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March 11, 2018 Numbers 21:4-9The Fourth Sunday in Lent – B Ephesians 2:4-10Lutheran Church of Hope John 3:14-21Loveland, CORev. Greg Schram“GOD’S SNAKE-BITE KIT”Living in this part of the world we all know about the present danger of rattlesnakes. Why, just last year about this time, there were several reported rattlesnake bites over at Mehaffey Park, on the west end of town. Of course, Devil’s Backbone (a popular place for hiking) is widely known for its dense population of these venomous serpents.When bit by a rattler, the afflicted doesn’t have much time to get help before the poisonous venom completes its fatal work. Left untreated, a rattlesnake bite is deadly. Because store-bought snake-bite kits are not very effective, it is imperative to get to a hospital as soon as possible to receive the necessary care of a trained physician.In the spiritual realm, our texts today speak of the danger of these “fiery serpents” and what must be done when one is bitten by such a venomous snake. So let’s have a closer look at our texts and see what God has to say; and let’s begin with the whole matter of being SNAKE BIT.You’ll recall that the Bible begins with this phrase: “In the beginning.” It was in the beginning – the beginning of the human race – that we see the very first confrontation between the serpent and man. In Genesis three we read of how the serpent deceived Eve (and Adam) into eating of the forbidden fruit, the consequence of which brought sin into the world, sin which would then be infused into every human being by way of conception. Sin is a poisonous venom that brings certain death to all who have been bitten by the serpent.When God created Adam and Eve and placed them in the Garden, He said to them: “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die” (Gen. 2:16-17). The apostle Paul would later say, “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). In the beginning Adam and Eve were bitten by the serpent (so to speak), who spit into their veins a poisonous venom (sin) which caused their death, death which would spread to all.In the wilderness, during the time of Moses, after the exodus from Egypt, the people of God were once again smitten by “fiery serpents.” Our Old Testament lesson tells the story. There was a time during the wilderness wandering when the people spoke out against God and Moses for lack of water and worthless food. Did you know that grumbling and complaining is a sin? This was one of Israel’s frequent transgressions, which always aroused the wrath of God, bringing with it His righteous judgment. In our Old Testament lesson we see the natural order of the divine consequence of ins, where fiery serpents bit the people so that many (thousands – all who were complaining) died. The people came to Moses with penitent hearts, confessing, “We have sinned…”Grumbling and complaining is a sin, and the wages of sin is death. These “fiery serpents” in the wilderness (symbolic of sin and its cruel consequence) bit the people with a poisonous venom, which proved to be fatal. That venom is sin.In the present, we have all been bitten by the serpent. There is no exception. In our epistle lesson, Paul says that “we were dead through our trespasses.” In the verse preceding our epistle text, Paul reminds us that we are all by nature children of wrath (v. 3). That is to say, we are all by nature sinful and unclean. We all come into this world with the serpent’s poisonous venom in our veins. In his letter to the Church in Rome, Paul wrote, “Therefore as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, so death spread to all men” (5:12). With keen insight, King David acknowledged: “…in sin did my mother conceive me” (Ps 51:5). In other words, the poisonous, deadly venom of the serpent is passed on from one to another by way of conception, so that when we come into this world we already have this fatal fluid flowing through our veins.The testimony of Scripture is that we are all snake-bit, having the serpent’s deadly venom in us from the moment of conception onward. What’s true in the natural realm is also true in the spiritual – that once snake-bit, if we don’t get help quickly, we will die. So let’s now consider God’s SNAKE-BITE KIT.In the beginning, going back to the time when our first parents (Adam and Eve) were bitten by the serpent, we see a preview of the antidote in God’s snake-bite kit. We read in Genesis 3:15, “…he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” Here God is speaking to the serpent, telling this deadly deceiver that when the time is right He would send His Son (the Redeemer) to bring ruin to him. Though the serpent would bruise (bite) Jesus’ heel (a common spot for a serpent to strike), the Redeemer would crush the serpent’s head. Simply put, the antidote in God’s snake-bite kit is Jesus. The Father would someday send His Son to crush the head of the serpent (Satan). Jesus would conquer sin and its cruel consequence by becoming sin for us, dying and then rising again. On Calvary’s cross, a “blood transfusion” of sorts would take place. Jesus would take from us all the poisonous venom of the serpent and transfuse it into his veins, while at the same time transfusing into us his untainted, life-giving, life-sustaining blood. Because he would have in his veins the fatal venom, he would die… and because we would no longer have this venom in us, we would live.This is what was predicted in the beginning, in Genesis three. When the time was right, God would send forth His Son to accomplish this for us.In the wilderness, during Israel’s forty years of wandering, we see a type of Christ… Our Old Testament lesson records the story. Due to the people’s grumbling and complaining, they were bitten by “fiery serpents” so that many people of Israel died. The story is symbolic of the biblical truth that we are all snake-bit; our veins filled with the venomous poison of the serpent, causing the death of us all.But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which He loves His people, would not leave them infected with a deadly poison. He would provide an antidote to the serpent’s venom. This antidote gives us a glimpse of what was foretold in Genesis three. Here in our text, God instructed Moses to make a bronze serpent and mount it upon a pole. Those bitten by the serpent were told to turn their eyes to the bronze serpent, high and lifted up, and upon looking at it, would live. Of course, this all pointed to Christ, who upon Calvary’s cross would be high and lifted up, so that all who look to him would be saved.We read in our Old Testament lesson that “if a serpent bit any man, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.” To “look at” was more than simply gazing at something with one’s eyes; it carried with it the idea of faith and belief and trust. To “look at” was to see the bronze serpent with the eyes of faith, trusting in it for life over death.In the present, the crucified Christ is the fulfillment of what was promised in the beginning, and that to which in the wilderness the bronze serpent represented. Our gospel text begins, “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. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world…that the world might be saved through him.” Jesus is the antidote in the Father’s snake-bite kit that takes away the deadly poison in our veins.Note the common thread running through all three of our texts for today; and that is that the antidote for the poisonous venom of sin is the product and provision of someone else. There is nothing we can do to save ourselves. When bitten by a rattlesnake, there is nothing we can do to save ourselves from its deadly poison. We need the antidote which is provided by a physician. Likewise, when bitten by the serpent, there is nothing we can do to save ourselves. We need the antidote of the Great Physician, who is himself the antidote. We need his cleansing and curing blood running through our veins to flush out of us that which is causing our death, leaving in its wake his own pure life-blood.In our epistle lesson Paul tells us that it is God who made us alive when we were dead in our trespasses. Paul reminds us that it is by God’s grace that we are saved, and that this is not of our own doing. It’s all of God. It’s all of the Great Physician, Jesus. As the hymnist puts it: “…nothing in my hands I bring, Simply to the cross I cling.” This is what faith is; it is what it is to “look at the bronze serpent and live.” To “cling to the cross” is to trust in the one who was lifted high up on it, whose shed blood cleanses us from all our sin. It is he and he alone who saves us from the deadly poison of sin.In our gospel, John goes on to say that “…he who does not believe is condemned…” Why? Because, as with the Israelites in the wilderness, only those who “would look at the bronze serpent [in faith] would live.” Those who did not believe…would not look… and those who did not look would ultimately perish. Only in “looking at” the one lifted high upon the cross, believing and trusting in him and in what he has done for us, are we delivered from certain death unto everlasting life.Have you come to that point in your life of looking at the one lifted high upon the cross as your only hope of escape from death? All those who fail or refuse to look to the crucified Christ in faith will perish. How do I know? I know, not only for the Bible tells me so; but because the testimony of Scripture is true. The Bible says that we are all by nature sinful and unclean, for we have all been bitten by the serpent, whose poisonous venom is in our veins, causing our death. Other than a couple of people mentioned in the Bible, do you know of anyone who has never died? Of course not. We will all die some day; and the Bible says that death is the consequence of sin. Sin is the poisonous venom in us all. Death proves that we are all sinners, in need of the only thing that can save us – Jesus. He is the antidote in God’s snake-bite kit.Look to him and be saved. Believe in him, trust in him and you will have life everlasting. For whoever believes in Jesus shall not perish, but have eternal life. This is the promise of God; and God, by nature, cannot life. Amen. ................
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