Bad Theology = Bad Results Part II

Welcome to the second week of our post Easter series called “The Aftermath”. And this is a part of the story that often gets neglected when we learn about the death and resurrection of our Lord. Most of the time after we celebrate the resurrection , that ends the series, and we move on to another subject. But this year is a little different. We’ve been in a book study of the Gospel of Mark and for the past couple of months we’ve studied all the events leading up to the cross and the resurrection. Well, now, that are through those events, I don’t feel like I can move on until we looked at what happens in the aftermath of those events. And what I want us to realize is that there are some powerful discipleship lessons in the events that follow the resurrection.

One of the powerful lessons we learned last week, was, “Bad Theology gets Bad results”. This is always true, and it was certainly true in the life of the original disciples. You see, the disciples, even though they were believers, they had some bad theology. They were completely unaware that the Messiah needed to die. The disciples had zero concept of a Messiah that was going to die in order to “take away the sins of the world”. All they understood was that when the Messiah comes we was going to restore Israel to is former glory, and at that time He would bring in an eternal kingdom. All of which, is completely true, but before the Messiah could enter into His glory, He had to suffer first.

Simply put, before the Messiah could enter into His glory, He had to suffer all the things that are recorded in the Scriptures. And when I say, “all the things recorded in the Scriptures”, I’m not talking talking about the things recorded in the Gospels. Remember these original disciples didn’t have the NT yet. So, in order for them to understand about the death of the Messiah, they would have to get that from the OT.

And as we learned last week, this was the focus of the Bible study with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. Now, let me give a two minute recap for the people who weren’t here for the last sermon because we are going to finish up studying the road to Emmaus this week.

It’s Sunday afternoon. Jesus has been raised from the dead earlier that morning. Meanwhile, the disciples are devastated. As we’ll see a little later, the Eleven are hiding behind locked doors for fear of the Jews. They are weeping, mourning, and completely devasted about what has happened. The women in the group have already received testimony from two angels that the Lord has risen. Not to mention Mary Magdalene has seen the Lord herself. And all these different reports have been given to the disciples, yet they don’t believe.

So, sometime on Sunday afternoon two disciples are traveling from Jerusalem to Emmaus. And just so we’re clear these disciples weren’t part of the eleven, but they were disciples of the Lord. And as these two disciples are traveling to Emmaus, they are walking along talking about everything that had happened. Well, at some point Jesus comes along side of them and asks why they were so sad. Now, another important detail that Luke mentions is the eyes of these disciples “were restrained”. In other words, something is preventing these disciples from recognizing the Lord Jesus Christ. The point is these disciples are talking with the risen Lord, but they don’t realize it. So Jesus is talking with them and He asks why they are so upset and they unload their disappointment on Him.

They say, there was this Guy Jesus of Nazareth , and we hoped that He was going to be the One to redeem Israel. We thought this Guy was the Messiah. But He was crucified, and after He died these certain women say they saw angels at the tomb saying he was raised from the dead, but were not really buying it.” Now of course that was a paraphrase, I’m just trying to paint the picture of what is going on.

And so, after they tell Jesus everything that happened we get to Jesus’ response in Luke 24 verse 25.

Luke 24:25–26 NKJV

25 Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?”

First of all notice, that Jesus rebukes these men. He says, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken”. Seems pretty clear to me that Jesus expected these disciples to have understood what was coming. He saying, “guys who should have understood all the prophets wrote throughout the Scriptures.

Simply put, Jesus is pointing out that the root of these disciples problems was not the recent events. Their problem was not the fact that Jesus was crucified. There problem was that they didn’t understand that the Prophets said it was going to happen. Again, bad theology get bad results.

Now listen to the question Jesus asks in verse 26. “Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” First let’s start with the “Ought Not”. That pretty old fashioned English. This phrase can also be translated “Was it not necessary”. And so the Lord is asking these men. “Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things before He entered into HIs glory”.

Now I don’t want to bore you with Greek grammar, but this little detail is helpful. You see, in the Greek language there is a way to construct a question that demands a yes answer, and there is a way to construct a question that demands a no answer. Well, the way that Jesus asks this question, it demanded a yes answer. In other words, when Jesus asked these disciples this question, it wasn’t like He was asking them to think it and give a response. No, the way Jesus asks the question would have made it known that the answer was yes. So when Jesus asked, “Wasn’t it necessary that the Christ should suffer these things before He enters His glory?” Right then, these disciples would have known that the answer was yes. Yes, the Messiah needed to suffer these things first. We, would say it was a rhetorical question expecting a yes answer.

Moving on now to verse 27. And I believe this is the last verse we got to last week.

Luke 24:27 NKJV

27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

And I said this last week, but let me say it again. I get jealous every time I read this verse. What I would give to be a fly on the wall for this Bible study. I mean, the Teacher, the risen Lord Himself takes these men through the OT explaining to them all the places that talked about His suffering. And we are left to wonder what passages the Lord went through with these men. But it says, He started at Moses. Now if you don’t know, Moses, wrote the first 5 books of the OT. And the next question we should ask was where in these first 5 books is the death of Jesus talked about?

Well, I’m so glad that you asked because I’m going to tell you. First of all, if you weren’t here for our Easter service, go online and watch that sermon because I did a whole lesson on How the feasts of Moses point to the Lord Jesus Christ, the most obvious one is Passover. In fact, all of those Passover lambs were pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ.

So, that is one example, but I want to give you another example that comes from the book of Numbers. Now, I realize this is going to be a review for most of us. I have taught this passage before, but it’s been about 4 years since we looked at this passage. And it is one of my favorite areas of study. I love to study these strange OT accounts and teach people how they point to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, my old school Sunday School class members are rolling their eyes at this point thinking, “great we go again”. I know y’all have heard this multiple times so bear with me.

So, we’re going to take a look at passage from Numbers chapter 21, and in this passage the Israelites are wondering in the wilderness. So, this is after God leads them out of Egypt, but before they enter the “promised land”. And Israel had to wonder in this wilderness for forty years because they lacked faith. You see, God had showed them the promised land and told them to go in conquer the nations and claim the land, but they don’t do it. Their fear overcomes their faith, and were are scared to go into the promised land because the land was occupied by giants. And so instead of leaving Egypt and entering into this land flowing with milk and honey, God says your going to wonder in the wilderness until the current unbelieving generation dies.

And By the time we reach Numbers 21, the people have been wondering in the wilderness for years. They are tired, frustrated, and they are constantly grumbling against the Lord. Well, all of their grumbling and complaining angers the Lord, and their sin has consequences, the way sin always does.

Alight, that brings us to a new passage so let’s pray and ask the Lord to give us understanding.

Let’s pray.

Numbers 21:4–5 NKJV

4 Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very discouraged 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 our soul loathes this worthless bread.”

So, as we can see, the Israelites are grumbling and complaining. It says, they were speaking against God and Moses. I mean look at their attitude. “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?” Man. Talk about a fleshly self-centered attitude. These people literally walked through the Red Sea on dry land, and now a few short years later look how ungrateful they have become. And it is their own fault. If they had listened to the Lord in the first place and attacked the inhabitants of Canaan they wouldn’t be wandering in the wilderness. And people do this all the time. They sin against God and then when they suffer the consequences they grumble against God for allowing them to go through hard times.

Well, needless to say God is angered by their ungrateful hearts, and so He sends fiery serpents among them.

Numbers 21:6–7 NKJV

6 So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died. 7 Therefore 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.

Because of the Israelites sin the Lord sends fiery serpents among them. Now I looked up the Hebrew word translated “fiery” and the definition said burning, that is, figuratively poisonous. The point is, God sent poisonous snakes among the Israelites, and the people getting bit were dying.  I’m assuming the bites were extremely painful and burned. In other words, what was fiery about the serpents was the bite. In any event, they quickly realize that this was a consequence of their sin, and they ask Moses to pray for them, which he does.

Numbers 21:8–9 NKJV

8 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.

Ok, this is where things get interesting. Whenever we see strange events like this in the OT. They usually mark a good spot to dig in and do a little homework. And remember the question we are trying to answer. Where in the writings of Moses do we see Jesus and the cross? Remember Jesus along the road to Emmaus is explaining to the disciples beginning at Moses all the things concerning Himself. Here is the point, I have to belief that one of the passages that Jesus explained to those two disciples on the way to Emmaus was Numbers 21.

And the point, I’m getting ready to make is that the cross of Christ and the good news that we are saved by grace through faith is tucked right into Numbers 21.

But before we get there, let’s talk about this strange remedy God provided for these snake bites. I mean why would God have Moses make a snake, set it on a pole, and heal everyone who looked at the snake hanging on the pole? I mean you got to admit, this is a strange, strange cure. And what is even stranger is that this remedy isn’t explained anywhere in the OT. We don’t find the explanation until we get to the NT. In fact, Jesus Himself gives us the explanation in the book of John, but before we get there let’s talk about these snakes some more.

Look back at verse 6,

Numbers 21:6 NKJV

6 So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died.

The first thing I want to point out is serpents in scripture are symbolic of sin. This is obvious when we consider it was a serpent that deceived Eve in the garden. So, the picture we have painted here is one of “sin-bitten” Israelites. Simply put, the Israelites have a sin problem that is killing them. And it is worth pointing out, that the Israelites were helpless to overcome their sin problem. In other words, there was no solution for these snake bites. When an Israelite was bitten by “sin” the guaranteed outcome was death. Everyone who was “sin bitten” would die. That is unless, they looked to the serpent on the pole. And if they looked at God’s solution to their sin problem they lived. In other words, one look to the serpent on the pole and they would be saved.

Now, let’s look back at verse 9 where Moses follows God’s command so that the Israelites can be saved from the snake bites.

Numbers 21:9 NKJV

9 So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.

I want us to take a moment here and really think this through. The Israelites are infected with sin, and they are without a cure. They were infected with sin just like we were infected with sin without a cure. Well, the cure for their sin problem was looking at a serpent on a pole. And we know that the cure for our sin was Jesus dying on the cross. And so the question then becomes, “is there a connection”? Could this strange remedy of a bronze serpent being lifted up on a pole somehow foreshadow the Lord Jesus on the cross?

When we look at verse 9 which says, “So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole;” does this somehow point to the Lord’s death of the cross that would take away the sins of the world? And at first, it seems like there’s no way. There is no way a snake on a pole is a foreshadowing Jesus on the cross. How on earth could a snake, the symbol of sin, symbolize the Lord Jesus?

Well, let’s take a closer look and see what we find. Now we already talked about the serpent being symbolic of sin. The next thing I want to look at is the material from which the serpent was made. The serpent was made of bronze. Bronze was a metal that could withstand fire and is a Levitical symbol of judgment. So, take a look at this slide

Bronze Serpent

Serpent:  A symbol of sin.

Bronze: Levitical symbol of judgment.

Equals = Sin judged.

Ok, if you put the serpent, the symbol of sin, together with the bronze material, the symbol of God’s righteous judgment, what do you get? It equals sin judged. Symbolically what Moses was holding up in the wilderness was a sign that said, “sin judged”. This is amazing. Now let’s compare this to the Cross. On the cross Jesus became sin and suffered the righteous judgment of God the Father. He literally became sin judged.

2 Corinthians 5:21 NKJV

21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Just to make sure we understand the point I’ve been building toward. This bronze serpent Moses raised in the wilderness was a foreshadowing of Christ on the cross. 1400 years before Christ was lifted up on the cross God was already pointing to it. The Israelites were sin-bitten and desperately needed a cure. All of mankind was sin-bitten and needed a cure. The remedy is Christ’s sacrifice on the cross where He literally became sin judged. Praise His holy name.

And just so you know I’m not reading my own ideas into the text. Jesus Himself, connects these dots for us in the Gospel of John when He was speaking to Nicodemus.

John 3:14–15 NKJV

14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

Amazing. Two verses before the most famous verse in the New Testament, we have the Lord Himself linking His death on the cross to the bronze serpent in the wilderness. This proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Moses was acting out prophecy when he lifted up that serpent in the wilderness. Without John 3:14 we couldn’t truly understand what Numbers 21 all is about. And if we don’t know about Numbers 21 then we could never understand what Jesus is talking about in John 3:14. Guys, it is all one book. It is all one book in which God reveals Himself and His plan of redemption to us. And our job is to find out what is in the book.

God solution to the sin problem was always the same. It was always His Son dying on the cross. That is where He judged sin. That is where He judged sin so that whosoever looks to Jesus in faith is saved. Just like any Israelite who looked to the serpent on the pole and was saved. Do you see the connection? We are saved by grace through faith because of what Jesus accomplished on the cross. Now that God’s divine justice regarding sin is satisfied Jesus can now give everlasting life to whoever believes in Him for that life.

Now let’s start turning our focus back to the Emmaus road. I have to believe that when Jesus was walking along the road to Emmaus explaining to those two disciples all the things concerning Himself. I have to believe that Numbers 21 was one of the Scriptures that He covered.

Luke 24:27 NKJV

27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

And when He began at Moses. I do believe He explained the bronze serpent passage to them. Now, just so you know. I could turn verse 27 into an entire series. We could go to OT passage after OT passage, which is obviously what the Lord did as they traveled together. The last part of the verse says, “He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself”.

Moving on verse 28.

Luke 24:28–29 NKJV

28 Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone farther. 29 But they constrained Him, saying, “Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” And He went in to stay with them.

Man, I love the the little details in this passage. Notice that Jesus wasn’t going to invite himself into their homes. In other words, He wasn’t going to force Himself on these men. If these men haven’t “constrained Him”, I think Jesus would have kept on walking. When it says they constrained Him is means they were strongly urging Him. We’ve probably all experienced that before. We are ready to leave a party or something, and as we start to leave people say no, no, no. You can’t leave and they throw their arms around you and lead you away from the door. These men, do that with the Lord. They aren’t going to let Him continue on. They say “abide with us”. That word abide is a fellowship term. It means to remain, stay or dwell. These disciples wants Jesus’ fellowship. They wanted Him to remain with them. They wanted Jesus to stay with them. It reminds we of what Jesus says to the lukewarm church of Laodicea in Revelation chapter 3. Remember that verse.

Revelation 3:20 NKJV

20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.

And remember, Jesus is speaking this to a church. In others words, this verse doesn’t have anything to do with getting saved. It has to do with a church getting back in fellowship with Him. The church of Laodicea has drifted away from Him and become like the world. And Jesus is saying, I’m right here. Invite me back into your lives and we can have fellowship again. The point is that if we want Jesus to abide with us, we have to be willing to spend the time with Him. We have to be just like these disciples on the road to Emmaus. We have seek Him. And we seek Him in the word of God. We seek Him through prayer. And we seek Him as we gather together in fellowship with His people.

The pattern we see on the road to Emmaus and with the church of Laodicea is the same.

Jesus gladly abides with those who genuinely desire His presence.

And again. I’m talking about fellowship with the Lord. We can believe on the Lord and receive eternal life, and drift away from Him. It has happened to all of us. And when we break fellowship with the Lord is has disastrous consequents on our lives.

He stays where He is welcomed. He fellowships where He is invited. He draws close to the heart that says, “Lord, stay with me.” And again, we abide with the Lord as we meditate on the Scriptures, when we pray, and when we gather with His people. And if you are doing none of these things. Don’t expect to be in fellowship with Jesus. You can’t be in fellowship with someone you never talk you. Do not neglect this fellowship with the Lord.

Luke 24:30–31 NKJV

30 Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.

Now, something unusual happens here. During a Jewish dinner, the host, not the guest would recite the blessing over the bread. But, notice that is not what happens here. Jesus the guest blesses the bread. Now, apparently if one of the guests was a scribe or a religious scholar of some kind then the host could allow the teacher to be given the honor of blessing the bread. So, apparently even though these men still don’t recognize Jesus they regard Him as Bible scholar or a great teacher already.

But notice what happens as Jesus blesses the bread. It says, “He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them”. And notice what happens the second He gives the bread to them. Verse 31 says, “Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him”. What would these disciples have seen as Jesus passed the bread to them. They would have seen His hands. And what about His hands would have made them recognize Him? The nail prints. I think when Jesus breaks the bread and gave it to them, they see the holes in His hands from where He was crucified. And it is at that very moment they recognize the risen Savior. Man. God is amazing.

And the moment they recognize Him He vanished from their sight”.

Let’s tackle our last verse as I wrap up.

Luke 24:32 NKJV

32 And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”

I could probably pick out any of the verses in his passage and build a whole sermon around it. And verse 32 is certainly one of those verses. Notice what they say here. “Did not our hearts burn within us while He talked with us on the road”. Church, we have the the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit inside of us. We have God dwelling inside us. And church, we have the word of God sitting in our laps. Do you know what that means? It means we can experience this burning in our hearts as God reveals Himself to us.

In fact, I often pray before I get up here. Father, let your peoples hearts burn inside their chest as your Holy Spirit speaks to us through your word. Father, let your people be in awe as your Holy Spirit teaches us your scriptures. Father, let your word penetrate our hearts and set us on fire for you. The same way you did for those on the Emmaus road. But notice what else they say in this verse. They say, “while He opened the Scriptures to us”.

This is why I always pray before we study. This is why I pray every time before I open my Bible. We need the Lord to open the Scriptures to us. We cannot comprehend this book without God’s Spirit doing it for us. Legacy, we have to be people of the book. We have to be disciples like the two in this passage. We must urge the Lord to “abide with us”. But that can’t be just lip service. It has to be the actions we take, to study our Bibles, to pray, and to gather together every time these doors were open. Just like these two disciples and the other 11, we can’t be effective servants of the Lord Jesus Christ unless we learning this book. Because… bad theology equals bad results.

Let’s pray.