Note: Audio is not available for this sermon.
Our text for today is our Old Testament reading from Numbers 21:4-9, especially verse 8 which reads, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” Here ends our text.
The forty years in the wilderness were almost over. The children of Israel were getting closer and closer to the Promised Land. They were almost there. However, there was one problem. The city of Edom would not allow Israel to go through their city. Instead, Israel had to travel around Edom. They had to take the so-called “by-pass” around the city. Well, this would have added many more days to their journey.
They sinned in three ways. First, they became impatient on the way to the Promised Land. Second, they accused God and Moses of bringing them out of Egypt only to kill them in the wilderness. This is false. God had not brought Israel into the wilderness to destroy them. The promised Savior would come from them, and therefore God would preserve them. And finally, the Israelites complained that there was no food and no water. This, too, was false. For forty years God had faithfully provided food and water for them. Then they called the manna “worthless food.” They were not thankful for God’s provisions. They despised the gifts God had graciously given them.
God gives us daily bread, yet we grumble because it is not enough. He gives us homes, families, vocations, church, and countless blessings, yet we focus on what we do not have. He forgives our sins and He gives the promise of eternal life in Christ, yet we are bored with the Gospel; we have other higher priorities.
Woe to us when we become impatient with God. Woe to us when we complain about this or that. Woe to us when we doubt God’s many promises. And woe to us when we are ungrateful for His countless blessings.
The prophet Ezekiel says that God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather He wants the wicked to turn from their evil ways and live. God wanted the Israelites to recognize their sin. God wants us to recognize our sin as well. He calls sinners to repentance so that they may live by faith in His promises.
How did God discipline Israel? What did He do so that they might see their sin and repent? He sent fiery snakes among them. Many of the people were bitten and died.
The ancient serpent, the devil, led Adam and Eve into rebellion against God. Through that serpent came the poison of sin. Our sin is like venom. It poisons the heart. It corrupts the mind and it twists the tongue. It even leads to death. “The wages of sin is death.”
There is nothing we can do to cure ourselves. Likewise, there is nothing the Israelites could do to heal themselves from the fiery snakes.
What did the Israelites do? They came to Moses and confessed, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you” (v 7). This is repentance. No excuses. No blaming. Simply, “We have sinned.”
Then, they pleaded for mercy. They said to Moses, “Pray to the Lord, that He take away the serpents from us.” So, Moses prayed for the people (v 7).
If you are in need, then call upon God in prayer. Jesus says in today’s Holy Gospel, “Ask the Father in My name, and He will give it to you. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full” (John 16:23-24). In our Epistle lesson, St Paul urges that prayers be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions (1 Timothy 2:1-2).
So, pray every morning and evening. Pray together as a family around the table. Pray individually in private devotion. Pray the Psalms and the Lord’s Prayer. Use resources such as the Treasury of Daily Prayer, Portals of Prayer, or other devotional helps. It is good for us to pray regularly.
Pray that God would keep your family and loved ones in the faith. Pray for your pastor and for the pure preaching of God’s Word. Pray that God would keep you against pride, lust, hatred, jealousy, and every evil desire. Pray that He would keep you in repentance and faith in the forgiveness of sins.
I pray for you and this church often. I know your hurts and your pain. I know your trials and tribulations. I pray that God would protect all of us from the evil one. I pray that those in our community may hear God’s Word and believe in Christ. I thank God for the many blessings He has given this congregation. And I pray that He would keep us faithful to Him and to His Word.
The Israelites asked God to remove the serpents. Did God answer their prayer by taking them away? No.
Does God answer our prayers? Yes, He does. He answers our prayer for daily bread. He answers our prayers for forgiveness on account of Christ. Yet, in His wisdom, He may choose to not answer some prayers immediately, or He may answer them in ways different from what we expect. He is God, and He knows what is best.
God did not remove the serpents, but He did provide a way of healing. He commanded Moses to make a bronze serpent and place it upon a pole. Whoever looked to it would live. There was nothing magical about the bronze serpent itself. Rather, God attached His promise of healing and life to it.
If the people looked to the bronze serpent in faith, trusting in God’s promise, they lived. If they rejected God’s means of salvation, they died from the venom. God was not unfair in this. He is holy, merciful, and loving. He provided a means of healing for His people.
Jesus said to Nicodemus, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life (John 3:14-15). The bronze serpent pointed to something greater. The bronze serpent was always about Jesus.
Just as the bronze serpent contained no venom, so also Jesus became fully human like us, yet without sin. Just as the bronze serpent was lifted up on the pole, so also Jesus was lifted up on the cross. Just as God provided healing for the Israelites, so also God provided the cure for sin and death through His Son.
St Paul says, “For our sake God made Him [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin.” Jesus took our poison of our sin into His own body. The sin of the whole world was laid on Him. He became the cursed One hanging upon the cross. He absorbed the wrath of God against sin for our salvation.
Just as the bronze serpent became the means of life in the wilderness, so the cross has become the source of salvation for the world. Genesis 3:15 is fulfilled. The serpent struck the heel of the Seed of the woman, but Christ crushed the serpent’s head. Through death, Jesus destroyed death. Through His wounds, He healed us.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in His should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Look to Christ alone for your salvation. You are saved through faith in Christ alone and not by works.
During the incident with the bronze serpent there were some who scoffed and said, “How can a bronze serpent on a pole save anyone?” They did not believe God’s promise. Thus, they died.
In the same way, many today mock the Gospel and ask, “How can a man dying on a cross save anyone?” Others say, “How can the Word joined to water do anything in Baptism? How can Christ’s body and blood truly be present in bread and wine?”
Jesus says, “Whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God” (John 3:18). Woe to the one who rejects the Gospel and resists the Holy Spirit. Woe to the one who loves darkness rather than the light of Christ.
But for us, the cross means everything. The cross is the power of God unto salvation for us poor sinners.
Dearly beloved in the Lord, fix your eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith. Look to Him alone as your source of life and salvation. Believe the promises God made to you in your Baptism. Receive and taste the forgiveness of sins which Christ gives to you in His Holy Supper.
Notice something important in our text. God did not immediately remove all the snakes.
Likewise, we still live in a fallen world. Jesus said in today’s Holy Gospel, “In the world you will have tribulation” (v 33). He is honest with us. We still struggle with sin. We still face temptation. We suffer because of our own sin and the sin of others. We endure tornadoes, affliction, sickness, death, and the list goes on and on.
Yet, Jesus goes on to say, “But take heart; I have overcome the world” (v 33). As you struggle in this fallen world, take heart; persevere. Jesus has overcome the world. He paid for your sins. He rose from the dead, and He defeated your enemies of death and the devil.
As you journey through this wilderness toward the Promised Land above, Christ is your refuge and strength a very present help in trouble. He helps you to endure the troubles that come into your life. He hears your prayers and answers them according to His good and gracious will. His Gospel is your source of comfort and strength. His body and blood are food for your journey. They are medicine of immortality.
In time, God fulfilled His promise to Israel. The people crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land. And there will come a day when our wilderness journey will end. Then, we will see God with our own eyes.
God grant this for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
