Scripture: Numbers 21:4-9, Ephesians 2:1-10, John 3:14-21
Today is the 4th Sunday in Lent, a day in
which we will consider why Jesus came into this world, and what we would be
subjected to without Him. The point of
Jesus’ coming, quite honesty, was to make a direct and specific distinction
between the false hope that comes from the culture around us, and the eternal
promise of life that all will find in the Christ. I can only imagine that the reason so many in
this world find no solace in the way of Jesus, is because of their denial of
God’s character and eternal nature.
I realize, all too well, that God’s way is so
radically different from the ways of Earth that it may be difficult for many to
comprehend His many gifts in any meaningful way. But from a personal perspective, when we
accept the invitation that the Lord Jesus extends to all who will come to Him
in faith, the aspects between the world and God become much more apparent, with
the Lord’s way truly being preferential.
The biggest problem that many experience, is that the
culture is unable to differentiate between the outcomes that followers of each
way will receive. Jesus promises eternal
life with Him, while the world sees no future beyond an abrupt and dark ending,
and when we deny that Jesus has any power to offer something different from the
world, our ability to choose evaporates!
Our choice is between life and death, and whether we
see them both as real possibilities or not, is a moot point – they are what
they are, and we will never be able to change that!
Read Numbers 21:4-9
This event is but one in the
history of Israel’s complaining about the way that the Lord God Jehovah has
been caring for them. And when their
life took a turn for the worse in this time, no one but Moses was willing to
come before the Lord to seek forgiveness and intervention for the people. Why didn’t the people feel that they could
offer a prayer for help to their God? It
appears from scripture that they knew very well that they were in the wrong,
and they felt that to approach their Lord as unclean sinners would bring them
certain destruction!
What they couldn’t seem to grasp, though, was that the real issue at hand was their lack of faith, and not the specific
complaining! They were in trouble,
regardless. But why poisonous
snakes? Couldn’t God bring the people to
see Him in the Light of reality without causing them so much pain? Apparently not! Humanity’s history always proves that we
never seem to move off dead center until something major happens in our
life. And in Israel’s case, God has
always known what it would take to get their attention, even though He has
always known that their change of heart would never last very long.
But was the Lord’s true
purpose for these serpents only about punishment and death? Or was it to open Israel’s eyes to the sin
that had crept into their lives, and that confession, forgiveness and healing
would be the only way for them to come back to their Jehovah God?
Or was there even more than
this in God’s plan for the nation?
Read Ephesians 2:1-10
In
the opening 2 verses of this passage, Paul makes the point that sin and failure
to obey the Lord’s call, are the purpose and weakness behind death. Why did those poisonous snakes have to come
against Israel? Because the people had
refused to see that their God was always at work for the good of their
entire nation. He had enabled their
freedom from Egyptian slavery. He had
come against all of the obstacles that had threatened their successful journey
to that new and promised land. And He
not only had been their guide with His Cloud and Fire (Exodus 13:20-22),
but had provided nourishment and protection throughout their time away.
Even
when they doubted and complained, God never turned a blind eye or deaf ear to
their needs. They might not have
appreciated the manna and quail that were given to them every day (Exodus16:9-16), but those gifts never ceased to sustain them - every single day.
Do we ever, in our daily prayers and
petitions to the Lord, try to convince Him, through our words, of the exact and
best way that He should work to care for our lives? It all comes down to trusting that our
Almighty God will care for all of our needs, but always as He sees best,
and seldom in the way that we desire!
Death
is the result of disobedience and sin, while life comes to us only through
God’s mercy and grace. And verse 5
affirms that when faith in Jesus is combined with the mercy that God has always
wanted to show to us, life will overwhelm and defeat the world’s condemnation
and death. Once again, Ephesians2:8-10, “8 For it is by grace you have been
saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of
God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For
we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good
works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Paul
tells us that this salvation has nothing to do with all that we think we
have done to please God, but rather through trusting in all that Christ Jesus
has done for us, and revealed to us, through faith. And when Paul speaks of our “good works”, he
is actually saying that those are the times that through our faithful walk, God
has been able to accomplish great things through our faith.
We
are saved from death whenever we fix our eyes on the Christ who has made all
things possible for the likes of you and me.
Read John 3:14-21
When
Moses was obedient, creating that bronze serpent out in the wilderness, and placing
it up high on that pole so that all who were dying could look upon it and live,
it had nothing to do with what either Moses or the people did, except that they
obediently followed as they had been told – it was all about God and the grace
that He extends to all who believe. And we
have to ask – is our faith in Jesus any different in what it will do for each
of us?
Without
the Lord Jesus in our lives, His grace and mercy will always be blocked by our
indifference and failure to love God as He has loved even the worst of us. Without Christ, our condemnation in sin, and
the death that it imposes, will most assuredly be ours. But as John writes,
that will never be God’s desire for us, for He gave us Jesus as Savior; He gave
us Godly sacrifice at Calvary, that we might be freed from our sin and its
consequences.
The cost of our failures is on us by our own conviction;
but in return, God gives us freedom and eternal life if we simply look up to
the power and love that Jesus has demonstrated for us; He gives us divine Light
to overcome the darkness that our own human weakness has created; He has taught
us His truth; He has shown His grace; and all that He asks in return is that we
share these gifts with those who have yet to know them.
“16 For God so loved the world that he
gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall
not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the
world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not
condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because
they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
Isn’t
a divine gift of life, far better than the world’s condemnation and death? To borrow the words that Joshua (24:15)
shared with the nation of Israel, " ---
if serving the Lord seems
undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve,
whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the
Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my
household, we will serve the Lord.”
Each of us must also choose wisely - today.
