Listen here.
Welcome to
Devotions for Worship where we meditate on the appointed Scripture readings for
the upcoming Sunday. I am Pastor Eric Tritten from Gloria Dei Lutheran Church
in Hudson, OH.
Thank you for
being with me today.
A couple days ago
we read Jesus’ comments about being lifted up the same way that Moses lifted up
the serpent in the wilderness. Today we will read that account.
The Old Testament
Lesson for the 4th Sunday of Lent is Numbers 21:4-9
The Reading:
Numbers 21:4-9
From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to
go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. 5
And 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 loathe this worthless food." 6 Then the LORD sent fiery
serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of
Israel died. 7 And the people came to Moses and said, "We have
sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD,
that he take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people. 8
And the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole,
and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live." 9 So
Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone,
he would look at the bronze serpent and live. (Num. 21:4-9 ESV)
Comments
One of the
struggles Israel had as they followed God through the wilderness, was that they
were prone to grumbling … and that is a gross understatement. They continuously
grumbled against God and against Moses.
Often when I am
teaching on Luther’s explanations of the Commandments, which all begin with the
phrase, “We should fear and love God,” someone will ask, “Doesn’t God love us? Why
should we fear God?” Not to be flip, but this is why we should fear God. It
remains an option for Him, when people grumble and complain and act faithlessly
to send in a hoard of poisonous snakes. That is, as Luther says, “God threatens
to punish all who break these commandments. Therefore, we should fear His wrath
and not do anything against them.”
These events are
a demonstration of what our sins deserve. It seems harsh, and part of me echoes
the line from Raiders of the Lost Ark, when Indiana Jones says, “Snakes! Why
did it have to be snakes!” But whatever the worst punishment that you can think
of for sin might be, our sin deserves that and more! And in the end, we
remember that the wages of sin is death.
But God is not
only a God of wrath. Again, from Luther, “[God] promises grace and every
blessing to all who keep these commandments. Therefore, we should also love and
trust in Him and gladly do what He commands.” God’s mercy moved Him to instruct
Moses to put the image of one of the serpents … one of the causes of suffering
and death in Israel’s midst … and promised that anyone who looked on the
serpent after they were bitten would be saved. The looking was an act of faith,
trusting God’s promise, and faith received what God promised with that look.
God does something
very similar with Jesus. When Jesus was lifted up on the cross, God made Him
who knew no sin to be sin for us. Jesus became the image of the cause of our
suffering and death – he became sin for us – and God has promised that when we
look on Him in faith, believing that here is our Savior who was crucified for
us, we will be saved. The looking is an act of faith, trusting God’s promise,
and faith receives what God promised with that look – forgiveness of sins,
everlasting life, and every blessing.
Meditate on this
today: God’s wrath is a terrible things – as bad as loads of poisonous snakes –
but His mercy and grace are even greater than His wrath. But He doesn’t just
forget what our sins deserves – Jesus received God’s wrath so that we can be
healed by faith.
If you are
inclined, you might check out Michael Card’s excellent song on this reading. It
is called Lift Up the Suffering Symbol.
I’ve put a link in the print version of this devotion. You just need to click
on the title of the song.
Prayers
O God, when
Israel grumbled You showed Your wrath by sending poisonous snakes among them,
but in Your mercy you gave a way to save them – the image of the cause of their
suffering raised upon a pole. Thank You for giving Jesus in a similar way to
become sin for us and to be lifted up so that when we look upon Him we might be
healed, forgiven, and given a new life. Please forgive us for our sins, the
sins we know and the sins we don’t know, the sins we commit unintentionally and
those we do rebelliously, the sins we commit by failing to do as we ought to
do, please forgive them all. Give us hope and joy in Jesus’ salvation, and let
that salvation change our hearts, our minds, and our lives so that we live
according to Your will out of love for You, through Jesus Christ, your Son, our
Lord we pray. Amen.
Memory Verse:
Joel 2:13 - Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious
and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents
over disaster. (Joel 2:13 ESV)
Thank you so much
for using Devotions for Worship, I pray that our time together has blessed you
and given you something to meditate on – some reminder of God’s grace to rattle
around in your brain – for the rest of the day.
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God bless you!
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