The Bronze Serpent and John 3:16

Automated transcript, lightly edited for readability. Scripture appears as spoken; the video is the authoritative teaching.

All right. Shabbat Shalom everybody. Um welcome to Founded in Truth Fellowship. If this is your first time visiting with us or joining us online, we're glad you're here and thank you for joining us. We are a uh we're a diverse community that comes from all different types of backgrounds and uh we enjoy um we enjoy finding the excitement of reading the whole Bible and the message of God in the story of God that also involves us. And uh as a community, we do our best to try to orbit the person of Yeshua in all we do. So, welcome to Founded in Truth. Um so, I want to I want you to picture something.

A Snake on the Ambulance

And it's probably been something that you've seen a thousand times, hundreds of times, and I've probably really never thought about it. Um, let's say there's an emergency and there's an ambulance that, uh, shows up, or an ambulance pulls into an emergency room, and of course the lights are going, there's lots of excitement, the doors swing open, the paramedics are moving, they're pulling things out, uh, all kinds of stuff. And on one side of the ambulance, um usually uh near the side of the ambulance and on the paramedics on their shirts, sometimes they have this or maybe they'll have it on their sleeve. Uh it's the same symbol that is all surrounding them and as they roll it through the hospital doors, same symbol there.

Um there's a symbol and it's a snake. Right? Something like there. Something like that. All right? It's a snake that's wrapped around a pole. And this is the uh rod of um Asclepius. And um it's the symbol of medicine. Just about everywhere on Earth that you go, you'll see some form of this symbol. And that snake has been tied to the concept of healing for over 2,000 years now. Again, the name of the symbol is the rod of Asclepius and it comes from ancient Greek. And in ancient Greece, they had a god of healing just like most people do, right? And his name was Asclepius and his temples were kind of the closest things at the time before Christians started changing the world, it was the closest thing you would find to a hospital in ancient Greece.

If you were sick, you could go to the temple or whatnot and sleep on the floor of this god and and they allegedly they kept live snakes that would come out and they were docile snakes, they weren't hostile. These little yellow snakes and they would come out and and the idea is that this god in ancient Greece or the snakes would be dispatched out to come and like heal you, right? Cuz that's the thing that I would be willing to do if I had a headache, I guess. But we have writings about one guy who had a toe ache. I know, it couldn't couldn't find anything more dramatic. But he had a hurt toe and one of the snakes came out and tickled his toe and it healed his toe, right?

Like this is right? Thank you for indulging me on that one. I thought that was pretty good, right? But the ancient Greeks also noticed that snakes do something that's very peculiar in the spring as well. They shed their skin. And the idea or the concept is that oh, they're shedding their old age. Which I've never looked at it that way, but that's kind of neat. Yeah, you shed off your old age and now you're reborn, you healing, right? Rejuvenation. So, when the Romans kind of took over if you will or absorbed ancient Greece, they took that with them. as well into their empire and so long story short, today it's on hospitals and EMS services everywhere, you get this symbol.

Uh it's kind of a progress, right? Sometimes you'll have it right in the middle of like this blue star uh that was designed specifically to for steps in an emergency response situation, but now you know, right? But wait, there's more. So, in America, of course, um in America, you won't always see this symbol. You might see a symbol that's close to it. And instead of one snake wrapped around a rod, it's usually a single rod with two snakes wrapped around it with two wings, right? Um kind of looks like Do we have it? Yeah, the one on the right there, right? Now, that is um caduceus. That's the name of that symbol.

Um that's not the god or the symbol of healing in ancient Greece. That's That's the the symbol for god named Hermes. And Hermes is not the healing god. He's the god of merchants and thieves. And you will see this symbol all over American hospitals and medical establishments. I love the irony, right? Some of you aren't even surprised. Okay, well, you know, right? Um it was a mix-up. So, apparently, uh there was a medical branch of the US Army uh that accidentally chose the wrong one when they were branding in the early 1900, 1902, three, um and it just kind of stuck. And so, now we have all kinds of emergency services that have the god the symbol for the god of merchants and thieves running around, which it's not appropriate, but it sure seems like it, right?

Image Bearers and a Snake on a Pole

Um it's just beautiful to me. But the real ancient symbol of healing in the ancient world is always the the single rod with a snake, right? It's a picture of the thing that bites you lifted up on the stick. Um so, that's the intro to this week's discernment for the image bearer series that we've been doing, we've been exploring what it means for mankind to be made as the image of God. The Hebrew word for image, of course, is salem, and in the ancient world, the word meant a statue. Like a king, if a king ruled over a land, he would put his statue all over the land to indicate his presence there and who was in charge.

And Genesis uses that word for people, for you in reflection to God, his image. And so a couple weeks ago, we watched Roman soldiers put a robe and a crown on Yeshua, on Jesus, and dress him up as a joke king, if you remember the triumph. what our words do to the image of God in the person next to us when we discussed why people would break noses off of the statues last week. How easy it is. Did you guys do your homework and start noticing how quickly how quick you can judge someone just to create a very fast narrative about them, just to lower them beneath the human state, just so you can feel good about yourself.

And it all happens just like that. Um driving is, of course, when it happens the most, because someone startles you and then you go into fight or flight and then you get mad and then you start calling names. But people you don't even know, other images of God, you paint a story on just so that you can see as lesser because it makes you feel better. all susceptible to it. And so today, we're going to discuss how the good things God used to save us, we can sometimes turn into idols if we keep looking at them instead of through them towards him. We're going to discuss the story, of course, found in the Old Testament about another snake on a pole, very similar to the rod of Asclepius.

Complaining About the Manna

And so that journey begins in Numbers chapter 21. And in Numbers chapter 21, God has pulled Israel out of slavery in Egypt, and he's been walking them through the desert toward the promised land, milk and honey, right? And this has taken uh quite a long time, the trip. Uh it shouldn't have taken very long, but you know, things happened and now they've been walking around for 40 years. Uh 40 years in the wilderness and they're close. They're super close. They're about to go in. They're about to cross over. Um they just have to ask the king of Edom, uh the nation right next door, if they have permission to walk through his land so that they can cross over the Jordan River to access the land of Canaan.

Uh and of course, Edom says no. So now they have to go the long way, all the way around, right? Um and and you know, I've I get antsy in a 3-hour car ride. And this is 40 years. Um and now we have to take another long way around. And so what do the people do? They begin to uh they become impatient. Cuz the journey's just taking too long and it's never says the journey that never ends, right? Uh and so they get upset and the people begin to speak against God and against Moses. And here's here's what they say. When they set out from Mount Hor by way of the Red Sea to bypass the land of Edom, but the people became impatient because of the journey.

The people spoke against God and Moses, "Why have you led us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread or water and we detest this wretched food." So, what is this wretched food they speak of? So, it's neat because the Hebrew word for bread is lechem. Um and it's actually mentioned two here, two times here. It's mentioned right there in the last verse where it says, "There is no bread or water." That's lechem. But then it says that we detest this wretched food and that word for food there is also bread. Um so it's there's no bread, but also we hate this bread. It's the complaint, right?

It's a a complaint only we can make as humans, Um because it's manna. It's the it's the bread from heaven. Um it's the bread that showed up every single morning on the ground that they woke up to. And 6 days a week for 40 years, for free. No farming. No shopping. Uh you walk outside and the pancakes are almost ready to go, right? Um it seems like a good deal, but uh I mean, I guess it gets tiring. I don't know. Uh but it's the bread that God gave them. Um and they're standing in the desert. They're going, "I'm sick of this. Sick of it." "I'd rather die in Egypt than eat another bite of this."

yeah. And so, here's what happens next. And can I tell you about how much I appreciate the storytelling in the Bible? I know you already know this. Uh um because the Bible has such a dynamic way of showing almost an unreasonable escalation in conflict at times. And we don't catch it. Like, if it was a secular book that we were reading, we'd slow down and we'd if it was a movie, we'd be like, "Whoa! What just happened?" Because a lot of times, we read the story so often, we we kind of miss. Uh so, so the people are so the people complain that Egypt has better pancakes than than God.

I mean, that's what it is, right? You mix the the manna with the water and you make dough and you eat it, right? Um Next thing that happens, then the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people and they bit them so so that many of them died. So, this will be this will be the verse at the kitchen table for the children to read. You want to complain about the food? You want to Come on. You got it good, right? All right, so so God unleashes uh poisonous snakes among the people and they bit many of them and many of them died. And so, this is neat though. Um where it says poisonous snakes, uh Hebrew word for snake is nakash, right?

The Burning Ones

Uh so it's ha nakashim, the snakes, and then it says ha seraphim. Um the snakes, the burning ones. The burning ones, seraphim. Uh and that word seraphim may sound familiar. It comes from It's also It comes from It's also mentioned in Isaiah chapter 6, which is like the the temple throne room scene with Isaiah. He's having this vision. Um and Isaiah, of course, is one of the prophets. This is centuries after Moses. And he's in the temple, and the vision opens up in the throne room of God, and he sees the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne. High and lofty, exalted up. And he says this in Isaiah.

He says, "Seraphim, same word, were standing above him. They each had six wings. With two, they covered their faces, and with two, they covered their feet, and with two, they flew." It's a wicked cool creature. but it means the burning ones. Uh which is just even cooler. Um the creatures that surround the throne of God, same word, seraphim. The thing in the camp that came through the camp and slithered slithered in the tents and right? The thing that was in the camp that day is being called by the same name as the thing standing next to God's throne. Now, seraph can just mean a snake whose bite burns a little bit.

Absolutely. Um but Deuteronomy 8 calls the whole wilderness a land full of these snakes. Um and so the plain reading, of course, is it's a desert, and there's snakes, and they got bit. Um but you can read it as He said the burning ones. The burning He could have just said snakes, but he included the burning ones. And so anyone, again, the Isaiah 6. Um that's the picture the word paints. The judgment of their mouths and all that complaining, everything that all those complaints that went up to God comes into their tents wearing the name of the creatures that stand next to God's throne and they have fangs. So, I just want to try to create an escalated picture.

Look and Live

it's terrifying. So, people are dying um, and many died. And they come to Moses and they're repenting. Like they're God repent, too. they're they're they're going to repent and then they they listen, we have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you. Please, Moses, once again, can you intercede with the Lord so that he will take the snakes away? Take the snakes away. And Moses prays and God answers, but there's a catch. There's a catch on what God does not do. What does he not do? He does not take the snakes away. And so, this is what happens. He says, "Then the Lord said to Moses, make a snake image and mount it on a pole and when anyone who is bitten looks at it, he will recover."

So, Moses made a bronze snake and mounted it on a pole. And whenever someone was bitten, he looked at the bronze snake and he recovered. It's a wild story. Right? Um, please make the snakes go away. I got something better. Uh, I want you to picture Moses getting this instruction. And um, and God just make the snake. You make a what? You know what? Make it a seraph, a burning one. The like like the one that's killing everybody outside right now. Yes, that's the one. I want you to make that one. And then, you want me to put put it on a pole. Okay, and then lift it up high so the whole camp can see this thing up in the air.

And then what are they supposed to do? Oh, they're supposed to look at it. All right. And Moses goes probably never having molded anything bronze in his life. Uh he goes and he makes this thing and he makes it out of bronze. And that's it. That's the cure for the snakes. Um and the the the the word for pole there that he lifts up is ness. Ness is the word for like a flag or a banner. Um a um what do you call it? Um a standard in battle. Like an army. So it's big. It was meant to be lifted up. You don't touch the snake. You don't climb up the pole.

You don't bring this thing an offering. You don't say a special prayer. You just look at it. you don't fix the bite first. You have the venom inside of you. You don't have long. And the instruction is to turn your head and look at the thing up there and you'll live. Look at the snake. Look at the thing that's the exact same shape of the thing that's killing you. God's cure is a picture of the judgment lifted up on a pole. He doesn't take away the burning ones in the story. He takes the picture of the burning one and raises it up over the camp. And he says the way out is to look at the thing that bit you up there where I put it.

Now, I love rabbinic commentary because rabbinic commentary throughout the Talmud of Mishnah um not only does the Mishnah it's a document that records how things were done in the temple during the 1st century um as a way to create a pseudo time capsule um because the Romans destroyed the temple and especially the priestly families were worried about losing all of the protocols and standards and everything that was put in the temple. And so the priestly families started uh documenting, trying to remember, and creating this catalog of how things were done in the temple in the first century. And it's really cool and super useful if you want to study that time period, but also people disagreed about why they did things.

And then people had commentaries about the Bible that they put in there, and then people disagreed about their commentaries and about other people, and then they had arguments. And they basically canonized their arguments in this form called the It's beautiful piece of historical documentation. So, the rabbis The rabbis asked the obvious question about the story. It's in the Mishnah, it's in the Rosh Hashanah tractate, right? The New Year tractate. And this is This is two or 300 years after Yeshua that they and they put it bluntly. They said Do I have it? Yeah. Did the serpent kill or did the serpent keep alive? Rather, when Israel would look upwards and subject their hearts to their father in heaven, they were healed.

And if not, their flesh would melt away. I think they took liberties, but I just loved the the idea that they had this imagination. It's like in Indiana Jones where the Okay. 1,800 years ago not reading the New Testament, not trying to, you know, do any of this stuff, they they say that the bronze snake never healed anyone. They're pointing out that God did it. The looking up was what a heart turned toward him looks like from the outside. And the snake was there to give you something to look at. So, that in looking at it, you were looking at him. You got me? This is how the rabbis formulated and viewed this.

Nehushtan, the Bronze Thing

You're looking at God when you're looking at the snake because your heart is oriented towards God. So Let's see here. So, when they left the place they entered into the land and um and as they were leaving, of course, as you do, someone said, "Hey, we're packing everything up. We're about to go into the land. This is the final goodbye before we head in. Uh hey, do we have any of those empty totes left in the garage?" "Yeah, I think we got one." "Good. Someone put the snake in it so we can take it with us." So, they did. They packed the snake up and they took it into the land uh with them.

Of course, they did. Why wouldn't they? God commanded it. And Moses made this thing uh with his own two hands. And people watched their kids live because of it. I mean, you don't just leave that behind, do you? It's No, you take it with you. I'd put it in my office, you know? It's pretty cool. Like, it's a good souvenir. Um or maybe it's a wind chime. I don't know. You do something with it. It's It's significant to the people of Israel. Uh the Bible doesn't tell us how. I'm filling in the gap, obviously. Uh but somehow they they pack it up and it crosses the Jordan and it survives Joshua.

It survives the season of the judges. It survives Samuel. It survives Saul and King David and King Solomon. And at some point someone was going through that tote and they found Moses's snake. And one day, someone decided to light some incense in front of it as a type of petition offering. and it wasn't official. Like, nobody held a meeting and said, as far as we can read, "Okay, a new policy for Israel, the snake is the god now." No one did that. Because that's that's never how it happens, right? Um it's just that the thing was holy to them and old and it had a story and they loved it and one day someone was thinking about the snake instead of thinking about God.

And they brought a little bit of incense to it uh and no one stopped them. And it kept going. Um the thing that pointed to God became the very thing you were looking at. And it's just so easy to do. And so jump ahead a few hundred years, 6 700 years before Yeshua. the cure that God gave their ancestors 20 generations uh back is actively having an incense burnt to it in Judah in the land of the people who were supposed to know better. And there was a young king named Hezekiah. He became king at 25 years old. And the author of the book of Kings says he did right in the sight of the Lord as his ancestor David had done.

That's a pretty good grade. And then the very next thing that the author records in 2 Kings 18 uh is this. It says Hezekiah He removed the high places. He shattered sacred pillars. He cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake that Moses made. For until then the Israelites were burning incense to it. It was called Nehushhtan. The high places the pillars, the Asherah poles. That's a That's some big ticket item idol stuff, That's pagan religion of all of their neighbors that they've accumulated. Um Canaanite stuff creeping into Judah for generations upon generations. And you expect a good king to clear that out. But then there's this one.

This is not a Canaanite thing. This is not a pagan thing that they pulled in from their neighbors. Um it was the bronze snake that Moses made. Moses with his own hands. By God's direct command people were burning incense to it. And Hezekiah picks up a sledgehammer and walks in. Can you imagine? The king the new king just walks in and head beelines to the snake. I mean I might even feel like well hold on. Wait a second. Let's just take the incense away and put it in a nice case and like let's preserve it. Like this is sick. Nope. Nope. He smashes it. He smashes it up, which is the right thing to do.

Nahushtan, so he word just means a bronze thing. That's the name of it, a bronze thing, a hunk of metal. Which which kind of led me down an imaginary rabbit hole because have you ever made something out of bronze? Like a statue? I sure haven't. Have you ever tried to make something out of Play-Doh? Does it ever look fantastic? No. So I had fun kind of imagining like if this is Moses'first time trying to make something, he he had he was in a rush to make it, what would it have looked like? And and I feel like it may it may have been one of those nailed it moments. Like You know, like like let's be honest.

Let's be honest or maybe maybe it was simpler cuz he just needed to put people are dying. You need to hurry, right? Like maybe it was just here you go. Look at this thing, guys. Stop dying. We need to get this out there. Or maybe he just went the simple route, the minimalistic. There you go. It's danger noodle, right? Whatever it was, I'm sure it probably looked better than that. But that was sacred. That was something sacred and it became such a distraction for God's people that it need they they lost they lost the privilege of having it. This souvenir from the time of Moses. Yeah, they named it the bronze thing.

Which is a play on words because the word bronze and snake sound similar. but you've been burning incense to a hunk of Maybe it's the version of church that saved your life a long time ago. Maybe it's the thing that you learned that made the Bible finally come alive and now that's the thing that is really what you want to orbit all of your attention around. Maybe it's the Bible itself. I've seen so many people worship the Bible instead of the one the Bible testifies about. And it's easy to do because the Bible is so flexible and how alive it is that people intentionally take it to a grinding mill and sharpen it to be weaponized so that they can now do the very thing that we spoke about last week, cutting down other image bearers with some type of now divinely formed weapon that you yield.

It's easy to do. Whether we want to admit that or not. But what did we read a few weeks ago? Does the scripture say you become what you worship? And this is what it looks like with something good. You don't become ball. Um you become a hunk of bronze that used to mean something. And so the question is what bronze do you burn incense to that God gave to you as a testimony of his power? And the fix the fix in the story is not a gentle one. an image bearer, a son of David, a man made as the image of God picked up a hammer and broke an image.

The Bread and the Snake in John

Just like some of us need to probably go home home and do today. Because we can't just stop burning incense to it. So now we jump forward to the New Testament to John's gospel. and before we get to the snake, um I want to go back to the mana. Um because that's exactly what John does in in John chapter 6 verses 41, 49, 51. He's having this conversation. It says, "Therefore the Jews started grumbling about him um because he said,'I am the bread that came down from heaven. '" "Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness and they died. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will never or he will live forever.

The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh." So, we're roughly familiar with this section of scripture, John 6. Yeshua has just fed um about 5,000 men uh fish sandwiches that he got from a kid's lunch box. And the next day, the crowd tracks him down and he tells them, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." And it says that there were some Jews that were starting to grumble about him. There's a people outside grumbling about the bread. Right? You see where it's Okay. This connection. grumbling. It's that manna word. When the uh Old Testament was translated into Greek, um the word for what Israel did in front of the manna in Exodus 16, it's the same word family as right here in John, right?

Uh so, same thing's happening but a different century. And Yeshua doesn't back off. He goes right into it. He's "Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness and they died. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever." And so, the bread from heaven that they detested in Numbers chapter 21, that they got so used to seeing that they just couldn't bear it anymore, Yeshua picks it up and says, "That was me." It is me. It was always me. And they grumble. Of course, they grumble, right? It's what we do. So, he already claimed one wilderness cures himself. And now, we'll go back in John three chapters to John chapter 3.

And even if you've never opened your Bible before, if you're unfamiliar, you've probably ran across a very familiar verse, the most popular verse um in John chapter 3. It's verse 16, and the conversation um and everything that's going wrong has to going on has to do with him having a conversation with a man named Nicodemus, who was a Pharisee, who was one of the expert teachers of the Torah of his day, a ruler, in fact, within the Jewish community, a teacher of Israel. and he knows about the snake. He knows the story. And he comes to Yeshua at night, and they have this conversation about being born again, uh born from above.

And Nicodemus can't follow it. He's I don't I I don't know. Uh and then right in the middle of this conversation in the Bible, Yeshua reaches for Numbers 21. And here's what he says in John chapter 3 starting verse 14. Your ancestors ate Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up. So that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. Why? For God so loved the world in this way that he gave his one and only son that everyone who believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life. That's the ver-that's the context of the verse of 3:16.

it the foundation of it has to do with the bronze snake. What's he saying? He says, "Just as Moses lifted up the snake, so the Son of Man will be lifted up." That phrase lifted up, John uses it three times um in reference to Yeshua. Uh, and in John chapter 12, he he actually tells you what it means, uh, when Yeshua says it. He says, "As for me, if I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself." And then John puts a note there. He says, "He said this to indicate what kind of death he was about to die." Lifted up. Lifted up. So, in John, lifted up means two things at the same time.

Um, it means hung on a pole, like a cross. Um, and in Greek, it's also the same word that you would use for exalting someone up. It's the play, right? It's the triumph, the inversion of it. Um, being raised up to a throne. The pole is a throne. The thing they did to humiliate him is the exact same thing that enthrone him, high and lifted up. Moses lifted up a bronze snake where everyone could see it. And God lifts up his son where everybody can see him. And, um, and well over a thousand years later, the picture is the same, right? A burning one lifted up so that everyone can look.

Then Paul comes along. And Paul had a lot of things to say about a lot of things. Majority of the new New Testament. and he says this in in 2 Corinthians. It says if he's saying the part that John expected you to figure out on your own. He says, "He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness for God." He made him to be sin. He didn't make him into a sinner. No, he sin, the thing itself. The thing itself. Galatians 3:13, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us because it is written,"Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree."

A Weapon Turned Trophy

Become a curse on a tree or a pole. Galatians 6:14,"But as for me, I will never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The world has been crucified to me through the cross and I to the world." What What will he boast about nothing but the cross itself? Colossians 2:15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and disgraced them publicly. He triumphed over them in him. Now, if we go back for that word back in Numbers for banner the pole. The word is a ness. It's a standard. It's the thing that an army rallies under as they march in. And think about what Israel's standard was that day.

It was the picture of the thing that was killing them. God took the sign of judgment, the the seraphim, the snakes, and he raised it over the camp as a sign of their rescue. He didn't hide it. He didn't take it away. He didn't hide the snake. Uh he flew it above the camp into the sky. And that's exactly what took place on the cross. The cross was Rome's killing machine. Um it was the most shameful way a human could ever imagine dying. It was designed to be shameful. And it was inside of course the same generation that Paul is writing. It was so shameful that Roman citizens could not They weren't allowed to be crucified.

That was just too No matter how bad of a Roman citizen you are, you will never be subjected to something that low. And Paul says,"I will never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." Boast about a Roman execution device. He says in Colossians 2 that on the cross God did what? He disarmed the rulers and authorities and disgraced to them publicly. He triumphed over them in him. The weapon became the trophy. 2 weeks ago, we talked about the Roman triumph and how uh that victory parade and how a general rides through Rome and he drags everything he captured and everyone he captured behind him and the whole city gets to see the triumph, the victory, the loot, and all the stuff that he took from who he captured.

And I think I mentioned that the cross was a Roman triumph inverted. On rewind. God took the thing that killed Yeshua and flew it as his banner. And it's been flying in Christian tradition ever since. On almost every church, on lots of necklaces, the enemy's weapon lifted up as a sign that we rally under. It's the same move that took place in the desert with the snakes. It's amazing because I was having a discussions with someone uh last week after services about just how radical Christians were within the first few generations in Rome. And how Rome didn't kill them because they were so like Rome didn't persecute them simply because they worshipped a different god.

They persecuted them because they fought back against being a cog in the wheel of the Roman Empire. Uh we're not going to participate in these types of taxes or offerings. We're not going to participate in being forced into the military to fight enemies that are not our enemies because we love them now. We're not going to They broke the empire. And imagine imagine the boldness of taking the thing that killed their king, which led to his triumph, taking that and appropriating it away from the empire and using it as their later symbol. Woo. That's awesome. I don't know. I think that's pretty That's pretty radical. What do you mean that's like Why Why is your symbol the cross?

That's how we killed your guy. Yeah, but he rose again, so it's ours now. It's like, "No, that's not how it works." Yeah, it does. This is You know, like what are you going to do? what are you going to do? And then even something so radical and so powerful still can become a hunk of bronze that we stop looking through to the king and through to the power and through to the victory of God and we stop and just look at the item and end up worshiping that. It could be anything and everything. But yeah, that's That's the That's Paul's stance on the cross. He He doesn't boast about any other aspect of Jesus except for the fact that he died on a cross and now it's it's the symbol of victory.

We defeated Rome with their own weapon and now it's it's ours. Ha. That's That's what led to getting him his head cut off. Um, but that's also under the same policy why Paul was never crucified cuz he was a citizen. So, John 6:40. For this is the will of my father, that everyone who sees the son and believes in him will have eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day. So, here's the whole picture. Right? The seraphim are in the camp. The venom has infected you. You've been bitten. You've You've got the bite marks. It's in your leg. It's in your arm. It's in your mouth.

You've got the venom in your thoughts. You've got the venom in your hearts. You've got the venom in your politics. You've got the venom in your lashon hara, the way you gossip. You've got the venom in your relationships, in your marriage. You've got the vision when you look at every person around you as some type of threat to your identity and you lower them from an image of God to beneath an animal. You've got the venom. And you will die from it. And you know it. And you pray what Israel prayed, right? God, take the snakes away. Just take it all away. And God does not take the snakes away.

Instead, he takes the shape of the thing that is killing you, the shape of sin, the shape of the curse, the shape of a condemned man on a Roman pole and he lifts it up outside the city where everyone can see it. And in Numbers, the word there was look. You must look at it. And in John 6, he puts He says that everyone who believes in him He adds belief, trust to it. And then in John 6 here, he he he puts the two words together and he says, "Everyone who sees the son and believes in him." believes is trust. So, belief is is trust. Seeing and trusting. That's the same man That's the same move that the Israelite made when he was suffering.

His temperature was going up. He had the bite marks on his ankle and he looked at the snake. Whoever sees what is lifted up sees the image of everything that's going to kill them and believes will be saved. And that's a very radical thing to do for the New Testament authors to formulate the crucifixion and the power of God and his triumph and victory around the story of the the bronze snake. That's what the pole is for. That's all it was ever for. That's what the pole was for. And that's that's the thing. Thousands of years later the picture the world picked for healing is the thing that can kill you.

The Bronze Thing in Your Life

Raised on a staff. Um the Greeks had their own reasons for it. Um I'm sure the paramedics have never read Numbers chapter 21. Um but that's where it comes from. That's where it comes from. And here's the one difference between Yeshua and the bronze thing. And then I'm done. Bronze can be smashed. Bronze needs a hammer eventually. Uh because bronze, if you give it a couple hundred years, 500 years, uh it'll always turn into Nahashhtan. It'll turn into the thing that you burn incense to. Like every cure does. Yeshua can't be smashed. They tried. they lifted him up on a pole and he died And they put him in a grave.

And he walked out of it. You You can't make him a Nahashhtan. Um the only way to turn Yeshua into a hunk of bronze is to burn incense to the symbol. Which is like this, cross on the wall. The religion. Your form of faith in Yeshua that benefits you. That's how you turn all of this into a chunk of bronze. The version of him that you pack so deeply in the box with walls thick enough for you to control the outcome. And we stop looking at him and we look at whatever we've created from him. And that's the threat. That's the threat. And so what are you looking at? What are you trusting in your life?

Because the entire story of the Bible, the pinnacle of it, is when the prophets went to Israel and they were doing everything right. Leviticus had the blueprints, they did everything in the temple worship, the sac-they did everything right. And the prophets looked at them and said,"You are not even recognizable to God." You say you celebrate him, but it turns the stomach. Because in reality, you treat people in the world just like every other nation does. You don't forgive, you don't have mercy, you have no concept that other human beings are images of God to be celebrated. You don't see that people do bad things doesn't mean that they're bad people.

But yet, you meet on Shabbat and you do all the things and you offer the sacrifices and you pass over high five, Shabbat Shalom. That's what the prophets warned of. And he's going to wipe you out. What they said. That's what happened. And so it's very appropriate to always take time to audit. Do we have bronze things in our lives? And so when you feel the venom this week, no matter how small, first thing you should do, look at the one who took its shape for you. Look and trust and believe and recalibrate where you're supposed to be. A symbol is just a symbol as long as you're looking through it to the one who gave it.

Amen. So, please stand as we conclude with worship today. Uh and guys, um we have a prayer team on either member of our prayer team on either side of the stage after services during this last song that we sing. Um you're welcome to sing with us. You're welcome to sit down. You're welcome to meditate. Welcome to pray. If you need prayer today, guys, we have someone on either side that can pray with you, lift something up. Um and we also have a symbolic altar here and its only purpose is for you to be able to symbolically put something down today if you're tired of carrying something around. And so, for the message, if you're carrying something today, a piece of bronze, a chunk of bronze that is taking a taken a holier position in your life than it ever should have.

Again, that can be a lot of different things. I invite you. Make that first step today. You can walk down, kneel down, symbolically place it here, stand up, and walk back to your seat. And that's the first step of commitment of saying,"God, I'm going to be like Hezekiah. I'm going to start hitting this thing with a hammer so that you can mold me and I can look at you and I can trust for my salvation." Our beloved Almighty our Father our King, Father, we thank you for the opportunity to read your scriptures, Father, in the testimony of Moses and the testimony of the serpent and the testimony of Hezekiah and the temptation of the bronze snake.

And the testimony of the victory, the victory that we boast of nothing else except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, of Yeshua Hamashiach. The thing that is meant to kill us is now the thing that represents your salvation that we look through and see your power and grace. Father, I ask that you would mold our hearts, that you would allow us to not be bound in chains by our own venom, but that we would be more conformed in the shape of Yeshua. That you would allow us to stop and slow down and practice love, practice forgiveness, practice mercy, practice grace, practice emulating the son, the king Yeshua. We thank you, Father, in the name of Yeshua our king we pray.

Amen. You are the medicine, the only thing cure for all I for everything I feel within. Redeeming what was lost and all that could have been. All this is a healing kind of love. You are the true friend. Stay through the night when I was at Comforting my heart till it was light again. All this is a faithful kind of love. Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, Emmanuel, God with us, you're here with me. Wonderful Counselor, the government is resting on your shoulders. You are the final word. You alone sight when every page would turn. So, I will trust your timing and I will rest secure. All this is a steady kind of Everlasting Prince of Peace, Emmanuel, God with us, and you're here Wonderful Counselor, the government is resting on your shoulders.

On your shoulders. Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, Emmanuel, God with us, and you're here with me. Ooh, on your shoulders. And your name say it all. They say it all. I stand in awe of you. Your name say it all. They say it all. I stand in awe of you. Your name say it all. They say it all. I stand in awe of you. awe of you. it all. They say I stand in awe of One more time. Your name say it all. you. Everlasting. Everlasting, God with us, you're here Wonderful Counselor, the government is resting on your shoulders. On your shoulders. Everlasting Father,, God with us, you're Counselor, the government is resting on your shoulders.

One more time, Everlasting Father. Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, Emmanuel, God with us, you're here Wonderful Counselor, the government is resting on your And your name I stand you. Your name say it all. They say it all. in awe of you. Your name say it all. in awe of Your name say Father. You really are in awe of your of your beauty, Lord. Of your wisdom. On how you change things for the good. You are the God who makes all things new. Cuz Father, we thank you, Lord, cuz you're not You're different. You really are. I can search all the world and I will never find no one like you, Lord.

You are the one who makes all things new, Lord. And the way you hold the whole world in your hands. And your whole kingdom and everything that happens in the universe. I can only stand in awe of who you are, Lord. Thank you, Lord. We thank you for this holy moment in your presence. For moments like this where we can gather as one and let your Holy Spirit speak into our hearts with truth. Father, so as we conclude this Shabbat gathering, help us stay in communion communion with your Holy Spirit. Keep speaking your truth over us so we can remain seeking you with a burning passion for your holiness and your truth.

And help us remember which kingdom we're supposed to represent. Thank you, Lord. In Yeshua's name we pray and we thank you, Lord. Let's sing Shema. Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one. Blessed is the name of his glorious kingdom for all eternity. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up his countenance toward you and give you his shalom. Shabbat shalom. Give them praise. Shabbat shalom.