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Jesus and Moses
• Mistaken for a doctor, asked if patient should have catheter inserted.
• Be careful who you follow!
• Core52 has brought us through Abraham, Moses and, a couple weeks, David. Greatest leaders of Jewish history.
• Main passage for this week:
Deuteronomy 18:18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.
• God’s promise near the end of Moses’ life to send a great leader, even greater than Moses.
• A constant expectation of the Jewish people from then on.
• Hard to choose a specific part of Moses’ experience as a leader to highlight but passage from Num. 21.4-9 helps us under how vital it is to trust the right leadership.
Follow the Leader - Moses
Numbers 21:4–5 Then the people of Israel set out from Mount Hor, taking the road to the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom. 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!”
• They failed to trust in Moses’ leadership and God’s power and started to grumble and complain. They cast doubt on the goodness of God.
• Loathe food from heaven? Just shows that even the best gifts and blessings of God can be taken for granted.
Numbers 21:6–7 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.” So Moses prayed for the people.
• There are consequences for doubting God and for rebellion.
• It took a plague of venomous snakes to get their attention and they finally go to Moses for some direction and assistance.
Numbers 21:8–9 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!
• God’s direction is a bit odd. Not too many man-made symbols (outside the tabernacle which a shadow of heaven) in Jewish faith.
• Odder still is the command to look upon the snake and (result) you will live.
• it’s strictly faith that heals in this case.
› XTION:
Deuteronomy 18:18 I will raise up a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites. I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell the people everything I command him.
Follow the True Leader - Jesus
• Jesus calls us to follow him to healing. Not to stare at a snake on a pole, but to himself.
• We hurting, we’re sick to death.
• We’ve tried every remedy we can think of.
• Nothing completely heals our hurts, fulfills our needs and desires.
John 3:14–15 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.
• What does it look like to come to Jesus? It looks like following him, taking his leadership.
Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me.
• An unusual call to follow the leader.
John 12:32 And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.”
• In a deeper and more meaningful way, Jesus draws us to be healed at his cross.
1 Peter 2:24 He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed.
• Who you chose to follow in life matters.
• It’s likely there were many in Moses’ day who thought looking at a bronze snake on a pole wasn’t going to save them. They still rejected Moses’ leadership and direction. Bible says it was a deadly decision.
• Putting our faith in Jesus as he calls us to his cross may also seem like an unusual decision. Following any other source is equally deadly.
