~ Rogate ~
Readings: Numbers 21:4-9 | James 1:22-27 | John 16:23:30
Text: Numbers 21:4-9
(read the text)
It’s easy to chide the people and think, if I had been there, I wouldn’t have spoken against God and against Moses and Boy, did they get it for being grouchy! Good thing God doesn’t do that anymore! But if all the Scriptures are written for our instruction, this must be a lesson from the same God, who is in the midst of His people.
Looking at this text in the original language makes a connection that links this event, on the one hand, to the Fall into sin, and on the other hand, to Christ who said,
13 No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
That day, the Lord sent fiery serpents among them to scatter (just as he did at the Garden of Eden when He drove our ancestors out in direct consequence of their disobedience) and His judgment killed the transgressors (although Adam went on to live 930 years before he breathed his last. In the wilderness, the people’s deliberate insurgence against God and His will not only broke fellowship with the Lord, but also once again revealed the sentence against sinners:
“The soul who sins shall die.” (Ezekiel 18:4)
Then, the people turn in repentance. Their heart is pricked. They ask, through Moses, that the Lord may take this well-deserved judgment away. What they ask for is the will of God, as He also says through Ezekiel, shortly after pronouncing the judgment we heard above:
Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin. 31 Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? 32 For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God; so turn, and live.” (Ezekiel 18:30-32)
We have to believe that this too applies to us. It is our sin which turns against God in thought, word, and deed (sometimes all three!). Not only does our unrepentant sin cut us off from God, but it does kill us. Maybe that judgment comes sooner, maybe later. However, if it does come later, that is no sign that God doesn’t think sin is serious. It is time that He is giving you so that you will turn before it is too late to repent.
When our heart is pricked today, we have the clear message and fulfillment of what God has done for all sinners: One is given by God for the people’s sins. He who knew no sin became sin on our behalf [2 Corinthians 5:21]. By beholding that one God-ordained Serpent who is dead on behalf of the congregation, that sinful, yet repentant soul shall live.
Now that God has revealed His saving will, He makes it clear in so many ways how a repentant person is to be assured of peace with God. “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” This believing in Him is not meant to be an abstract assent to truth statements about God or a feeling of being good with God. God desires sinners to be sure of His grace toward them, and it all comes through Christ the Savior.
He desires people of all nations to become disciples by being baptized in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.This, His Apostle Paul says,
“3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6:3-4)
Your Lord wants you to be sure also by a Spirit-breathed word of forgiveness, for He sends His Apostles:
“Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” (John 20:23)
As if these weren’t enough, He also sustains us in our sojourn in the wilderness of this world with His own offering, His crucified Body and Blood, delivered to us in the Holy Supper:
“This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” (Luke 22:19-20)
So, when peace with God is declared here today, do not be sure of it because you feel good. Know that though you have sinned against God, the Lord has put your sin on His Son, and He is delivering peace to you here today.
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.
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