Bully's Blog

Luke Welch writes:

Exodus 4 shows us what happens when you take up the staff God has commanded you to take up. It changes from death into rulership: from a snake into a scepter. Let us see how this works out with the command to “take up the cross, and follow me” (Mt 16.24).

Then Moses answered, “But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you.’” The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A staff.” And he said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses ran from it… But the Lord said to Moses, “Put out your hand and catch it by the tail”—so he put out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand— “that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”… “And take in your hand this staff, with which you shall do the signs.” (Ex 4:1-6, 17:)

Later a staff with a snake on it is lifted up (Num 21.8), and Jesus tells Nicodemus that this image is a pattern of Jesus on the cross (John 3.14).

Moses’ staff divides the sea; Jesus’ cross divides the temple veil. Moses’ staff brings drink from the rock of Christ in the wilderness; Jesus cross provides drink from the rock of Christ at the Lord’s table (Ex 14.15, Mt 27.51, 1 Cor 10.1-4).

The cross is only death until you grab it by the tail. Then you will rule by it. It will be a throne. You will do signs by it. It will be a word to the world. Then by the cross, you will divide from sin, and divide from death, and be divided off as one of the holy. Then they may believe that the Lord, the God of our fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to us.

ART: Marc Chagall, God Turns Moses’ Staff into a Serpent, from The Story of Exodus