Stauron

Look to the Cross

Jim Nance

"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 " John 3:14-15.

or more than forty years after God had miraculously delivered them by the hand of Moses out of slavery in Egypt, the Israelites were forced as a result of their own sin and disbelief to wander in the wilderness south and east of the promised land, the land of Canaan. During this time, Moses recorded, "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 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" (Numbers 21:4-6).

How much this is like our own day, especially for you who do not yet believe. Because you refuse to trust God, you do not see how He has daily provided for your needs and your desires. He gives you food, clothing, and health, a home, friends, and a land of wealth and peace. Yet instead of thanking God for these good things, you grumble against Him and against the people He has placed over you. How many times have you blamed your parents, your boss, or the government for your problems, rather than admitting honestly that you have largely brought them on yourself? Stop pointing the finger at others and look at yourself, for by God's providence, your sins have found you out. You have perhaps felt the guilt of your sins which, like those serpents, has a painful bite. Left unattended, your sin and guilt will lead to your eternal damnation, as God warns elsewhere, "The wages of sin is death."

Those of you whom God has allowed to see this should ask, "What is to be done?" The narrative continues, "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 will take away the serpents from us.' So Moses prayed for the people" (Num. 21:7). The dying Israelites came to Moses acknowledging their sin and their need for salvation from sin's consequences. They knew they could not save themselves from the serpents, that relying on their own strength they would only die in their sins. Even so at this time God commands you to recognize your sin and your need for salvation from the guilt of sin. Call out to Him, confessing that you have no strength to turn from your evil deeds nor to rescue yourself from their painful results, and He will perhaps show mercy, as He did with the people of Israel.

"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" (Num. 21:8-9). You see that to acknowledge your sins, though necessary, is not sufficient to save. You must turn from sin to God. Anyone who had been bitten by the serpents could look to God's provision for them, the bronze serpent on the pole, and when they saw, they lived. In the same way, God's provision for us has been lifted up on the cross, His Son Jesus Christ, so that whoever feels the bite of sin's guilt can look in faith to Him, and live. Whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.

Some of you may find it unusual that God told Moses to raise a serpent, the very thing which was plaguing the people, for their salvation. Why not rather place a symbol of an ibis (a bird which was a natural enemy of the serpents in those lands), or some other symbol representing a destroyer of serpents, on the pole? The answer is clear when we compare what God has said about the lifting up of Jesus on the cross. For there God placed on Jesus the guilt of the sins of His people, Christ for us receiving the punishment our sins deserved. "He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:5-6). If the Israelites in their distress looked only for the serpents on the ground to avoid them, they were lost and dead. But if they looked to the serpent which God pla ced on the pole, they were given life. Similarly, if you who have felt the bite of guilt for your sins look only to those sins, and to your own strength or wisdom to avoid them, you will die in them. But if you look to the cross in faith, you will see your guilt taken from you and placed there on Jesus, and God will grant to you forgiveness from sin and eternal life. For in the cross God has made the Great Exchange, granting to Christ the guilt of our sin, and granting to us the righteousness of His Son.

"Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:20)."