THE VOICE OF THE FIRST SIGN.

(2) At Moses’ second presentation to Israel, he did not address them personally and directly, as at the first, God having said to him, “Aaron shall be thy prophet or mouthpiece, and thou shalt be a god unto Aaron.”

This item of the type would seem to imply just what we see to be the fact of the case now, viz., that the Lord Jesus does not address himself to the true Israelites in person now, as at the first advent, but through his agent, through a mouth-piece. Aaron, the mouth-piece or agent of the Lord, we would understand to represent the Royal Priesthood – those of the Lord’s consecrated people still in the flesh, still sacrificing, – who have not yet passed beyond the vail into glory. The type, then, seems to say that the signs or testimonies which will convince all true Israelites now living respecting the presence of the Lord and his mighty power to deliver, his ultimate victory over Satan, sin and death, will be of or from our present Lord, but by or through the living members of his body, his brethren, represented in Aaron.

(3) The first sign or testimony to Israel was the casting of the rod upon the ground, and it’s becoming a serpent, and the taking of the serpent by the tail, and it’s becoming a rod again in the hands of Aaron. It was Moses’ rod, and Aaron was merely his representative in every act. The natural Israelite merely saw this as a miracle, and discerned in it no teaching; but the spiritual Israelite is not to expect a larger rod and a larger serpent, as the anti-type, but should expect to comprehend the meaning of the rod and of the serpent as an anti-typical instruction or testimony today.

A rod symbolizes authority. Moses’ rod was frequently used in connection with the plagues, as well as in connection with the signs, as signifying divine authority. A serpent is a symbol of evil – of sin and all its consequences, evil in general.

The lesson for the spiritual Israelite today is that he is now to understand that all the evil there is in the world is the result, directly or indirectly, of God’s having let go of his rod or authority; and they are to understand further that it is God’s intention or purpose, as it is also his promise, to take hold upon the present evil conditions, which have lasted now more than six thousand years, and to bring order out of confusion: – to re-establish his authority in his own hand.

These acts or signs are said to have “voices” or to be testimonies. (Exod 4: 8,9). Hence our query must be,

Is this sign or testimony now being given to God’s people throughout the world?

We answer, yes.

Has it been always recognized and presented thus?

We answer, No.

Was it ever thus presented before this harvest-time?

We answer, No.

Heretofore it has been a matter of speculation amongst peoples and theologians of all classes and shades of Christian belief, but a question without an answer, –

Why did God permit evil in the world?

Some have blasphemously held that God has caused the evil, that good might follow; but this God himself most emphatically denies, and everything pertaining to his character refutes it. He declares that every good and every perfect gift is of him, with whom is no changeableness or variableness. “His work is perfect.” Others have claimed that a conflict is in operation, between God and Satan, between good and evil, and that each side is doing its utmost to conquer the other – with evil and Satan predominant in the world, on account of which it is spoken of as “the present evil world,” in which there is “none righteous, no, not one.”

But whatever the standpoint of view, it has been confusion only, until the harvest-time, when the true light upon the subject began to shine forth, showing that when sin entered the world God gave mankind over, let them take their course, let the rod of divine authority drop, “rested from his own work,” permitting sin and evil to flourish – not, however, intending that it should flourish forever as a serpent, but fully intending, predestinating, and even foretelling, that in due time he would set up his Kingdom in the person of the Messiah, who should lay hold upon that old Serpent, the devil and Satan, and restrain his power. Showing, too, that he will ultimately bring all evil conditions back to subjection and harmony with the divine authority and law, – destroying the evil connected therewith.

This teaching, then, is the sign whose “voice” or testimony was typified by Aaron casting the rod upon the ground, it’s becoming a serpent, and his taking it back into his hand again. How much grander the anti-typical teaching than the typical sign! How much more forceful! Who of the true Israelites who has heard this testimony is any longer in doubt respecting the speedy deliverance of all of God’s people from the power of Satan, sin and death?

We would avoid personality as far as possible, but believe it to be in the interest of the truth and of the true Israelites that we point out that this sign has already been given. *Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence was founded in 1879, and the “voice” therefrom, to the true Israel of God, announced that the second advent of our Lord, as the deliverer of the world, had already taken place – that he was present but invisible, a spirit being not possible to be seen by any, even his Church, until they should be “changed” and made like him in the first resurrection.

*These teachings (the presence of our Lord and the permission of evil) found in these early publications of the Zion’s Watch Tower predate any such teachings taught by the Jehovah’s Witness organization, which did not even exist at the time. The Witnesses would later adopt the title “The Watch Tower” or “The Watch Tower Society” as their own moto but only after having acquired control of the organization following the Pastor’s death (at the time simply a publishing house, not a religious society or church as it would later become under Judge Rutherford), by then they had already lost faith in the original teachings proclaiming the presence of our Lord as having taken place in 1874, and had postponed it to a later date, 1914.

The message further declared that he was present for the purpose of establishing his Kingdom, and delivering his saints and the whole groaning creation from the bondage of corruption, – as many as will obey him. And it is very remarkable that very shortly a special number of this journal was issued, bearing the significant title, “Food for Thinking Christians, WHY EVIL WAS PERMITTED.” (The Permission of Evil)

This voice or testimony was spread abroad amongst the spiritual Israelites in an extraordinary manner, – over a million and a half copies being circulated through the mails and at church-doors in the United States, Canada and Great Britain. And the voice or testimony of this first sign, token, teaching, is still being repeated from one to another of the Lord’s people throughout the world, and now in various languages. In that pamphlet for the first time, so far as we know, was shown that the evil in the world, the bondage to sin and death, and the reign of iniquity and the various oppressions to which the whole groaning creation is subject, are the results of God’s having let go his authority (rod), and not the result of his inability to hold the authority, nor in any sense the outworking of the authority in his hand. It showed also how complete will be the restraint of evil and its complete annihilation when again the Lord shall take unto himself his great power and reign.

Could there possibly be a greater or a grander anti-type for the sign which Moses and Aaron presented to Israel through the rod and the serpent?

Is not the truth on this subject much more convincing to the spiritual Israelite today than any natural signs or wonders or miracles could possibly be?

Does not the knowledge now granted the Lord’s people respecting the divine plan of the ages, and its purpose, and the result, satisfy our longings as nothing else could do, and assure our hearts that deliverance is nigh? (R2917)

We will take a look at the voice of the second sign in our next post.