The Promise of God's Salvation

Daniel Norman

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Introduction

Palm Sunday Parade

Good Morning and a thank you kids and parents for demonstrating the Palm Sunday event for us all this morning. As many of you probably know, this is the beginning of the most significant week in the Christian Calendar. We traditionally referred to this week as Holy Week. It begins by commemorating the “Triumphal Entry” when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the foal of a donkey to the shouts and praises of large crowds. The Gospel writer Matthew tells this story in this way:

Matthew 21:6–11 ESV

6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. 8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” 10 And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” 11 And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”

Matthew 21:6–9 ESV

Matthew 21:6–10 ESV

Matthew 21

and then a few verses later we find children taking what they saw their parents do and bringing the same declaration into the halls of the Temple. This is exactly like children isn’t it? The adults were too prim and proper to keep following Jesus into the Temple with their declarations of Hosanna, but the kids were fine with this. Of course the religious leaders were not going to let these things go unchallenged. They might not have been able to do anything to stop the public cry of the people in the streets, but they did see an opportunity to put a stop the voices of these children…but Jesus had another perspective to offer.

Matthew 21:14–16 ESV

14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, 16 and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, “ ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?”

Some people believe that in a religious setting children should be seen but not heard, that is not how Jesus saw it. And that is not how we see things here at Friendship Church either. We love that children are actively involved in our services each Sunday and especially today...

Matthew 21:14-16

So thank you kids for your demonstration, Jesus is proud of the praise that you have given Him this morning.

And of course we know the rest of the story of this week in history. We know that the energy and excitement over Jesus as He came into Jerusalem would be short lived. Not just for the religious leaders, they were never excited about Jesus’ presence, but for the people who proclaimed “Hosanna”. Even the parents of the children who were just emulating their parents in declaring their “Hosannas” will less than a week later drastically changed their tune. The crowds in Jerusalem went from declaring Jesus to be blessed with cries of “Hosanna” to declaring him to be cursed with cries of “Crucify Him”. Talk about a major pendulum shift.

Tension

This kind of shift is not unfamiliar to us is it? As we have been working our way through the first 5 books of the Bible in the “Gospel Project” we have often found the children of Israel going from one extreme to another. At one point they are singing songs of blessings as the LORD has sent them a rescuer named Moses to lead them out of slavery in Egypt and in a very short while they are grumbling against the same Moses, declaring that blessing to be a curse… “Oh that we could be back in Egypt!” they would say.

This cycle went on throughout their journey from Egypt... to the mountain of God... until finally they reached the edge of the promised land. And despite all that God did for them, last week we saw how 10 of the 12 spies that were sent into the promised land brought back a “bad” report of both the land and the people who lived there. So they refuse to follow the LORD into the land that He had promised to give them.

Remember this had been the plan all along. Many generations ago the LORD had promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob

Their

That He would make them into a people - they were a mighty people, known throughout the world as the People of God

He would make them into a people - and He did.

He would make them into a people - and He did. He appoint a new leader to l and once again they attempted to reject Moses and the LORD and appoint a new leader and head back to Egypt.

That He would give them a place - they were standing on the edge of it

That He would give them His presence as a blessing that would radiate out to every family in the world - they had followed that presence to this very point and time...

But just as they were about to receive everything that LORD had promised - they refused to follow Him one more step. They rejected the leadership of the LORD. They rejected His appointed leader, Moses. The decided to appoint a New Leader and make their way back to Egypt.

So once again the LORD declares to Moses His desire to wipe out all these people and start over. And once again we find Moses interceding on behalf of the people for the glory of name of the LORd and once again we find the LORD relenting form His desire to wipe them all out. But in His justice He can not reward their rebellion.

So once again the LORD declares to Moses His desire to wipe out all these people and start over. And once again we find Moses interceding on behalf of the people for the glory of the LORD. This group of former slaves had become a people. They were the Isrealite people and the fame of their God YHWY was known througout the World. Moses cries out to the LORD to not tarnish His name by destroying His people. And the LORD relents once again, but in His justice He can not reward their rebellion.

Each of these times, Moses cries out to the LORD to not destroy the people. Moses, the one the people were grumbling against, repeatedly acts as a mediator and steps in to appeal to the LORD on behalf of the people who were rejecting both him and the LORD. And when Moses cries out, the LORD relents once again, but in His justice He does not reward their rebellion. So the leaders who were trying to lead the people away from the LORD were struck down immediately (Leaders are always held to a higher standard) and the rest of the people who refused to enter into the promised land were sentenced to wander in the wilderness for the rest of their lives.

So the 10 leaders who were trying to lead the people away from the LORD and back to Egypt were struck down immediately. Throughout Scripture God is clear that He holds the leaders of His people to a higher standard. And the rest of the people who refused to enter into the promised land were sentenced to wander in the wilderness for the remainder of their lives.

This circles us back to our Palm Sunday Parade, because their children would be allowed to enter the promised land. They would all wander in the wilderness for the 40 years, but eventually when every one of the parents had passed away, their children will return to find themselves in a similar scenario.

As a parent, there is little that frightens me more than to imagine what kind of things my children will face after I am gone. I am sure I am not the only parent that does this, but sometimes I see cultural, social or moral trends in our society and I wonder if my children will have they need to stand against those wrong things in 10, 15 or 20 years. What are the things that I can and should be impressing on my children right now that will help them to make the right decisions when the time comes. I think those are healthy questions for any parent to ask.

I wonder if the Israelite parents asked that question. I wonder if in their better days, they took their children aside and told them the story of the “10 were bad and 2 were good”. Maybe not with the hand motions, but at least reminded them of the consequences that came with the mistakes that they made against the LORD and his servant Moses.

In our text for today, we have moved forward through those 40 years of wandering. The people of the Israel that we encounter in our text today are the Children of the people that we were talking about last week. As we read through the text, we get some idea that the children might have learned something from the mistakes of the parents, but more than that, we will be introduced to one of the most vivid pictures of the Gospel in the entire Old Testament.

Today we are going to look at a story in the book of Numbers that makes it seem that the children of those who left Egypt did in fact learn some things from their parents on how to respond to the instructions of the LORD. And more than that, we will see one of the most vivid pictures of the Gospel in all the the Old Testament. I love how God is able to weave these kinds of things together - trust me I do not have the foresight to make this kind of thing happen. It is only God’s grace on all of us that the message on would be such a great picture of Easter week.

I love how God is able to weave these kinds of things together - trust me I do not have the foresight to make this kind of thing happen. It is only God’s grace on all of us that the message on would have such a rich connection to our Easter week.

So turn there with me if you will, (P. 184), Ill pray and we will dive into the smash up of these two great stories together.

Truth

As I said in the introduction, at this point God’s People are very close to the promised land again, only these are the children of the Children of Israel from last week. These children, now grown up, encounter a similar challenge that their parents did and at first they respond just like their parents - but then... they do something their parents never really found their way to:

Numbers 21:4–5 ESV

Numbers 21:4-

Here is a question, “How can you loathe food when there isn’t any?”

Again we find the same nonsensical response from the grown children. They are not thinking clearly, they have become impatient with this whole thing and the begin grumbling just like their parents. We should not be too quick to judge them, as we get “impatient” when the line at the grocery store is longer than we have time for. They are impatient because they have haven’t seen a market in 40 years and have been eating the same food…every day. When was the last time you ate the same food for two meals in a row?

Still, that is not excuse to accuse the LORD or his appointed leader Moses. They were not the ones that brought this on. They would ready to enter the Promise land 40 years earlier. In fact, it was those that they were accusing that kept them from dying by providing the “worthless food”. The idea of “biting the hand that feeds you” comes to mind. And speaking of biting, God is not slow in sending his judgement for their rebellion:

But the parents are gone, can’t blame them so they speak against the only leadership they can. This was as bad of a decision for them as it was for their parents.

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.

Numbers 21:6

The idea that judgement comes in response to sin and rebellion is not new, but sending out snakes is.

Remember that when the Israelites left Egypt, the LORD said that if they would obey Him then He would not visit upon them any of the things that He had judged the Egyptians with. But they didn’t obey. They opposed, accused, grumbled against, spoke against, blamed and raised their fist at the LORD. So there was a long established pattern of the LORD judging their rebellion. He sent plagues of various forms, He sent fire out of the mouth of Tabernacle a few times, He even opened up the ground and swallowed up three large families and all their belongings and then closed it all up like nothing happened. Sounds to me like an echo of what the 10 spies said about the promised land.

You wanna see land that really will eat you…here you go.

We have to remember that the LORD is both loving and just. He cannot allow rebellion to His good ways to go unpunished. This was true for every one of His chosen people. Even the leaders. As I mentioned beore, especially the leaders. In the previous chapter we find Moses getting fed up with the rebellion of the people. They were, as they are now, complaining about their being no water. So Moses sought the LORD and the LORD told him to go and this time, instead of hitting the rock like he had once before, Moses was to speak to the rock..but Moses rebelled against God’s command:

Numbers 20:10–11 ESV

Why did he strike it twice? Was it his frustration…or did he try it once and nothing happened so he hit it again harder? We don’t know. All that we are told is that Moses disobeyed the LORD and the LORD saw this as much more than a simple oversight. It was sinful rebellion.

Numbers 20:10–12 ESV

10 Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” 11 And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock. 12 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.”

Numbers 20:12 ESV

12 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.”

Moses had been so faithful in the past, but now even he will not be entering into the promise land because of His own sinful rebellion. The LORD is a just God, and because of this He must punish sin. For Moses, he would not enter the promised land, for the people they were being bitten by deadly snakes.

aAs they have been wandering through the wilderness they keep angering the LORD and He keeps sending different consequences for their rebellion. Several times the people as a whole rebelled against the LORD and He sent a plague that wiped out many of them. If a particular group rose up from among the people then the LORD would just punish that group. One time he had the earth open and swallow up When a particular group would rebel against Him he wo

This is where we see a break in the repeated pattern of God’s people. So far it appears that with these children the “Apple has not fallen far from the tree” but then something remarkably different happens - see if you can identify it:

Numbers 21:7 ESV

Numbers 21:7

We have come to our first theme for this week:

1. God punishes sin and desires repentance from His people ()

Did you hear the difference in the peoples response? This time the Children of Israel came to Moses in confession and repentance! Before it was Moses going to the people and calling them to repent. Clearly the children have learned something in their journey of wandering. Even though they messed up and rebelled against the LORD, unlike their parents, they respond to the judgement of the LORD by openly confessing: “We Have Sinned” and in doing that they turned from their sin.

That is what repentance is. It is a 180 degree turn from your sin. It is not just “I am sorry that this happened” or worse yet, “I am sorry that I am having to deal with the consequences of that happening. We all can hit those pitches, easy. This is “I have sinned”

Moses had heard the people ask him to pray that the judgement of the LORD against them would stop, but there was something more in this. There was an admission of guilt, and a turning from it. It was more than our typical, “I’m sorry now that the consequences of my bad decision has causes me pain!”. It’s easy to get behind that one. This was the Children of Israel going from speaking against Moses and the LORD to speaking for them. “We have sinned”

There is so much power in those three words. When was the last time you confessed that to God. Get rid of all the qualifiers and excuses… Well LORD I probably should might not maybe have done that exactly in that way it just wasn’t the best way to do that so I will do better next time....” That is not repentance, that is reluctance and more rebellion.

I HAVE SINNED. - that is confession. For the follower of God, that declaration ignites repentance.

It reminds me of King David after he was confronted by the prophey Samuel over his sinful acts with Bathsheba. He could have made all kinds of excuses…lots of pressure being the King…everyone is always watching me…yeah but look at all the good things I have done too…” No that is not where David went. That is not where the man who scripture says was a “Man after God’s own heart” .

David said, “I have sinned”

Call it what it is, otherwise you will never be free from the affects of it. There is nothing that can be don for “well I maybe might have not exactly done everything that i might should have done...”

Numbers 21:4–7 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.

We must confess our “sin” to be the “sin” that it is, then something can be done about it.

1. God punishes sin and desires repentance from His people

2 Corinthians 7:9 ESV

9 As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us.

Matthew 21:32 ESV

32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.

Matthew 21:31 ESV

31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you.

2. God provides an intercessor to appeal on behalf of His people ()

Numbers 21:7–8 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. 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.”

Numbers 21:7 ESV

Moses, the intercessor who had appealed to the LORD so many time on behalf of the Children of Israel steps up one more time. He prays for the people, this time after their repentance! That had to be a welcome change. Moses didn’t have to first convince them of their sinfulness, they already declared it on their own.

Scripture tells us that sometimes God uses kindness to lead us to repentance, like in , but other times as in the LORD uses a “godly grief” to bring us to repentance. Either way repentance is achieved, the must be and intercessor to repent to, in this case the Intercessor is Moses.

Romans 2:4 ESV

4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

tells us that God’s kindness is meant to lead us to repentance.

And that is true, but His kindness is not the only tool that the LORD uses to bring someone to repentance. tells us that there is a “godly grief” also can be used to lead us to repentance.

2 Corinthians 7:10 ESV

10 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.

And that is true, but His kindness is not the only tool that the LORD uses to bring someone to repentance.

“So Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord…”did not take away the snakes. At least the text doesn’t say that He did. Apparently the snakes were still there, and they were still biting people. The people repented as God required, Moses interceded for the people as he had done so many times before but God still didn’t remove the instrument of the judgement.

Instead, he answers Moses’ prayer in a very unexpected way.

Numbers 21:8 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.”

Numbers 21:8

This seems like a strange response to me, does it seem strange to you? I am not sure which part makes me more uncomfortable, the fact that the LORD commanded a metal image to be crafted or that the image that He had Moses craft was one of a serpent. At first glance both of these things seem very problematic, but the reality is that God is working out something much more significant and lasting than just getting rid of a bunch of snakes. Let me explain.

It is first important to recognize that the LORD did not command that the people pray to, worship or present offerings to the snake. That would be a clear violation of His own commandment. The 2nd commandment says that the people were not to make for themselves graven images…that they bowed down to or worshiped. The truth is that the LORD commanded many images to be engraved or carved when he gave instructions for the Tabernacle and the Temple. He had them carve pomegranates, cherubim, palm trees and even large cows. That seems dangerously close to a recent bad experience. The problem was not the image, but how the people interacted with the graven image. The people were only to look to the snake, and then the LORD who commanded it’s creation would heal them from the snake bite.

But just to show how twisted the human heart can be, after this whole ordeal with the serpents that Children of Israel kept that serpent on a pole around and eventually they did start worshiping it and bowing down to it. They even named it. In 2 Kings we read how one of the few good Kings Hezekiah destroyed it to keep the people from doing that any more. But at this point, the people rightfully did not bow down to the image or worship it.

ima

Let me explain. First of all, the LORD did not command that the people pray to, worship or present offerings to the snake. That would be a clear violation of the 2nd commandment. The commandment was clear that the people were not to have graven images that they bowed down to or worshiped. The LORD commanded many images to be carved when he gave instructions for the Tabernacle and the Temple. The problem was not the image, but how the people responded to the graven image. The people were only to look to the snake, and then the LORD would heal them from the snake bite.

But then we still have the image of a snake to deal with. Why a snake? Isn’t there a better image to look to for their salvation? The sacrificial system was already in place so why not have it be a lamb, goat or cow - something that they already understood to be in the forgiveness lane. The Jewish people did not do snakes. For one thing, they were on the list of unclean animals and above that they were always symbols of evil, just as Satan took that form in the garden. Egypt did a lot of snakes, but why would God want them to look to a symbol of the nation that he judged for their pagan lifestyle?

But why a snake? Isn’t there a better image to look to for your salvation? The sacrificial system was already in place so why not have it be a lamb, goat or cow - the Jewish people did not do snakes. They were symbols of evil, just as Satan took that form in the garden.

The answer to these questions is found in our final theme for the week, and it is what connects us so beautifully to the celebration of Holy Week.

So our last theme for the week is that

3. God provides a way of salvation through faith for His people (; )

Numbers 21:9 ESV

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.

Numbers 21:8 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.”

Instead of removing the snakes, the LORD worked through his servant Moses to make a provision for the people to be saved from the effects of the snake. This provision was not something for everyone. It was only for those who had bitten by the snake. It was for those people who already knew that they were dying and that needed to be saved. Scientifically there is no visual aid that you can put on top of a pole to bring healing to a dying person. But if a person would have the faith to believe what the LORD said about what happened on this particular pole, then they would be saved.

Numbers 21:9 ESV

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.

Numbers 21:9 ESV

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.

Of course, this is a foreshadowing of what the LORD will one day declare about another pole. Something more significant that a metal snake will placed on this stake. You have probably figured out that I am talking about the cross of Jesus Christ.

You know many of your Bibles will have a little footnote next to the word “bronze” and you were to follow that footnote you will see that the Hebrew word for “bronze” is the same word that is used for “copper”. Many theologians look to the use of the metals in this part of the world and in this time in history and they are certain that this was not a sparkly bronze snake, but a reddish copper one. This would bring even more to this picture, as we know that the body of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was hung up like a snake.

Of course, we might say that this is even more of a reason to not use a snake! How could you equate Jesus Christ with a snake or serpent. We understand Jesus as the unblemished lamb, and certainly He was, but what is all this about a snake. Jesus should never be equated with a snake.

You’re right. Jesus should never be equated with a snake, but he was. There was only one time in all of the life of Jesus Christ that He is appropriately represented as a serpent. Only one time in all of His life when an image of sin and rebellion and death like the image of a serpent could be appropriately applied to Jesus. That moment was when He hung on the cross and bore the punishment of the sin of all mankind.

Why did the LORD command a snake to be placed up on the stake? Because it was a symbol of the peoples rebellion against Him. A symbol of God’s Judgment on their sin against Him. The people rebelled and the LORD sent in the judgement of the snakes and it was literally killing them…until they looked up in faith to the image of their sin and rebellion on the stake.

For is a person would have the faith to believe what the LORD said about what happened on this particular cross, then they would be saved.

Gospel Application

Maybe you are still not convinced. Maybe you think yeah, but isn’t that bit of a stretch. I mean the one is a pole and the other a cross. The one is metal snake the other is a live person. One served basically just as anti-venom and the other was the single most powerful act ever to happen on the face of the earth.

Well

There certainly are some pretty large gaps between these two events and I am not in any way suggesting that they are equal in significance or merit. What I am saying is that one very intentionally and directly points to the other so that more than a thousand years before Jesus died on the cross, the LORD was already preparing peoples hearts for that occasion. But as always, what I say doesn’t count for much. We have to see this in God’s Word and in this particular case, Jesus himself made the connection.

In the Gospel of John chapter 3 we have this incredible discussion between a Pharisee named Nicodemus and Jesus. Jesus tells Nicodemus that he has to be born again and Nicodemus is like, What? How can you enter into your mothers womb and be born again? So Jesus explains that He is talking about being born again Spiritually. But Nicodemus still doesn’t quite get it, so Jesus tries to explain it words that this Jewish Leader can understand:

John 3:9–15 ESV

9 Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? 11 Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 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.

John 3:

If you would turn with me to the Gospel of John chapter 3, pg 887 in the chair Bibles, I would like to end this morning by reading you a story of a man named Nicodemus. I am actually going to back up a little into Chapter 2 then read quickly through the first part of Chapter 3

Son of Man (Daniel 7)

John 2:23–3:18 ESV

23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. 24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25 and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man. 1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” 9 Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? 11 Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 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. 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. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

Remember that Nicodemus is a Pharisee, a teacher of the Law so He would know this story inside and out and Jesus tells Him that what Moses did many generations earlier was meant to point to what is about to happen. The “Son of Man” a name for the Messiah, a name for Jesus, will be lifted up just like that serpent was, and those who are suffering under the Righteous judgement of the LORD can find their rescue by looking to Him. “Whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”

John 2:23-3:

Remember that Nicodemus is a Pharisee, a teacher of the Law so He would know this story inside and out and Jesus tells Him that what Moses did many generations earlier was meant to point to what is about to happen. The “Son of Man” a name for the Messiah, will lifted up on an ugly stake just like that serpent. Why? That whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

The same thing is true for us today. Everyone of us is a sinner. The judgement we deserve is much greater then a snake bite and our only hope is to look the blood stained cross of Jesus Christ for our salvation or we will die.

If you don’t look to Jesus, then you will die.

And if you are paying attention to the numbers here, you know that the next verse is a very familiar one:

John 3:16–18 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. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

Anyone who was bitten and did not look to the snake on the post for their salvation would die, because they were already dying and their only hope was to have faith that what God said about that snake on a post was true.

The same thing is true for us today. Everyone of us is a sinner, so we already have the venom of sin coursing through our souls in such a way that there is nothing that we can do to save ourselves. We are all already dying, and our only hope is to have faith that what God has told us about what Jesus did on the cross is true.

Landing

Is this you? Do you have that faith? or are you still embracing a life filled with the venom of sin? Let me plead with you to look to Jesus, He is the only hope that you have. And as always if you would like to talk to someone about this, then please come see me, or one of the Overseers here or someone else that you trust and clearly has believed in the name of the only Son of God, Jesus the Christ. As long as you are still breathing there is hope, but after that there are no more decisions to make.

As always if you would like to talk to someone about this, then please come see me, or one of the Overseers here or someone else that you trust and clearly has believed in the name of the only Son of God, Jesus the Christ. As long as you are still breathing there is hope, but after that there are no more decisions to make.

If you don’t look to Jesus, then you will die, because all of us stand condemned already.

Landing

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.

John 3:15 ESV

15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

John 8:28 ESV

28 So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me.

John 8:

Some of us have been a Christian for a long time, and maybe we think that reminders about what Jesus did for us on the cross really aren’t for us anymore. We have moved beyond that, we are not in the maintenance mode. We still believe those same things, but they have gotten a little stale and don’t move us like they used to.

John

John 12:32 ESV

32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

Let me offer this caution to you, more than 500 years after this event in Numbers we hear about this serpent on the pole again. They took it with them. Only this time the serpent was not used as a symbol of the judgment and salvation of the one true God. The Israelite people had made the serpent into a idol. They gave it a name (Nehustan) and they bowed down and worshiped it. It was meant to be a symbol of the salvation of the LORD, and the people turned it into a source of salvation. It is an unfortunate truth that many people who call themselves “Christians” define themselves that way because they belong to a certain family, go to a certain church or pray a certain prayer. None of those things are wrong, but they can only be symbols of our salvation, they are never the source.

I’ll close with

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.

Let me invite the worship team up and I will pray.

Closing?

That is what makes our celebrations this week so sweet. We celebrate the life and work of Jesus every Sunday, but this next week is alway something special. This Friday Night we will be meeting for a good Friday Service and it is nothing like anything else that we do here at Friendship Church. It is a somber experience where we very intentionally focus on the gravity of our sin. We will spend that night remembering that it was our sin that turned the perfect unblemished lamb of God into the image of a bloodied serpent. This was not because of anything that He had done, but because he took our sins upon himself. Then we will leave that night with that difficult tension ringing in our hearts and minds much like the disciples did so many years ago. I can’t necesarily tell you that it will be fun, but I believe it will be good.

Especially because we will leave that evening with much more than the disciples had. We know something that they did not yet know. For it may be Friday Night…but Sunday’s coming. I hope you are able to join us for both of those experiences this week even as we continue to celebrate Palm Sunday Today.

still we know something that they did not know. It may be Friday Night…but Sunday’s coming. I hope you are able to join us for both experiences.

Unfortunately, the children of God did not always obey the LORD when it came to this snake. They actually kept the snake, gave it a name and started worshiping it. .. 2 Kings

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