Visions, Signs, Wonders & Miracles-Signs of Things to Come
The signs God gave to Moses through the Burning Bush, and later to the Israelites, were forerunners to the Ten Plagues and freedom from slavery in Egypt. Likewise, God sends signs to prepare His Followers, before He begins to move.
While Moses was tending his father-in-law, Jethro’s flocks on the far side of the wilderness, Moses came across Horeb, the Mountain of God, where he first saw the renowned Burning Bush. But, desert shrubs that had caught on fire due to the extreme heat was not a rare occurrence in that region. The fact that the bush was not consumed, despite being engulfed by flames, was such a curious and strange sight, that Moses chose to investigate it.
As Moses approached closer, God called out to him from within the bush, imploring him to take off his sandals as he was standing on holy ground. After introducing Himself as “the God of your father, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob”, Moses hid his face, terrified to look at God. The Lord explained how He had heard the Israelites pleas and prayers and was preparing to take them out of Egypt and bring them to the Promised Land, and Moses was going to lead this mission.
Moses had spent the past forty years tending sheep in the land of Midian, which had humbled him from the man who took justice into his own hands and murdered an Egyptian slave driver who was beating a fellow Hebrew (ref. Exodus 2: 11-12). Even after fleeing Egypt, Moses valiantly came to the rescue of the priest of Midian’s daughters, when they had been chased away from the well by some rough shepherds. Once a champion for the Hebrews and those in distress, Moses questioned “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” (Exodus 3:11).
God explained that He would be with Moses when he confronted Pharaoh, and established that when the people had been brought out of Egypt, that they would worship God on the mountain. This would be the sign to Moses that it was God who had sent him.
Though Moses had received a sign of God through the burning bush, he doubted whether the Israelite people would trust his story, asking “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?”
The Lord instructed Moses to throw the staff in his hand on the ground, which became a snake that Moses ran away from. The Lord further instructed Moses to reach out his hand and take the snake by the tail, and it turned back into a staff in his hand. “This,” God illuminated, “is so they will believe that the Lord, the God of their Fathers-Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob-had appeared to you.”
Moses was further directed to place his hand into his cloak and when he took it out, the skin had become leprous and white as snow. God told Moses to place his hand in his cloak again, and after pulling his hand out, it was restored.
God informed Moses that if the people did not believe him or “hearken the voice of the first sign”, they would “believe the voice of the latter sign”.
If they would still not believe after these first two signs, then Moses was to take water from the river and pour it upon dry land and the water would become blood.
Moses still did not feel as though he was qualified for such an important role and cried out “I am not eloquent; but am slow of speech and slow of tongue. Please pardon your servant and send someone else.”
Though His anger was kindled against Moses, God allowed for Moses’ brother Aaron to serve as his spokesman. God told Aaron to go into the wilderness to meet Moses at the Mount of God, where Moses told Aaron everything the Lord had instructed him to say and all the signs he was to do. They gathered all the elders of the Children of Israel together and Aaron spoke the words God had revealed to Moses and performed the signs and they believed (ref. Exodus 4).
God often decides to present His Signs through those who seem unworthy due to their low status, past mistakes, or lack of natural abilities. Moses was slow of speech, a murderer, and now a lowly shepherd, who had fallen from the heights of an Egyptian prince. But these obstacles perfectly direct people towards God rather than the messenger.
God demonstrated His unlimited Creativity and Power through His Signs to Moses. God took a typical event and made it extraordinary as seen with the burning bush not being consumed by the flames. God’s signs can be terrifying and cause terror in observers’ hearts as Moses ran from his staff which had been transformed into a snake. God’s signs can even affect his messengers and their lives, but God will restore them if it gives Him Glory as demonstrated with Moses’ hand becoming leprous and then being healed. God can bend the rules of nature in any way He desires as seen through the ultimatum sign of the water cast on land being turned into blood.
God understands that many people need multiple signs before they will believe and provides accordingly. Pharaoh would later require ten plagues to truly recognize God’s Greatness and most of the Pharisees and Sadducees ignored and overlook hundreds if not thousands of Christ’s miracles.
Because He is eternal, He even provides signs for us to look forward to, just like the future signal to Moses that God had sent him, when the Israelites would worship on the same mount after they had been freed from Egypt.
While God spoke directly to Moses, it was through the Voice of His Signs, that God spoke to His People.
Though we are often excitedly waiting for miracles, God always provides precursors through His Signs to let us know what to expect. The signs to the Israelites were meant to prepare the hearts and mind of His People to know that God had heard their prayers and was fulfilling His Promise to bring them out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. We are grateful for the signs God has already provided us regarding the future Campus, and are carefully watching for His future signs as He prepares His People to do His Will
Prepared by, Kent Simpson, Apostolic Prophet & Eric Sepulveda, PMT Administrator
For more prophetic media groups click here