Hi, my name is Greg and I’ve been an Elder at Riverside for the last 2 years. Megan and I have been married for 22 years and have seven kids, one daughter-in-law and one granddaughter : Nick and wife Morgan, Charlie, Ben, Lincoln, Crisiya, Tariya, Eddie and granddaughter Genevieve.
The passages you are going to read today are Numbers 21:4-9, Kings 18:4, and John 3:14. In Numbers 21 Moses has already led his people out of Egypt. They are in the desert and grumbling about Moses and God. They are talking about how Moses led them on a long journey in the desert and God’s provisions. Poisonous snakes came among the people and several died. Then the people came to Moses and cried out their wrongdoings against God and him. They asked Moses to pray. He made a replica of the poisonous snake out of bronze and placed it on a pole. Anyone who was bitten could look at the bronze snake and be healed. Then in Kings the Bronze snake was destroyed because people were offering sacrifices to it because of what had happened in the desert. In John, Jesus is comparing the lifting of the bronze snake to the Son of Man being lifted up.
Moses had led his people out of Egypt and into the desert. God had provided all their provisions for them but they still weren’t happy. God disciplined the people until they cried out for God’s help. The bronze snake was something God had made for that time. It is easy for God’s people to make idols out of good things that have outlived their usefulness. God used the Uplifting of the bronze serpent to picture his own death on the cross. Because of Christ’s death upon the cross we have him to look to for all healing. Jesus conquered death and all we have to do is believe in Him and we will have eternal life.
Now, do the Know, Be, Do method of study through the chapter.
- KNOW (What does the text say about God?)
- BE (What does the text say about us?)
- DO (What is the text calling me/us to do?)