Our Lord has a message for His church in these last days. He is calling loud and clear as He called to Pharoah long ago: "Let my people go that they may worship Me" (Exod.5:1).
When God spoke to Pharoah through Moses, He was asking for freedom for His people from slavery in Egypt. Today He asks for freedom from the evil powers which keep His people from becoming a "glorious church...holy and without blemish" (Eph.5:27).
Moses held up his rod as he called, his rod representing the power of God. Jesus holds up His rod to the church today, His rod being the power of the Holy Spirit.
When Moses demanded freedom for God's people, Pharoah's heart was hardened and he refused to let them go. Pharoah's refusal brought plagues to Egypt. In the same way, refusal by the people of God to move on in the Spirit can bring nothing but a divisive and contentious church torn apart by vain doctrinal arguments. If we are asked by our Lord to move on in the Spirit, why do many people refuse? What holds them back? It is the stubborn and selfish heart of Pharoah which insists on bondage for the people of God's church. It is the god of humanism holding his wielding power over the land, preventing revival.
Just as the gods of Egypt were powerless before the rod of Moses, and just as Pharoah was powerless to keep the slaves working for him, so too the chains of darkness which would hold God's people today are being torn asunder by the power of God's Holy Spirit. When Moses threw his rod to the ground, it became a snake; when the sorcerers threw down their rods, they became five snakes. The one snake ate up the five snakes to demonstrate God's power.
There are strong forces at work in the hearts and minds of Christians today telling them that the gifts of the Holy Spirit were only for the early church. Of what use is the gift of tongues they ask? Why bother with healing when we have such reputable medical services? We don't need to cast out demons as Jesus and the early church did since we don't have them around today anyway. And the days of prophecy are over.
We are living in a new day, yet the sorcerers of Moses' time have never left us. But as with Moses' demonstration of the power of his rod over the five sorcerers' rods, so too the greatest evangelistic message of our day is that the power of the risen Jesus is with us to destroy demonic powers. "The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work" (I John 3:8 NIV).
"Let my people go" Jesus continues to call. "Let them go from the bonds of slavery to material possessions and pleasures. Let them go from the belief that they can solve the world's problems without Me. Let them go from false doctrines which tell them they do not require a conversion experience or the baptism of the Holy Spirit with its ensuing gifts. Let them go from the idea that Satan's power disappeared with the advent of the Christian era. Give my people a new heart. Return to them the stolen Christmas gifts of love, joy, and peace."
Jesus is calling His church to repent of the sins which divide her, and to join together to worship Him.
© 1999, Doreen Palmer