The Gospel of Jesus Christ (8) The Snake Lifted up on a Pole (2)

​“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (Jn 3:14-16)
 
Review
We’ve been talking about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Last Sunday, we talked about one of the indications of Jesus written about in the Old Testament—the bronze snake lifted up in the wilderness.
 
The exodus began with the death of the Passover lambs. That night, every firstborn son in Egypt died, but the plague passed over the houses of Israel whose doorframes were covered by the blood of the lambs.
 
The exodus started off well, but the Israelites soon began to complain to God because of the difficulties and inconveniences they faced in the wilderness.
 
And, when God told them to go into the promised land at Kadesh Barnea, they wanted to spy out the land first. But, after receiving negative reports from 10 of the 12 men who had spied out the land for forty days, the Israelites refused to go into the land. Rather, they wanted to go back to Egypt.
 
As a result, God made the Israelites wander the wilderness for forty years. During that time, most of the first generation of the exodus died in the wilderness.
 
After that, God started to guide them to the promised land again. But this time, they had to cross the Jordan River, which meant that they had to go through the land of Edom.
 
Moses sent messengers to the king of Edom to see if they could go through the land, but the king refused. So, the Israelites had to take a detour to get to the Jordan River. But because they were so tired of living in the wilderness, their hearts became hardened on the way.
 
They began to speak against God and Moses, saying, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!” (Num 21: 5)
 
They complained because they failed to remember what God had done to deliver them out of Egypt. It was the Israelites who had cried out to the Lord for help because when they were slaves in Egypt.
 
God heard their cry and saved them through His miraculous power by sending 10 plagues and dividing the Red Sea. Moreover, God protected them in the wilderness from the heat of the day and the cold of the night with His pillars of cloud and fire. God gave them water to drink from rocks and gave them food every morning. It was solely because of God’s grace and provision that the Israelites were able to get out of Egypt and survive in the wilderness for such a long time.
 
But they forgot all of that in the face of difficult situations. They should’ve remembered God’s grace and faithfulness and followed Him. They should’ve relied on God, trusting His power, wisdom, and provision that they had clearly seen while living in the wilderness.
 
But they only thought about the good things they had enjoyed in Egypt, while forgetting about how hard their lives had been as slaves. That’s what sin does. Sin makes us see the good things of the world while ignoring God’s goodness. Sin makes us focus on the difficulties we face because of our faith in God, while blinding us to His great gifts, blessings, and promises.
 
That’s what we should focus on more. Otherwise, our hearts will quickly become hardened and we’ll complain to God about things we don’t have while not giving thanks to Him for what He has done and will do for us.
 
If we remember what God has done for us and trust in His promises, we won’t be moved by anything in this world. Rather, we’ll be victorious in every situation through our complete trust and faith in God. I believe that’s what Paul meant when he said, “We live by faith, not by sight” (2Co 5:7)
 
God sent snakes to bite the Israelites who were against Him and even criticized the food He had given them out of His grace. Once they were bitten, they died. But when the Israelites repented of their complaints, God gave them the way to live.
 
God said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” (Nm 21:8)
 
So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. And, when anyone bitten by a snake looked at the bronze snake, they lived. What’s important is that the snake lifted up in the wilderness foreshadows what Jesus would do for us.
 
We were spiritually bitten by the snake because we were deceived by the serpent, Satan, and heading to eternal death as a result. But the good news is that Jesus Christ was hung on the cross like the bronze snake lifted up in the wilderness to be cursed, subject to God’s wrath, and crucified on our behalf.
 
The curse, wrath, and death He endured were meant for us because it was us who sinned, but still Jesus willingly bore our sins in His body and sacrificed His life on the cross in our place to rescue us from sin and death and give us His life instead.
 
That’s the gospel of Jesus Christ. And what we see from Jesus’ noble sacrifice on the cross is how much He loves us, because “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (Jn 15:13)
 
The Cross
Now, I want us to think more about the bronze snake in the wilderness and how it relates to Jesus’ crucifixion.
 
The cross may be the most famous symbol in the world. You could probably find a cross every day if you really look. Some people hang a cross in their car, and some people wear a cross necklace. There are not many people who don’t know what the symbol means—the death of Jesus on the cross.
 
But not everyone who knows the meaning of the cross comes to Jesus. The Bible says, “whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life,” but there are still not many people who look at the cross and believe in Jesus.
 
It’s interesting to see the difference between how Christians and non-Christians view the cross. Why is it so different, and how should we, as Christians, look at it? That’s what I want us to think about today.
 
Going back to the wilderness, Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole as God told him to. Moses said that anyone who looked at the snake would live. But it’s likely that not everyone who was bitten by the snakes looked at it. Even though the Bible doesn’t say how many people looked at the snake, there might have been people who died simply because they didn’t look at it.
 
It wouldn’t have been hard to look at the snake. They could have just turned their heads, lifted their eyes, and looked. But, I think there were two potential obstacles that kept the Israelites from seeing the snake.
 
1. An Unattractive Figure
The first one might be that the bronze snake was not attractive enough to catch their attention.
 
Moses made the bronze snake in a very urgent situation where people were dying from snake bites. He likely didn’t have enough time to make the snake well. He couldn’t make it delicately. So, it probably didn't look good.
 
If the snake had been really big, colorful, and made with gold, people would have been drawn to it. But the snake was made out of bronze in a hurry, so it wouldn’t naturally catch people’s attention. It might have been harder for the Israelites to believe that the flimsy, low-grade snake would heal them.
 
2. Unreasonableness
Another obstacle that kept the Israelites from seeing the snake might be that it was irrational to do so.
 
Imagine that while you are dying of a snake bite and in severe pain, someone comes to you and says, “Oh, you’ve been bitten. It must be very painful, but I know how you can be healed! There’s a bronze snake out there. Just go and look at it, then you will be healed!” How would you react to this?
 
If I heard that, I'd think the person was joking. It’s totally irrational. How could just looking at the snake heal the snake bite?
 
If God had taught Moses how to make an antidote, and if he had made it and let people drink it, no one would have refused it because it would have been rational and believable.
 
But, being told that you will be healed by looking at the snake is totally irrational. That may have been the main reason they didn’t look at it.
 
I think these two obstacles are still the main reasons that people are hesitant to believe in Jesus.
 
There are a lot of people who have already heard the good news of Jesus Christ. They know that if they believe in Jesus, their sins will be forgiven and they will have eternal life. The condition is so simple. You just have to believe in Him. You can just look at Jesus on the cross.
 
But still, as I said earlier, not many people who know the meaning of the cross choose to believe in Jesus. They might wear a cross necklace because it looks cool, but still they don’t look to Jesus who actually died on it. And I think they don’t believe in Jesus because of the two obstacles the Israelites faced in the wilderness.
 
The apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians, “Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles” (1Co 1:22)
 
Here, Paul describes two ways people think of the crucifixion of Jesus—a stumbling block and foolishness.
 
1. The Cross: A Stumbling Block
First, Jesus Christ is a stumbling block to the Jews. Even though Jesus Himself was a Jew, a lot of Jews didn’t believe in Him. Rather, they persecuted Him and crucified Him. And the Bible says Jesus Christ was a stumbling block to the Jews because they were people who sought signs.
 
Their ancestors experienced many signs. Signs from God were an integral part of Jewish culture and history. So, they always looked for special signs.
 
One time, some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus and said to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.” (Mt 12:38).
 
They wouldn’t believe in Jesus until they saw Him perform a definite sign. But Jesus didn’t show them any sign. Rather, He said, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah” (Mt 12:39)
 
Jesus didn’t perform a sign for them because He didn’t want the sign to be the basis of their faith. No matter what special experiences or testimonies we have, they shouldn’t be the basis of our faith. They might serve as tools through which we come to Jesus, but signs themselves shouldn’t be the only reason we believe in Him. Only Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection must form the foundation of our salvation.
 
So, for the Jews, the cross was a stumbling block because it looked trivial to them.
 
Even while Jesus was dying on the cross, they kept demanding signs from Him. Matthew 27:41-42 says, “…The chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him” (Mt 27:41-42).
 
If Jesus had miraculously come down from the cross with twelve legions of angels and conquered the Roman Empire, surely they would have believed in Him. He technically had the power to do so.
 
When being arrested by soldiers, Jesus said, “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?” (Mt 26:53).
 
But still, Jesus chose to die powerlessly on the cross without any signs or miracles, not because He was unable to perform them, but because He wanted to fulfill God’s will, namely, our salvation.
 
If Jesus had just come down from the cross with His power, those who were there would’ve believed that He was truly the Son of God, but God’s plan to achieve perfect salvation through His Son’s death and resurrection wouldn’t have been accomplished.
 
So, Jesus’ cross was unattractive to them. It didn’t seem special or miraculous. Rather, it was a place of condemnation and mockery. The appearance of the cross was a stumbling block to the Jews.
 
2. The Cross: Foolishness to Gentiles
Second, Paul says that the cross is foolishness to the Gentiles. Although many Gentiles believed in Jesus during the time when Paul preached the gospel, there were still many Gentiles who didn’t believe in Him because it sounded foolish to them. The gospel was incomprehensible to them based on their knowledge and philosophy.
 
During Paul’s third mission trip, he went to Athens and preached the good news there.
 
At that time, Athens was really famous for philosophy. While he was there, Paul debated about Jesus Christ with some philosophers.
 
Acts 17:18 says, “A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” (Ac 17:18)
 
They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. And this is how they responded to Paul when they heard about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
 
Acts 17:32 says, “When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject” (Ac 17:32)
 
Many of them sneered at Paul because the resurrection of the dead sounded like total nonsense to them. They couldn’t understand the fact that God came down in the form of human flesh and died on the cross to save others.
 
They likely thought that if Jesus was really the Son of God, it would have been much better for Him to build His kingdom with all heavenly knowledge, wisdom, and power.
 
How could the Son of God die powerlessly, and how could the death of one man affect all people on earth? How could His blood cleanse all people’s sins? How could He be resurrected from the dead? None of it made sense to them. So, they didn’t believe in Jesus because the gospel sounded irrational and thus foolish to them.
 
It's the same today. A lot of people don’t believe in Jesus because they can’t understand it rationally. There are many non-believers who say, “I don’t believe in the Bible or God because it doesn’t make sense scientifically. Prove that He is real, then I'll believe in Him." 
 
They don’t believe in Him because their own wisdom prevents them from accepting the gospel as the truth. From their perspective, the cross looks foolish because it makes no sense.
 
These are the two reasons that prevented the Jews and the Gentiles from believing in Jesus. Just as the Israelites didn’t look at the bronze snake because it looked unattractive and trivial, the Jews didn’t believe in Jesus on the cross because there were no special signs there. And just as the Israelites didn’t look at the snake because it didn’t make sense to them, the Gentiles didn’t receive the gospel because they couldn’t understand it based on their knowledge and wisdom.
 
But, we shouldn’t let these two obstacles hinder us from looking at Jesus.
 
The Cross: The Power and Wisdom of God
After saying that the cross is a stumbling block to the Jews who demand signs and foolishness to the Gentiles who look for wisdom, Paul continues, let’s read it together,
 
“But to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength” (1Co 1:24-25).
 
Let’s read 1 Corinthians 1:18 and 21 as well.
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God… For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe” (1 Co 1:18,21)
 
Even though the cross doesn’t seem attractive and powerful, it is indeed the power of God because the blood Jesus shed on the cross has the power to cleanse our sins and save us from death.
 
Although the cross doesn’t sound rational based on our limited knowledge, it’s the wisdom of God. It looks foolish not because it actually is foolish but because we can never fathom God’s wisdom which transcends all our reasoning, imagination, and knowledge.
 
Those who don’t know God may consider us foolish because our faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ makes no sense to them. But still, we should continue to proclaim that only through Jesus Christ, can we be saved from our sins and eternal death.
 
That’s what I hope God will do today in our minds. I pray that God opens our minds and hearts so that we may see the cross as the power and wisdom of God beyond our limited knowledge. I pray that we may look at Jesus Christ, who was crucified because of our sins but raised to give us true life.
 
Let’s pray.
 
[Closing Prayer]
 
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1Co 1:18)
 
Heavenly Father, thank You for giving us this precious opportunity to think about who Jesus is and what He did to save us. We proclaim that Jesus Christ is Your Son whom You sent from heaven in order to save us from our sins and death.
 
Oh Lord, there are many things that make us doubt the gospel and hinder us from looking at Jesus crucified on the cross and risen from the grave. Have mercy on us and allow us to overcome our unbelief.
 
We ask that You clear all the doubts in our hearts and fill them with the Holy Spirit instead so that we may walk in truth. Bless us and let us have deeper faith in Jesus Christ so that we may understand how wise and powerful His name is.
 
Oh Lord, we want to live by faith, not by sight. Continue to guide us to Your truth and empower us through the Holy Spirit so that we can boldly proclaim that Jesus Christ is the risen Savior through our words and actions in the world.
 
We thank You for everything You’ve done for us.
We pray in the precious name of Jesus Christ, crucified but risen, Amen.
 
[Reflection Questions]
1. Do you believe that Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead for our sins? If so, how did you come to believe in Him?
 
2. What do you think are some obstacles that prevent people from believing in Jesus? What would you say to people who don’t believe in Him because they think the cross is foolish?
 
3. Have you doubted the gospel of Jesus Christ? Where did your doubts come from? How did you overcome them?