Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Misunderstood Bible Passages, Part 7 of 47
TEXT: "Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very discouraged on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses: 'Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.' So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, and many of the people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses and said, 'We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord, and against you; pray to the Lord that He take away the serpents from us.' Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.' So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived." (Numbers 21:4-9)
IDEA: The bronze serpent is not "magic," but an instrument of redemption.
PURPOSE: To help listeners understand why this isn't superstition.
Do you think that people today are superstitious?
I. What are some of our common superstitions?
Baseball players won't step on the foul line, going back and forth during a game.
Hotels omit a 13th floor because people think the number 13 is unlucky.
People still "knock on wood."
Some people still carry a rabbit's foot for good luck.
II. Many people regard Numbers 21:4-9 as an example of superstition in the Bible.
See the text above.
III. This story doesn't represent an ancient form of magic.
Why are the people healed?
God provides a way for them to be healed of poisonous snake bites.
The cure comes because they obey God's instruction.
They were healed because of their trust in God and their obedience to His instructions.
IV. Jesus used this incident to foreshadow His crucifixion:
John 3:14-15: "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."
The wood of the cross doesn't save us.
The power of the cross is in what God in Christ did on that cross.
