The Red Thread: Snakes, Jesus, & Second Chances
What do snakes, Jesus, and second chances have in common?
The Wedding Day
Imagine this scene.
It’s a wedding day. And you’ve been invited to the wedding.
You came dressed up for this beautiful wedding at this gorgeous wedding venue. The sky is blue and sun is shining. It’s the perfect day for a wedding. You’ve come to this wedding because the couple getting married are truly some of your best friends. You love them both so much.
You watch as they make their vows. They say, “I Do.” They light the unity candle. The bride has this gleam in her eye and the groom has a goofy grin. You can see the love. They kiss.
The preacher pronounces them husband and wife. They walk down the isle together and you are beaming with joy because you’re so happy for your friends.
They were married on a Saturday. You witnessed their vows. You heard the groom pledge his love to his bride and you heard the bride pledge her love to the groom. You saw him put a ring on her finger you saw her put a ring on his.
Then This Happens…
Two weeks later your friend, the groom… let’s call him Neil, on a Friday night at a nice restaurant having dinner with… another woman!
You come over to Neil’s table and you ask him what he’s doing. Your friend Neil tells you he’s here on a date! You’re like… NEIL… you’re married! And then he says, what are you talking about?
I share that story to illustrate this truth:
You can’t be FORGETFUL and remain FAITHFUL.
Forgetfulness ALWAYS LEADS TO unfaithfulness.
Some of you promised yourself you would be different in one way or another this year but… When you FORGET you become UNFAITHFUL to that promise.
Some of you promised yourself that you would exercise every week in 2023 but… When you FORGET to go to the GYM then you become UNFAITHFUL to that promise.
Some of you promised yourself you would spend more time with God in 2023 but… When you FORGET to pray then you become UNFAITHFUL to that promise.
Forgetfulness always leads to unfaithfulness to the promise.
Forgetfulness = Unfaithfulness
I tell you all that because this is what is happening with Israel when we get to Numbers 21. And all that rage you felt toward your friend Neil for being forgetful AND unfaithful to his bride is precisely how God felt toward Israel when his bride forgot who they were and became unfaithful to Him.
When Israel is delivered (miraculously, I might add) from Egyptian bondage through the waters of the Red Sea they meet God at Mount Sinai. Here at Mount Sinai they had become the chosen people of God. They become His bride.
They are a part of a kind of wedding ceremony where the presence of God comes down on top of the mountain. We’ll get to the story in Numbers 21 in a moment, before we do let’s set the scene for that story with what happens at Mount Sinai. Here’s what happened…
Israel’s Wedding Day
Exodus 19.1-8
1 Exactly two months after the Israelites left Egypt, they arrived in the wilderness of Sinai. 2 After breaking camp at Rephidim, they came to the wilderness of Sinai and set up camp there at the base of Mount Sinai.
3 Then Moses climbed the mountain to appear before God. The Lord called to him from the mountain and said, “Give these instructions to the family of Jacob; announce it to the descendants of Israel: 4 ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians. You know how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth; for all the earth belongs to me. 6 And you will be my kingdom of priests, my holy nation.’ This is the message you must give to the people of Israel.”
7 So Moses returned from the mountain and called together the elders of the people and told them everything the Lord had commanded him. 8 And all the people responded together, “We will do everything the Lord has commanded.” So Moses brought the people’s answer back to the Lord.
Israel says, “I DO!”
This is a kind of marriage ceremony where God chooses Israel to be His bride and the people of Israel say in response, “YES!”
Then This Happens…
Now… they are on a journey with God, they are walking with God, toward the promised land. And every step of the way God provides for them.
He gives them victory after victory over their enemies. He gives the bread from heaven, manna, to eat. It’s a miraculous gift of daily bread from God for the people of God! And he gives them water whenever they are thirsty from a rock! Again, a miraculous daily provision for them to drink whenever they need it!
But now turn to Numbers 21 and listen to how the people respond. They are on a journey with God from Mount Sinai to the promised land. God has promised to be faithful to them and remember… the people promised to be faithful to God!
Numbers 21.4-9
4 Then the people of Israel set out from Mount Hor, taking the road to the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom.
You might read this and wonder… Why are they going around Edom? Why not just go through it? And that, my friends, is an excellent question.
Back up one chapter, to Numbers 20, and you’ll find the answer. And you need to know this to understand this story.
Numbers 20.14-21
14 While Moses was at Kadesh, he sent ambassadors to the king of Edom with this message:
“This is what your relatives, the people of Israel, say: You know all the hardships we have been through. 15 Our ancestors went down to Egypt, and we lived there a long time, and we and our ancestors were brutally mistreated by the Egyptians. 16 But when we cried out to the Lord, he heard us and sent an angel who brought us out of Egypt. Now we are camped at Kadesh, a town on the border of your land. 17 Please let us travel through your land. We will be careful not to go through your fields and vineyards. We won’t even drink water from your wells. We will stay on the king’s road and never leave it until we have passed through your territory.”
20 But the king of Edom replied, “Stay out! You may not pass through our land.” With that he mobilized his army and marched out against them with an imposing force. 21 Because Edom refused to allow Israel to pass through their country, Israel was forced to turn around.
Why are they going around Edom? Because they are AFRAID!
Why were they afraid?
The Promise
God has already made them THIS PROMISE:
Numbers 10.9-10b
9 “When you arrive in your own land and go to war against your enemies who attack you, sound the alarm with the trumpets. Then the LORD your God will remember you and rescue you from your enemies. 10 …The trumpets will remind your God of his covenant with you. I am the LORD your God.”
God had chosen them to be his people. He has already defeated the Egyptians, the most powerful empire on the planet. They’ve already defeated the Amalekites. They are about to defeat the Canaanites, the Amorites, and others!
WHY ARE THEY AFRAID?!?!?
Forgetfulness ALWAYS LEADS TO unfaithfulness.
Because… they had forgotten THE PROMISE.
They had forgotten that the God of the Universe was on their side.
They had forgotten what God had done before.
They had forgotten that God had made a covenant with His people and that they had made a covenant with HIM!
They had forgotten that they were the chosen people of God, his bride.
Forgetfulness always lead to unfaithfulness and FEAR.
But it also leads to this…
Because they are afraid of the king of Edom (even though they have the King of the Universe on their side), they have to make a long journey AROUND Edom.
Fear, Complaining, & Discontent
So let’s get back to the story in Numbers 21.4…
Numbers 21.4-5
But the people grew impatient with the long journey, 5 and they began to speak against God and Moses. “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die here in the wilderness?” they complained. “There is nothing to eat here and nothing to drink. And we hate this horrible manna!”
Forgetfulness always lead to unfaithfulness and FEAR.
But it also leads to COMPLAINING and DISCONTENT.
The reality is that God was sending bread daily from heaven. Miraculous Manna! The reality is that over and over again God was providing them the best drinking water you could imagine from a rock in the middle of a wilderness.
But they were growing IMPATIENT with God. They were IMPATIENT because of a long journey that they had decided to go on because they were AFRAID of something they didn’t need to be afraid of.
Impatient. Afraid. Complaining. Discontent. Unfaithful.
Israel? Or Us?
This is how we could describe Israel. But before we begin to judge Israel too harshly, I think this could describe us, too. I know it could describe me.
How many times have you grown impatient with God?
How many times have you felt afraid? Worried?
How many times have you complained about what you did or didn’t have?
How many times have you not been content with what you have received from God?
How many times has your forgetfulness of the goodness of God led to your unfaithfulness to God?
How Many Times?
God has delivered Israel in a miraculous way, given them victory over their enemies, made a covenant with them, His presence is visibly leading them toward the Promised Land, He has given them water from a rock, manna from heaven, and yet they say…
“There is nothing to eat here and nothing to drink. And we hate this horrible manna!”
They denigrate the divine gift of God.
They deny his provision, his daily bread, his mercy that is literally new every morning.
FEAR, DISCONTENT, COMPLAINING – this is POISON to the people of God. Poison to a life of FAITH, GRATITUDE, and WALKING with God.
They have forgotten the grace of God and it leads to their unfaithfulness and ultimately, in this moment, to God’s judgement.
God’s Judgement
6 So the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people, and many were bitten and died. 7 Then the people came to Moses and cried out, “We have sinned by speaking against the LORD and against you. Pray that the Lord will take away the snakes.”
How many of you like snakes? I can’t stand snakes. The only kind of snakes I like are dead snakes.
You may be asking, Why did God send poisonous snakes? But the better question may be, why didn’t he send them sooner!?
Over and over again, Israel complains, Israel forgets, Israel is unfaithful, Israel is afraid, Israel is impatient, Israel is ungrateful and God seems to say enough is enough.
You can’t walk in the favor of God when you constantly complain and grumble against God.
God’s ultimate goal is to transform this people he has rescued from Egypt into a holy nation. In order to do that, there will be discipline along the way so that they can be refined and transformed into a kingdom of priests.
For that to happen, they have to learn to put their faith in Him and Him alone, to remember His promises, and to trust His provision.
God’s Grace
Immediately, the people realize the gravity of their sin so they come to Moses and beg him to intercede before God for them.
So Moses prayed for the people.
8 Then the LORD told him, “Make a replica of a poisonous snake and attach it to a pole. All who are bitten will live if they simply look at it!” 9 So Moses made a snake out of bronze and attached it to a pole. Then anyone who was bitten by a snake could look at the bronze snake and be healed!
This, this is an odd story.
Why does God tell Moses to make a bronze snake, put it on a pole, and then tell the people to look at it so they can live?
What if, in order to receive the salvation of God they must first look at, identify, the judgement of God?
If you’ve ever struggled with anything that required you to face some kind of judgement then you know, until you identify it, own it, and confess it you cannot be healed from it.
What if, in order to receive healing they must first look at the source of their poison?
What if, the real poison wasn’t the venom of the serpents but their own forgetfulness, faithlessness, impatience and ingratitude?
What if the only antidote was found in remembering YWHW, the promise of YHWH, and the provision of YHWH.
This is a strange story but what God does here in a very powerful way was demonstrate to the people of God that salvation is always on the other side of judgement.
That FEAR, DISCONTENT, and COMPLAINT is POISON to the people of God. It’s Poison to a life of FAITH, GRATITUDE, and WALKING with God.
Forgetfulness ALWAYS LEADS TO unfaithfulness.
The Question
This is a strange story but it requires that you ask the question…
Have you forgotten the promise of God and become unfaithful to God?
Are you living a life of impatience, complaint, and discontent?
In what ways have you allowed fear to dominate your life instead of remembering and relying on the faithfulness of God to provide and guide?
What’s interesting is that Jesus himself brings up this story one night when he’s talking to a Pharisee named Nicodemus.
Before John 3.16, that famous verse that we all know by heart…
“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.”
…we have John 3.14-15. Jesus says…
14 And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.
A lot of us wear a cross around our neck. Maybe we have one displayed in our office or in our home. But most of our Christian Crosses are missing something.
When Israel lifted up the pole in the desert, it wasn’t an empty pole. It had a serpent on it. It had a reminder of their judgement. And when they lifted their eyes they were healed when they looked up at the very thing that was killing them.
Maybe we a new cross to look at, one with the crucified Jesus on it, so we can behold the effects of the poison of our sin. So we can see the judgement of God. So that we can be healed.
Look Up
When Israel looked up at the serpent on the pole, they were instantly healed.
What would you feel if you were instantaneously healed from a deadly snake bite? GRATITUDE!
Would you feel loved or judged? LOVED!
Would you feel forgiven or forgotten? FORGIVEN!
Would you complain or worship? WORSHIP!
In this moment, God provided at antidote to their fear, their impatience, their complaint, and their discontent.
God never issues judgement without mercy.
God never disciplines without love.
When we lift our eyes to Jesus on the cross, we too find hope and healing. We too respond with gratitude, with love, with worship. We know we are forgiven and we are healed.
Once again we are reminded, our sin is a poison that needs to be healed. And here’s the good news we learn when we look at the crucified Jesus on the cross…
Jesus is a HEALER.
The Apostle Paul said it this way…
“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” – 2 Corinthians 5.21
Maybe this week, as you start each day, take time to look at Jesus on the cross.
We fix our eyes on so many things. And in so many ways we become like what we behold. What if you started a daily disciple, the spiritual practice, of spending just a few minutes each day fixing your eyes on Jesus on the cross?
What do snakes, Jesus, and second chances have in common?
The snakes remind us like they remind Israel that there salvation on the other side of judgement.
Jesus is the one we look up to lifted up on a cross so that we van be healed.
And the Good News of the Gospel is that you get as many second chances as you need. Just fix your eyes on Jesus.
That’s true for you individually. And that’s true for us as a church.
We are the bride of Christ. And no matter how many times we’ve forgotten the vows we made, we can remember our baptism and return to Jesus. His arms are always open wide!
Today, we can walk in the favor of God when we remember His promises, remember our baptism, remember His faithfulness, and remember His provision.
Spiritually speaking, forgetfulness can be a fatal flaw.
But remembering the goodness of God leads to walking daily in the grace of God.
May we walk in His grace today remembering His faithfulness to us.
Breath Prayer
So here’s the Breath Prayer I want to encourage you to pray this week:
Lord Jesus Christ, fix my eyes on You.
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