Audio (Sound quality normalizes at 6:25 mark)
Back in April, my family and I were hiking the trails around
Mammoth Cave
National Park in Kentucky when suddenly I looked down and noticed
a snake by the side of the trail. I took a picture of it, and then quickly left
the scene. I showed the picture to one of the Rangers and asked if he could
tell me what kind of snake it was. He said that there were two similar snakes
in the area, one poisonous and one not, and the only way to tell the difference
was to look for a distinctive shape on the underbelly of the snake. I said, “In
other words, they’re all poisonous.” I’ve had the opportunity once in my life
to look inside of the mouth of one of the world’s most deadly snakes – the
African Black Mamba. It was during a presentation by some local herpetologists
in Kenya .
They held the mouth of the Mamba open so we could see its fangs and its tongue,
and then they quickly returned it to its box. One bite from that snake can kill
a man in under 20 minutes unless the anti-venom can be administered
immediately. Recently I learned about Tim Friede, a herpetologist in Wisconsin , who is immune
to the venom of the black mamba. By injecting himself with increasing doses of
the venom over time, he has allowed his body to create its own anti-venom. Now,
he is able to withstand the full venom dosage of a black mamba bite, and he
hopes that soon he will be able to be involved in new medical developments that
would prevent the deaths of thousands of people who die in Africa
each year from black mamba bites.[1] When it comes to the
most deadly snake bites, it seems that the only known cure is made from the
very venom that will kill you.
The ancient Israelites, during their experience of
wilderness wandering between the Red Sea
crossing and their entrance into the Promised Land, had a rather unpleasant
experience with snakes. It was recorded in Numbers 21. As they wandered through
the desert, on several occasions the people resorted to grumbling and murmuring
against God and against Moses. Their sin was dealt with in various ways as
often as it happened, but in this particular instance, the Lord sent an
infestation of what the Bible calls “fiery serpents” among the people, and
their bite was lethal. It was not without positive effect. The people
recognized their sin and repented and turned from their sin. Moses took their
matter before the Lord and was given the instruction to make a figure of a
serpent and erect it on a pole, so that all who had been bitten who would look
upon it would be healed and live.
As a teacher of Israel , Nicodemus would have been
well familiar with this passage. And so, in order to explain to Nicodemus how
sinful human beings can be born again, reconciled to God, and have eternal
life, the Lord Jesus calls this account to the mind of the teacher. Now, this
was more than just an illustration or a parable. Jesus knew that the account of
the serpents in the wilderness was a visual prophecy, if you will, a picture
that would find its ultimate fulfillment in His mission of salvation. In Luke
24, we read that following His resurrection, Jesus taught His disciples and “He
opened their minds to understand the Scriptures” (v45). Luke tells us that “beginning
with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things
concerning Himself in all the Scriptures” (v27). He was attempting to do that
here with Nicodemus, as if to say, “Nicodemus, do you remember the story about
the snakes in the wilderness? Well, that story was really about Me!” On the
surface of it, it is hard to see the similarity, but Jesus says that it is
there. “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son
of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.”
As the serpent was lifted up so that those who had been bitten with the deadly
venom of the serpents may have life; so Jesus would be lifted up, so that all
who had been bitten with the deadly venom of sin might have life. So, we have
here a reminder of the deadly poison of sin, and we are redirected toward the
divine provision of salvation.
Consider the first of these:
I. We are reminded of the deadly poison of sin.
There are a lot of crazy things done in churches around the
world. But I don’t know of anything crazier than what you find in some areas of
the Appalachians where people are known to
handle poisonous snakes as an act of worship. If you are visiting with us
today, I want you to know that you will never witness that here at IBC. We had
a bat in here some time ago, and it turned into a rather comic adventure that
Jim Keathley can tell you about. I’m not proud of the fact, but I will
acknowledge to you that I screamed like a little girl and ran away leaving Jim
to fend for himself. So, no chance we’re going to be breaking out snakes any
time soon. In May of this year, one preacher in West Virginia died from a timber rattler
bite during one of these bizarre snake-handling services, ironically, the same
way his father had died almost 20 years ago. But a few weeks after that
senseless death, USA Today ran a story about the increasing popularity of
snake-handling among a younger generation in the region. A 21-year old pastor
that was interviewed for that piece said regarding the practice, “It is the
closest thing to heaven on earth that you could get.”[2]
I am not sure that the Israelites who experienced the outbreak of snakes in the
wilderness would agree with that sentiment. They might say that it was nearer
to being hell on earth. The Bible describes the snakes that tormented the
people as “fiery serpents.” The “fieriness” of those serpents most likely
describes the intense pain of their deadly bites. But more troubling than the
presence or danger of these snakes is the source of them. The Israelites had
not aimlessly wandered into snake territory. The Bible says that “the Lord sent
fiery serpents among the people” (Num 21:6). They were the active judgment of
God against the people’s sin. The snakes bit the people, and they died very
painful deaths. Those divinely appointed serpents brought upon the people a
physical experience that paralleled the spiritual effects of sin in our lives.
What had the people done to deserve such a judgment as this?
To quote Indiana Jones, “Why did it have to be snakes?” We often ask questions
like that, but underlying those questions is a minimizing of what we might call
the “sinfulness of sin.” Various sins have varying effects on others, but all
sin has the same effect on us and the same offensiveness against the holiness
of God. Because He is infinitely holy, our sin is infinitely heinous and
infinitely deadly. So, when we read in the Bible about a particular calamity,
or read about a seemingly senseless tragedy in the world, we need to resist the
temptation of saying, “What had they done to deserve that?” Jesus talked about
people who were slaughtered at the hand of Pilate and others who were killed
when some towers fell upon them, but He said we must not think that they were
worse sinners than any of the rest of us. He said the lesson we should take
away from it is, “Unless you repent you will likewise perish.” If God were to
only give us what we deserved, we would all be in miserable condition.
The sin of the Israelites that prompted the episode with the
snakes was their continual murmuring against the Lord and against Moses, whom
God had appointed as their leader. In Numbers 21:5, the Bible says that they
spoke against God and Moses, saying, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in
the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this miserable
food.” Consider what they are saying. “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt ?” Simple
answer: Because you asked Me to! Because I love you! Because I have better
plans for you than you can imagine! “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in
the wilderness?” Simple answer: I didn’t! I brought you out to take you into a
land where you can have a better life than you have ever known! “There is no
food and no water!” Really? Did God not bring water from a rock to quench your
thirst and turn the bitter springs sweet for you? Did God not provide manna and
quail to feed you along the way? But you didn’t like it and you complained
about that, even as you are doing now! Notice they say, “There is no food,” but
then they say, “we loathe this miserable food.” In other words, there is food,
but it is not to our liking. That miserable food that they loathed was manna –
a miraculous food that God made to appear on the ground every day for them. But
because it wasn’t steak and potatoes, they complained about what God had
provided. And when they complained about Moses, they were complaining that God
had not given them a fit leader. And this was not the first time they had
grumbled and murmured against Moses and the Lord. It had become habitual for
them. Their sinful hearts were destroying them spiritually. Death was setting
in, not as a result of being in the desert, but a result of being in rebellion.
So the Lord sent the snakes, that they might experience physically the reality
that was taking place in their souls. A painful process of death and decay
brought about not by the deadly poison of snakes, but by the deadly poison of
sin.
Now, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:6 that the things that
happened to Israel
in the wilderness serve as examples for us. He says that we must not “try the
Lord, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents.” Their sin in
the wilderness is really a picture of our own sin. We grumble and complain
against God and against one another, despising the Lord for our circumstances
and refusing to acknowledge His goodness and grace. We chase after the lusts of
our own flesh rather than enjoying what He has freely given. Every time we sin,
we are saying, “I prefer my own desires, my own way, my own agenda, than that
of the Lord.” And our sin manifests itself in rebellion against God and
murmuring against the people God has placed in our lives. It is a deadly
poison! It is destroying us from the inside out. It is the spiritual equivalent
to dying a slow painful death of snake bite.
I am sure that the Israelites thought their grumbling and
murmuring was no big deal. The snakes showed them differently. When they could
see what their sin was doing to them, they were brought to repentance. They
didn’t see their deeds as mere indiscretions or minor faults. They repented in
Numbers 21:7, saying, “We have sinned because we have spoken against the Lord
and against you [Moses]; intercede with the Lord, that He may remove the
serpents from us.” They recognized that God and God alone could remedy their
situation.
In speaking to Nicodemus about this, Jesus was saying that
all of humanity is afflicted with a condition just as severe as the Israelites
in the wilderness. You may not see venomous snakes encircling your feet
flashing their deadly fangs, but Jesus says that we are all in a similar state
of peril because of the deadly poison of sin. What a nightmarish predicament!
Has the reality of it set in? Has it brought you to a place of repentance? Has
it brought to realize that the Lord, and He alone, can provide the solution you
need for the deadly poison of sin?
That brings us to the second reality here in this portion of
John 3:
II. We are redirected toward the divine provision of
salvation.
The conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus is one of the
most well known personal interactions of the Lord Jesus with another person in
the Bible. Another is found in Matthew 19 when Jesus spoke to a man we call
“the rich young ruler.” After that young man walked away from Jesus grieving
and unwilling to surrender himself to Jesus, the Lord said, “It is easier for a
camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God
When the Israelites were plagued with deadly snakes, they
repented and asked Moses to intercede with God for them and ask Him to take the
snakes away. I suppose God could have done that—just make the snakes go away.
But what would that do for those who had already been bitten? It would only
help those who had not been bitten, while those who had already been bitten
would still die. God did not do this. A great number of people were nearing
death by the second, and many had already died. What could be done? God gave
Moses instructions: “Make a fiery serpent” (that is, “Make a replica of the
serpents,” which Moses made from bronze), “and set it on a standard” (a tall
pole that all could see), “and it shall come about, that everyone who is
bitten, when he looks at it, he will live” (Num 21:8). You have to admit, this
prescription seems rather absurd, as I am sure it did to many of the
Israelites. One says, “I’ve been bitten! I am dying! Help me!” And Moses is
there to say, “See that bronze serpent on the pole? Look upon it, and you will
be healed!” You can imagine that person saying, “No, seriously! I am dying here!
I need real help!” But this was real help. However, it would not work for
everyone. It would only work for the ones who knew they had been bitten, who
knew that they were dying, who believed that God had spoken and would act
through this way of saving of them. If they refused to acknowledge their
condition, and refused to believe God’s promise, and refused to receive what
God had provided through the bronze serpent, then they would die in their
misery.
God did not tell them to mix up a salve for their wounds. He
did not tell them to do a better job of avoiding snakes in the future. He did
not advise them to form a snake-killing party to rid the community of snakes.
He told them simply to recognize their own condition, and to look with faith
toward the remedy that He had provided for their condition. And those who did
were healed and lived. But there is a subtle implication that is easily missed
in Numbers 21. It says, “It came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he
looked to the bronze serpent, he lived.” That suggests that some were not
bitten, and among those who were, there were some who did not look to the
bronze serpent. And they died. But those who looked by faith toward that
twisted and impaled serpent were healed and lived! The snake brought death. And
the image of the snake impaled upon the lofty pole brought life to those who
believed God and looked to it in faith.
Jesus told Nicodemus, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes
will in Him have eternal life.” There are some who mistake Jesus’ words here
about being “lifted up” to mean something figurative, like “lifted up in
praise,” or “exalted in worship.” But this cannot be, for Jesus says that He
must be lifted up as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness. Moses was
not lifting up the serpent to worship and praise the serpent. The serpent was
lifted as an image of the deadly poison that was killing the people. The
replica of the snake was impaled as a figure of death being put to death. And
that is what Jesus said MUST happen to Himself if we would have eternal life.
As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man
be impaled, pierced, run through and raised up on a standard for all to see.”
And this occurred on the cross.
As the Israelites were dying from the deadly poison of
serpents, so we all are dying from the deadly poison of sin. What hope or help
do we have? Only what the Lord Himself will provide. And as the serpent lifted
up represented the putting to death of death itself, so the Lord Jesus on His
cross was taking upon Himself the sin of us all, receiving in His very being
and body the venom, the sting, the poison, and the death that it brings. His
death becomes for us the death of death itself. In 2 Corinthians 5:21 we read
that God made Him who knew no sin (the Lord Jesus) to be sin on our behalf. So
on the cross, the deadly poison of sin was being put to death in Him. And this
was so that “we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” He took our sin
into the valley of death and destroyed it, and rising from death, He covers us
in His own perfect righteousness.
This is God’s divinely provided means of salvation. And it
is the only hope of salvation we have. Jesus said that He must be raised up as
the serpent in the wilderness. There simply is no other way. This had to happen
for us to be saved. And having happened, there is no other way to be saved. But
this does not mean that all will be saved. With the Israelites, the exalted
serpent would only save those who knew that they were dying from snakebite, and
who believed and trusted in God to save them, and who looked upon the serpent
as His divinely provided means of salvation. So with us, Christ will save all
who recognize that they have been infected with the deadly poison of sin, who
have realized that they cannot save themselves by their own effort, but who
believe that God has provided Christ as the means of salvation, and look to
Christ crucified by faith.
What do you see when you look at the cross? If you see there
God’s one and only remedy for your terminal condition, then you can be saved.
If you see Christ taking your sin upon Himself and putting it away forever so
that you can be forgiven and have life, then you will be saved! The deadly
poison of sin can only be remedied by the divine provision of salvation. And
that provision is found in Christ and in Him alone. Jesus took the venom, to
provide you with the anti-venom. Look to Him with the eyes of faith, and find
in Him eternal life!
A young Charles Spurgeon walked the snowy streets of Colchester,
60 miles northeast of London ,
one Sunday morning on his way to church. When the snow became so heavy and the
air so cold that he could go no further, he ducked down a side street and
entered the first church he came to, where only a small handful of people had
gathered for worship. Even the pastor had been snowed in and was unable to be
there, so at a certain point in the service, one of the laymen ascended into
the pulpit and began to preach. Spurgeon’s recollection of the man is not
flattering. He speaks of him as “a very thin-looking man, a shoemaker or tailor
or something of that sort, … this man was really unintelligent. … He did not
even pronounce the words correctly.”[3] But as this
unimpressive man read his text on that snowy Sunday morning, Spurgeon said,
“Now there’s a glimpse of hope for me in that text.” And what was that text?
Isaiah 45:22, “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.”
Spurgeon recalls that as the man preached, he seemed to look at him straight in
the eyes and said, “Young man, look to Jesus Christ. Look! Look! Look! You have
nothin’ to do but to look and live.”
Spurgeon said, “I saw at once the way of salvation. … It was
similar to when the brazen serpent was lifted up, and the people only looked
and were healed; so it was with me. … That instant I could have sung with the
most enthusiastic of them about the precious blood of Christ and the simple
faith that looks alone to Him. … Between half-past ten o’clock, when I entered
that chapel, and half-past twelve o’clock, when I was back again at home, what
a change had taken place in me! I had passed from darkness into marvelous
light, from death to life. Simply by looking to Jesus, I had been delivered
from despair. … Yes, I had looked to Jesus as I was, and I had found in Him my
Savior. … I looked and lived and leaped in joyful liberty as I beheld my sin
punished upon the great substitute and put away forever. I looked unto Him as
He bled upon that tree. … Looking unto Him, the bruises that my soul had
suffered were healed; the gaping wounds were cured; the broken bones rejoiced;
the rags that had covered me were all removed; my spirit was white as the
spotless snows of the farr-off North. … I was saved, washed, cleansed, forgiven
through Him who hung on the tree.”
Charles Spurgeon went on to be the greatest preacher,
pastor, and theologian of his generation. But he often reflected on that snowy
day when he looked and lived. He said, “My soul can never forget that day.
Dying, all but dead, diseased, pained, chained, scourged, bound in fetters of
iron, in darkness and the shadow of death, Jesus appeared to me. My eyes looked
to Him. The disease was healed, the pains removed, chains were snapped, prison
doors were opened, and darkness gave place to life. What delight filled my
soul!”[4] He said, “I sometimes
think I might have been in darkness and despair until now if it had not been
for the goodness of God in sending a snowstorm on Sunday morning.”[5]
It is far from being a snowy morning in Greensboro ,
but the same promise that Spurgeon heard that Sunday morning in Colchester is still true today. Look to Jesus, lifted up
on the cross for you, for your sin, and for your salvation. Cast yourself fully
upon Him and be saved. "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even
so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have
eternal life.”
[1] “Rubber
Band Man” (Season 1, Episode 7), Stan
Lee’s Superhumans. History Channel. September 23, 2010.
[2] http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/story/2012-06-03/snake-handlers-pentecostal-tennessee/55354206/1.
Accessed July 19, 2012.
[3] Charles
Spurgeon, My Conversion (Springdale , Penn.
[4] Ibid, 9.
[5] Ibid,
35.
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