Deuteronomy 6:4-9
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
What’s the job of a good parent? It’s plainly here in Deuteronomy. A good parent is not responsible to make his son into a good baseball player or his daughter into a Disney princess. A good parent is not responsible for making her daughter into a doctor or her son into a scientist. A good parent can do those things, but there is something that clearly overrides them in significance. A good parent must teach his or her children the ways, the words, the law of the Lord.
In the famous passage above, look what parents are to do. We are to speak the word of God to our children, talking about it all the time. We are to talk about God’s word at breakfast, while traveling, at bedtime, and anytime in between. We are to have God’s word present as we enter our home. We are to have God’s word on our heads, our minds, and on our hands, our actions. Our lives are to be totally saturated with making sure that our children know who God is, what pleases him, and how they are to get under his grace.
Oh, there are a thousand life skills I want my kids to have. I want them to appreciate music, sports, art, literature, and fine food. I want them to think well, grasp logic, understand philosophy, and love knowledge. I want them to have good manners, to be kind, to care for the needy, and to be wonderfully outgoing. I want them to be the kinds of people who others want to be around. But, above all this, I want my children to know God by knowing his word and his ways. If I fail to introduce them to God by failing to help them to know his word, I fail to parent them as I ought.
Good Fear (Deuteronomy 5:23-29)
Deuteronomy 5:23-29
23 And as soon as you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes, and your elders. 24 And you said, ‘Behold, the Lord our God has shown us his glory and greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire. This day we have seen God speak with man, and man still live. 25 Now therefore why should we die? For this great fire will consume us. If we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, we shall die. 26 For who is there of all flesh, that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of fire as we have, and has still lived? 27 Go near and hear all that the Lord our God will say and speak to us all that the Lord our God will speak to you, and we will hear and do it.’
28 “And the Lord heard your words, when you spoke to me. And the Lord said to me, ‘I have heard the words of this people, which they have spoken to you. They are right in all that they have spoken. 29 Oh that they had such a mind as this always, to fear me and to keep all my commandments, that it might go well with them and with their descendants forever!
Immediately after God first spoke to Moses and the nation of Israel at Mount Sinai, the people of God called Moses and begged him not to let God speak aloud to them again. They saw the fire on the mountain and understood the deadly holiness of God. It scared them so much that they pleaded with Moses to be their go-between so that they would not have to hear that terrifying voice again. This was not to say that they did not think God was good or loving, but simply to say that they understood, as Isaiah in Isaiah 6, that God is holy and they were a people who were unclean and in desperate danger of being destroyed, undone, by God.
What caught my attention in this reading was not that the people were so afraid of God, but God’s reaction to their fear. God told Moses that what the people had said was right, very right. They were right to tremble at his voice. They were right to fear him. They were right to fall on their faces at his revelation of himself. And God said that it would be good, so very good, if the nation would always keep that fear of God and respect for his word at the forefront.
Of course we know that God’s people did not keep the fear of God that they demonstrated at the mountain. Even within a few days, the people allowed the terror of the Holy One to fade in their hearts. They turned away from God’s commands toward idolatry and licentiousness. The nation never again trembled at God’s presence in the way that they did on this holy day before the mountain.
It’s easy to judge Israel, but then, what about our own hearts? IF you are a Christian, there is a time when you trembled at the presence of God too. There is a time in your life when you recognized that God is holy and you are not. There was a time when you realized that God, if God gave you justice, would immediately cast you into hell and pour out his wrath on you for all eternity. There was a time that you realized that your hope was only Jesus, the perfect Son of God, and Jesus’ perfect work to propitiate the wrath of God that was rightly aimed at you. I don’t know if you wept. I don’t know if you had an overly emotional experience. But, if you are a believer, you realized that God should judge you and that Jesus, merciful and wonderful Jesus, interceded to rescue you and make you God’s child.
Has that terror and awe and love faded? Are you like Israel, trembling one moment and then fading into an ordinary existence the next? Have you become so accustomed to Christian language and Christian music and Christian activities that you no longer tremble at the holiness of God and the glorious grace of Jesus? IF this is true, Christians, you need to look into the gospel and find again that holy reverence for your Lord. You need to again find that trembling at the awesome majesty of God. Put on a liberal dose of that holy fear, and wear it all throughout the day. Let the fear of God lead you to obey his word, follow his commands, and love him with all your heart.
God’s Good Law (Deuteronomy 4:5-8)
Deuteronomy 4:5-8
5 See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 6 Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ 7 For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? 8 And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?
As Israel prepared to enter into the Promised Land, Moses reminded this younger generation of the significance of the law of God. Notice, in Moses’ words, one purpose of the law that we modern folks tend to ignore. Moses told the people that one reason that he was giving them the law was so that other nations would be able to see the wisdom and justice of God illustrated by the nation that bears his name.
When most Christians think of the Old Testament, they often turn up their noses or look for code words for Jesus. IN fact, it is true that the Old Testament points us toward and prepares us for Christ. But the law is not useless apart from that. When God gave his people the law, he taught them of his justice, his holiness, his power, and his perfection. God was not cruel but incredibly wise when he commanded the Hebrews how to punish crimes, how to order their camp, how to handle their debtors and creditors, how to raise their crops, and how to make their sacrifices. Had the Israelites followed the law of God, there is no doubt that the surrounding nations would have seen the blessing and glory if God in this nation that had a system of law that was far different and far better than anything around it.
Even today, we Christians have the law of God, expanded and applied, in the complete word of God, the Scripture. Some standards, such as the sacrificial system have been perfectly fulfilled by Jesus. Some standards have been lifted by direct command of God, such as the laws about clean and unclean foods (though I still think catfish, fish without scales, might need to be off the list). But the word of God still tells us about how God would have us do justice, how God would have us order our families, how God would set up roles in our households, how God would have us teach our children, how God would have us live for his glory. Why then are we so apt as Christians, little followers of Jesus, to ignore God’s standards for the standards of broader society? Why are we so apt to accept that which God forbids? Why are we so tempted to pretend that the standards of God, Old and New Testament, are guidelines but not mandatory for his followers?
Please do not hear me seeking to call us to a legalism that would destroy us. No person will ever be made right with God by obeying laws, because it is God’s perfect law that makes us conscious of our sinfulness (Romans 3:20). However, the law of God, his set of orders and rules for life, is very good. God did not command anything bad. God did not command anything that we have outgrown. Maybe some of God’s commands will look different in our culture than in older cultures, but there is no doubt that all of God’s commands are still applicable in one form or another.
Christians, God said that the nation who obeys his laws will eventually show itself to be wise and blessed by God. Would this not be true of the household that follows the ways of God? Would this not be true of the church family that obeys and treasures the word of God? IF we do that which God has commanded, will we not demonstrate to the world around us that God is good, God is mighty, and God’s words are true? Christians, let us love and obey the word of God.
The Word, No More, No Less (Deuteronomy 4:2)
Deuteronomy 4:2 (ESV)
You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you.
When you think of a good sermon or Bible study, what do you think of? When you think of a solidly spiritual person, what comes to mind? In both instances, is your thought limited to the Scripture and those clearly written and revealed commands of God? Or, in your thoughts, to you slip to a sermon or event that takes people beyond the Scriptures and into the mystical?
It is significant that, in Moses’ reiteration of the law to the people of Israel before their crossing into the Promised Land that he so quickly reminds the people, at God’s behest, not to add to or subtract from his law. Why should the people not add to the law? Anything they add to God’s word is more than God said. Anything the people take away from the word of God is less than what God said. Thus, for the people to live in accord with their Lord, they must live in accord with the written word of God, no more and no less.
If this was true in days when the canon of Scripture, the authoritative and complete Bible, had not yet been put together, how much more true must it be of us today? If God told his people early on that they can only please him if they follow his commands, how much should we, who have the completed canon, recognize that God wants us to live in accord with and treasure the Scripture? We have the very words of God.
So, what makes a good sermon? It should be that a good sermon exposes you to and helps you to understand the clearly written commands of God. IF the sermon goes further, teaching you things that do not directly relate to the Scripture, you should be suspicious. If the sermon teaches you the same things that you could have learned in a secular psychology, management, or financial class, you should be concerned. Yes, the secular world sometimes stumbles upon truths that God has already revealed in his word; but we should be very careful to demand from our pulpits the clearly opened, clearly taught, and clearly applied word of God—no more and no less.
What about the question of who is a spiritual person? Let the same standard apply. If a person you know constantly claims to hear things from God that are not written in the word of God, watch out. If a person you know ignores the written word of God, watch out. Those who please the Lord are those who have such a high view of his word that they do not add to it or subtract from it. Those who would please God will study, meditate upon, apply, and obey his word.
Christians, we have been given a treasure in the word of God. Jesus told us that the one who loves him will obey his commands (John 14:15), and his commands have been written for us in his word. Jesus will not command us to do anything that is not already in his word. God has given us all that we need for a godly life (2 Peter 1:3), and we must live that Godly life in constant contact with the treasure that is the written word of God.
Wisdom Cries Aloud, "Learn!" (Proverbs 1:20-22)
Proverbs 1:20-22 (ESV)
20 Wisdom cries aloud in the street,
in the markets she raises her voice;
21 at the head of the noisy streets she cries out;
at the entrance of the city gates she speaks:
22 “How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple?
How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing
and fools hate knowledge?
How Long will the simple love being simple and fools hate knowledge? This question is posed in Proverbs by the personified wisdom of God, and it’s not asked for information. The point of the question is to call upon the simple and the foolish to stop being simple and to stop despising knowledge.
You might think to yourself, “Nobody remains intentionally uneducated.” If you think that, however, you’re simply not correct. Just as there are men and women who worship education, thinking the number of books they have read makes them super special, there are also men and women who refuse to ever read books, listen to teachers, take classes, or do anything that genuinely looks like learning. There are people who are simple-minded, and who actually wear their lack of education (not formal education, just education mind you) as a badge of honor. There are people who are proud of the fact that they don’t worry themselves with concepts that they consider to be over their heads.
Let me share with you the words of Mortimer J. Adler from an essay entitled “Invitation to the Pain of Learning” which was published in The Journal of Educational Sociology, February 1941
“
Not only must we honestly announce that pain and work are the irremovable and irreducible accompaniments of genuine learning, not only must we leave entertainment to the entertainers and make education a task and not a game, but we must have no fears about what is “over the public’s head.” Whoever passes by what is over his head condemns his head to its present low altitude; for nothing can elevate a mind except what is over its head; and that elevation is not accomplished by capillary attraction, but only by the hard work of climbing up the ropes, with sore hands and aching muscles. The school system which caters to the median child, or worse, to the lower half of the class; the lecturer before adults—and they are legion—who talks down to his audience; the radio or television program which tries to hit the lowest common denominator of popular receptivity-all these defeat the prime purpose of education by taking people as they are and leaving them just there.
”
Adler is saying this: If you never have to strain to learn, you never learn. If you never have to grasp what is over your head, you never grow. If all you will reach for is that which is easy to grasp, you will never have that which has ever been out of your reach. Learning is hard work, and we should eagerly do the hard work for the reward.
Wisdom might say the same thing. Don’t love being simple. Don’t reject knowledge. Don’t scoff at learning. Don’t turn your nose up at what is too formal, too hard, too complicated. Don’t shut down if teaching seems to be over your head. Don’t give up. Cry out for wisdom, and God will grant it to you.
Again, just because a topic seems scholarly and complicated does not make it valuable. There are many folks who think they are dealing with high-level issues who are really wasting oodles of time and energy. On the other side of the coin, just because something seems complicated or high-level does not make it not worth your time. Part of learning and growing in Christ is a simple faith. Part of learning and growing in Christ is a complex understanding of Scripture and doctrine.
Knowledge, apart from the fear of the Lord, will puff a man up and make him arrogant. Ignorance or mental laziness, however, displays that a person does not take the truth of God seriously enough to put forth disciplined effort to gain more knowledge of the Lord, his ways, and his teachings. Let us fear our God rightly. Let us answer the cry of wisdom. Let us not be happy being simple or foolish. Let us pursue wisdom and knowledge for the glory of our God and for the joy of our lives.
Pouring Out Your Life for the Glory of Christ (Matthew 26:6-13)
Matthew 26:6-13
6 Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, 7 a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at table. 8 And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? 9 For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.” 10 But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. 11 For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. 12 In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial. 13 Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.”
Two incidents of my high school and college days stand out in my mind as I read this passage from Matthew. One instance was with a family member of mine who was very excited about my becoming active in my church youth group. She was excited about my faith, but cautioned me, “I don’t want you to become a fanatic.” This was discouraging, as one might imagine, coming from one of the people I thought of as a believer in my family.
The other instance involved a comment that a minister’s wife once made to me. As I talked with her about some of the exciting things that we were doing in our collegiate ministry, she said to me with that tone of voice that denotes a pat on the head, “You’re young; you still think that you can change the world.” Splash. The cold water came pouring down, again from a source that I expected to be excited about the work of God.
But I’m not the only one to have ever experienced that feeling. In fact, having well-meaning people try to calm you down about your faith and about your sacrifice has been around ever since the days of Jesus. In the passage above, we see a woman who gave more than anyone could have ever imagined to simply worship Jesus. The men around her rebuked her, coming up with more practical uses for her funds than the “wasteful” way that she just poured out her life savings over Jesus.
Look at how Jesus responded to the woman’s gift. Jesus rebuked the complaining disciples and praised the woman. This woman, who had made what many would call an unwise, naïve, fanatical decision had actually honored Jesus more than the men around him who had been following him around for 3 years. This woman, rebuked by the disciples, will, in the words of Jesus, be remembered for as long as Jesus’ story is told.
Here is where I want to be careful. Many people are daily approached by con artists and charlatans who want them to give their time and money to “gospel” causes which contain no gospel and no glory for Christ. We must be wise and careful. We must be sure that we are following Jesus in line with his commands in the word of God.
Once we know of a way to glorify Jesus with our lives, it honors Jesus for us to go all out. Be a fanatic. Believe that God can change the world. Join him in his work. Pour out your life, every last drop, for the sake of Jesus’ glory. Others around you might call you crazy. So what. They called Jesus crazy too. The fact is, Jesus is worthy of your entire life. He is worthy of your entire wealth. He is worthy of everything you have. If you give your all to glorify Jesus, you will never regret that gift. But I assure you, if you keep what you have for yourself instead of giving it for the glory of Christ, you will regret the holding on. Pour out your life for the glory of Christ.
Center Your Family on the Glory of God (Nehemiah 13:23-29)
Nehemiah 13:23-29 (ESV)
23 In those days also I saw the Jews who had married women of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. 24 And half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and they could not speak the language of Judah, but only the language of each people. 25 And I confronted them and cursed them and beat some of them and pulled out their hair. And I made them take oath in the name of God, saying, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves. 26 Did not Solomon king of Israel sin on account of such women? Among the many nations there was no king like him, and he was beloved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless, foreign women made even him to sin. 27 Shall we then listen to you and do all this great evil and act treacherously against our God by marrying foreign women?”
28 And one of the sons of Jehoiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was the son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite. Therefore I chased him from me. 29 Remember them, O my God, because they have desecrated the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites.
God commanded the people not to intermarry with the pagans in the land so as not to have families that are led away from him into idolatry. In chapter 10, the people promised that they would not intermarry with the people of the land. Well, are you surprised to hear that, by chapter 13, they were once again intermarrying with the people of the land? One of the priests’ relatives was even married to a daughter of Sanballat, the ultimate bad guy in this book.
So, what does Nehemiah do? He says, “And I confronted them and cursed them and beat some of them and pulled out their hair. And I made them take oath in the name of God, saying, ‘You shall not give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves’” (Neh 13:25). How’s that for church discipline? He curses them. He beats them. He pulls out their hair.
Why is Nehemiah so harsh? King Solomon broke the nation of Israel in half because of his love of foreign women who led him into pagan religion. God commanded parents to teach their children his ways. These folks were letting false religion into their homes, and they were teaching false religion to their children. They were willingly sending their children to hell, and Nehemiah did what he had to do to show the people how serious this issue was.
What about you? Where in your household is Christianity being subverted? Parents, what are you doing that might lead your kids away from Christ? What are you doing that might show your kids that Christ is not all that important? What do you let them watch or hear that paints them a picture of a world where God is not real and does not matter? Where are you showing them that God’s laws are bendable for you?
It is crucial, absolutely crucial, that our homes, our families, our marriages are centered on the glory of God. Nehemiah’s actions against those who missed this point show us how severely God hates it when our homes are not Christ-centered. Center your family on the glory of God.
Foreigners in the Temple (Nehemiah 13:4-9)
4 Now before this, Eliashib the priest, who was appointed over the chambers of the house of our God, and who was related to Tobiah, 5 prepared for Tobiah a large chamber where they had previously put the grain offering, the frankincense, the vessels, and the tithes of grain, wine, and oil, which were given by commandment to the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers, and the contributions for the priests. 6 While this was taking place, I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I went to the king. And after some time I asked leave of the king 7 and came to Jerusalem, and I then discovered the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, preparing for him a chamber in the courts of the house of God. 8 And I was very angry, and I threw all the household furniture of Tobiah out of the chamber. 9 Then I gave orders, and they cleansed the chambers, and I brought back there the vessels of the house of God, with the grain offering and the frankincense.
There was a period of time that had passed from Nehemiah 12 to 13. During that time, Nehemiah had to return to the king. When Nehemiah made his way back to Jerusalem, he saw how much the people of God had disobeyed God’s commands to guard his worship and to protect the purity of the people of God. The people had actually allowed Tobiah, an Ammonite, to move into a room in the temple of God.
This should cause you to gasp with horror. An enemy of God was this Tobiah. He was one of the two men, along with Sanballat, who most vehemently opposed Nehemiah in his work to rebuild the walls. Tobiah was not a child of God. He was not a convert to the faith. Yet the people thought so little of the holiness of God or the importance of his worship that they actually gave him an apartment in one of the temple’s storerooms.
When Nehemiah made it back to Jerusalem, he threw all of Tobiah’s stuff out of his little apartment and cleansed it. He fumigated the room, and then had it put back into proper temple service.
Is there a lesson here? Dear me yes. Even though we are not Jews; even though we have no ethnic distinctions of who is allowed into God’s kingdom; even though we are not serving God in a temple like in the Old Covenant; we can learn that the holiness of God and the purity of our worship is greatly important.
You might be someone who does not yet know God. Maybe you have never confessed your sin to God and asked Jesus to be your Savior. If so, you cannot truly worship God. You have only two things that you can do. You can either sin against God and ultimately receive his wrath for your sin, or you can come to him, look to Jesus, and ask him to save your soul. But do not deceive yourself, you cannot worship God or please God without first placing your faith and trust in Jesus Christ.
But Christians, you too need to protect your purity in worship. Your church building is not the temple of God. We, the people of God, are temples of the Holy Spirit. So, are you allowing things into your heart, into your life, into your soul that dishonor God? Are you entertained by things that Christ died to forgive? Are you wasting your time on things that do not edify you at all? Do you embrace what God hates? This will hinder your worship. Your life will be fruitless. Your faith will feel empty. Your worship will feel hollow if you continue to allow into your life things that God says to get out of your life.
Christians, let me urge you right now, ask God if there is anything in your life that is a foreigner in the temple. Ask God to show you if there are places you go, people you admire, shows you watch, or music you listen to that should not be in your life. Ask God if your thoughts, your actions, your words make him look big or look small to the world around you. Then, ask God to help you to fight with all you’ve got to clean those things out of your life so that you can worship the Lord in holiness.
God Loved Women in the OT? Yes. (Numbers 27:5-7 (ESV))
Numbers 27:5-7 (ESV)
5 Moses brought their case before the Lord. 6 And the Lord said to Moses, 7 “The daughters of Zelophehad are right. You shall give them possession of an inheritance among their father’s brothers and transfer the inheritance of their father to them.
Many times you will hear it said that the Bible subjects women to men as slaves or as personal property. I can even recall hearing that comment made by a Christian woman in a class. When I challenged her on this idea, arguing that the Bible actually freed women and valued women far more highly than did the surrounding culture, the lady responded to me with a statement that boiled down to, “Well, maybe in the New Testament it does, but the Old Testament still treated women as property.” As you might imagine, this conversation had a few more turns to take before it resolved.
In this passage in Numbers, however, we see a great example of how God showed women as far more valuable than did many of the cultures that surrounded the Israelites. Yes, in our culture, it seems foreign to think in this way, but it can help at times for us to think from the point of view of those in whose culture the statement was made. In that time and place, it was unheard of to allow women to own property. None of the Canaanite cultures around Israel would have considered such a thing. However, when Moses asked God what to do in the case of these five ladies who were the only children of their father, God said to give them their father’s inheritance and to keep the name of the family alive.
To some, this argument will prove nothing of the kindness of God or the value of women in Old Testament times, but to others, this will be a helpful passage to remember. If you are willing to think back to the time period, however, you will have to agree that God, in this passage, elevated the rights of women to a level that went far beyond the surrounding cultures. This is because God has never devalued women. God created both men and women in his image and for his glory (Gen 1:27), and he does not value one over the other.
The danger I am running now is that someone else might read this and attempt to do away with any of the biblical role distinctives between men and women. Nothing is further from my purpose. God created men and women both in his image. God also assigned men and women differing roles. Neither is more valuable, but neither should pretend that they are the same as the other. Humanity will be happiest when we realize that men and women are of equal worth, but with differing and complimentary roles to fulfill.
A Picture of Jesus in a Snake on a Pole (Numbers 21:4-9)
Numbers 21:4-9
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.
On Sunday morning, I used several Old Testament passages as pictures of the work done by Christ on the cross. We saw how the substitution of the Passover lamb is like Jesus who died to protect us from eternal death. We saw how the blood of Jesus is like the blood of the covenant in Exodus 24:1-11 which allowed the people to enter into relationship with God. We saw how Isaiah 53’s picture of the suffering servant who would become a sin offering is a perfect picture of Jesus, the Son of God, who was punished for our sins, making atonement for us.
Recently, as I walked through Numbers in my daily reading, I saw one more beautiful picture of Jesus in the Old Testament. Jesus himself, in John 3:14-15, draws this parallel out into plain sight.
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.
The story is simple. The people of God spoke out against God and rebelled against him. God then allowed the people to suffer death because of their sin by sending poisonous snakes into the camp (remember, the wages of sin is death according to Romans 6:23). Then the people pleaded with Moses to help them to be forgiven by God. God told Moses to make a bronze “fiery” serpent and put it on a pole. If a person who was bitten by a snake simply looked at the serpent on the pole, he would be healed of the snakebite.
This story reminds us of Jesus in two ways. In one very simple way, the serpent put up on a pole reminds us of how Jesus was hanged up for the world to look upon. Jesus described his crucifixion as being “lifted up.” So, there is a similarity.
The greater similarity, however, is the aspect of looking for salvation. The people who had been bitten by the snakes simply had to look at the bronze snake to be healed. They did not have to go and get some magic ointment. They did not have to perform some religious ritual. They did not have to say some particular prayer. The moment that a snake-bitten person had the faith to turn his eyes to the serpent on the pole, he was healed.
In the same way, Jesus saves us, not as a result of our religious work, but simply by his grace through faith. We are not saved by performing religious rituals. We are not saved by repeating a particular type of prayer after some conference speaker. We are not saved by walking an aisle. We are not saved by baptismal waters. We are saved, forgiven of our sins and brought into right relationship with God, when we trust God enough to look to Jesus for forgiveness.
Obviously, looking to Jesus for forgiveness will entail much change in our lives. A person who will look to Jesus has already had his or her dead heart made alive by God. A person who will look to Jesus will necessarily turn away from his or her sin and self reliance to look to Jesus; thus repentance is part of the process. A person who looks to Jesus will then participate in religious rituals such as baptism, communion, and worship services because that is what a follower of Jesus does. But none of those acts are at the heart of how we are saved. We are saved by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. This is wonderful news, for if there were any other, any greater, requirements, none of us would ever be saved. Praise the God who saves us when we look to Jesus in faith.
Pastor Travis Peterson 