The rod of God
Exodus 4:20 And Moses took the rod of God in his hand
The only thing God sent Moses to Egypt with was a shepherd's rod, yet how emblematic was that rod.
After 40 years in a hot, parched wilderness I am sure Moses felt like that rod, all dried up. All his natural strength withered away. All his self-reliance desiccated. All confidence in the flesh gone. Everything about his natural man was as dried up as this shepherd's stick. But though the outward man perished, the inward man was renewed day by day. He was dead to his own human resources, yet alive in the strength and power of God.
With this simple shepherd's rod Moses went to Egypt and became a man of miracles.
With this simple shepherd's rod the Nile river turned to blood, frogs and locusts devoured the fields, painful boils broke over the Egyptian population, and the dust of the earth turned to lice. Plague after plague brought the mightiest empire in the world to its knees.
So looking at this wonderful story of Moses and his shepherd's rod, here is the question we must ask: what does this rod represent in the New Covenant? We know it represents the power of God. When the Egyptians and the Israelites heard that Moses was back in Pharaoh's court holding his rod, two things happened: the Israelites rejoiced and the Egyptians ran for cover. Both knew when Moses raised that rod something powerful was going to happen.
But does not this dried up piece of wood speak to us today? In the New Covenant dispensation where is the power of God revealed? 1 Corinthians 1:18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
Where is the power of God found today? In the preaching of the cross. Friends, it is when the cross is being preached that the Holy Spirit moves the strongest in liberating power. When it comes to seeing captives set free from the power of sin, Satan, oppression and fear, there is nothing greater we can do than preach the cross.
Ephesians 2:1-3 And you hath he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins; wherein in times past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience: Among whom we also had our behavior in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of our flesh and of the mind: and were by nature the children of wrath.
In these scriptures Paul tells us that before we were saved there were three very destructive forces shaping and influencing our lives. Three potent evil forces were molding our lives and we were absolutely powerless against them.
First of all, the world: Wherein in times past you walked according to the course of this world
As unsaved people we were being influenced and shaped by the world's corrupt ideas and beliefs. We were being molded by the world's pursuits and ambitions. We were being fashioned by the world's view of what success and failure is.
Secondly, the spirit of disobedience: according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience. The very nature of the devil was at work in our lives. The same pride and rebellion that caused Satan to say, "I will exalt my throne above the throne of God" was toiling away in our beings.
Thirdly, the sinful lusts of the flesh: Among whom we also had our behavior in times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. As people possessing a sinful nature, we were driven to gratify the sinful cravings of the flesh. The debase appetites of our sinful nature dominated our lives.
So here is what Paul is saying: "When you were unsaved the world, the flesh and the devil enslaved your lives. They were determining who you were and what you were going to be, and you had no power over it whatsoever. You were a slave."
How hopeless it all sounds!
Yet, here is the good news! When God, in His mercy, saved us by sending His Son to the cross, on that cross Jesus destroyed these captivating powers. The world, the flesh and the devil no longer have the power to shape our life and determine what we will become. Because of the cross there is a greater life that indwells God's people and that is the life of the Holy Spirit. We are now being shaped by the Spirit of God, the truth of God, and the promises of God. We are gloriously changing from image to image because the enslaving power of the sin nature has been broken and we are wonderfully living the transformed life.
Romans 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that for now on we should not serve sin.
So Paul tells us that our "old man" was crucified with Christ and the "old man" he is talking about is the sin nature. Paul is saying, "When Jesus went to the cross, our old sinful nature went with Him, and when Jesus died, the enslaving power of the sin nature was smitten a deathblow." In other words, sins power to enslave our lives was put to death with Him. Sin cannot take dominion over our lives anymore. Like the children of Israel, finally liberated from Egypt's enslaving power, New Covenant believers are now liberated from the dominion of sin and free to move into our boundless inheritance in Christ.
It means "We are free to be transformed!"
Because of the cross we are free to be gloriously changed into the image of Christ. We are free to fulfill our destiny, which is to be daily transformed into the likeness of Jesus. Everything in that "old man" that could possibly hinder us was done away with at the cross and now we are free to become everything God has destined us to become.
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