March 22, 2009 — Numbers 21: 4-9 — “The Serpent, The Savior” — Pastor Jerome Teichmiller
Teichmiller Comments OffThe Serpent, The Savior
Numbers 21: 4-9
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Our text for this mornings meditation is recorded in the book of Numbers, chapter 21, verses 4 through 9, particularly these words: “So Moses made a bronze serpent, and set it on a pole; and if a serpent bit any man, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.” This is our text.
In the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ dear Christian friends. The opening verse of today’s Gospel lesson read, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”
That one verse of the New Testament points to that part of Old Testament history, which serves as our text for today. The death of Jesus Christ on a cross, is compared with the familiar story of the serpent which Moses had placed on a pole during the Exodus from Egypt to the Promised Land of Israel.
If we look closely, we are going to find several similarities between the Serpent on the pole and our Savior on the cross.
The first similarity is the kind of people that both the serpent and the Savior were to heal. First, we look at the Children of Israel, the people for whom Moses built the Serpent on the pole.
These were the slaves of Egypt. They were treated brutally by the people of Egypt in order to keep their numbers from growing. When that plan did not work, the male children that were born to every family had to be thrown into the Nile River and drowned, as soon as they were born. But God preserved the life of Moses so that he became the leader who would lead the Children of Abraham out of the land of Egypt.
Deliverance came in time. Pharaoh and his Chariots were drowned in the Red Sea, after Moses lead the people through on dry land. Food was plentiful — Manna from Heaven in the mornings and Quail in the evening.
This was a people blessed by God. They were delivered from Slavery, they were saved from Pharaoh, they had food to eat, and they were moving to the Promised Land that flowed with milk and honey!!
But were they thankful????? Oh No! Just listen to the words of our text for today. “The people grew impatient on the way; they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, ‘Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!” Impatient, ungrateful, murmuring, and complaining — not in anyway satisfied with the good things that they had from God.
Have people changed any today? Just listen sometime to the general conversations that occur around you every day. During the winter it is “too cold” — during the Summer it is “too hot” — In the Spring the rains make it too wet, and many times in the fall everything is too dry. Wages are always too low, and prices are always too high. God’s rules are too strict for today’s lenient society — and yet society wants everyone to live by God’s rules so that we all get along with each other!
Have people changed??? No!! We are still sinners before God! Like the Children of Israel, there are times when we do not walk the road that God lays before us — willingly or cheerfully. Sinners that we are, like the Children of Israel, we too choose to suggest to God that there are better ways to go, better roads to travel, better ways of doing things and certainly better leaders to lead us!!
So people have not changed much — we’re still sinful, selfish, and self-centered! Just like the Israelites of old, God’s people still complain and murmur against God and against His will and direction for our lives. And just as God was not pleased with the Children of Israel — so also, he is not pleased with the sinful actions of his people today.
So that brings us to the second similarity — the people of Israel needed to repent. In the Old Testament lesson, God sent snakes among the people to remind them that they needed to repent — and it worked!! Our text tells us, “The people came to Moses and said, ‘We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us.”
Does God need to send snakes into our land to remind us that we as individuals and as a nation, need to repent?? What does God have to do to get our attention?? Maybe our national poisonous shake is the serpent of Abortion or euthanasia. Maybe our Viper will be a bankrupt Federal Government which just can’t find a way to balance its budget, while bailing out every big company going bankrupt. Maybe what will finally bring us to our knees will be the loss of the freedoms that we hold so dear – like when the government tells us which doctors we can see or which medicines we can take. Sin in individual lives produces many kinds of personal poisonous serpents — divorce, unplanned pregnancies, child and spousal abuse, broken relationships, broken lives, and broken bodies — not to mention the worst possible effect of sin, a soul lost for all eternity in hell!
We need to recognize that we are sinners before God. We need to repent. We need to join with the Children of Israel and say, “We have sinned, We have spoken against God, pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” Pray for God’s forgiveness, and put ourselves totally into his hands!!
And that brings us then to our third and last similarity between then and now, — GOD PROVIDED A WAY OUT!! Our text said, “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” Please take special note here — GOD DID NOT REMOVE THE SNAKES FROM AMONG THE PEOPLE!! THE SNAKES STAYED!! BUT GOD GAVE A WAY OUT!!
I can just hear the people now as Moses told them this Good News. “Moses, you’ve got to be kidding! A bronze snake on a pole — how is that going to save our lives! Moses, it won’t work!! Go back to God, and get rid of the snakes — and forget about this snake on the pole thing!!”
But eventually, someone would look to the serpent on the pole and live — and then another — and then another. Just looking up to that serpent on the pole, relieved the body of the poison, and brought life back into the body. People who looked to the serpent, lived.
Remember of Gospel lesson for today, “Just as Moses lifted up the Serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.”
In order to save sinful people from their sins, Jesus Christ had to be lifted up — lifted to a death on a cross. There was no other way — there was no other Savior from sins — there was no other way that mankind could be restored to the right relationship with God. A man had to die, a perfect man had to die an innocent death — God’s own Son, Jesus Christ, had to die on a cross to save us from sin, death, and the Devil. And all we have to do is to look to him in faith. As the children of Israel looked to the serpent in the wilderness and lived — so also we look to Jesus Christ on the cross — and live.
The serpent and the Savior — both brought God’s healing power to sinful mankind. This Lenten season — look to your Savior — who was lifted up on the cross for you. Through him, you have life — now and forever. To God be the glory! Amen.
May the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.
