God vs. Satan's Magicians: Why Aaron's Rod Swallowed Theirs

Hello, and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay, it's good to have everybody back, and once again, we'll just pick up where we left off and go back with me to Exodus chapter 6. And again, we want to invite all those of you watching us on television to get your Bible and compare all these Scriptures with us as we hopefully compare Scripture with Scripture, because that's the only way we can make any sense out of all this. And the only reason I teach, you know, I tell people all the time, I only teach for one purpose, and that is to help people to understand what they read. And I think we're making some headway. I had a young man again tell me the other night, he said, my, he said, how thankful I am that you finally came on the scene, because I never understood what I read. Well, hopefully, this is what we can accomplish, is helping you to understand what the book really says. All right, now in Exodus chapter 6, we left off at verse 6, where God speaks of redeeming the children of Israel out of Egypt. He's going to buy them back, He's going to pay the price, as He has even done in our own redemption, you and I as believers in this age of grace. Then I'd like to have you drop down to, well, might as well take verse 7 and 8, and I will take you to Me for a people, and I will be to you a God. And you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who bringeth you out from the burdens of the Egyptians. Now, verse 8, those of you who have been with Me now all the time, remember that Abrahamic covenant. He's going to make out of Abraham a nation of people, He's going to give them a geographical area of land, and then one day He's going to come and be their king. Now that was all in that Abrahamic covenant, and so here it is again. I will bring you into the land concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Now those three names, you know, pop up all the way through your Bible, well into the New Testament, well into the book of Acts, and everything is based upon that promise that God gave to those three gentlemen. And He says, I will give it to you, that is the land, for a heritage, and the reason He can do it, He's the Lord, He's the Creator, He's the Sovereign God. And so Moses spake such unto the children of Israel, but they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit, and for the cruel bondage. Now let's drop down to verse 13, and the Lord spake unto Moses, and unto Aaron, oh, I got to stop here and correct a mistake I made in the last program. It wasn't her and Caleb, it was Aaron and her. I'll do that for sake of someone on television is going to be writing and telling me that I went wrong, and I want to correct it before I go any further. All right, so now then we come down, verse 13, and so the Lord spake unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and gave them a charge unto the children of Israel, and unto the Pharaoh the king of Egypt, to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt. Everything is getting ready now, and now we're not going to go through those next series of verses, giving all the names of the various tribes, and the heads of them, and so forth. But I do want you to see something in verse 26. These are, in other words, all these families, are that Aaron and Moses, to whom the Lord said, bring out the children of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their what? Armies. Now, not armies as we understand. They had no weapons. As I pointed out here some time ago, two or three programs ago, they were just like that locust I gave you an example of that was wrapped in that spider's web. They had no way of doing anything. They had no arms. They had no swords, or spears, or shields. They had no way whatsoever of overthrowing their Egyptian slave masters. They had to wait completely for the power of God to come in on their behalf. But I think we have to understand that even as you look back into the Holocaust and other aspects of Jewish history, they had a resiliency, and I think a lot of it was based on their tribal organization. And I think even here in Egypt, they had an organization so that they didn't have loudspeakers, they didn't have radio, they didn't have phones in their cars, and what have you. And yet, how did Moses communicate with those several million Jews through an organization? And he would just simply bring the heads of the tribes together, and they would go out, and just like a military command, it went down through the chain of command. And so never, never see Israel as coming out of Egypt in just a mob. They were organized. And again, when they get the tabernacle set up, as we'll be coming to it in future chapters, God organized in such a way that every time they set up camp, the same three tribes were on the east, the same three on the north, the same on the west, and so on and so forth. And when they moved out, they always moved out in the same order. They were a nation of orderly people, and I want you to remember that. Now verse 27, these are they which spake to Pharaoh the king of Egypt to bring out the children of Israel from Egypt, and these are that Moses and Aaron. Well, now we're going to come and confront Pharaoh, and I'd like to have you, for sake of time now, come on over to verse 10, verse 10 of chapter 7, where 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. Now we're going to use the signs again, only now why are they using it? They're going to convince Pharaoh that God is the God of Israel. But now we've got something interesting happen, and I think we're living in a time that we better see what the Scripture says. What has happened? Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers, and now the magicians of Egypt, the sorcerers, those who practice the occult, they drew their power from the powers of Satan. They come, and they also did in like manner with their enchantments, for they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents. You see that? They had the satanic power to copy what Moses had just, or Aaron had just done with the power of God. But don't stop there. They became serpents, but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods. Now God is the creator of life. He is the sustainer of life. He is the very God of life. But Satan is not the sustainer of life. Satan is the sustainer of and the giver of what? Death. Sin came by death, or death came by sin, and the two are almost synonymous in the human experience. Death is on the scene every day because of sin. Sin and death are synonymous. Now then, let's see what happens in that same connotation in our New Testament. Turn with me now to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Now don't forget what we just read, that as Aaron placed his rod on the ground, it became a serpent. The Egyptian magicians threw their down, they became serpents, but Aaron's serpent swallowed up the Egyptian serpents. Now what's the picture? New Testament will tell us. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Oh my, we've got to start with these exciting verses of 51 on. Verse 51, and we think we're getting closer to the day all the time. As you see the world falling apart, governments on shaky ground, turmoil all around the planet. I got a kick out of some of the world's seismologists again the other day explaining the increase in earthquakes all over the planet, and they know there's a tremendous increase, but of course they don't know why. We do. The Bible tells us that there's going to be an increase in the number of earthquakes, and so everything is coming on, it's just piling up for the soon return of Christ. As Paul describes it here now in verse 51, behold, he says, I show you a mystery. He reveals a secret. Now you want to remember that nowhere in Scripture has it ever been told that there would be a group of people living, and of course Enoch was a good example of it, but the Scripture gives no indication of a group of living people who will suddenly be gone and translated until Paul, and that's why he calls it a secret or a mystery. He said, behold, I show you a secret. Jesus never mentioned this. The Old Testament never mentioned it, but Paul does, and so he calls it a secret. We shall not all sleep or die physically, but we shall all be changed. Now the reason has to be, of course, we can't go to glory in this old body. Now those who are dying and will experience resurrection, we can understand they'll have a new body, but what about us who are alive? Well it has to be changed, and that's what he's teaching here. Now I didn't intend to make this a point of lesson, because I want to come to that which is later, but we can't pass over this lightly. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling or the blink of an eye. At the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible. And Paul says, we believers shall be changed, suddenly. Why? Verse 53, for this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal, this body that is prone to die, must put on immortality. We have to be made fit for eternity in God's presence. We have to be given this new body. All right, now then, here's where I really wanted to come to point out what took place back there with Aaron's rod and his serpent, and the other magician's rods and their serpents, remembering that Aaron's serpent swallowed up those serpents that were representative of Satan and his death. Now, verse 54, so when this corruptible, this body that we have that is prone to corruption, shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, now look at it, death is what? Swallowed up in victory. Now, do you see how it all ties together? As those serpents of the magicians of Egypt were writhing on the ground, and Aaron's serpent swallowed them, it was the picture that this is exactly how God is finally going to control the situation, and death is swallowed up in victory. Now, where was the victory over death accomplished? At the cross, see? At the cross. That's where Satan was defeated, and since Christ has now been put to death, has been buried in the grave three days and three nights, and He rose from the dead, that's the power that separates us then from the power of sin and death and Satan and what have you. Well, we could just go on and spend some more time on that, but we want to make a little more headway in Exodus before we quit, so I'd like to have you come all the way over now to Exodus once again, Exodus chapter 7 again, and now verse 13. "'Even in spite of what old Pharaoh saw happen, he hardened his heart.'" Now it says here that God hardened Pharaoh's heart. Now this throws a curve at a lot of people, doesn't it? They say, well, now is God being fair with poor old Pharaoh, that contrary to anything that Pharaoh may have wanted to do, God is making him become the rebel? Well, that's not the way it is. Come back, if you will, to Romans. I guess I should have left you back there when we were in the New Testament. Come back to Romans chapter 9, because after all, the only way we can do these things is search the Scriptures. Romans chapter 9. Come over to verse 14, where Paul now writes, "'What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Can God be unfair? No way.'" Verse 15, "'For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but it all depends on who.'" God, who is going to show mercy. Now verse 17, "'For the Scripture saith unto," who? Pharaoh. Here we go. Tying it all together. "'The Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.'" How many people, even on the earth today, in this age of spiritual darkness and ignorance, haven't heard of the Exodus? How many people, even today, don't know at least something about the plagues that came on Egypt? Well, just about everybody does. And out of it, God has intended that he get the glory, not the blame. See now, the human race is tending to say, well, that was God's fault. But that's not the way God intended it to fall. He wants the human race to realize his power, his sovereignty, and in it all, his righteousness, his mercy. See? All right. Now, verse 18, "'Therefore he,' God, "'hath mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.'" Now that throws a curve at us, doesn't it? Boy, that's hard to comprehend. Verse 19, "'Thou wilt then say unto me, Why doth he then find fault? For who hath resisted his will?' In other words, Paul is asking the question, well, if God is putting this guy in this kind of a position, then who is God to put the blame on him? Well, now let's read on, because I think Paul's going to answer it for us. "'Nay,' verse 20, "'O man, who art thou that replyest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and another vessel unto dishonor? What if God, willing to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he had before unto glory, even us whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also the Gentiles?' Now, that's a tough one to explain. Don't think I don't know it's tough. Number one, God is sovereign. He is absolute in his power. We are in no position to argue what he does or why he does it. The Old Testament says his thoughts are higher than our thoughts, his ways are higher than our ways, and it's not for us to question. But I think realizing that God is righteous, you can be coming back to Exodus, realizing that God is righteous, he can do no sin, he can do no wrong. He gives every human being that exercise of free will. Now Pharaoh, when he was confronted with letting the Jews go, what could he have done? He could have let them go. But you see, when God brought him to the point of making a tough decision, and I mentioned a couple weeks ago, what was basis to him not wanting to let them go? It was economics. He couldn't lose all that slave labor without ruining the nation, and it did ruin it when they left. So God brings him to a place of having to make a tough decision. And like the average human being, how did old Pharaoh decide? In his own direction. He made his own choice. Now as we come through all these plagues, after every plague, Moses goes back and says in so many words, well, now are you ready to let the Jews go? What could Pharaoh have said? Let them go. But instead, what does he say? I'll not let them go. So I think we see this even in the human nature today. When people are brought to a place of making up their mind for or against God and they say no, the next time it's easier for them to say no than it was the last time. In other words, their whole concept of rebellion grows and their concept of recognizing God's mercy gets smaller. And so this is why when people get old, now this is not in any way pointing a finger at the elderly, but as people get old and they get up into those 80s and 90s, and if they are still a rebel against the grace of God, it's hard to break through it. It is almost impossible because they have become so hardened. I know I've talked to a few, and you just can't get through to them. Sometimes you can, but usually it's so hard because every time that they've been confronted with that choice of believing the gospel and they reject it, it becomes that much harder for them at some future time to break down those barriers of resistance. And so it was with Pharaoh. Every time that Pharaoh would reject the offer to let Israel go, it was that much harder for him to say, let them go, and it was that much easier for him to say, I'll not let them go. So I think that's the only way we can look at the fact that God hardened Pharaoh was that he put him in this place of having to make a decision, and every time he made it, it just simply hardened his whole concept. All right, now then, we know that the plagues begin, and we're not going to take them one by one because I think you're all aware of all the various plagues that came upon Egypt, except I'd like to make this comment. A lot of people can't believe the book of Revelation. They just can't believe that such things are going to come upon the earth. But you know what I always tell them when I teach Revelation? These things have all happened before. Most of what takes place in the Tribulation in the book of Revelation are almost a reek run of the plagues on Egypt. Only in the Tribulation, it'll be worldwide in its scale, whereas here, of course, it was limited to Egypt. But listen, much the same is going to happen. You're going to have the great influx of locusts, demonic creatures. You're going to have all of the cosmic disturbances that were no doubt part and parcel of all these things. So if you can believe that these things happened back here in Egypt, then you shouldn't have any trouble believing that it's still going to come on the earth once again. All right, now if you'll come on down through chapter 8 with me, like I said, we'll skip some of these plagues for sake of time, and come down to verse 20. Now the Lord said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh. Now I got to explain that, because I know I used to wonder, and a lot of people have, how did Moses and Aaron have such access to the king of Egypt? Well I read, and again, I have to, you know, you have to depend on what other people write sometime, but I have read that had this been Babylon, they would have never been able to do it. The Babylonian kings would never allow someone to come before them except in their own court. But the Egyptians did. The Egyptian Pharaoh was open to people to come into his presence, and so consequently Moses and Pharaoh had no obstruction, I mean Moses and Aaron had no obstruction when they wanted to come before Pharaoh. They came right into his presence. And so here they do here. And so the Lord said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, stand before Pharaoh. Lo, he cometh forth to the water, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Let my people go, that they may serve me. Else, verse 21, If thou wilt not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies or insects upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, and in the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of the swarms of flies or insects, and also the ground whereon they are. But now here's why I jumped this far. Now look at verse 22, And God says to Moses and Aaron, and I'm sure Moses and Aaron repeated it to Pharaoh, I will sever in that day. Now evidently the first two or three plagues struck the Jew as well as the Egyptian. But beginning with this plague, now what does God say? I will sever, I will set apart in that day the land of Goshen wherein the Israelites were dwelling, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there to the end that thou mayest know. Now here it is again, God's proving his point. He is showing the Egyptians that if God can draw an invisible line around Goshen that even the insects wouldn't cross. I mean this is something. And he says, I will draw a line around Goshen and they will not have the flies, all right, that they may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth. Now verse 23, And I will put a division between my people, that is of Israel, and thy people of Egypt. Tomorrow shall this sign be a division, a setting apart of the children of Israel from those of Egypt. Now we're going to see this, as I said last half hour I think, that all the way up through Israel's history, what is drummed into them? You're different. You're different. You are to be a set apart people. You are the covenant people. You are to have nothing to do with those pagan Gentiles all around you. All right, there's a New Testament analogy. Now let's go to 2 Corinthians again, if you will. In 2 Corinthians chapter 6, now Paul comes on the scene and he gives us the same set of directions. You remember Paul says in Romans chapter 15, I think it's verse 4, all these things are written back in the Old Testament for our learning. We're to learn from this. Now just as sure as God put a separation between the children of Israel and Egypt, God puts a line of demarcation between the believer and the world. And God says, you cannot serve two masters. We're either going to serve one and hate the other, or vice versa. Now look what Paul teaches then in 2 Corinthians. Verse 11, O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged. Now this is the apostle Paul just pouring out his innermost being, even though he's by inspiration. He says, you are not straightened in us, but you are straightened in your own innermost being. Now for recompense in the same, I speak as unto my children, be you also enlarged. In other words, have that same kind of a spiritual relationship. Verse 14, be you not, 2 Corinthians chapter 6, be you not unequally yoked together with who? Unbelievers. We don't hear that much anymore, do we? We don't hear much about separation. In fact, I maintain this is exactly why Christianity has lost its power. The average person can't see any difference between the average Christian and the average person of the world. But God didn't intend it that way. Just as sure as He separated Israel from Egypt, He wants to separate you and I from the world. Now like I said a couple of programs ago, not that we're to be oddballs. We aren't to be just constantly asking for persecution by our actions. But the world should know where we stand. So He says, be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Come on down to verse 15. What concord or what relationship does the one that believe have with an infidel, see? And so all the way through we have to be separated. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area, or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer supported and your gift is appreciated.