In the Old Testament the children of Israel were commanded that if they had been bitten by a serpent, all they had to do was look upon the serpent on the pole and they would be healed. There are clear parallels between this episode and Jesus’ crucifixion. Jesus had to be lifted up onto a cross so that the poison of sin in our lives could be dealt with. We have to come and look upon Him through faith.
Today, traditionally, is the time when we consider the fact that Jesus Christ was crucified. I want to try and ‘demystify’ the reality of what it means for us to realise who Jesus was when He gave up His life on the cross. He Himself talked to gentleman in the New Testament times and referred to an episode which occurs in the scripture we will soon read. The situation was that God had been the provider for the children of Israel. Bread from heaven had come every morning without fail. There came a point when the children of Israel became disappointed with this same provision each day. In Numbers 21 the people began to speak against God.
Numbers 21:4-7
They all routed their communication with God through Moses. There was no communication straight to God like we can have now with our heavenly Father. These serpents whose bite was fatal, represented in parallel, the sin that is within in us; which is also fatal. Sin is that which we know to be wrong. If so be that sin is inside us and we haven’t had it dealt with it is fatal. Here Moses took note of the people:
Numbers 21:8-9
We’re not told how tall this pole was but it must have been pretty tall because anyone who had been bitten had to have sight of the fiery serpent on top of it. There was only one pole. I can imagine the situation, for example in a family where the children had been playing and one of them had been bitten. The panic of the mother or father to make sure that the child could see the serpent on the pole. Making sure that the child looked it; that was all that was needed. They organised themselves so that they knew where it was so that they could look upon it. The provision by God for these people was twenty four hour provision, for male or female, young or old. It was not complicated. Sometimes, if we were to transfer it to the sin in our lives, we can become so complicated as to what a person has to be and what has to happen before they can get saved. There might be some of us that have made things so complicated in your mind. But you’ve heard about the cross and Jesus Christ giving up His life on the cross for you. We’ll see in a minute that Jesus Himself paralleled what happened here with the children of Israel. If you wanted you could make a long list of parallels between this episode here in Numbers and the episode in the New Testament.
I want you to notice that if the serpent had bitten an individual, a remedy had been provided.
Romans 5:12
The poison from the serpent was real. In sin terms it is as if all of us from the beginning of our lives are in a situation where the poison is already inside us; it’s called sin. You can’t play around with this sin that is inside you. It grips what you say and what you do. You get annoyed with yourself because you know that what you think and do is wrong, but somehow you can’t get rid of it. Whatsoever a man sows he shall reap. If you continue to be involved in sin there is an automatic reaping from that sin. There’s no doubt that the poison killed. There’s no doubt that the wages of sin are death.
There was only one serpent of brass on the pole.
1 Timothy 2:5
That’s why Good Friday, when we thinking about Jesus hanging on the cross, is so significant. There is only one way for us to get our lives sorted in God, and that is through Jesus Christ. I don’t think that when something happened from the serpent’s bite they were wishing that there was an easier remedy. All they knew was that the moment they would look upon the serpent they would healed. There is one mediator between God and man: Christ Jesus.
Jesus refers to this in the following passage. At the beginning of this chapter Nicodemus came at night to talk to Jesus. Jesus talked to him about what it means to be a Christian. And then He gets to the point in the conversation when He says:
John 3:14
That is very clear. What are we saying then? Nicodemus was the ruler of the Jews, he knew what was recorded in the Torah. He would have known the story of the serpent on the pole in the Old Testament. Jesus what showing him that in exactly the same way as Moses lifted up the serpent, even so that Son of man must be lifted up.
John 3:15
There was a brass serpent on a pole which is a strange image. In the same way that as the serpent on the pole could deal with the serpents in the camp, Jesus made Himself of no reputation, was made in the likeness of men so that He could identify with you and with me. He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. The obedience of Jesus means that I can stand in front of you and tell you that this isn’t complicated. Here Nicodemus was going to see Jesus, in a short period of time, lifted up on the cross.
2 Corinthians 5:7
In the Old Testament the clear thing was the vision. Now we do not have to physically see Jesus standing here now, we have to walk in faith. I want to make it crystal clear that to become a Christian is not complicated. The fact that some of you sitting here tonight know that you need to sort this out is God already talking to you. Jesus isn’t standing behind the door waiting for you to come through so that he can beat you down. He has provided a remedy for everyone. The remedy isn’t a quick prescription.
John 3:16
If any of you have thought about what it meant for Jesus to hang on the cross, it was mind-numbingly torturing. But He did it for us so that we can look by faith.
Showing posts with label look. Show all posts
Showing posts with label look. Show all posts
Friday, 10 April 2009
Sunday, 11 May 2008
Look Unto Me
God is in control of everything. That has been particularly pressed upon me lately. God is interested in your life at this time. He is careful to organise things, so that He can prove His love for us.
Isaiah is often referred to as a fifth Gospel and I will be particularly concentrating on the following verse.
Isaiah 45:22
At that point in time, Jerusalem was in ruins, and various prophets had foretold that worship would resume at Jerusalem, and the temple would be rebuilt.
Isaiah 45:1 - 4
Cyrus, the king of Persia, would outwork the purposes that God wanted for His people, the children of Israel. God knows the affairs of man. History is about God building His church at this time, in His way, worldwide. There are situations in your life, perhaps, where you’ve thought that you just don’t know the way forward. Your God is in control of your situation. He’s heard you. He’s not caused you to be washed up on a beach somewhere, stranded.
Isaiah 45:5 - 8
God is in complete control. Some of you have been wondering in your heart about the way forward in your life, and God, by His Holy Spirit will quicken to you that now is the time to just realise what Christ did for you on Calvary, and what the resurrection from the dead is going to mean to you personally at this time. What does it mean for me to be a Christian?
Isaiah 45:9 - 12
He’s the creator God. He gave you life and formed you in the womb.
Isaiah 45:13 – 15
It doesn’t matter what the situation is with the people around you. God specialises in changing things where the impossible to your mind becomes possible in Him. He specialises in that. When He was hanging on the cross, and everyone had written Him off, it was the end... and yet it was the beginning. He endured the cross for your sin and my sin.
Isaiah 45:15-17
If that isn’t clear, I don’t know what is. Through Isaiah the prophet, God is saying, this is what I am. This is who I am.
Isaiah 45:18 - 21
I am your Saviour. Look to me.
What is it that you’ve tried to put into your life to plug that gap? God is saying to you, I am your Saviour. Look to me.
Isaiah 45:22
Look unto me. There’s not some weird formula or some weird experience that you must have. Look unto me, He says. That’s all. All He wants us to do is to look. You don’t have to prove yourself or be somebody, you don’t have to do this or that so I can bless you. Look unto me, God says. Forget everything else you’re trying to fill your life with. Look unto me, and be ye saved.
This was the verse that converted Spurgeon. He was so conscious of his sin and his need of a saviour, and he realised it was so simple. He thought, I can do that. I can look. You can do that. There’s nobody that is of a different caste. There’s nobody that isn’t of the elite.
Who is He? He’s God. Who is like Him? No one. What can you somehow have as a replacement for God? Nothing. Would you want a replacement? I don’t think so. Why would you want a replacement? All that’s needed is for you to realise that you can’t do it on your own.
I was looking through various phrases that Jesus said in the Gospel of John.
John 8:12
John 10:11
John 12:32
John 14:6
He knows what He’s doing, and He loves you. He knows your inside, and He wants your inside to propel your outside. He’s the only one who can get hold of the inside of you and change everything. No one else can do that.
Isaiah 45:23 - 25
Philippians 2:5 – 11
Romans 14:11 – 12
It all ends there. There is a direct quote of Isaiah 45 in Romans 14. We will all give account of ourselves to God. There are some here today, who know in their hearts, right now, God is saying, Come on, look unto me and be ye saved. He loves you.
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