All scripture quotations are taken from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB), Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.
Used by permission. www.Lockman.org
Because of the sin of Adam in the beginning, judgment came upon humanity. Since that time, mankind has been condemned to destruction. There was practically no way of escape because when the judgment of God is pronounced, it cannot be revoked. Man was now to continue in sin and eventually perish forever in hell.
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,” (Ephesians 2:4), would not allow us to die in sin and perish in hell. He therefore sent His only begotten Son, Jesus. He gave Him to die for us. Jesus took our judgment on Himself and perished for us. So, “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8). Whoever now believes in Him will no longer perish but live forever.
When Nicodemus, a Pharisee and also a ruler of the Jews, came to Jesus by night to make some enquiries, Jesus began to tell him about salvation. In the course of the discussion, Jesus made reference to Moses and the Israelites in the wilderness and He said to Nicodemus in John 3:14-15;
“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.”
In the wilderness, the Israelites had murmured and spoken against God and against Moses, saying why would they bring them out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? And the Lord, in response to their rebellion, immediately sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. When they realized they had sinned, they came to Moses to pray to God for them that God might remove the serpents from them. Moses then interceded for them. We need at this point to quote directly from the Bible to see the way God responded to their situation because Jesus said it is the same way God is currently responding to the destruction of mankind.
Numbers 21:8-9;
“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live.’ And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived.”
It is quite interesting that God did not remove the serpents as the people required but only asked Moses to make a bronze image of those serpents and whenever they were bitten, they should look at the raised bronze serpent, and instead of them to perish, they would rather live.
The Lord having pronounced His judgment on them, would not reverse it. He could only devise a means in His wisdom for their salvation. As the serpents were present with the Israelites in the wilderness, so does God’s judgment remain on mankind till today. He will not revoke it. It stands till the end of the age. But whoever looks on Jesus, the way of salvation provided by God in His mercy, who was hanged on the cross, will live and not perish, just as the Israelites looked on the bronze serpent on the pole and lived.
God has provided the way of escape for the perishing to be saved. But two things are clear from the story of the Israelites: the people realized they were under God’s judgment having sinned and were later told that they would need to look unto the raised serpent when they were bitten for them to live.
So many who are perishing today do not even know they are already under God’s judgment and are thus, perishing. Romans 3:11 says “There is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God.” This is the great predicament of mankind. They lack the understanding of their present state. Consequently, they have not come to any realization and are not seeking God for salvation. They need to know their true state, the judgment on them and their final destination. But how will they know this without a preacher? For anyone to be saved, he must first be brought to an acknowledgment that he is a sinner and has come under God’s judgment, and therefore needs a means of salvation.
Furthermore, sinners must be told the way of salvation and how they need to believe in it for their deliverance. It is not enough for the way of salvation to be provided, the sinner must be aware and also believe in it. If Moses just made the bronze serpent without telling the Israelites about it, they would have still died because they would not know that it existed. And if after the Israelites knew about it, they said, “We do not believe in the bronze serpent. How can a lifeless serpent save us from fiery serpents?” They would have all perished even though the bronze serpent was hanging there on a pole. Sinners therefore need to be shown Jesus so they can believe.
But Romans 10:14 says;
“How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?”
They need a preacher to show them the remedy God has provided for them, so that they can believe on Him who died and rose again for their justification, and live. If not, they will not be able to come to this knowledge. They will continue to suffer the bite and venom of the serpent that has entered into humanity through Adam in the garden, and will eventually perish. God has fully bruised the head of the serpent by hanging Jesus on the cross. Point Him to sinners today so they can look on Him and be saved.
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