Remedy for Rebellion
In the 70s, when I was studying for my Ph.D at the University of Iowa, one of the books I studied was titled Why Men Rebel (Princeton 1970). In it the author, Ted Robert Gurr, tries to explain why riots, rebellions, and civil wars occur. He cites statistics of nations that have tried to overthrow their governments, usually through violent means.
He makes lots of interesting observations, but I am particularly intrigued by his claim that the primary cause of rebellion is discontent. He says that discontent arises from a feeling that people are being deprived of something they expect or feel they are entitled to. As a simple example, let’s say that fast-food flippers at Burger King get $1 more than fast-food flippers at McDonalds. When McDonalds workers find out, they say “we are doing the same kind of work; we ought to get the same pay.” They become discontent because of that difference in pay. And it is that discrepancy between what people in a society have and what they think they deserve that drives the feeling of discontent. Gurr calls it relative deprivation.
He used a graph to explain what he meant. The line of what people have remains flat while the line representing what people want goes up. And you can substitute whatever you want on that graph: wages, health benefits, working conditions, education, or whatever.
We could probably use that theory to explain the discontent of the people of Israel in the 20th and 21st chapters of Numbers. They ran out of food. They didn’t have any meat. They experienced hardship. In Chapter 20 they ran out of water. The image they had of their new land was one of fresh produce and lots of water to raise it. But now, according to 20:2, “there was no water for the congregation.” There was a discrepancy between what they had and what they expected, so they felt deprived of what they thought belonged to them.
Gurr’s theory of relative deprivation helps to explain some things about conditions in our world. It is an interesting theory, but it doesn’t go far enough. It does not fully explain what was going on with the people of Israel. And it doesn’t account for the cross of Jesus.
The Bible records several stories about the complaints of these people. In our passage for today, we learn that they ran out of water and they quarreled with Moses. Moses lashed out at them and failed to follow God’s instructions. As a result, Moses and Aaron were not permitted to enter the promised land. In chapter 20:12, God faults Moses for not trusting in him to bring about what God said he would do. When we get to chapter 21 we read that the people became impatient. In the Hebrew language it means “short of soul.” Their faith was no longer as strong as it should have been. Then we also read that the people spoke against God and against Moses.
But when we read Psalm 78, we see what was really going on. It was not just discontent, mistrust, or impatience. It was called rebellion.
Interspersed between statements about God’s promises, gifts and provisions in this Psalm, we read words such as these:
V.17 Yet they sinned still more against him, rebelling against the Most High.
V.40 How often they rebelled against him in the desert.
V.56 Yet they tested the Most High God, and rebelled against him.
If we go back to Numbers 20:25, we see that the reason Aaron did not make it into the promised land was that he rebelled.
God had a wonderful plan for his people, but they didn’t listen. He mapped out the road for them, but they didn’t go. Instead, they rebelled. They went after their own solutions. Again and again in the Bible we read about God’s provisions on the one hand and their rebellion against God on the other.
Isaiah 30:1 calls them “rebellious children” because they tried to make themselves politically and militarily strong by making an alliance with Egypt rather than depending upon God.
Jeremiah realized his own position before God when he wrote in Lamentations (1:18) “The Lord is in the right, for I have rebelled against his word. “
In his prayer of confession, Daniel said “we have sinned and done wrong, acted wickedly and rebelled.” (9:5)
The Bible says that all of us :have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Romans 3 says, “There is no one who is righteous, not even one.”
Just as the people then were impatient with God and just as they spoke against God and rebelled against God, so we have turned away from God to our own way. There is not a one of us who hasn’t rebelled against God.
I don’t mean that just in a general way: “I’m bad. You’re bad. We’re all bad.” Think about it for yourself. When have you been impatient with God? When have you complained that what God was doing was not enough? When have you chosen to take your own path rather than follow God’s directions? When have you made a choice for evil rather than for good? James 4:17 says, “Anyone who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin.” And sin against God is rebellion.
If we go back to our story in Numbers 21, we see that as a result of their rebellion “God sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many of them died.” If there is anything we have learned in our journey through the Bible so far, it is that God is a holy, righteous God. He takes sin seriously and he longs for his people to be holy and righteous. And sometimes he takes severe steps to remind them.
There is not a one of you parents here who, when your child disobeys, has not had to take measures of some kind to let the child know that you want him to live up to the standard you have set. And when that child disobeys you may require time out, you may take away a privilege, or you may punish in some other way. And you hope the child learns there are consequences to disobedience. The Bible says there are consequences to rebellion against God. And because of our rebellion against God we deserve punishment worse than these serpents. We deserve death.
When Charles Spurgeon preached on this passage in 1859, he said, “Even though no officer has arrested you, though death has not laid his cold hand upon you, yet Scripture says, "Those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” The black cap is on the judge’s head. Thou art standing under the gallows, with the rope on thy neck, and thou hast but to be cast off from the ladder by the hand of death, and thou art swinging in eternity lost and ruined. Thou art condemned already. Take that home, man. Thy sentence is signed in heaven and sealed and stamped, and the only reason it is not carried out is because God in mercy respites thee.”
We wouldn’t use those words today, but the guilt you feel when you do something wrong tells you that things are not right. You have violated one of God’s laws and you deserve punishment.
When we go back to our story in Numbers 21 we see that when the people realized what they had done, they came to Moses and admitted their sin. “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you,” they said. When Peter preached his first sermon after Jesus left, he reminded his listeners that they had been responsible for the death of Jesus. The Bible says they were cut to the heart and they asked what they should do. “Repent and baptized in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven,” he told them.
Remember that repentance is more than just saying you are sorry. Repentance means that you change your behavior. There is the story of the woman who was accused of exaggerating. And she said, “Oh, I know it is a bad habit and I feel so guilty. I have shed barrels of tears over it.” Repentance means changing your ways, turning your face in the other direction because now you want to do God’s will.
If that were the end of the story, we would still be in miserable circumstances. We are not able to pull ourselves out of our miserable condition. In this story, we see first that Moses prayed for the people. Count yourself fortunate if you have someone who prays for you. Never discount the power of prayer. And if you are hearing God speak to you this morning, know that someone’s prayers have ascended to heaven on your behalf.
But most important for the circumstances of these people was the remedy God provided. God told Moses to “make a poisonous serpent and set it on a pole and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.” They could be saved from their rebellion, their guilt and death. “Look and live,” he says. Oh, the serpents are still there. He hasn’t taken them away, but the serpents won’t have any power if the people put their faith in God. Salvation was available only through faith – not in the bronze serpent on the pole, not in Moses, but in God. The serpent on the pole was a symbol of God’s word, God’s help.
Many years later God’s Son was lifted up on a cross. John 3:14,15 says, “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” God gave up his son to heal our rebellion and take away our sin. That is what Easter is about.
You may recognize the fruit of rebellion in your own soul today. And you are ready to repent, to say with the people of Israel “I have sinned.” Lift up your eyes to the one who can save you.
If you have never opened your life to Christ or you know you are not in his will, you are in rebellion against God. You need to make your peace with God. He wants to set you free from fear. He wants to give you real freedom. Jesus said, "If the Son sets you free then you’re really free."
