They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!”
Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.
The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.
- Numbers 21:4-9
Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
- John 3:14-15
“D.L. Moody served as a Union chaplain. After the Battle of Murfreesboro, he visited a wounded soldier who asked him to help him die. Moody tried to share Christ, but the man replied, ‘He can’t save me; I have sinned all my life.’
“Moody began reading from John 3 and came to the words, ‘And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life’ (verses 14-15). The soldier interrupted, saying, ‘I never knew that was in the Bible. Read it again.’ Moody read it again as the wounded man leaned forward on his elbow, his troubled expression giving way to peaceful calm. Lying back on his cot, he began repeating the words over and over, dying with those words on his lips.
“This was Moody’s constant theme, and later it would set the tone of his great evangelistic ministry. God loves us, and He designed a plan in which He Himself would become a human-fully righteous in every way-and die on the cross for our sins. In the Old Testament this was foreshadowed by an event in which-during an outbreak of poisonous snake bites-Moses hung a bronze serpent on a pole, and everyone who looked at it was healed. In a similar way, Jesus became sin for us, was slain on a pole, and all who look to Him are saved from the sickness of sin and thereby have eternal life.”
- Robert J. Morgan, 100 Bible Verses That Made America
In my recent trip to visit the grandchildren, the oldest of them went with me to Nashville, to sell used books and games. One of the books that I purchased in return was 100 Bible Verses That Made America by Robert J. Morgan. As we approach the 250th anniversary of the birth of the USA, I thought I would do a condensed mini-series on some of these verses, four posts per week for a few weeks – maybe not all 100 verses.
Dwight Lyman “D.L.” Moody (1837-1899) was an evangelist. He founded Moody Bible Institute and Moody Publishing.
I have written and I have heard it often said, to read the entire Bible. To understand a verse, read the entire paragraph. Find context.
In John 3, we read about Jesus explaining to Nicodemus that he needs to be born again. And then, John 3:16 is sometimes taken by itself. The following verses give the counterpoint that no one seems to want to read. They want the assurance of salvation without the fact that those who do not believe are dead already – they just don’t know it.
But we can come to a belief at any time. The fear is that the longer you wait, you do not know when God will decide that this is the end. But you can also get that part of your soul calloused so that you don’t want anything to do with Jesus. Either of those situations are bad. Thus, now is the time.
But I did not know that D.L. Moody used those powerful words just before John 3:16 as his means of drawing people to Jesus. Moses raised up the snake. We must raise up Jesus for our salvation and for those around us.
Have you raised up Jesus lately?
Let everyone know that Christ died for them. Raise up Jesus so that they can believe and be saved.
Soli Deo Gloria. Only to God be the Glory.
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