Exodus 4, 2 and 3 says, And the Lord said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod. And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent. And Moses fled from before it. Skeptics read passages like this and lose their minds. That's a parlor trick. Anyone can do that. Now I have to admit that such a trick is impressive, but when it's a parlor trick, it's done by some sort of slight of hand misdirection of some sort, smoke and mirrors and distractions and such. If you look at the whole picture of this Rod of Aaron, I think that anyone who believes the Book of Exodus is an accurate historical account of events would have to accept that this isn't some parlor trick. To begin with, you'd have to also believe that the Lord isn't really speaking to Moses and that the whole thing is just a fabrication made up. Because if the Lord were involved in parlor tricks, then he wouldn't be God. He would be Satan. or he'd at best be fictional. In any case, those of us who believe the Bible, and we believe for very good reasons, including manuscript evidence, historical verification of facts, and the perfect accuracy of Bible prophecy, just to name a few reasons. We have full confidence that God is, and that God is actually speaking here to Moses. And he not only turned the rod into a serpent, but Exodus 4, 4 and 5 goes on to tell us, and the Lord said unto Moses, put forth thine hand and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand, that they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob hath appeared unto thee. Moses would do just that, but the magicians of Egypt would try to prove the skeptics right. So they pulled their own real actual parlor trick, and at first made it look like this wasn't an act of God. In Exodus 7, 11, and 12, it says, then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers. Now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments, for they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents. but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods. Sadly, in the face of such evidence, Pharaoh responded like the skeptics and just hardened his heart even more. But the Lord Jesus, the creator and maker of all things, wasn't through. To put the icing on the cake, so to speak, for those who will believe the testimony of God's word, Jesus took that miracle to an even greater level. when he made the rod bud with blossoms and almonds in an instant. Number seven, eight tells us, and it came to pass that on the morrow, Moses went into the tabernacle of witness and behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded and brought forth buds and bloomed blossoms and yielded almonds. I guess you could say that happened overnight. But we've seen that Jesus is the creator, and Psalm 33, 6 says, And if you know anything about what's up above our heads in the universe, you know what kind of an amazing statement that is. And that's all it takes for Jesus. to turn a rod into a serpent, then back into a rod, then make it blossom with almond buds and almonds, and then remain as fresh as a new almond bud for centuries. As Numbers 17.10 says, And the Lord said unto Moses, Bring Aaron's rod again before the testimony, to be kept for a token against the rebels. against the skeptics. And thou shalt quite take away their murmurings from me, that they die not." In Hebrews 9.4, the Apostle Paul confirmed the reality of this miracle, and he's confirming that Jesus is Creator. It was no problem for him to do what he did with Aaron's rod, because Jesus is the God of the rod. And having been saved by faith in His gospel, we belong to Him, as Psalm 95, 7 says, for He is our God and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. And there's no better feeling in the world to know that we belong to Jesus. Paul describes this in Romans 8, 38 and 39, for I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.