Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (Eph 1:2). Amen.
Life is about knowing where to look.
That could mean in regards to information. We live in a day and age when we can fact check immediately and instantly. It is right at our fingertips. We just have to switch on our laptop or swipe on our cell phone and there is google. The inquiry can be serious like “What is the temperature going to be today?” (Will there be some March gladness?) The pursuit can be trivial like “what seed did my college basketball team get for March Madness?” Every so often someone might recommend a website for us to check out.
Life is about knowing where to look.
That might be in reference to direction. It is like when you are driving. You look ahead of you and behind you and to the side of you. Eyes always moving. At times a copilot suggests where you might glance as they press down firmly on the floorboard and quickly grab on to that handle above the door. (Not a ringing endorsement for my driving.)
The Children of Israel needed some help as to knowing where to look in life and for life. The Lord made sure of it.
It had been forty years of wandering around in the wilderness of the Sinai Peninsula. It wasn’t because they lacked directions in the land, but because they lacked confidence in the Lord. God had delivered them out of their slavery in Egypt and destroyed Pharaoh’s army in the Red Sea. When Moses sent 12 spies to check out the Promised Land, 10 shared a negative report, not about the place—it was plentiful, but about the people—they were powerful. The Israelites rebelled against God. Moses prayed for them and the Lord forgave them. But as discipline, the desert would become a cemetery for all those 20 years or older.
The children had buried their parents and grandparents. And the tent life was becoming quite tiresome. It was now time to take possession of the land of Canaan. And they were on the doorstep. They wrote this really nice letter to the ruler of Edom to let them pass through that country on the king’s highway. They might not have had geometry, but they knew the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. But he refused. They tried a second time. The same response (Nu 20:14ff.). No.
So they pulled up their stakes and pushed on for their detour. You know how fun that can be. It is frustrating when they shut down 94 or 35 and instead of going 65 on the interstate, you go 25 on the side streets. And then there is stop and go traffic besides and you hit every red light possible. This alternate route took them through a hot, desolate region. And their patience grew short. “They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way” (Nu 21:4).
And finally it proved to be too much. “They spoke against God and against Moses” (Nu 21:5). They communicated their displeasure and discouragement—against their God and his representative. They learned it from their ancestors. Unfortunately too well. They echoed a similar statement from a previous generation: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert?” (Nu 21:5; cf. Nu 14:3). Add to that: “There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!” (Nu 21:5). There was the daily supply of manna (Ex 16:35). But apparently that was not good enough—almost as if the Lord was starving them. God had provided for an estimated 2 million individuals. And they refused to see it. It would be funny if it weren’t so sad. It is like a teenager who flings open the fridge (and it looks like one of those in the grocery store), shoves the items around on the shelves and shouts, “There is nothing to eat.” In their grumbling and griping, they couldn’t notice the Lord’s preservation. They were looking down in ungratefulness. And Satan smiled at their sin.
We can be experts at that too—that our only comments are open complaints against the Lord rather than realization of blessings from the Lord. We question his kindness and his care. Sure, we might confess that he provides for us daily, but contend not richly. Sure, to others. But certainly not to us. Our finances are too low or our fashion is too limited. Like the person who stares at a full closet in the bedroom and stands on unfolded clothes on the floor only to insist: “There is nothing to wear.” We are only looking down in ingratitude. And Satan smirks at our sin.
But that cannot and could not last. “Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died” (Nu 21:6). The situation was serious and so was the Lord. That is critical to understand that this came from the LORD—who does not stand for sin, but also holds out love. He didn’t want them to continue in ridicule, but come to repentance. He wanted to them to look up.
And they did. “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’” (Nu 21:7). They specifically recognized their discontent for what it was—sin, missing what God wants.
The Lord leads us to a proper recognition. Dissatisfaction with God is a sin against God. Join with them in honesty: “I have sinned when I have spoken against the Lord.” It does no good to deny it. Rather we declare it. And then we sing with the psalmist: “Come quickly to help me, O Lord my Savior” (Ps 38:22).
Moses had been a mediator before, standing between the sinful people and the sinless God. “So Moses prayed for the people” (Nu 21:7). Moses made intercession and the Lord gave instructions about an interesting antidote. “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live” (Nu 21:8). It wasn’t that the bronze reptile was magical or mystical, the promise was mighty and magnificent. For those who looked away in defiance, the sting would still prove fatal. Those who looked in reliance now stayed alive. “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, he lived” (Nu 21:9). The remedy was simple. Faith grabbed ahold of God’s grace.
It was to this account that Jesus took his curious nighttime visitor to. Nicodemus was familiar with it. And Jesus draws a comparison. “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up” (Jn 3:14). There is that divine necessity again. He must. He must be suspended on a cross. For our sin—like the when we murmur and mutter against God. That is because “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son” (Jn 3:16). And this one of a kind Son crushed the serpent’s head so that his poisonous venom no longer courses through our veins and kills (Ge 3:15).
And when we look up to him, we live. Again, Jesus instructs: “everyone who believes in him may have eternal life” (Jn 3:15). The apostle Paul referenced God’s mercy and his love. God did it all—making those dead in sin to alive with Christ (Eph 2:5). That is grace—undeserved kindness. “It is by grace you have been saved” (Eph 2:4). Faith receives that gift of forgiveness with an open hand and rejoices that it is does not come from inside of us, but from outside of us—from God through Christ.
We have to be careful that we don’t spend all of our time looking at our technology. It is a real problem for some. Life is about knowing where to look. Not on Google or the web. But to the Lord. He forgives our sin and frees us from our guilt. All through Jesus, our Savior, who gives us life. And then, knowing where to look is about life—eternal life in Jesus.
We read from Numbers 21:4-9:
4 They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; 5 they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!” 6 Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. 7 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. 8 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.” 9 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, he lived.
Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love (Eph 6:24). Amen.
March 11, 2018
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