Good day dear friends. We thank the Lord for the needed rain! Though it is a bit uneasy for this servant as we're staying right on the Guadalupe River on a mini-retreat. I shared with you that Rev. Barbara Galloway-Edgar had suffered a mild stroke and she is home and undergoing more tests during this week. I believe nothing permanent has affected her and we thank God that she is up and around. Please continue to hold her in your thoughts and prayers. Tomorrow, Wednesday, our brother Hal Blythe is undergoing eye surgery in San Marcos. Please pray for Hal and his successful operation and recovery.
We continue to talk about Christ's suffering and today's study guide takes us to the Old Testament:
Tuesday: Read Numbers 21:4-9. This is the story of Moses having to make a pole with a serpent on it. Read why this was necessary and the outcome of this interesting story. There is life on that pole, is what the story is saying. Compare that to the “pole” where Christ was lifted up. Is there not life on that pole for you and me?
Here is that passage (NRSV): Numbers 21:4 From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; but the people became impatient on the way. 5 The people spoke against God and against Moses, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food." 6 Then the Lord sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died. 7 The people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord to take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people. 8 And the Lord said to Moses, "Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live." 9 So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live."
The Old Testament understanding was that if you spoke against God you would suffer the consequences of that action. In this passage, the people "became impatient" and "spoke against God and against Moses." The complaint was there was no food and no water, yet they say in the same sentence they detested "this miserable food." They had food and the water was coming, but it was not to their liking and not to their timing. The area in which they were walking was infested with snakes and the snakes began to bite many and many died. This caused the people to reflect on their thoughts and actions and they realized they shouldn't have said what they did against God and came to Moeses to pray on their behalf to take away the snakes from them.
The Lord directed Moses to make a bronze serpent (this from other versions, this one says "a poisonous serpent"), and to put it upon a pole. That pole once lifted up would serve as a life-giving instrument. Those bit by the snakes could look upon it and be healed from their snake bites.
Jesus knew this story and he knew the comparison one could draw from this experience in the wilderness and the one awaiting Him. In the same way that life was received by those who looked upon that pole in the desert, so could those who, with faith, looked upon the cross upon which He was to be lifted. To look upon the cross of Jesus in remembrance and thankfulness, and to ask that our sins be nailed there with Christ, is to receive the fullness of life. With the death of those sins comes the death of our guilt, shame, etc. that for too long we've carried around because of our sins. For the ancient Hebrew to look upon that pole was to admit his/her sin against God and to, at the same time, receive life and new opportunities to live as a faithful child of God. In the same way, we can look to Christ for forgiveness and new life in Him.
PRAYER: GOD of life, come to me and set me free. Let me see with faith that on that cross Your Son Jesus died for me and has delivered a new opportunity for reconcilation and relationship with You. Put to death the guilt and shame that for too long I've carried around with me because of my sin. Give me the fullness of life. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Have a great and blessed day!
e.v.
