Exodus 17:1-7: Drive-Thru Complaint Deprartment

 Presented to TSA Alberni Valley Ministries, 19 March 2023 by Major Michael Ramsay 

Do you ever get the idea that God is trying to tell you something? There might be something He is trying to teach me about Exodus 17:1-7. In a span of a couple of days, we read Exodus 17 in our family devotions, it was the text at a service we went to at the Gospel Hall, it showed up in my personal devotions, and was referenced in the lectionary when I was looking for texts to preach on the other week. With all of these hints I thought I should spend some time reflecting on this passage this week; so that is what we are doing today. And then this morning, if I was having any last moment doubts, as I was scrolling through Facebook while procrastinating reading through my message, I ran across this quote in my memories from 2017, "Great message today from Rev Deb Rapport at 77 River on Exodus 17:1-7." So here it goes...

 

The people are grumbling about God to Moses in Chapter 17 because they have nothing to drink. And In Chapter 16, they were grumbling about God to Moses because they had nothing to eat – Is God a waiter to bring them food and drink? Or is God the cook and Moses the waiter and the people have so many complaints about the food and the cook that they just keep complaining to Moses: ‘Take this back’, ‘I don’t like that’ ‘Tell the cook this!’ ‘Bring me that!’

 

I don’t think I am generally a whiny costumer, but I do have one story of being a little short with a fast-food restaurant’s drive-thru staff. A long time ago in a province far, far away, I was with my two little children going through an A&W Drive-Thru. Being that my children are vegetarians, I ordered them something with no meat: a grilled cheese sandwich, cheese on a toasted bun. The voice in the drive-thru box said, “I don’t think we can do that”. I replied, “sure you can: first you take the bun out of the package; then you toast it and then you put the cheese on it.” They did. My little children loved the episode immensely and still remember that incident to this day, even now as they are all grown up and moved away – the day we told the restaurant how to make a grilled cheese sandwich.

 

The Israelites here are being whiney drive-thru customers as they are travelling across the desert, telling Moses exactly what they want and how they want it. They are pretty dramatic about it as well: Chapter 16, about the food, verses 3-4, The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.” And then after God and Moses give them meat and bread of Heaven in the very next chapter, Chapter 17:2, 'So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.”'

 

And just before their whining and complaining about the food and water, just before these stories take place, is the parting of the Red Sea – remember how the people came to Moses about God then? Exodus 14:11-12: They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!” And so it goes…Exodus 17:2, 'So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.”'

 

The Israelites have developed a pattern of whining and complaining in their lives. If you look back at Chapter 16 you can see that people responded a little differently about the instructions they were given about the food: some obeyed, some did not; but it seems like the majority of them complained. And sometimes their complaints made me wonder, ‘do these people even believe in God?’ 17:7: “Is the Lord among us or not?” The fact that they are always going to Moses and/or Moses and Aaron with their complaints sound to me like they almost think that Moses might even be just making this whole God-thing up. You can see how Moses – and GOD – get quite upset with the people as recorded in the book of Exodus!

 

The people are so focused on the apparently bad things; the people are so focused on the difficult things (which they interpret as bad); the people are so  focused on the challenging things (which they interpret as bad); the people are so focused on an imagined ideal, comparing it to an imagined reality that falls short in their minds, so they are not happy and so they whine and so they complain about God and their leaders.

 

It is SO easy to do! …so tempting too! Whine and complain! Whine and complain about our leaders! I was able to see Pierre Poilievre, the Leader of Canada’s Official Opposition on Thursday. Gord Johns, our MP has agreed this week to appear on Heather’s TV Show (HTV: Heather’s Talk in the Valley); It is so easy to complain – either about politicians or in agreement with their complaints about other politicians or the government. Politicians are often simply people doing a difficult job and we often find something to complain about them – whether we have ever even met them or not! I remember being blessed to serve from the food truck alongside both Josie Osbourne (our MLA) and Gord Johns (our MP) at Christmas time and chatting briefly about just that: no matter what we say or do, someone will always complain! I know I can be frustrated by others complaining about me, both if I do something and if I don’t do the same thing… and so you think I would know better than to complain about others, but alas, I can still be tempted to complain about so and so, or this and that, and grumble and whine against our leaders or someone else… just like the Israelites

 

And this can be trouble. When we get into a habit of complaining and thinking negative thoughts, it can be hard to even see good in people we love. Whining and complaining about people in our lives and/or things out of our control can be all-encompassing and can really drag us down. We can get so that almost every thought is negative. Philippians 2:14: Do everything without grumbling or arguing

 

Do we ever get like this? Do we ever whine and complain? Do we ever get worked up about things that we know nothing about, things that are out of our control, things that are turning out just they way they are supposed to turn out, things that are turning out just the way they were always likely to turn out - and then do we whine about them to ourselves or others and in the process make life a lot more difficult for ourselves and everyone else!?!

 

When we are in a difficult spot, do we look to God expecting a miracle and wondering what it might be and how He might do it? Or do we complain about our leaders, our circumstances, and/or God? Do we ever whine and complain so much that if people read stories about us, like we do about the Israelites in the desert, that many of the stories would be about how much we whine… about our government (Trudeau this, Liberals, NDP, or Conservatives, that) … about our church leaders (Headquarters! or Major said this or did that!), our bosses (That Major again!), or one another (so and so always does this or never does that; why do I always have to…) do we ever whine so much that people might ask of us, “Is the Lord among them or not?” and/or “do they even believe in God?”

 

Whining and complaining can certainly come across to others as if we don’t believe in God. If we are always complaining about our lives, it certainly does look like we don’t believe that the Lord will and is taking care of us; it certainly looks like we don’t have faith in God.

 

Even worse than how it might appear, complaining can actually get in the way of our relationship with one another and with God. It can pull us away from a life of peace. Grumbling and complaining is destructive and it can be addictive like any drug or any other bad habit and it can be very destructive to our soul, our mental health, our spiritual well-being. We find what we look for: the more we look for bad things in our lives to complain about, the more we find them; the more talk about the bad things in our lives, the more we notice bad things in our lives, the more we listen to (and so encourage others to talk about) complaints about bad things in others’ lives, the more we focus on the bad things in their and our lives. And when we complain about the bad things, it is easy for us to be overcome by those bad things. But, on the other hand, when we focus on God; when we look for what God is doing in the world and in our lives, when we look to see how He will deliver us through our challenges, when we have faith in God, He can deliver us from anything, even a grumbling and complaining spirit. Jesus is, after all, the Prince of Peace.

 

God and Moses wanted the people to be free of the grumbling spirit that was trying to tear them from Him. You notice that all through the Exodus story, God never gives up on the Israelites. He keeps providing food for them even though they complain about it throughout. Even though they complain along the whole journey and ask, “Is the Lord among us or not?”, He continues to lead them, loving them so much that He hopes and encourages them to be free of the rain cloud of despair and complaint and to experience His Peace instead.

 

And He wishes the same for us. The temptation to grumble can certainly be strong. God knows that. And even though it seems like our complaining can be all-encompassing, tortuous, and must be exasperating even to God, He does love us, and He does want us to be free and at peace. We have that opportunity today so I encourage us all to give our worries and complaints over to Him for when we do then indeed even we can have our spirit at peace, for Jesus Himself is the Prince of peace.

 

Let us pray

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Deuteronomy 6:1-12: Songs of Salvation.

Presented to 614 Warehouse Mission, 30 April 2017, and Alberni Valley Ministries, 23 October 2022, by Major Michael Ramsay

  

This is the 2022 Alberni Valley version. To view the original 2017 Toronto version, click here: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2017/04/deuteronomy-61-12-childrens-songs.html

  

I understand that Terri, Rena and Tim’s daughter, just got back from seeing Elton John; friends of mine saw Gordon Lightfoot this weekend. My older daughters and I this summer went to see a number of bands from the 70s and 80s playing in Seattle (which we had been waiting to see since before Covid-19). It is a lot of fun.

            The best part of going to see bands from yester-year play is the memories attached to the old songs and the opportunity to share those and new memories with my kids. We have seen a lot of shows together: Meat Loaf, Joan Jett, Def Leppard, GNR, Deep Purple, Alice Cooper and more. Alice Cooper by the way is an outspoken Christian and the son of a preacher. I actually saw Alice Cooper in concert when I was 17 years-old and then 30 years later, when we lived in Toronto, I was able to see him with my then 16 and 15 year-old daughters. This sort of thing is what our text today is about: sharing our memories with our kids so they can experience all the joy we did and so we can add even more to those memories together. This may even be exactly what is happening in our text today, Moses is probably bringing the Deuteronomy generation to hear the same Ten Commandments play at Mt Sinai that the Exodus generation had heard with him, decades previous.[1]

            In our Scriptures today Moses is talking to the children of the people he received the 10 Commandments with. It is important that children are reminded of, remember and participate in their parents’ experiences. It is important to remember what the Lord has done. When we fail to remember our culture, we lose it; when we fail to remember our past, we lose our future; when we fail to remember what defines us as a people then we cease to be a nation;[3] and when we fail to remember our salvation with our children, then future generations may not experience that salvation anymore (Deuteronomy 8:19-20).[4] This may be what is happening in Canada today. This is what Moses is driving home with this next generation of Israelites. This is important. Don't just hope that our children and children’s children will learn something from a teacher, preacher, or priest. Don't just hope they'll learn life's lessons by accident. Sharing our faith history is our responsibility. Our very survival depends on what we remember from the past and how we carry that into the future.[5]

            In our world today, songs are a great way to bring memories and knowledge and experiences forward to a new generation. I am going to list some songs and see if you can tell me who sang them for one generation or the next [Answers in footnote below]:[6] (1) Cats in the Cradle (2) Signs (3) You're so Vain (4) California Girls (5) Knocking on Heaven’s Door (6) Live and Let Die (7) Landslide (8) Johnny B Goode

            I remember turning on the radio a few years ago and... There is this old Irish folk song – generations old – called 'Whiskey in the Jar'. I don’t know if anyone here knows that song or not. Susan knows all kinds of old folk songs. She really likes some of those old-fashioned numbers and so as a result I was familiar with it. Well, I got in the car one day, turned on the local radio station, and - I don’t know if anyone here is familiar with Metallica, they are a near-contemporary heavy metal band - I heard them doing a heavy metal rendition of this old Irish folk song. I was sort of in shock. I began to think of all the remakes of songs that I have heard over the years. Many times the remakes were my first exposure to the song and it got me thinking: When the words of an old song are put to a new tune they become accessible to a new generation. As we continue to sing these same songs in new ways, we remain faithful to their intent, passing it onto our children and to our children’s children.  This is like our personal testimonies and conversations about the Lord. When we put the gospel message of salvation into our own words, in our own tune and share it with our own children then we are indeed passing that eternal truth of salvation down from one generation to the next.

           When we were in Toronto, our WT leader, Krys Val (Warehouse Mission Band) would write new lyrics to popular tunes from the 60s, 70s and 80s - all of us would then hear the gospel expressed in music that resonates in our hearts and souls and memories and hopefully every time we hear that familiar, sometimes timeless tune we can remember what the Lord has done for us, with us, through us and in us.

            This is what our Scripture today sees Moses doing with the Deuteronomy generation.[7] God, through Moses, says of the lyrics of the 10 Commandments (Deuteronomy 6:7-9):

Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

 

            Moses wants the people to remember even more than just the words to these 10 Commands, of course. The Bible says God remembered Israel when they were in slavery. Now, will they remember Him when they are free? God remembers us when we are struggling. Do we remember Him when we are free? We may turn to God when things are bad; do we turn away from Him when we feel free to live our life for ourselves?[8] Do we remember what God has done for us as we are delivered from our problems? Do we remember how God saved those alongside us? Do we remember how God saved our family members before us? Do we remember how God saved our fore-parents in this country?  

Do we remember the things that God did for the Israelites before he brought them out of Egypt? How did God reveal himself to Pharaoh? Remember the Passover? Remember the plagues (Exodus 7-12)? When Sarah-Grace was 12 years-old, we hit the road with an excellent sermon she preached about the plagues.[9] Do we remember the plagues God used to save the children of Israel? What were they? Snakes, blood, frogs, gnats, flies, cows (dead livestock), boils, hail, locusts, darkness, death of the first born. God wants Israel to remember their salvation from, in and through these plagues. God wants them to remember how they were saved as death passed them over. And God wants us to remember also how generations and a testament later, Jesus won the ultimate victory over death so that we all might live. This is what Easter and Good Friday are all about.

            We are just about to come into the Advent season. We have many traditions around Advent: scripture readings, songs (Carols), candle lighting, and more

            When we invite our children and grandchildren to participate in Advent services; when we bring friends and family to Christmas pageants, when we invite people to a church service anytime of the year with us, we are carrying on that salvation tradition and experience.

            When we bring our children and grandchildren to church we remember and experience corporate worship and salvation together as a family. When we read our Bibles with our children and grandchildren and friends, we pass along the stories of salvation from one generation to the next - we show them what is important by what we do with each other; and as we read the Bible together, as we each experience our glorious personal salvation we can see how that fits in with salvation history and how we are included in the salvation of the whole world.

 

            When we say grace with future generations before dinner - whether at home or in public - we are teaching others the importance of prayer. When we say grace, when we pray in public, we may even be unknowingly encouraging even strangers to be faithful. They might see us and then remember that indeed they prayed with their parents as a kid and then head home and pass on that marker and catalyst for that same salvation relationship with their own children; and then they may experience that same access to all the power, mercy, grace and glory of God.

So, as Hebrews 10:25 extols us, let us not stop meeting together as some are in the habit of doing. Let us not stop singing our songs of salvation with new generations. Let us always read the stories of Noah, Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Jesus Christ with our children, our children's children, our friends, and our family. This week, let us resolve to take the Good News of Salvation and share it with everyone we meet so that they and we may experience the fullness of God's love today and forever more.                          

Let us pray.

---

[1] Cf. Thompson, J. A., Deuteronomy: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1974 (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries 5), S. 128

[2]Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay, 'Deuteronomy 8: The Next Generation Thanks The Lord' (Sheepspeak.com: Swift Current, 09 October 2011). Available on-line:http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2011/10/deuteronomy-8-next-generation-thanks.html

[3]Cf. Thomas E. McComiskey, The Expositor's Bible Commentary,  PradisCD-ROM:Amos/Introduction to Amos/Theological Values of Amos/The doctrine of election in Amos, Book Version: 4.0.2; cf. also Willy Schottroff, “To Perceive, To Know,” in Theological Lexicon of the Old Testament, Volume 3 eds. Ernst Jenni and Claus Westermann (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 1997),516.

[4]Deuteronomy 8:19-20: “If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. Like the nations the LORD destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the LORD your God.”

[5] Luciano C. Chianeque and Samuel Ngewa, '6:10-25: The Importance of Remembering', Africa Bible Commentary, (Nairobi, Kenya: Word Alive Publishers, 2010), 222.

[6] Cats in the Cradle (Harry Chapin, Ugly Kid Joe), Signs (Five Man Electrical Band), You're so Vain (Carlie Simon, Faster Pussy Cat), California Girls (Beach Boys, David Lee Roth), Knocking on Heaven’s Door (Bob Dylan, GNR), Live and Let Die (Paul McCarthy, GNR), Landslide (Fleetwood Mac, Smashing Pumpkins), Johnny B Goode (Chuck Berry, Elvis, Judas Priest, AC DC, Motorhead, etc).

[7]Cf. Ronald E. Clements, The Book of Deuteronomy, (NIB II: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 1998), 355.

[8] Cf. Luciano C. Chianeque and Samuel Ngewa, '6:10-25: The Importance of Remembering', Africa Bible Commentary, (Nairobi, Kenya: Word Alive Publishers, 2010), 222.

[9] Sarah-Grace Ramsay, Plague Pops – Salvation only comes from God (Exodus 7-12). Presented to Maple Creek Corps of The Salvation Army, 10 August, 2014 and Swift Current, 17 August 2014, available online: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2014/08/plague-pops-salvation-only-comes-from.html

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Exodus 7:8-13: EDSS Snakes Reunion!

Presented to Alberni Valley Ministries, Port Alberni BC, 14 October 2018 and Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 29 June 2014 by Captain Michael Ramsay.

This is the 2018 version. To read the 2014 version, click here: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2014/06/exodus-78-13-cane-snake.html 

   

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron,  “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Perform a miracle,’ then say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,’ and it will become a snake.”

            So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake. Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts: each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. Yet Pharaoh’s heart became hard and he would not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.

There are a number of items and ideas that jump out at one as we read through this sign that God performs for Pharaoh through Moses and Aaron.

1)      We notice that not only can God do this sign but so can wise men, sorcerers and even Egyptian magicians. They can all turn their staffs into snakes.

2)      Aaron’s staff snake eats and swallows the others

3)      Pharaoh’s heart became hard and he won’t let them go.

First let us get a bit of an image in our mind of the scene painted before us in Exodus 7:8-13. Aaron and Moses are coming into Pharaoh’s palace.[3] This must be like an old homecoming of sorts for Moses. It would be like a High School Reunion. Apparently our MP, Gord Johns, and I graduated from MT Doug in Victoria. I don’t recall ever meeting him before I moved here and though I may have gone to my 10th Grade 12 Grad reunion I know I didn’t go to my 20th, 25th, or 30th or any others. I do know that many people tell stories about what happens when they do go to reunions. They notice who has lost hair and they notice who has gained weight; they notice who has children and who has even grandchildren; they notice who has become rich or famous; they notice who is divorced or never married. They also notice how much the school has changed or remained the same. Anyone here every gone to a school reunion? Think of your old school and your old friends; when you see them the old stories and feelings come flooding back.

Moses in our story today is returning to a palace that he would have spent some time in and around – at least as a teenager or young adult (Exodus 2:5-10) - and a pharaoh who is probably in some way related to him: a step or foster brother or cousin, someone he may have even known as a teenager or a young man, or this pharaoh may even be the child or grandchild of someone he may have grown up with. Moses in our story today is eighty years old and his brother Aaron is eighty-three (Exodus 7:7). It has been a long time since he left the Egyptian District Secondary School (had their been one, of course!). Picture yourself as an 80 year-old returning to your high school for the first time or visiting the old family home that you haven’t seen since before you got married. This is what it may have been like for Moses as he stands before Pharaoh - who is probably a relative of his foster mom or a step-relative of some kind who he hasn’t seen since he was a young man. Now Moses is eighty, standing in the halls of this building he once knew so well, talking to types people he used to know so well and challenging these people like maybe he used to do sixty or seventy years ago in this very building. This is the scene before us today: an 80 year-old at a school and/or a family reunion.

Now this 80 year-old Moses and his 83 year-old brother throw his cane –that’s what a staff is – this octogenarian throws his cane to the ground, it turns into a snake and then – I guess – while this snake is moving along the ground, Pharaoh sends messengers out to find wise men, sorcerers, and even some magicians. I doubt they were all in the palace. They probably weren’t even all in the city. Pharaoh’s men would have had to go find them. I don’t know what they did in the interim whether Moses and Aaron picked up the snake staff and waited outside or whether they all just stood there and looked at this snake. At any rate these wise men, sorcerers and even magicians finally arrive and this brings us to our first observation for today:

1)  Not only can God, Moses and Aaron do this sign but also all these wise men, sorcerers and even the Egyptian magicians. They all turn their staffs into snakes.

Does anybody else find this interesting? I can’t turn a staff into a snake. Now some people have suggested that all of these wise men, sorcerers, and magicians somehow hypnotised some snakes so that they would stand rigid for a long time and disguised them as canes and then as soon as they throw them to the ground they snap out of it and wriggle along the floor.[4] That would be a neat trick – unlikely – but a neat trick nonetheless. Now some other people have suggested that all of these wise men, sorcerers, and magicians had somehow simply done a slight of hand merely creating the illusion of making the staff a snake but there is a problem or two with that idea as well: the main one being that the Bible doesn’t pretend that they were tricking.[5] It simply says that they could do this just like Moses and Aaron could do this. And as you read through the other sign that Moses and Aaron perform for Pharaoh at the commencement of the plagues – turning the Nile to blood – the magicians can do that too and even the subsequent plague; the Bible records that the magicians – on command - conjured up frogs to further devastate their own lands. This seems to be more than a slight of hand. At any rate,

Observation 1: this turning of an eighty year-old gentleman’s cane into a snake doesn’t seem to impress everyone and it appears that anyone in this field of work was able to do this same thing. [6]

In the end, this miracle, this sign, seems to be something that the magicians, the politicians (the officials) and Pharaoh himself can simply write off as an insignificant trick that many people can do. And this brings us to observation #2.

2) Aaron’s snake staff swallows up the others.

Again let us picture this scene together. This could possibly be a very packed room with Pharaoh, his officials and possibly a whole bunch of wise men, sorcerers and even magicians here (cf. 2 Timothy 3:8).[7] It may even be like us in this room today. Imagine that Pharaoh is sitting or standing up by me here. Imagine that these two men in their 80’s throw this staff on the ground in front of us here and it becomes a snake and then either one-by-one or all-at-once the person beside you and everyone around you - these many wise men, sorcerers and even magicians - they throw their canes on the ground and there are all of a sudden all these snakes crawling everywhere. This is what it would be like.

Now imagine that this snake up here sees all of the others down there and one-by-one goes and fights and eats those 20, 30, 40, 10 or however many other snakes there are sliding around on the ground.[8] That is the visual image of this first sign for Pharaoh. We’ve been in a snake pit or two before (they have this amazing one in Manitoba) I can’t say that I would necessarily be so eager to watch these duals.

Picture this further with me. When Pharaoh and everyone see that anyone in the room can seemingly throw her cane on the ground and have it become a snake, they are probably thinking that it is no big deal and maybe they are feeling a little bit smug too. Pharaoh probably thinks that Moses thought that he had come up with this impressive feat so he calls together this room full of people to show Moses up: “Look Moses. What’s the big deal? You thought you could convince us to do what you want by doing this? We can all do it!” Now we can imagine Pharaoh or one of his officials or a magician, a sorcerer or two start giggling or laughing to themselves that someone dares make demands of Pharaoh when he can’t do anything more special than any of the rest of the wise men, sorcerers or even magicians. How can Moses think he is so special? They are possibly enjoying the humour of the moment when someone notices – and then the next person sees – and then someone else watches as Aaron’s rod, Moses’ staff, this older gentleman’s snake cane is not only attacking but is actually eating, swallowing up all of the other snake canes. Can you picture that?

You can picture how the mood would change in a moment, right? One minute they are enjoying their illusion of victory probably laughing in celebration; the next they are shocked, embarrassed and maybe even the object of scorn themselves as their canes are eaten by Moses’ or Aaron’s staff. In one moment, they believe they have proved they are superior, in the next minute God shows them that He has defeated them. Their defeat has been swallowed up in His victory.

  

3) Pharaoh’s heart became hard and he wouldn’t let them go.

Now we can understand how Pharaoh would not be so happy, seeing defeat snatched from the jaws of victory in this way as the work of his magicians, sorcerers, and wise men is gobbled up before his very eyes. You can understand how he would be more than a little upset. Now this upsettedness is further exasperated. Have you ever seen those Egyptian headdresses? Picture King Tut – he’s a famous pharaoh. What does his headdress – his hat – what does it look like?

– A Snake, a Cobra. Pharaoh has just not only seen all these snakes eaten by the staff of this guy who was run out of the kingdom decades ago but he has also seen this powerful symbol of his family, this powerful symbol of himself, and this powerful symbol of his whole country mocked and devoured before his eyes. It would be like if we went to visit any president of the United States and suddenly chopped up and burned an American flag right in front of him; what would he do? At the very least he would have us arrested; if we did it in a very public fashion like Moses and Aaron did here, they would probably do even worse to us. Just ask Noriega, Wikileaks, or others who have spent decades without charge in an American prison or elsewhere for threatening to embarrass today’s equivalent of Pharaoh, the US President - regardless of party.[9]

Pharaoh has just been shown up and Pharaoh’s heart is hard and it is going to get hardened either again or even further many times until he finally does concede God’s victory. At this stage however Pharaoh hasn’t learned his lesson but what lessons can we learn from this first sign, the sign of the staff that turned into a snake and devoured Pharaohs’?

I think it is this: Pharaoh thought that he was master of his own destiny. Pharaoh probably didn’t care too much about the disparate religious beliefs represented before him in our pericope today. He thought anything that either God could do or that people thought that God could do, Pharaoh seemed confident that he could find someone else who could do the very same thing. He probably saw the miraculous as mundane and explainable, at least he saw them as duplicate-able. He then errs by trying to copy the work of God, instead of submitting to God.

Pharaoh tried to do in his own strength what can only really be accomplished in God’s strength. In Pharaoh’s time of trouble, the LORD wanted Pharaoh to turn to Him but he trusted in himself and turned to magicians rather than turning to God.

How many times in our own lives when we are faced with a crisis like Pharaoh was, do we act exactly the same way? Do we really believe that God is the one who can deliver us? Do we acknowledge the signs He is doing right in front of our eyes, right now, in our lives, or do we try to conjure up snakes of our own fancy? When we can’t pay the bills do we go to God in prayer and meditation and reading our Bible to see how He is transforming us like Aaron’s staff or do we try to make our own snakes and answers? Do we try to make our own miracles by trying find money on our own, or borrowing money, or gambling, or taking out a loan, or selling something, or conjuring up any other magician’s snake instead of seeking God? If something tragic happens in our lives, if something desperate happens in our lives, do we follow the signs of God’s snake cane or do we try to do the work of God all on our own?

Make no mistake my friends, if we oppose God, working against Him by trying to do things on our own instead of seeking Him, those snakes of self-reliance will be shown to be as useless as Pharaoh’s magicians’ snakes - but there is good news and the good news is this: Jesus, the Son of God Himself, provides a very real deliverance from whatever problems we face in this world. Numbers 21:4-9 records that when Moses lifted up a bronze snake in the dessert, all who cast their eyes upon him, even those who were dying were saved and John 3:14 records, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up;” Jesus is like Moses’ bronze snake in that – even today - any of us who cast our eyes upon him will be saved for now and forever,

So I encourage all of us today, to cast aside all those inferior magicians’ snakes of our text today. They can’t save us and they will not survive. Let us not miss the sign; instead let us look upon Jesus, who was lifted up, lived, died, and raised again. Let us look upon Jesus and let us live for now and forever more in his loving embrace.

Let us pray

 Daily blogs at

https://salvogesis.blogspot.ca/

More articles, sermons, and papers at

www.sheepspeak.com

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[1] Cf. Peter Enns, Exodus, (TNAC: Zondervan: Grand Rapids, Mi., 2000), 195.

[2] Captain Michael Ramsay, Dr. Was: Daily Rations with a Smile, (Sheepspeak: Vancouver, 2005). Available on-line at www.drwas.blogspot.ca

[3] But cf. Peter Enns, Exodus, (TNAC: Zondervan: Grand Rapids, Mi., 2000), 194.

[4] Peter Enns, Exodus, (TNAC: Zondervan: Grand Rapids, Mi., 2000),198.

[5] Brevard S. Childs, The Book of Exodus, (OTL: Westminister Jihn Knox Press: Louisville, Kentucky, 2004), 152.

[6] Cf. Expositor's Bible Commentary, The, Pradis CD-ROM:Exodus/Exposition of Exodus/I. Divine Redemption (1:1-18:27)/D. Judgment and Salvation Through the Plagues (7:6-11:10)/1. Presenting the signs of divine authority (7:6-13), Book Version: 4.0.2

[7] Cf. Donald Guthrie, Pastoral Epistles: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1990 (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries 14), S. 176

[8] R. Alan Cole, Exodus: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1973 (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries 2), S. 95

[9] Cf. Walter Brueggemann, The Book of Exodus, (NIB I: Abingdon Press: Nashville, 1994), 740

Deuteronomy 6:1-12: Children's Songs

Presented to 614 Warehouse Mission, 30 April 2017, Alberni Valley Ministries, 23 October 2022, by Major Michael Ramsay

 

This is the original 2017 Toronto version. To view the 2022 Alberni Valley version, click here: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2017/04/deuteronomy-61-12-childrens-songs.html  


The other week my teenagers and I went to the Bon Jovi concert. It was a great show. Jon Bon Jovi performed in a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey the night right after they made the play-offs. It was a lot of fun. Probably the best parts of the concert were the songs that I knew - the old ones. I didn't always care so much for the newer songs; some of these 'newer songs' were over 30 years old, mind you. The encore was especially good because that is when they played most of these old songs I knew. You could tell the band was made up of experienced showmen too because of the way they ran the performance. You could also tell because the original band members all had grey hair. And it was funny: by the time he had finished the encore at about 11pm or so it looked like Jon Bon Jovi just wanted to go to bed.


It was a good show and the best part of the experience, like I said, was the memories attached to the songs and the opportunity to share those memories with my kids. It meant a lot. Later this year we have tickets to GNR, Deep Purple, and Alice Cooper. Alice Cooper by the way is an outspoken Christian and the son of a preacher. I actually saw Alice Cooper in concert when I was 17 years-old and now I am going with my 16 and 15 year-old daughters. This sort of thing is what our text today is about: sharing our memories with our kids so they can experience all the joy we did and so we can add even more to those memories together. This may even be exactly what is happening in our text today, Moses might be bringing the Deuteronomy generation to hear the same Ten Commandments play at Mt Sinai that the Exodus generation had heard before them.[1]

The part of the Scriptures we are reading from today takes place when Moses is probably reminding the children of the children of Israel who left Egypt about the 10 Commandments.[2] He is reminding them about the time he came down the mountain to their parents and originally shared these commandments. We remember that scene don't we? I think some of the women's group even watched the move, '10 Commandments' with Charleston Heston this past Tuesday. The only problem is... I think that movie is 20 hours long - okay maybe 4 hours, but still it is a very long show. That is as long as some people’s work shifts.


In our Scriptures today Moses is talking to the children of the people he received the 10 Commandments with. It is important that children are reminded of, remember and participate in their parents’ experiences. It is important to remember what the Lord has done. When we fail to remember our culture, we lose it; when we fail to remember our past, we lose our future; when we fail to remember what defines us as a people then we cease to be a nation;[3] and when we fail to remember our salvation with our children, then we will find that future generations are not experiencing that salvation anymore (Deuteronomy 8:19-20).[4] This is what is happening in Canada today. This is what Moses is driving home with this next generation of Israelites. This is important. Don't just hope that our children will learn something from a teacher, preacher, or priest. Don't just hope they'll learn life's lessons by accident. Sharing our faith history is our responsibility. Our very survival depends on what we remember from the past and how we carry that into the future.[5]


In our world today, songs are a great way to bring memories and knowledge and experiences forward to a new generation. I am going to list some songs and see if you can tell me who sang them for one generation or the next [Answers in footnote below]:[6] (1) Cats in the Cradle (2) Signs (3) You're so Vain (4) California Girls (5) Knocking on Heaven’s Door (6) Live and Let Die (7) Landslide (8) Johnny B Goode


I remember turning on the radio a few years ago now and... There is this old Irish folk song – generations old – called 'Whiskey in the Jar'. I don’t know if anyone here knows that song or not. Susan knows all kinds of these old folk songs. She really likes some of those old fashioned numbers and so as a result I was familiar with it. Well, I got in the car one day, turned on one of the local radio stations in the town where we were living at the time and – I don’t know if anyone here is familiar with Metallica, they are a contemporary heavy metal band – I heard them doing a heavy metal rendition of this old Irish folk song. I was sort of in shock. I was struck by it as I began to think of all the remakes of songs that I have heard over the years. Many times the remakes were my first exposure to the song and it got me thinking. When the words of an old song are put to a new tune they become accessible to a new generation. As we continue to sing these same songs in new ways, we remain faithful to their intent, passing it onto our children and to our children’s children. This is like our personal testimonies and conversations about the Lord. When we put the gospel message of salvation into our own words, in our own tune and share it with our own children then we are indeed passing that eternal truth of salvation down from one generation to the next.


Similarly when Krys (Warehouse Mission Band) here writes new lyrics to old tunes, all of us can hear the gospel expressed in music that resonates in our hearts and souls and hopefully every time we hear that familiar, sometimes timeless tune we can remember what the Lord has done for us, with us, through us and in us.


This is what our Scripture today sees Moses doing with the Deuteronomy generation.[7] God, through Moses, says of the lyrics of the 10 Commandments (Deuteronomy 6:7-9):


Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
Moses wants the people to remember even more than just the words to these 10 Commands, of course. The Bible says God remembered Israel when they were in slavery. Now, will they remember Him when they are free? God remembers us when we are struggling. Do we remember Him when we are free? We may turn to God when things are bad; do we turn away from Him when we feel free to live our life for ourselves?[8] Do we remember what God has done for us as we are delivered from our problems? Do we remember how God saved those alongside us? Do we remember how God saved our family members before us? Do we remember how God saved the founders of our country? Do we remember how God saved the Israelites?

Do we remember the things that God did for the Israelites before he brought them out of Egypt? How did God reveal himself to Pharaoh? Remember the Passover? Remember the plagues (Exodus 7-12)? When Sarah-Grace was 12 or so we hit the road with an excellent sermon she preached about the plagues.[9] I still have it. Maybe one day she can share it with us here. Do we remember the plagues God used to save the children of Israel? What were they? Snakes, blood, frogs, gnats, flies, cows (dead livestock), boils, hail, locusts, darkness, death of the first born. God wants Israel to remember their salvation from, in and through these plagues. God wants them to remember how they were saved as death passed them over. And God wants us to remember also how generations and a testament later, Jesus won the ultimate victory over death so that we all might live. This is what Easter and Good Friday are all about.


We have just come out of the Lenten season. Lent is when we are invited to give up something for the Lord. When I was a kid, Catholics would give up meat - except for fish - every Friday, not just during Lent. Fish Friday: I worked in a fish and chip shop for a very short time as a teenager and I still remember Fish Fridays.


When we invite our children and grandchildren to participate in Lenten services in preparation for Easter and Advent services in advance of Christmas; when we bring friends and family to Christmas and Easter pageants, when we invite people to a church service here with us, we are carrying on that salvation tradition and experience.


When we bring our children and grandchildren to church we remember and experience corporate worship and salvation together as a family. When we read our Bibles with our children and grandchildren and friends, we pass along the stories of salvation from one generation to the next - we show them what is important by what we do with each other; and as we read the Bible together, as we each experience our glorious personal salvation we can see how that fits in with salvation history and how we are included in the salvation of the whole world.


When we say grace with future generations before dinner - whether at home or in public - we are teaching others the importance of prayer. When we say grace, when we pray in public, we may even be unknowingly encouraging even strangers to be faithful. They might see us and then remember that indeed they prayed with their parents as a kid and then head home and pass on that marker and catalyst for that same salvation relationship with their own children; and then they may experience that same access to all the power, mercy, grace and glory of God.


So, as Hebrews 10:25 extols us, let us not stop meeting together as some are in the habit of doing. Let us not stop singing our songs of salvation to new tunes for new generations, let us not stop adding those timeless words of salvation to songs that resonate in our hearts and souls as we do here every week. Let us always read the stories of Noah, Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Jesus Christ with our children, our children's children, our friends, and our family. This week, let us resolve to take the Good News of Salvation and share it with everyone we meet so that they and we may experience the fullness of God's love today and forever more.


Let us pray.


www.sheepspeak.com

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[1] Cf. Thompson, J. A., Deuteronomy: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1974 (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries 5), S. 128

[2]Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay, 'Deuteronomy 8: The Next Generation Thanks The Lord' (Sheepspeak.com: Swift Current, 09 October 2011). Available on-line:http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2011/10/deuteronomy-8-next-generation-thanks.html

[3]Cf. Thomas E. McComiskey, The Expositor's Bible Commentary,  PradisCD-ROM:Amos/Introduction to Amos/Theological Values of Amos/The doctrine of election in Amos, Book Version: 4.0.2; cf. also Willy Schottroff, “To Perceive, To Know,” in Theological Lexicon of the Old Testament, Volume 3 eds. Ernst Jenni and Claus Westermann (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 1997),516.

[4]Deuteronomy 8:19-20: “If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. Like the nations the LORD destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the LORD your God.”

[5] Luciano C. Chianeque and Samuel Ngewa, '6:10-25: The Importance of Remembering', Africa Bible Commentary, (Nairobi, Kenya: Word Alive Publishers, 2010), 222.

[6] Cats in the Cradle (Harry Chapin, Ugly Kid Joe), Signs (Five Man Electrical Band), You're so Vain (Carlie Simon, Faster Pussy Cat), California Girls (Beach Boys, David Lee Roth), Knocking on Heaven’s Door (Bob Dylan, GNR), Live and Let Die (Paul McCarthy, GNR), Landslide (Fleetwood Mac, Smashing Pumpkins), Johnny B Goode (Chuck Berry, Elvis, Judas Priest, AC DC, Motorhead, etc).

[7]Cf. Ronald E. Clements, The Book of Deuteronomy, (NIB II: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 1998), 355.

[8] Cf. Luciano C. Chianeque and Samuel Ngewa, '6:10-25: The Importance of Remembering', Africa Bible Commentary, (Nairobi, Kenya: Word Alive Publishers, 2010), 222.

[9] Sarah-Grace Ramsay, Plague Pops – Salvation only comes from God (Exodus 7-12). Presented to Maple Creek Corps of The Salvation Army, 10 August, 2014 and Swift Current, 17 August 2014, available online: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2014/08/plague-pops-salvation-only-comes-from.html

Numbers 21:1-9, 2 Kings 18:1-4, 1 Corinthians 10:1-13, John 3:13:16: No Nehushtan; Salvation comes from Christ Alone.

Presented to Swift Current corps of The Salvation Army, 21 September 2014 by Captain (Major) Michael Ramsay; Toronto's Warehouse Mission 614, 13 November 2017; and Alberni Valley Ministries, 07 May 2023

This is the original version. To view the 2017 Toronto version, click here:  http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2017/11/numbers-211-9-2-kings-181-4-john-31316.html

 

To view the 2023 Alberni Valley Version, click here: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2023/05/numbers-211-9-2-kings-181-4-1.html 

 

Elements of this sermon were incorporated into Major Michael Ramsay's sermon to the Alberni Valley Community Lenten Service, John 3:16-21: Snake Clowns, 10 March 2024 which you can view here: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2024/03/john-316-21-snake-clowns.html
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The following is allegedly from the US Government Peace Corps Manual for its volunteers who work in the Amazon Jungle. It tells what to do in case an anaconda attacks you:

1. If you are attacked by an anaconda do not run. The snake is faster than you are.

2. Lie flat on the ground. Put your arms tight against your sides, your legs tight against one another.

3. Tuck your chin in.

4. The snake will come and begin to nudge and climb over your body.

5. Do not panic.

6. After the snake has examined you, it will begin to swallow you from your feet and always from the end. Permit the snake to swallow your feet and ankles. Do not panic.

7. The snake will now begin to swallow your legs into its body. You must lie perfectly still. This will take a long time.

8. When the snake has reached your knees, slowly and with as little movement as possible, reach down, take your knife and very gently slide it into the side of the snake’s mouth between the edge of its mouth and your leg, then suddenly rip upwards, severing the snake’s head.

9. Be sure you have your knife.

10. If at this point you notice that you have forgotten your knife, you may wish that you had paid attention in class; and now would be a good time to pray if you aren’t already.

Our pericope today is also about snakes. It is actually a passage that has interested me for quite a while, Numbers 21:1-9. We notice in Numbers 21:1-3 that the Israelites are on a spiritual high. They have just made a vow to the Lord and the Lord has given them a victory against the Canaanites.

This would be like after next weekend when all of the men who are going will be returning from Men’s Camp. We will all have great stories of not only fishing but of praying and encountering God together. Men’s camps always have such a strong spiritual component that you have the opportunity to come home filled with great spiritual food. It was at a men’s camp a few years ago where Dusty acknowledged that he was called by the Lord to Officership and he is now a Lieutenant in The Salvation Army. Men’s Camp, like youth councils and I assume women’s camp, often leaves people on fire for the Lord, on a spiritual high.

It is very much this kind of feeling that the Israelites have at this moment, verses 1-3, but there is even more than that. They have just won a military victory, a physical contest. That would be akin to and even greater than winning a significant football game, hockey game, or soccer match: the adrenaline is flowing. They are excited. The Lord has delivered them. They are celebrating and telling all the stories, I imagine.

And then, verses 4-9, the people revert to the complaining we spoke about last week that led to the Exodus generation forfeiting the salvation of the Promised Land.[1] They complain against God and against Moses and they even refer to the very bread from heaven that God has been lovingly sending to them to keep them alive. They refer to this bread from heaven through which God is saving them from starvation, they refer to this bread from heaven – to which the Lord Jesus Himself is compared (John 6:22-59) – they say about this sustenance and salvation from the Lord – they say, “We detest that miserable food” (Numbers 21:5). How does that make their Heavenly Father feel?

Just like there were consequences for their parents complaining consistently about the Lord so too there are consequences for this generation rejecting their bread of God’s salvation. This time the consequence is a plague of snakes. Who here likes snakes? Who here likes big snakes and poisonous snakes? And there is even more. “The Hebrew phrase hannehashim hasserapim, [here means literally] ‘the burning snakes’ or, better, ‘the snakes that produce burning’. The ‘fire’ was in their venom, of course… The poison in these snakebites must have been particularly virulent, leading to horrible, agonizing deaths.”[2] The Lord sends these poisonous serpents among the Israelites and they bite them and the bitten Israelites die probably painfully. They perish from the venom of the serpents. Just as Adam and Eve died at the hand of the serpent – so to speak - (Genesis 3) so too the children of Israel.

At this point they realize what they are doing in blaming God and complaining and rejecting the very life that He is providing for them. They realize their sin and they repent of it. They call out to Moses; they beseech him to speak on their behalf to God, saying that they are sorry and they ask for deliverance from the consequences of their sins.

God then tells Moses that He will yet again deliver these people. God will save them still. Verses 8-9, “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.’  So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.”

This is great and this is exciting. This deliverance from the serpents meant so much to the Israelites that they actually kept that bronze snake around for a long time to remember this miracle. They kept this symbol of what God had done with them their whole time in the desert. They kept this bronze snake with them throughout the whole life and leadership of Joshua, son of Nun during the conquest of Canaan. They kept the bronze snake safe and secure for generations. They kept it through the roughly 400 years of alternating oppression and liberation in the time of the Judges. They kept this bronze snake with them through the entire existence of the United Kingdom: through the reigns of Kings Saul, David, and Solomon. They kept this bronze serpent during the divided kingdoms, using it during worship, through many kings and political administrations, through many wars and trials and tribulations and throughout all these generations. They used this snake in worship for much longer a time period than the time between today and when the Europeans first organized in Quebec, Montreal, or later landed on Plymouth Rock. For hundreds of years they used this bronze snake that Moses had made in the desert as a part of their worship and then, 1 Kings 18:1-4:

In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother’s name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah. He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father [ancestor] David had done. He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan.)

This is the snake that God had Moses himself make hundreds of years earlier in the desert to deliver the people from the serpents. This is a heritage item, an historic artifact; this is a part of worship. This snake is a symbol of the healing that God did in the desert and this snake was originally a symbol of salvation and now the King of Judah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord by breaking it into pieces, destroying it forever. Why would God have this originally powerful symbol of salvation created by Moses destroyed after the people of God had gone to great effort over hundreds and hundreds of years of adversity and affluence to preserved it? Why would God have destroyed this powerful symbol of salvation that He Himself ordered created in the first place?

He had it destroyed because instead of using it as a tool to worship God; they began worshiping the bronze snake itself.[3] It had become an idol. Are there things like this in the churches today? In Bible study this week we had a great discussion around 1 Corinthians 10 and what exactly are baptism and communion.[4] Are these tools that help us to worship God or can they become ‘Nehushtan’? Can people come to think that they are saved by being baptized or taking communion rather than or as well as by Jesus? Can people take good things that may have even been ordained and commissioned by God Himself – like the snake and maybe like some contemporary church practices - and adore those things more than, instead of, or as well as God?

Worship roughly means to adore. Are there things in the churches, in our religions, in our lives; are there things – or people - that maybe God has used to great effect in our lives that we now adore as we are supposed to adore God? For those who grew up in the Army here: what if we removed the flag? What if we removed the uniform? What if we removed the Mercy Seat, the very spot where we are to come to meet with God Himself? Would we grumble every time we came here? Do we love these articles as well as we love God? Is there an author or a theologian or a pastor or a person that you follow so closely that whatever he, she or they say must be correct; so much so that you don’t even bother to test their words against the Scriptures or to refine them through the fires of prayer anymore? But just accept them blindly? Returning to our Bible study on 1 Corinthians, I have even heard some people say that it is necessary to be baptized in water to be saved. The water of baptism – just like any of these other great rituals in the churches - is Moses’ snake:[5] It was ordained to point us to the power of Christ; it is meant to point us towards Christ’s Salvation. As soon as we start thinking that salvation comes through any item like the Mercy Seat; or food like communion; or a rite like baptism we are in trouble. If we think that without that rite, item or other than we are going to hell, when we are supposed to know that salvation comes from Christ alone, then that symbol of God Himself could very well become ‘Nehushtan’ in our lives and need to be removed.

So hear me correctly: it is when we start to adore things in and of themselves that are meant to help us adore God that they need to removed from our lives; when good things that used to help us worship God become things we worship, then we need to remove them – no matter how important they are to us: no matter how long we have used them as part of worship, if we start to adore them alongside God than they become ‘Nehushtan’. (That is one reason why we don’t take communion here on Sunday mornings.)

Now that being said – listen carefully to me here - communion, baptism, the Mercy Seat, and any other aid to worship as it is a very important aid to bring us close to God and as any of these aids help us express our love of Christ and our joy at communing with Him, as these things bring us close to God and lead us to think of and adore Christ than these are very important but anything or anyone who we adore alongside or worship instead of Christ needs to be removed from our life so that indeed we can worship Christ alone for Salvation indeed comes from Christ alone.

There is one more thing that I want to point out here. Just like 1 Corinthians 10 points out that water is a symbol of our very important baptism into Christ; so John Chapters 12 and 3 point out that that snake in the desert is a symbol of our all important salvation in Jesus Christ.[6]

Jesus says, John 12:32: “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” John 3:13-16: “No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man [Jesus] must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him. For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”

This bronze snake that God used was cast aside and destroyed after centuries of use because it began to compete with the Lord -whom it foretells- for the very hearts and minds and adoration of His people.[7] But what that bronze snakes represents is alive and well and that is our salvation through Jesus Christ, through Christ alone. So today I encourage us all that if there is anything – even something in the church or a good person or a good mentor in our lives – if there is anything that we have come to see as our salvation other than Christ, I invite us to leave it here in the sanctuary or even on the altar today and never to pick it up again. There is only one who can handle all of our problems and there is not a single thing that we can face in our lives that God cannot handle; so I invite us here today in all that we are going through, in all that we experience, in all that we do; to always look for our salvation from Christ and from Christ alone. 

Let us pray.

www.sheepspeak.com 

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[1] Captain Michael Ramsay, Exodus 14, Numbers 14: Let It Go! (Sheepspeak: 14 September 2014: Swift Current, Sk.) Available online at http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2014/09/exodus-14-numbers-14-let-it-go.html

[2] Ronald B. Allen, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Numbers/Exposition of Numbers/I. The Experience of the First Generation in the Desert (1:1-25:18)/B. The Rebellion and Judgment of a Fearful People (11:1-25:18)/2. A climax of rebellion and hope and the end of their dying (21:1-25:18)/b. The bronze snake (21:4-9), Book Version: 4.0.2

[3] Donald J. Wiseman, 1 and 2 Kings: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1993 (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries 9), S. 291

[4] Cf. Simon J. Kistemaker, ‘1 Corinthians’ in New Testament Commentary, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2007), 324. They are ‘spiritual food’ every bit as much as manna and water from the Rock.

[5] Cf. J. Paul Sampley, ‘1 Corinthians’ in New Interpreter's Bible, Vol. 10, ed Leander E. Keck, et. al. (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2002), 916.

[6] Cf. Merrill C. Tenney, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:John/Exposition of John/II. The Public Ministry of the Word (1:19-12:50)/A. The Beginning Ministry (1:19-4:54)/6. The interview with Nicodemus (2:23-3:21)/a. Nicodemus's visit (2:23-3:15), Book Version: 4.0.2 

[7] Cf. Colin G. Kruse, John: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 2003 (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries 4), S. 112