Sermon: February 24, 2008
"Born Again"
(scripture references are clickable)
As we continue in our sermon series on the stories in the book of Numbers, we have a very strange passage before us today. It’s quite short – you can almost miss it. And in many ways, it’s typical of all the other stories we’ve seen thus far; it’s yet another story of rebellion in the wilderness. But then we have this business about the bronze snake – what’s that about? And then, this strange little story is referenced by Jesus in one of the best-known passages in all of Scripture, John 3. Something interesting is definitely going on here, folks. So we’re going to look at all of this today – and may the Lord speak clearly to us as we study His Word and listen to His voice today!
You’ll remember that we are now dealing with the next generation as Israel wanders in the wilderness. They have almost made it to the Promised Land. Earlier in the chapter, Israel was victorious in battle over a Canaanite king, which has given them a great deal of confidence and momentum. But because the king of Edom has refused them passage through his land, Israel is currently taken the “long way around”, traveling through some rather treacherous territory. And as a result, Israel loses their patience – and it’s never good when we lose our patience, is it? After victory in battle, Israel is ready to keep on going, but is stopped by a frustrating obstacle. And so they fall back into the old litany of complaints: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!” (Numbers 21:5, NIV). Here we go again!
And so, we’re told, “The Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died” (Numbers 21:6, NIV). The poison of their impatience, the poison of their rebellion, the poison of their complaints is manifested in the poisonous snakes sent by God in judgment. It’s shocking, of course – it’s always shocking when God responds in swift judgment. But it gets His point across; the people see how serious their sins are, that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). And they quickly are driven to their knees, saying to Moses “We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us” (Numbers 21:7, NIV). Moses does pray for the people, and God responds graciously, saying to Moses “‘Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.’” (Numbers 21:8, NIV). And Moses does make a bronze snake, putting it on a pole. And if those who had been bitten looked at that snake, they lived (Numbers 21:9). When they looked to the way of healing that God had provided, they were delivered from the poisonous judgment of sin.
It’s a fairly straightforward story. A bit odd, perhaps, especially with that bronze-snake-on-a-pole business. In other stories from Numbers, God heals or forgives His people directly. But we probably wouldn’t think much of this story if it hadn’t been referenced by Jesus in John 3. You know this story – a Pharisee named Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night, making him the original “Nick at Night” (groan). He wants to know if Jesus had come to bring the Kingdom of God to Israel. Jesus responds in His typically cryptic fashion: “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again” (John 3:3, NIV). Nicodemus is confused, of course, and the exchange continues as he and Jesus discuss what it means to be born again, to be born of water and Spirit, to be given new life. And finally, Jesus tells Nicodemus “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life” (John 3:14-15, NIV).
So . . . being born again is something like when people looked to Moses’ bronze snake and believed – from that they were healed. Only now, it seems, Jesus is the One who is lifted up. And how, you might ask? He’s lifted up on the cross. Jesus goes on to tell us that this being lifted up on the cross is an expression of God’s love, the way provided for spiritual healing from the poison of sin, just as the bronze snake provided physical healing from the poisonous snakes. But while Jesus stresses that He has not come into the world to bring condemnation – and praise the Lord for that! – He does say that condemnation comes to those who do not believe. Just as those who did not look to the bronze serpent died from the poison in them, so do those who do not look to Jesus die from the poison of their sins. And we all have this opportunity, to either embrace the light brought to us by Jesus Christ, or to stay in the darkness of our wicked ways. And sadly, so many do choose to stay in darkness, for “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19, NIV).
Yet again, my friends, we see the need for a Savior spelled out for us in the book of Numbers. This book points us ahead in this season of Lent to the work of Jesus Christ, the desperately needed work of our Savior. Without Him, we are dead in our sins. Without Him, we fall prey to the poison of our wicked ways, the poison of rebellion, the poison of impatience, the poison of evil. Without Him, we have no hope of eternal life, no hope of fellowship with our Creator. The question is, though – will we look to Him in faith? Will we believe? And by “believe”, I don’t just mean some weak mental assent or agreement; I mean a strong, rigorous, life-changing faith. I mean repentance, an admission or assent to the fact of our sinfulness and a striving to turn around and go the other way. I mean a struggle to learn patience, to learn obedience, to learn submission to the Lord’s authority. By looking to Jesus in faith, by looking to His work on the cross as He was lifted up for us, we kneel before Him, yield authority over our lives, live in obedience and allow the Holy Spirit to work within us as we are born again. But will we do this, my friends? Will we truly trust and obey? Will we believe?
I hope we will. And friends, I know this is hard – believe me, I know! But how can we not respond in faith, how can we not look to Jesus Christ when we hear the good news – that “God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him” (John 3:16-17, NIV)? That’s the Good News, my friends – that God was willing to be lifted up, to be crucified, to be our bronze snake, to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). Friends, that is astounding – truly astounding! No matter how many times we hear this Good News, it still takes our breath away! But we must believe. We must accept. We must be born again – and that’s hard! It’s a life-long process.
But praise the Lord, it’s not up to us! For the work of regeneration is all God’s work, the work of His Holy Spirit. And Jesus warns us that the Holy Spirit, like the wind, moves where and when He chooses (John 3:8). He makes hard demands of us sometimes. He unsettles us, shakes us up and forces us to change, to repent and to reform. We don’t always like it, I know. The Holy Spirit exposes our dark sins as we are born again – but He also heals us from them. He gives us new life, new birth, new possibilities. He makes us into new people, the people God intended us to be before we were broken by sin and selfishness. And He gives us salvation, He gives us redemption, He gives us healing and forgiveness. And that’s Good News! In Jesus Christ, in our bronze snake lifted up for us, in His crucifixion and resurrection, in the work of God’s Holy Spirit in us, we have new life. We are born again – if only we look to Him, if only we believe, if only we give our lives and our very selves to Him. Hallelujah! In God there is hope – hope for the future, hope for a new life, hope for healing and forgiveness, hope for an eternal relationship and fellowship with Him! May we all seize on to that hope, my friends! May we all look to Him in faith and obedience, and may we be blessed by His life-giving work of redemption! To Him alone be the glory!