The Serpent Of Brass & Jesus

THE SERPENT OF BRASS & JESUS

Num. 21:4-9

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR: NOT SURE OF THE VALUE

1. My 35 year-old son and I had just finished our meal when I realized I’d left my wallet in the truck. As I headed out the door, I told the waitress what had happened. “But don’t worry,” I said with a grin, “I’m leaving my son for collateral.”

2. She looked at him. He winked at her. She turned back to me, “What else you got?”

3. Some things are of doubtful value, but we’re going to read about something that can save your life.

B. TEXT

“They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!” Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.

C. TITLE: “The Serpent of Brass & Jesus.”

I. WHY DID THE SNAKES COME/APPEAR?

A. COMPLAINING ABOUT GOD’S DIRECTION & FOOD

1. The Bible tells the story of how Moses led the Israelites from Egypt, through Sinai to Palestine.

2. Although they were on their way to the earthly equivalent to Heaven, all they could focus on was their inconveniences, their petty appetites, and their circumstances.

3. Note: Just because everything doesn’t go smoothly doesn’t mean God’s not in it! It’s God’s will to send us down different roads sometimes.

4. They should have known that God knows best. His pillar of fire and cloud went before them; Moses & Aaron led them faithfully; every step up to that time had been correct. They even got to eat Angel’s food daily!

5. But if you get a complaining spirit you can always find something to complain about! We may not like our lot in life, but if God is with us, that ought to be enough.

6. The appearance of the snakes coincided with the poison of the Israelite’s criticism and complaining. James said, “The tongue also is...a world of evil among the parts of the body....full of deadly poison.” (3:6,8)

B. THE VENOM OF SIN

1. The venom that ended up in their bloodstream is a picture of the deadliness of sin in our lives. Once they were bitten, their doom was certain. It was just a matter of time until they died.

2. ILLUS. CERTAIN OUTCOME

a. In the early days of nuclear fission at the Los Alamos Laboratories in New Mexico, a young scientist was demonstrating the effect of two unstable masses of uranium.

b. He did this by putting them close together but keeping his screw driver between them. Their proximity caused a pale green light to radiate in the room. But his screw driver slipped and the two spheres came together with a bright piercing light.

c. To avert an explosion, the young scientist reached out, grabbed the two spheres, and separated them. The reaction stopped and the light disappeared.

d. The young scientist said, “You will all be fine, but I’m already dead.” He was right; within 5 days he died in excruciating pain.

3. We all have been exposed to a deadly force; we have the poison of sin in our systems. It’s only a matter of time until it destroys us. “The wages of sin is death” Rom. 6:23. “Sin, when it is finished, brings forth death” James 1:15.

II. GOD HAS PROVIDED THE ANTIDOTE

A. GOD’S ONE REMEDY

1. When the poisonous snakes bit the Israelites, they pleaded with Moses to help them. He prayed and God told him, "Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live." Numbers 21:9.

2. The Lord Jesus in John 3:14-16 said this was symbolic of Him being lifted up on the Cross; “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. 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.” Jn. 3:14-16.