Post by Mark on Jul 5, 2008 6:11:46 GMT -8
Why a Brass Serpent?
Have you ever experienced one let down after another? You come into another day with one thing going sour after another. If not, then you've certainly never been a home owner. Have you eer prayed, "God, can't You do something nice for a change?"
Moses just might have been thinking this way as we walk through this Parashah. His sister dies, the rock stops giving water, Moses screws the whole thing up, Aaron dies, and Moses is left with a bunch of bitter folk who blame him for all their fears, and then come the snakes.
The land was filled with poisonous snakes and people begin getting bit. It's important to understand a little bit about snakes. First, they're territorial, and that means they don't travel much. The people didn't move into an area that was infested with snakes, the snakes apparently came to them. They used to not be there and now suddenly they were. It was unquestionably the hand of Adonai's judgment. And they knew, as they always knew, that the answer was to run to Adonai in repentence.
Moses was given a strange command. Adonai commanded him in Numbers 21:8 to make a fiery serpent and set it up on a pole. And anyone who comes and looks upon it will be healed. Now, we as Christians are all over this, especially since Messiah used this as reference of Himself in John 3:14 during His discussion with Nicodemus. Yes, we can certainly see the Messianic symbolism... or can we?
Why, of all things, would the symbol which leads them to salvation be identified with the vehicle of their destruction? Why not a dove or a fish or a cross? Boy, we'd have loved that wouldn't we? Why didn't Moses display for them the tablets of stone? It was their rebellion that brought them into this problem. It is repentence from sin that will restore them, right?
Moses used a serpent and the message is powerful to us. The same thing that is made for our destruction is made for our salvation.
For Christ is the end (telos: the focal point) of the Law for righteousness to everyone who believes. (Romans 10:4).
Remember that Messiah is the "Word (of God) made flesh." (John 1:14.) To any Jew (which John most certainly was) this could mean nothing but the
.
What was the purpose of the snakes? They were to bring us to repentence. What is the purpose of the? It is to bring us to Messiah; but what we find, in recognizing with horror the magnitude of our need, the One whom we must turn to for salvation looks exactly the same.
Messiah didn't save us from. He saves us from sin. It wasn't the serpents that were killing off the children of Israel. It was their rebellion that was the cause of their destruction. The snakes were a tool from God to cause them to recognize how wicked they were. The Law is our schoolmaster to bring us to repentence. The Law is not for the righteous man, but for sinners. The Law causes us to see things in the reality of how God sees them, how desperately in need of Him we really are.
We're not saved by obeying the commandments given through Moses, just like the children of Israel were not saved by snakes. We are saved by faith, just like they were; but the snakes are an important element that we must not disdain. We have to see the similarity between God's judgment and His mercy because He is the same God. He saves us from our sin, He doesn't save us to continue in it. That's why Paul says, "We are not under the Law but under grace... now being made free from sin, and become servants to God." What the Church has so often taught as contrast, we see as consistency.
There's one other point to be made about the serpent, those who did not come in faith will receive the judgement. The same One who offers salvation will also come in judgement. Our Messiah will return with His armies to exact His wrath upon all those who have rejected Him and lived according to their own passions, regardless of what theological banner they hide under. I am more than a little concerned for so many whom I love that will say in that day, Lord, Lord, have I not done great things in Your name?" He will say unto them, "Depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness (Torahlessness), I never knew you."
The question that is posed to us in this Parashah is, have we replaced the serpent on the pole with a dove or a fish or a cross or do we place our faith in the Messiah who is described for us in the Scriptures. The name Jesus or Yeshua or Yehoshua is not a password that gets us into His kingdom. The name Yeshua is the telos of all the Law and the prophets. We don't come to Him by running away from the snakes. We come to Him recognizing our rebellion for what it is, and the serpents in our life for what they are, bringing us into obedience and in relationship with Adonai through Messiah our Lord.
Have you ever experienced one let down after another? You come into another day with one thing going sour after another. If not, then you've certainly never been a home owner. Have you eer prayed, "God, can't You do something nice for a change?"
Moses just might have been thinking this way as we walk through this Parashah. His sister dies, the rock stops giving water, Moses screws the whole thing up, Aaron dies, and Moses is left with a bunch of bitter folk who blame him for all their fears, and then come the snakes.
The land was filled with poisonous snakes and people begin getting bit. It's important to understand a little bit about snakes. First, they're territorial, and that means they don't travel much. The people didn't move into an area that was infested with snakes, the snakes apparently came to them. They used to not be there and now suddenly they were. It was unquestionably the hand of Adonai's judgment. And they knew, as they always knew, that the answer was to run to Adonai in repentence.
Moses was given a strange command. Adonai commanded him in Numbers 21:8 to make a fiery serpent and set it up on a pole. And anyone who comes and looks upon it will be healed. Now, we as Christians are all over this, especially since Messiah used this as reference of Himself in John 3:14 during His discussion with Nicodemus. Yes, we can certainly see the Messianic symbolism... or can we?
Why, of all things, would the symbol which leads them to salvation be identified with the vehicle of their destruction? Why not a dove or a fish or a cross? Boy, we'd have loved that wouldn't we? Why didn't Moses display for them the tablets of stone? It was their rebellion that brought them into this problem. It is repentence from sin that will restore them, right?
Moses used a serpent and the message is powerful to us. The same thing that is made for our destruction is made for our salvation.
For Christ is the end (telos: the focal point) of the Law for righteousness to everyone who believes. (Romans 10:4).
Remember that Messiah is the "Word (of God) made flesh." (John 1:14.) To any Jew (which John most certainly was) this could mean nothing but the
. What was the purpose of the snakes? They were to bring us to repentence. What is the purpose of the
? It is to bring us to Messiah; but what we find, in recognizing with horror the magnitude of our need, the One whom we must turn to for salvation looks exactly the same.Messiah didn't save us from
. He saves us from sin. It wasn't the serpents that were killing off the children of Israel. It was their rebellion that was the cause of their destruction. The snakes were a tool from God to cause them to recognize how wicked they were. The Law is our schoolmaster to bring us to repentence. The Law is not for the righteous man, but for sinners. The Law causes us to see things in the reality of how God sees them, how desperately in need of Him we really are. We're not saved by obeying the commandments given through Moses, just like the children of Israel were not saved by snakes. We are saved by faith, just like they were; but the snakes are an important element that we must not disdain. We have to see the similarity between God's judgment and His mercy because He is the same God. He saves us from our sin, He doesn't save us to continue in it. That's why Paul says, "We are not under the Law but under grace... now being made free from sin, and become servants to God." What the Church has so often taught as contrast, we see as consistency.
There's one other point to be made about the serpent, those who did not come in faith will receive the judgement. The same One who offers salvation will also come in judgement. Our Messiah will return with His armies to exact His wrath upon all those who have rejected Him and lived according to their own passions, regardless of what theological banner they hide under. I am more than a little concerned for so many whom I love that will say in that day, Lord, Lord, have I not done great things in Your name?" He will say unto them, "Depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness (Torahlessness), I never knew you."
The question that is posed to us in this Parashah is, have we replaced the serpent on the pole with a dove or a fish or a cross or do we place our faith in the Messiah who is described for us in the Scriptures. The name Jesus or Yeshua or Yehoshua is not a password that gets us into His kingdom. The name Yeshua is the telos of all the Law and the prophets. We don't come to Him by running away from the snakes. We come to Him recognizing our rebellion for what it is, and the serpents in our life for what they are, bringing us into obedience and in relationship with Adonai through Messiah our Lord.
