What connections exist between Exodus 4:7 and Jesus' healing miracles in the New Testament? The sign at the burning bush “ ‘Put your hand back into your cloak,’ He said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his skin.” (Exodus 4:7) What the restored hand shows about God • Absolute authority over disease and the human body • Instant, complete cleansing rather than gradual recovery • A visible proof that the messenger is sent by the Lord • A preview of Israel’s future deliverance: slavery → freedom, uncleanness → wholeness Jesus picks up the same sign and carries it further • Matthew 8:2-3; Mark 1:40-42; Luke 5:12-14 — a leper kneels, Jesus touches, “immediately his leprosy was cleansed.” • Luke 17:11-19 — ten lepers obey His word, “as they went, they were cleansed.” • Mark 3:1-5 — a withered hand is stretched out; “his hand was restored.” Shared threads between Exodus 4:7 and the Gospel accounts • Divine initiative: God commands Moses; Jesus speaks or touches first. • Instant restoration: no delay, no medical process, only supernatural power. • Public authentication: Israel must believe Moses (Exodus 4:5); crowds glorify God and acknowledge Jesus’ authority (Matthew 9:8). • Cleansing of the unclean: leprosy renders a person ceremonially cut off (Leviticus 13-14); both passages reverse that condition. • Kingdom preview: Moses’ sign precedes the exodus; Jesus’ healings signal the in-breaking kingdom of God (Matthew 12:28). Jesus as the greater Moses • Moses’ restored hand is one temporary sign; Jesus performs the sign repeatedly, for any who come in faith. • Moses must place his hand into his own cloak; Jesus merely speaks or reaches out, revealing superior authority. • Moses’ sign points to physical deliverance; Jesus’ works unveil a deeper deliverance from sin (Mark 2:9-11). Foreshadowing the cross and resurrection • Disease symbolizes sin’s corruption; instant cleansing foreshadows the full atonement accomplished at Calvary (1 Peter 2:24). • Moses’ hand: leprous → hidden → restored. Jesus: death → tomb → risen, perfected body (Luke 24:39-40). Application for today • Christ still holds sovereign power to heal, whether physically, spiritually, or both (Hebrews 13:8). • The cleansed hand invites confidence that no stain of sin or sickness lies beyond His reach (Psalm 103:2-3). • Both accounts remind believers to proclaim the great deliverance we have seen, just as Moses and the healed lepers did (Exodus 4:30-31; Luke 17:15-16). |
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