Egyptian to know about Him through Moses and Aaron with their own eyes. The other reason could be that those plagues that Moses was about to perform also happened in the final judgement days as described in Revelation. So, by looking at the plagues performed by Moses, people could acknowledge the final judgement days to repent and be saved. Then God commanded Moses and his brother Aaron to see Pharaoh as described below.

So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the magicians of Egypt, also did the same by their secret arts. For each man cast down his staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs. Still Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said. (Exodus 7: 10 to 13)

As before, God told Moses to cast down his staff to become a serpent. This time, God told Moses to tell Aaron to cast his staff down before Pharaoh to become a serpent as what God did the first time. So, God was preparing Moses to be like Him. In both cases, a staff was used to become a serpent. So, why was the staff and why was the serpent? It was described in the Bible as below.

Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. And the Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, O Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?” (Zechariah 3: 1 2)

God described the high priest Joshua as a brand plucked from the fire, a burnt, burning, or smoldering piece of wood just like a staff. Then the Bible described Israel as below.

“I overthrew some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were as a brand plucked out of the burning, yet you did not return to me,” declares the Lord. (Amos 4: 11)

So, in God's view, Israel was like a piece of wood that could be easily burned. Then the serpent was a symbol for Satan. It's described by John the Baptist in the Bible as below.

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? (Matthew 3: 7)

Jesus Christ also described those who were against him as below.

You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. (Matthew 12: 34)

Ever since the fall, men's souls were like Satan, a serpent. So, when Israel became impatient and rebelled against Moses and God in the desert, God sent fiery serpents among them. They died when bitten. Then God prepared his salvation in the staff and serpent as described below.

So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live. (Numbers 21: 9)

Yet, the final salvation was when Jesus Christ was crucified on the wood as described in the Bible below.

No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. (John 3: 13 to 15)

Indeed, we are weak like a worthless staff and corrupted like a poisonous serpent. Yet, it's not up to us but Jesus Christ, the bronze serpent hanged on the wooden cross. Just submit to him and look up on him then we are saved. Immanuel.