In four hundred thirty years since Jacob' s family migrated in Egypt, his twelve sons became twelve tribes; and thus the seventy persons Jacob took with him multiplied to, six hundred thousand people. Pharaoh of Egypt oppressed them all through hard labors and even commanded to kill all the new-born males of the Hebrews.

When the time of their suffering was full, God chose Moses to deliver the descendants of Jacob out of Egypt. In other words, the four hundred years from Noah to Abraham, which had been lost due to Abraham's mistake, was now made indemnity by his descendants, and a new dispensation of restoration was to start with them. For this mission, God chose Moses.

Moses, living amid the splendor of Pharaoh's house, cherished the high patriotic spirit and single minded loyalty to God's chosen people, the Hebrews. Moses; fervent love for the chosen people was manifested when he killed an Egyptian who had beaten a Hebrew. Moses was hostile against the Egyptians, who represented the Satanic side, because of their harming God's people. At the age of forty, he left the splendor of the Egyptian palace for Midian, just as Abraham had left Chaldea when God called upon him. God called Moses out of Midian when he was eighty years old.

When God commanded him to lead His people out of Egypt, Moses asked for signs to convince his own people as well as the Egyptians that he was sent by God. "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." (Exodus 4:1) As the proof of it, God gave him the power of performing three signs. (Exodus 4:1-9)

The first sign was the miracle with the rod in Moses' hand. To the Hebrews Moses represented God, whereas Pharaoh represented Satan. God used the rod in Moses' hand as a symbol of Jesus being in God's hand.

A rod may be used in various ways. A rod can be a support to lean on, a weapon to protect oneself from danger, a baton to strike injustice (II Sam. 7:14), and a pointer to lead one to the right way. When the rod in Moses' hand was cast down on the ground, it became a serpent. Jesus came to earth as the rod of God to do these things and also to act as the heavenly serpent. Since a serpent tempted Adam and Eve to fall, their fallen descendants must be restored by a heavenly serpent. "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the son of man be lifted up." (John 1:14) In this verse Jesus symbolized himself as a serpent. "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves." (Matt. 10:16) Since the serpent was wise enough to tempt Adam and Eve to fall, Christians must be as wise as the serpent to take mankind back to God. When Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and cast down the rod it became a serpent. Pharaoh summoned Egyptian magicians and had them perform the same miracle by their magic power. Thus their rods were also changed into serpents. But Moses' serpent swallowed the magicians' serpents, i. e., the heavenly serpent destroyed the Satanic serpents. Thus by the sign of Moses' rod, Jesus was symbolized, and accordingly, the restoration of Adam was represented by this. sign.

The second sign was the miracle with Moses' hand. According to God's command Moses put his hand into his bosom and took it out. He found his hand was leprous. Moses put his hand back into his bosom, and when he took it out, the hand was restored. This was also a symbolic act. Lucifer took Eve into his bosom and made her depraved. Her descendants could be restored through the love of Jesus who would put them into his bosom of love. "How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wins, and you would not." (Matt. 23:37) Thus the second sign symbolizes that Jesus will come in the capacity of the. bridegroom and restore mankind as his brides. "I betrothed you to Christ to present you as a pure bride to her one husband." (II Cor. 11:2) Therefore the second sign symbolizes the restoration of Eve.

The third sign was the miracle of changing the water of the Nile into blood. According to Revelation 17:15. "The waters that you saw, where the harlot is seated; are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues." Waters signify the lifeless people in the world. Jesus Will come to restore the children of life from the children of death. Hence this sign symbolizes the restoration of the children of God.

Having received these three signs, Moses restored symbolically the base of the four directions centered upon himself: Moses, the representation of God, Adam, Eve, and children. It was necessary for Moses to have this base of the four positions in order to subjugate Satan and bring back his people to Canaan.

Moses was not eloquent and he asked for someone to speak for him. God gave him Aaron, his brother, to accompany and speak for him. "He shall speak for you to the people; and he shall be a mouth for you, and you shall be to him as God." (Exodus 4:16) God also allowed Miriam, his sister, a prophetess, to go with him. Thus Moses formed a trio base with Aaron and Miriam as Trinity by God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Having made these two conditions, the base of the four directions and the trio base, Moses was ready to fight with Satan.

However, as Moses was about to set out, God tried him and sought to kill him. (Exodus 4:24) His wife, Zipporah, took a flint and cut off her son's foreskin, and touched Moses' feet with it, and said, "Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me!" Thus by circumcising her son, Zipporah rescued Moses. This was the final test for Moses to be chosen as the deliverer of God's elected people.

How could Zipporah rescue Moses by her son's circumcision? This was also an act of indemnity. It was Eve who stained her blood spiritually by her relation with Satan, and then Adam stained his blood by his relation with her, thus the power of darkness came in through Adam's foreskin. By cutting the male's foreskin, the ritual of circumcision was performed; it began with Abraham as the sign of the covenant between God and himself. On the eighth day after birth, every male of Israel had to be circumcised as, firstly, the sign that he became a child of God, secondly, that the Satanic blood was taken away, and finally, that through their circumcision the male restored his due domination. Thus it was necessary for Moses to overcome this test through the circumcision of his son.

Canaan was the land which God had blessed and promised to give to Abraham. Hence Canaan represented the heavenly world whereas the other countries, such as Haran, Egypt, Babylon, Assyria, and the Roman Empire represented the Satanic side. The reason that Canaan represented the heavenly world is not because of any material abundance or the natural beauty of the land, but simply because God had blessed the land.

Jacob returned with victory to Canaan after a twenty-one year struggle with the 'Satanic world -- Haran in this instance -- and thus accomplished the dispensation of a personal restoration.

God called Moses to deliver his people out of Egypt and lead them into the land of Canaan. God's dispensation with Moses was no longer personal, but tribal or national, and his tribal restoration was only possible on the foundation of the personal restoration which Jacob had established. Moses' tribal course to Canaan, therefore, followed the pattern of Jacob's personal course to Canaan. For example, Jacob suffered in Haran, being cheated ten times by Laban. "Your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times, but God did not permit him to harm me." (Genesis 31:7) Likewise Pharaoh made Moses suffer by deception ten times; and, although Pharaoh saw signs and miracles that Moses performed ten times in his sight, Pharaoh's heart was only hardened, and he still oppressed Moses and his people.

Why did God harden Pharaoh's heart and let him show no leniency toward the Israelites? God wanted Pharaoh to do all he could do and realize his inability to rebel against Him and also wanted him to subjugate to God by letting His people go; in addition, God wanted to destroy thoroughly the things which belonged to His enemy. By hardening Pharaoh's heart, on the other hand, God wanted Israel to trust in Him and realize that He was always with them.

Finally God smote all the first sons and animals in Egypt. But the people of Israel were. exempt from this calamity because of the blood of the lamb which they had put on the door posts. Moses then said to Pharaoh, "We must go three days journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God as he will command us." (Exodus 8:27) But Moses deceived Pharaoh and quickly led his people out of Egypt. This three day term was the divergence of death and life for the Israelites.

When Pharaoh heard that the Israelites had fled, he sent his chariots, horsemen, and army to pursue the Hebrews. When the Israelites saw the Egyptians marching after them, they were in great fear and cried out to God for help. Then Moses stretched out his rod over the sea as God had told him, and he made the sea into dry land by dividing the waters. Thus the Israelites could cross the sea on dry ground, but the Egyptians who had pursued them were drowned in the sea. (Exodus 14:21, 22) This indicates that even after one turns to God, cutting off all ties with Satan, he is still pursued by Satan. But he can destroy Satan with the power of Jesus, the rod.

After the Israelites overcame Satan, God protected them by feeding them with quail, manna, and pure drinking water which sprang forth from a rock. (Exodus 16:13-; 17:6) Meanwhile the Amalekites attacked Israel. But when the Israelites prevailed over the Amalekites, God led the Israelites via the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night through the wilderness until they reached Mount Sinai. (Exodus 19)

Moses chose twelve men from each of the twelve tribes and sent them to spy out the land of Canaan for forty days. Ten of them brought back an evil report: "The people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large ... and all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature and we. seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them." (Numbers 13) The Israelites were frightened upon hearing the report and murmured against God and Moses crying and weeping all night. The whole congregation said to Moses and Aaron, "Why does the Lord bring us into this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey; would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?" (Numbers 14) But Caleb and Joshua were courageous in faith and encouraged the people by saying "Let us go up at once, and occupy it; for we are well able to overcome it." (Num. 13)

The forty days of spying upon the Canaanites was now taken by Satan due to the faithlessness of the Israelites and so God punished them by assigning them to wander in the wilderness for forty years: i.e., the faithless Israelites had to pay indemnity for the lost forty days of spying.

Your children shall be in the wilderness forty years, and shall suffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness. According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, for every day a year, you shall bear your iniquity, forty years, and you shall know my displeasure. (Num. 14:33)

It could have taken the Israelites twenty one days to pass through the wilderness, which corresponded to the twenty one years of Jacob's labor in Haran, to return to Canaan. However it took the Israelites forty years to enter Canaan, because they had to pay indemnity for the loss of the forty days of spying.

When the people were led to the wilderness of Sinai, God called Moses and commanded him to fast and pray for forty days. Then God gave him the Ten Commandments written on the two tablets of stone. God had created man and the world through His Word, but it could not be fulfilled because of the Fall. Now in carrying out the providence of restoration, God renewed the Word -- that was the Ten Commandments. Hereafter God carried out His dispensation through this Word.

In order to receive the Word of a new dispensation, the Ten Commandments, Moses had to spend a forty day period of separation from Satan. These forty days seemed. an exceedingly long period for the people to wait, particularly since Satan is always very active when God is accomplishing a significant dispensation. Therefore God's frontline is Satan's frontline as well. So while Moses fasted and prayed for forty days on the mount, the people, who did not know what Moses was doing at that time, made a molten calf and worshipped it as their god -thus they forsook God and united with Satan.

As Moses came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing around it, his anger burned hot; and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. God said to Moses, "I have seen this people, now therefore let me alone that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; but of you I will make a great nation." (Ex. 32:9-)

Moses prepared himself again by fasting and praying another forty days and received anew the tablets of stone with the Word of the covenant. The two tablets of Ten Commandments represented the restored Adam and Eve namely Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

Having united with the Israelites, Satan now had a condition to attack the people at any time. They had revolted against Moses and Aaron and had contended with them and said, "Why have you made us come up out of Egypt, to bring us to this evil place? It is no place for grain, or figs, or vines, or pomegranates; and there is no water to drink." (Number 20:3) Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock as God told them, and he said to them "Here now you rebels; shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock? (Numbers 20:10) Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock With his rod twice; and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation and their cattle drank.

Moses struck the rock twice whereas h e was required to strike it once. Since he made this mistake, God said to Moses and Aaron;

Because you did not believe in me, to sanctify me in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the 1and which I have given them. (Numbers 20:12)

Aaron shall be gathered to his people; for he shall not enter the land which I have given to the people of Israel, because you rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah. (Num. 20:24)

The Lord said to Moses, "Go up into this mountain of Abarim of Israel. And when you have seen it, you also shall be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was gathered, because you rebelled against my word in the wilderness of Zin during the strife of the congregation to sanctify me at the waters before their eyes. (Num. 27:12)

From these verses it is plain that Moses disobeyed against God at the waters of Meribah. His mistake was that he struck the rock twice when he should have done it only once.

Why was the act of striking the rock twice such a serious sin? Because every act of Moses had representative significance in relation to the condition of indemnity and restoration.

According to I Corinthians 10:4; "The rock was Christ." Since the rock symbolizes Christ; the last Adam, it also symbolizes the first Adam. The first Adam was struck by Satan and was dead. So God now had a condition to strike the rock the symbol of the dead Adam. Therefore God commanded Moses to strike the rock once. By striking it, he symbolically could have restored Adam. However by striking it twice, symbolically Moses struck the restored Adam, Christ and thus handed him to Satan again. Thus Moses disobeyed God, although it was caused by the faithlessness of his people. Because of Moses' failure, the four hundred years slavery in Egypt now became null and void.

The mistake of Moses and the faithlessness of his people gave a condition for Satan to attack again. "Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died." (Numbers 21:6) So Moses made a bronze serpent, and set it on a pole; when any man looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.

Thus Moses and all those who came out of Egypt died in the wilderness except courageous Joshua and Caleb who had been faithful to God throughout the entire journey. Having succeeded Moses, Joshua and Caleb led the young men under twenty years old who were born in the wilderness and entered Canaan. They conquered the tribes of that land and received the land as their inheritance.

As was explained already, the tribal restoration of Canaan that Moses undertook was possible on the foundation of Jacob's personal restoration of Canaan. Accordingly Moses led his course of work following after the pattern of Jacob's course. Consequently there were a number of events in Moses' course which had been foreshadowed in Jacob's course. Moses' course of the tribal restoration of Canaan became a foundation for Jesus to carry out his dispensation of the universal restoration of the kingdom of God. Accordingly, the course that Jesus would undertake was foreshadowed in Moses' life in which God's dispensation was fulfilled symbolically, whereas Jesus fulfilled it in reality. We shall find the resemblance of events which occurred in the lives of the three representative men, Jacob, Moses, and Jesus.

Jacob took the birthright of Esau; Moses smote the first born of the Egyptians; Jesus destroyed the Satanic world, which was in the position of Cain.

Jacob took wives, children, and all livestock away from Haran; Moses took a wife, son, and all goods away from Egypt; Jesus intended to take a bride, children, and all things from the Satanic world.

Jacob bought the birthright with bread and pottage of lentils; Moses fed his people with quail and manna; and Jesus gave his disciples bread and wine as the symbol of his blood and flesh.

Through the cooperation of his mother, Rebecca, Jacob could fulfill his mission; through the help of his mother, Moses' life (infancy and childhood) was saved and nurtured, and through the cooperation of his wife, Moses' life was saved when God sought to kill him just before he went into Egypt; through the cooperation of his mother, Mary, the baby Christ was saved when King Herod was going to kill him.

Jacob was tried through an angel by the ford of Jabbok, and Jacob wrestled with him and defeated him. Moses was tried at a lodging house when God sought to kill him, but he overcame it; Jesus was tried in the wilderness through the temptation of Satan and Jesus defeated him.

Jacob had twelve sons and he went to Egypt with them; Moses had twelve tribes and he set out on his journey to Canaan with them; Jesus had twelve disciples and he set out on his ministry of world restoration with them.

Jacob took seventy people into Egypt and a new dispensation started with them; Moses worked with seventy elders in leading his people to Canaan; Jesus sent out seventy men to proclaim the kingdom of heaven.

Jacob crossed the ford of Jabbok with a rod; Moses crossed the Red Sea with a rod; Jesus was to judge the Satanic world with an iron rod.

Jacob took all foreign gods from Laban and hid them under the oak tree; Moses ground idols, threw them away into the Nile River; Jesus came to perish all evils. (Malachi 4:1)

After death, Jacob's body was embalmed for forty days; the Israelites fought over the body of Moses and finally the place of his burial was kept unknown; Jesus' body was sought by many different people.

Jacob came out of Haran by beguiling Laban for three days, and this three day term was essential for his journey to Canaan; Moses led his people out of Egypt beguiling Pharaoh for three days and this three day term was also essential for his exodus; Jesus' body was sealed three days in a tomb.

Jacob had to flee from Esau and went to Haran; Moses had to be hidden from the eyes of the Egyptians in his infancy and found refuge .in the Egyptian palace when a boy; The baby Christ fled from Herod and went into Egypt.

These are the twelve events which occurred in the lives of these three men. There are even more events between the lives of Moses and Jesus with similar resemblance. Some of these are well worth illustrating.

Moses' delivery of Israel from Egypt, and leading the people to Canaan, foreshadowed Jesus' delivery of mankind from the Satanic world, and leading them to the kingdom of God.

When Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days; but all the people of Israel had light where they dwelt. (Exodus 10:22) Jesus separated the sons of light from the sons of darkness. In order to deliver Israel, Moses had to struggle with Pharaoh. Jesus fought with Satan in order to deliver mankind.

Coming out of Egypt, Moses took his people and all their goods with him. (Exodus 12:35) This is comparable to Jesus' coming to restore all people and all things to God.

Pharaoh was never willing to let the Hebrews go and when he heard of their fleeing, he sent chariots, horsemen, and his army to pursue them. Satan is never willing to let the people turn to Jesus, and when one courageously turns to Jesus, Satan pursues him at all costs.

Moses stretched out his rod over the sea and made it a dry land dividing the water. Jesus, the rod, stretches out his hand and opens a way for his people and helps them overthrow Satan.

In the wilderness, God fed the Israelites with quail and manna for forty years; Jesus gave his love and power to revive his followers during their struggles in the Satanic world.

In the early period of their journey, God unconditionally nurtured the Israelites and protected them from the enemy. When they were attacked by the Amalekites, they prevailed and conquered the Amalekites. Then God renewed His grace and guided them in even greater power with the pillars of cloud and fire by day and. by night. In the early period of a Christian's life, Jesus unconditionally nurtures him with love., then he is exposed to tests and to Satan's attacks. However after he overcomes them, Jesus renews his love and grace in an even greater way.

In the struggle with the Amalekites, Moses sent out Joshua to fight and he himself stood on the top of a hill holding up his hands. While Moses held up his hands Joshua beat the Amalekites, but being exhausted, his hands fell down and Joshua was beaten. Aaron and Hur helped Moses in holding up his hands until sunset. Thus Moses made it possible for Joshua to defeat the Amalekites. Joshua represented a believer who fights with Satan. Moses represented God, and Aaron and Hur represented Jesus and the Holy Spirit who cooperate with God. He helps the believer, holding him in his arms and aids him in overcoming Satan.

The two tablets of the Ten Commandments were symbols of Jesus and the Holy Spirit who were the Incarnation of the Divine Word, and their arrival substituted the Ten Commandment s even in a higher degree.

By striking a rock with his rod, Moses brought forth pure water for his people. Jesus brought forth living water for his people.

Moses lifted up a bronze serpent when Israel rebelled against God and Moses, and they were bit by a fiery serpent. Likewise Jesus, the heavenly serpent, was lifted up when the Jews rebelled against him.

By striking the rock twice, Moses symbolically struck Jesus, the restored Adam. Hence a condition was made for Satan, that if the Jews rebelled against Jesus, Satan would claim him. But if the Jews had faith in Jesus, they could overcome the condition that Moses had made, since it was only symbolical.

God had promised Moses and his people that they would have the land of Canaan. But because of his failure and the faithlessness of his people, Moses was only allowed to see the land from a distance, and he and his people could not enter the land. Joshua and Caleb succeeded Moses' mission and led the new generation into Canaan -- i.e., those who were born in the wilderness. Because of the faithlessness of the Jews, Jesus could only accomplish spiritual salvation. The Lord of the Second Advent will succeed the mission of Jesus and restore the entire world both spiritual and physical, and establish the kingdom of God on earth with a new people, the Christians.

Thus the course of Jesus was foreshadowed in the course of Moses, on whose tribal or national foundation, the universal ministry of Jesus was possible. Therefore Moses said,

The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet from your brethren as he raised me up. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. And it shall be that every soul that does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people. (Acts 3:22)

The prophet in this verse means Jesus.

Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever he does, that the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son, and shows him all that he himself is doing; and greater works than these will he show him, that you may marvel. (John 5:19, 20)

It is suggested in this passage that God had already shown through Moses what Jesus should do, and he only followed after the pattern established by Moses.

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