9-28-25 Jesus Counting in Numbers

Good Morning everyone. A big thank you for the opportunity to share this morning and a really big thank you for journeying through Leviticus with me. When looking for Jesus in the Old Testament there is no shortage, not even in Leviticus.

In fact, one could look at Leviticus as a blue print for the Messiah.

If you Read Leviticus 8-10 you’d see outlines for the priest hood, of which Jesus is the ultimate High Priest.

Chapters 11-15 Dive into Holiness, which means set apart. And who is more set apart than the one who is fully God and fully Man.

Leviticus 16-17 shows that without blood there is no forgiveness of sins and so Jesus gave every drop of his blood for us.

And if you are taking notes Leviticus 18-22 is a like an instruction manual on how to respond as one of God’s chosen. Not as a list of works in order to be saved, but instead as “Oh, you’re saved, then show you are saved by acting like this.” Jesus illustrated that when he told his disciples that if you love him then you will do what he said. We aren’t saved by our works, but because he saved us we work.

Jesus is shown in chapter 23 as being the fulfillment of all the feasts and celebrations. Being saved isn’t just a thing to do, it’s a reason to celebrate. Take ownership of your faith and let people know Jesus saved you.

And finally for those not taking notes, Leviticus 24-27 is all about God’s relationship with us and who showed that better than Jesus. Who is God in the flesh who came down and lived with us, related with us and loved us anyway.

So next you decide to read the Bible from start to finish, which might be today. Don’t be discouraged by Leviticus, treat it like a word find and look for Jesus. It’s not a hard word find, I promise.

But we are leaving Leviticus and Entering Numbers, which is another intimidating book that begins with, you guessed it a bunch of numbers. But again, as with Leviticus we only get out of a book what we put into it.

We spent 3 weeks in the first 7 chapters of Leviticus just skimming and I thought that was fun. I learned a few things and I hope you di too.

We are only going to spend 2 weeks in Numbers and see what God has to tell us about Snakes and a Donkey.

But first I want to ask all of you a very important question.

What do you think or feel when you see this?

Cross

We got a lot of good responses there and if you were to ask most people in the world today what a cross stands for, you’d get words like hope, life, redemption.

But ask a Jew or Romans in the first century what a cross means to them and they will have a VERY different answer. Because crucifixion is one of the worst ways to die to this day. No one when Jesus walked the earth would look upon a cross and have any good feelings whatsoever. It was an instrument of death. It was a psychological death too. The way you were up on the cross, you could hang and suffocate, but experience less pain or lift yourself up on the nail in your foot to be able to breathe, but experience excruciating pain.

Crucifixion started happening in the 500’s BC and our passage in the book of Numbers happened about 1000 years earlier. So what does crucifixion and a bunch of scary snakes have in common?

I’m glad you asked.

Numbers 21:4–9 ESV

4 From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. 5 And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” 6 Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. 7 And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. 8 And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.

Here we have Israel, freed from slavery, being provided for by their King, who is the LORD, and they really want for nothing.

But let’s look at verse 5 again

Numbers 21:5 ESV

5 And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.”

A few things you need to know about the Israelites at this point in time.

They are in a Theocracy. God is their King and Moses speaks for the king. The law comes from God and enforced by Moses, the priests and the elders.

In Exodus 16 God provided free food to the Israelites. In our modern terms, free government subsides.

One of humankinds favorite things to do is complain. We are great at it. And let me tell you one thing about complaining and anger and hate. They are contagious. People hear it and then they do it.

Love on the other hand, is not as contagious. A little sure, but often times we have to open up and receive it. Not hate, we often receive it without even trying.

Since Israel was being given free food we will stick with that.

We run a monthly Food Bank. Now, quick disclaimer. We have a great and talented group of volunteers and clients in Bly. But I’m not commonly one to help on distribution day, I’m on the unloading and stocking crew.

But, there are people, who use food bank, that you just can’t make happy. I’ve had conversations with people and without naming names or specifics, I learned pretty quickly that if you gave a requirement at food bank that to receive food you were not legally allowed to complain, some would stop coming. I don’t know how many, but a few at least. Because even when someone is given something at no cost to them, it’s just a help, people, after a while find something to complain about.

And I don’t know the numbers, but I’m guessing it’s more than one, but I’m guessing that some Food Banks in our great nation. That are run by wonderful volunteers filled with love, get tired of the complaining and shut down.

At least, not that I’ve heard of, no food bank has ever unleashed venomous snakes to an ungrateful crowd.

Volunteer snake handlers in snake pits

This is how we’ll set up the next food bank, tell your friends.

But this was God’s response to his provision.

Let me show you what likely infiltrated the Israelite camp.

Painted Saw-Scaled Viper

This is a painted Saw-scaled viper.

What do you think or feel when you see this snake?

And it is not a nice snake. There are give or take 5 snakes to watch out for in the wilderness area in and around Israel and 4 out of the five, while deadly and to be avoided, think the same of you. That you are deadly and to be avoided.

Not the saw scaled viper. This one loves people. But not the nice way. They like biting people. The seek out things bigger than they are in order to strike.

And with antivenom about 3500 years away from Israel, a bite from one is certain death. Look at what happened to the Israelites after they complained.

Numbers 21:6 ESV

6 Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.

How did I pick the Saw Scaled Viper from this one verse. When one of these snakes bites you it sets your nervous on fire. It is, of the 5 snakes not the most deadly. Of course what I mean by a nation that has no access to antivenom and all venomous snakes will kill you is, of the 5 it doesn’t kill you too fast or too slow, but very very painfully.

Much like crucifixion. There are faster ways to die and slower ways to die, but none more painful than crucifixion.

And it says God sent the snakes to bite the people.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t really respond to words when I’m doing something very wrong. Sometimes, I need that consequence to get me back to the right path.

One thing about God that we can see through the context of Israel's time in the wilderness is that he placed a supernatural protection on his people. Their clothes didn’t wear out. They received free water, bread, and meat. They had it made.

So one could assume by this level of care that God was also keeping them safe from wild animals like venomous snakes.

Sometimes to really appreciate God’s provisions, the provisions are taken away.

And it doesn’t take very long. At least not in the read.

Numbers 21:7 ESV

7 And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.

I don’t know how much time passed between verse 5 and 7, but long enough for people to die.

There are people out in the world that, for whatever reason, hate God. Almost all those instances when people have hardened their heart against God to the point where no more mercy remains. They die. Sometimes it takes a life time. With the Israelites who died, less time.

And this wasn’t a lapse in judgement. This was full on, we hate you, rebellion. There are rebellions that are good. Our own for example was a government suppressing our rights and we said NO.

The rebellion against God was different.

We ask the question: How did Israel treat God’s provisions?

This was a “you are suppressing my wants.” I don’t want free bread from heaven, I want something different. Quail is old, I want different. It never stopped. This was a constant ungratefulness from many in Israel for 40 years. Nothing could make them happy. So the snakes came. And some of the people who were bit woke up. That’s what verse 7 showed.

We are sorry and we did wrong, please forgive us.

And here is where the weird comes in

Numbers 21:8–9 ESV

8 And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.

Look at the snake on a pole and live. Almost seems like idol worship, but God is not telling people to bow or worship the bronze snake, he is saying “Believe me when I tell you that if you look at the bronze snake, you will live.”

And people looked and lived. This was not the norm from snake bite victims at this point in history. If you get bit you only got two options. Burial or cremation. That’s it. But people who believed God, got better.

THE BRONZE SERPENT

This is what it may have looked like. I can’t say for sure, but for the illustration we are making today, I think it an accurate representation.

What does it look like?

A cross.

So, in the wilderness. God told Moses to put up on a pole an image of death, fear, and punishment. And that will save you.

A Cross.

And what have we done? God sent his son to be nailed to something that stood for death, fear and punishment. And it has been transformed into a symbol of Life, hope and salvation.

And this isn’t a stretch of interpretation either. You can’t say, well Pastor David is just digging around in Numbers looking for straws to compare to Jesus.

I don’t think any of you think that. Well, maybe Jim.

I get this interpretation from our Lord Jesus himself.

Let’s turn over to the most popular chapter in the Bible. John 3.

John 3 has Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus and there’s more to it than “For God so loved the world...” In fact just two verses earlier Jesus has these words to say:

John 3:14–15 ESV

14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

And that 3:16 follows too.

John 3:16 ESV

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

God loved the world so much that he offers salvation to everyone. In the wilderness it was a bronze snake that pointed people to their savior.

Now that savior has always been Jesus. But of course prior to the actual event of the crucifixion, it had to be illustrated, so we would recognize it later.

The early church did. In Acts 4 a healing occurs and the healer was Jesus, but through a person. Peter is speaking here and is very clear who is responsible for salvation.

Acts 4:11–12 ESV

11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Back to the bronze serpent. It said that anyone who looked at the serpent lived. It does not say there were some who got bit and didn’t look, so I won’t go there. But there are people who are pointed to the cross and told Look to Jesus and he will save you. And they don’t look.

Notice how I said look to Jesus, not the cross. The cross is a symbol, meant to point us to the one who saves, much like the bronze serpent.

The cross is not to be worshiped.

Why would anyone do that pastor? That seems silly.

But it happens. Even with the Bronze serpent. 7-800 years after Moses during the reign of Hezekiah, one of the great Kings of Judah, he took the Bronze serpent that was still with them and destroyed it, because people has given it a name and bowed down to it.

Unfortunately, the cross has been drug through the mud as well. What was transformed from the symbol of life, hope and salvation was, through things like the inquisition, the KKK, or anywhere else you see in history where the phrase, forced conversion, is used. The cross then took on it’s original symbol of death, fear, and punishment.

Next week we are going to talk about a guy named Balaam and his donkey and how Jesus shows up in that narrative.

Until then, I really want you to think this through. When you look at the cross. Be it, this one or one around your neck, or up on a wall in a church. When you look at that cross, remember that on that cross Jesus transformed, death, fear and punishment into life, hope and salvation. It’s not for a select few, or those who deserve it, because none of us do. We deserve the bite of the fiery serpent.

But let us close with this verse. It’s in your bulletin in ESV or up on the Screen in ESV, or if you have an ESV Bible open it up, because let’s read it out loud together.

Hebrews 12:1–2 ESV

1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Before we pray. IF you have never looked to Jesus for your salvation, and it comes in a lot of phrases. Taken Jesus as your savior, been saved, accepted his gift of salvation. If you’ve never looked to Jesus as the one and only savior to give you eternal life, I invite you to do that today. He loves you and wants to be in relationship with you.

If you are a follower of Jesus and have been turning away from him with your lifestyle choices. This means if you’ve looked to and believed in him for salvation before, but are now pointed away from him for whatever reason, I invite you to turn back and get a fresh look at the one who gives life, hope and salvation.

Pray with me.