21/06/2026
Our Chaplain's Corner feature this morning comes from Bro. Rev. Nigel Kane of Curran LOL 121, our senior District Chaplain. He will focus on Exodus 4.
At the end of Exodus 3, we see God telling Moses to return to Egypt and deliver messages to both the Israelites and Pharaoh.
God wanted the Israelites to know that He was aware of the oppression they were experiencing in Egypt and He was going to bring them out of Egypt to the land He promised to their forefathers (3:16-17).
God promised Moses that the Israelite elders would listen to him, and they would accompany him when he went to Pharaoh to ask him to let them take a three day journey into the wilderness, so that they could worship the Lord their God (3:18).
God knew that Pharaoh would reject their request, so He promised to strike the Egyptians with wonders that would cause Pharaoh to let His people leave, and enable them to plunder the Egyptians as they did so (3:19-22).
Moses ignored God’s promises and asked, “What if they do not believe me, or listen to me and say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you?’” (4:1)
Although Moses’ question was disrespectful, God graciously answered it by giving Moses three wondrous signs to prove to the Israelites that God had appeared to him.
God started with what was immediately at hand: “Then the Lord said to [Moses], ‘What is that in your hand?’ ‘A staff,’ he replied. The Lord said, ‘Throw it on the ground.’ Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. Then the Lord said to him, ‘Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.’ So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. ‘This,’ said the Lord, ‘is so 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.’” (vv.2-5)
This was a remarkable sign, especially because Moses’ staff was just an ordinary piece of wood. Yet, when God turned it into a snake, Moses was so frightened that he ran away from his own staff.
God used Moses’ staff to teach Moses that He can use something very ordinary to accomplish His purpose. By giving Moses this sign, God was basically saying, ‘Moses, if you’re still having trouble believing that I can help you do what I have asked you to do, look at what I can do with just an ordinary piece of wood’.
Since God could do this with a piece of wood He’d created, then He could do immeasurably more through Moses, whom He’d created in His own image. But, for Moses to be used for God’s glory, he had to trust God, and place his life in God’s hands.
If we’re God’s child, through faith in Jesus, we can take the same lesson from what happened to Moses’ staff. No matter how ordinary we may be, or feel, God can still use us in a mighty way, if we’re prepared to trust Him, and place our life in His hands.
The sign of Moses’ staff was also used by God to convince the Israelites that He’d spoken to Moses, and to persuade them that He could lead them out of Egypt. The cobra was the national god of Lower Egypt and was the main symbol used by the Pharaohs. By worshipping a serpent, the Egyptians were ultimately worshipping that old serpent, the devil. But, by changing a stick into a serpent, and back again, God demonstrated His authority over the gods of Egypt, and over satan himself.
This first sign should’ve been convincing enough. Nevertheless, God gave Moses a second sign by showing him that He could also use the hand that held his staff: “Then the Lord said, ‘Put your hand inside your cloak.’ So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was leprous, like snow. ‘Now put it back into your cloak,’ he said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh.” (vv.6-7)
This second sign was equally impressive. Leprosy was widespread in Egypt, and it was well known that the disease was highly infectious, and completely incurable. So, anyone who had it was kept in complete isolation (Leviticus 13:45-46). The sudden appearance of this dreadful disease would’ve been shocking to anyone who saw it, while its total disappearance would’ve been an unmistakable miracle.
The third sign that God gave Moses would become the first of the plagues: “Then the Lord said, ‘If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first miraculous sign, they may believe the second. But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground.’” (vv.8-9)
Even if the people didn’t believe the other miracles, they would believe Moses when he demonstrated God’s power over the river Nile, which the Egyptians considered to be the source of life.
Like most of the miracles that are recorded in Scripture, the staff, the hand, and the water served to confirm the truth of God’s Word.
Some of the Hebrews may have struggled to believe Moses’ account of how God had appeared to him in a burning bush. But, the three signs God gave Moses would prove that he was a prophet empowered by God, and they would strengthen the people’s faith in God.
In much the same way, the miracles that Jesus performed served to authenticate His teaching, and prove that He is the Christ.
But, many people are still looking for a sign from God. They claim that they’d be willing to believe in God if they knew for certain that He exists, and that He really is who the Bible says He is.
The truth is that God has given us a sign. It’s the miraculous sign of the empty tomb (Matthew 12:39-40). Jesus claimed to be God’s Son, and He died on a cross outside Jerusalem to pay the penalty for His people’s sin. Jesus was then buried.
But, to prove that our sin can be forgiven through His death, and that we can fellowship with God forever, God raised Jesus from the dead. Jesus’ resurrection is the sign that Christianity is true – this sign is recorded for us in Scripture and is confirmed by many reliable eyewitness accounts.
So, are we trusting completely and exclusively in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection to make us right with God? If not, we need to plead with God to give us the faith to trust in Christ alone.
