Read Numbers 21:4-11; 16-18
It is our earnest desire that the ministry of the word given here should really lay hold upon the young, and that they should leave this place different in mind and in intention from what they were when they came, and that their lives should be blessed and holy lives, redounding to the glory of the Lord, and abounding in blessing to those around them.
I was struck with a little incident I read the other day. The well-known D. L. Moody, the evangelist, of America, returned from a preaching one night, and he was asked, “How many converts did you get tonight?”
He replied, “I got two and a half.”
The person, to whom he said this, replied, “I suppose you mean you got two grown-ups and a child?”
“No,” said Mr. Moody, “I got two children and one grown-up.”
“How do you make that out to be two and a half?”
“Well,” replied the great winner of souls, “you see the two children have got a whole life before them, whereas a grown-up person has only got half a life before him.”
These considerations impress me greatly, and give me a fresh sense of the value of reaching the young. So I desire by the grace of God to give a very practical address.
There are four great historical types of the death of Christ in the Old Testament, one of which we have just read. They are, (1) The Passover night in Egypt; (2) The crossing of the Red Sea; (3) The uplifting of the Serpent of Brass; and (4) The passage of the Jordan. God has given us these types in order that we may visualise what God had for us when He first took us up for blessing.
There is a very feeble idea of the gospel oftentimes in people’s minds, that amounts to this. Many a person says that God is so good and gracious, and has provided His Son as Saviour, and through accepting Him sins are forgiven, and assurance and going to heaven is given. The gospel to such is looked upon as little better than a benefit society, carrying with it no responsibility on our side as to walk and life.
Now look at it like this. Take these Old Testament types of the death of Christ, and apply them to our own spiritual experience. God on the Passover night told the Israelites that when the blood was sprinkled upon the lintel and door posts of the house where they were, the destroying angel would not enter. That surely was consoling, and when faith laid hold upon it, they could be in peace of mind when that dread midnight hour came. But supposing it had ended there. What if they had still been left in Egypt, making bricks without straw, and still under the lash of the taskmaster? They would begin to groan afresh in their affliction, and cry to the Lord again for deliverance. We can say surely, and we want to say it with all reverence, if nothing further had occurred in the type, we could only say God bad not finished the work He had put His hand to. But, thank God, He does finish the work He puts His hand to, and He brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, across the Red Sea, through the wilderness and into the land flowing with milk and honey.
Now, first of all, the children of Israel cried for deliverance from the taskmaster, but they had to learn on the Passover night that there was a question that had to be settled in connection WITH GOD HIMSELF. What a wonderful thing it is to know that the Lord Jesus Christ—God in undiminished Deity, stooped down and became a Man, and passed through the very unspeakable sufferings of the Cross under the judgment of God in order to glorify God as to the question of sin. But, dear friends, does that not put some obligation upon us? You remember the verse that emphasises this:“The love of Christ constrains us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all then were all dead [spiritually]: and that He died for all that they which live [spiritually] should not henceforth live to themselves. BUT UNTO HIM which died for them, and rose again” (2 Cor. 5:14-15). Now the great point is this. Should we recognise the responsibility that God puts upon each one of us, when He ministers to us such astounding grace?
We are justified in using this typical scene in this way because we have a New Testament verse to warrant our doing so. We read, “Even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us” (1 Cor. 5:7). And this is followed by the responsibility to “Keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”
Then in 1 Corinthians 10:14, we read of the fathers of Israel being baptised to Moses in the cloud and in the sea. This brings us to a further point: it is easily seen in the type because it was a matter of geography. The difference between these people being in Egypt, and having the Red Sea between them and the land of their bitter bondage, and finding themselves in the wilderness is easily grasped. They were under a new leader, and under absolutely new conditions. “They were all baptised to Moses in the cloud and in the sea.” They found themselves under a new guide, and were dependent upon heavenly resources, upon the manna that came down from heaven—angel’s food—and the water that gushed out from the smitten rock.
With us it is a question of how far are we in the faith of our souls answering to this? It is not a matter of geography with us. It is more subtle than that. It is spiritual apprehension, the recognition of an obligation, which the death of Christ has put upon every one of us. They were delivered from Egypt; and we have been delivered from the world. They were delivered from the power of Pharaoh; we are delivered from the power of Satan. They had heavenly resources, the manna from heaven, and the water from the stricken rock; we, too, have heavenly resources—a heavenly Christ, the Food of His people and the Refreshment of their souls. He alone can sustain His people.
But I want to ask each young Christian here, Have you accepted the position that the cross of Christ puts you into, that you are not of the world as Christ was not of the world? That you have changed, as it were, spiritually, the order of things in which you live, and that you are committed to something very blessed and yet very serious? Will you young Christians think that over?
In the natural order of things we do expect the Lord to come soon. We were all stirred last night as we were reminded of the early Christians in the catacombs of Rome saying, Maranatha—the Lord comes. How much more we can say Maranatha, and how likely it is that we are on the verge of the Lord’s return.
But, speaking in a general way, you have your life before you. What a responsibility! You may answer to it in the right way, or you may not answer to it. This is a very serious matter, because, while the Lord works on His side, and as we have been hearing just now about temptations coming to try our faith, and develop our Christian character, God often has to send these things into our lives to attain these results in our souls. But there is our side. You have your life before you. You are going to make it, by God’s grace, a real success, or failing of that grace a failure, or, it is possible, actually dishonouring to the Lord. What kind of decision do you think of arriving at tonight in regard to your life? Is the thought of all the solemn character of the death of Christ, and all that He passed through to win you for Himself, going to control your life, to touch your affections, so that you will not live to yourself, but to Him that died for you and rose again?
We come now to this particular narrative which we read from Numbers 21, the incident of the Brazen Serpent. We find it alluded to in John 3:14-15, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up: that whosoever believes on Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” If you read on through the Gospel of John you will see the line of life running through it; and, mark you, eternal life is not just a first class insurance ticket for heaven. It is a life that is vital, it has powers and affections, and if it is to be lived at all it must express itself according to its own nature. And, therefore, what we are going to consider now in this passage is of deep importance.
Romans 8:3 is another Scripture which clearly uses the incident of the brazen serpent as a type of what comes out in connection with the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is interesting to see how the Apostle John uses the incident, as we have already seen in John 3:14-15. There he uses it on the positive side, that is, the death of our Lord brings LIFE, divine life, eternal life to the believer. Here the Apostle Paul takes up the incident from the negative side, and that is the condemnation of “sin in the flesh.”
It is indeed a question of two natures, one divine, to which no sin or sorrow can ever attach. The other, the evil nature, from which no good can ever come, and therefore is set aside by God. So we read in Romans 8:3, “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.”
The brazen serpent was not a fiery flying serpent, but in the likeness of it. So our Lord was not “sinful flesh.” He was infinitely holy, but He became a Man, came in “the likeness of sinful flesh.” The serpent of brass was lifted on a pole, emblematical of the Son of God being lifted up on the cross, as John 3:14 tells us. DEATH and death only could meet the case.
We start by being concerned about our sins, that is the FRUIT of the evil nature. But if the fruit is bad the tree is bad, and this comes out in what the death of Christ sets forth. It is a great matter when the young Christian recognises this. You begin by being troubled about the FRUIT, that is sins. But later you are troubled about the ROOT, that is the sinful nature. The cross of Christ settles everything for us. Sins are atoned for. The sinful nature is condemned. What we are in sinful nature, fruit and root, lock, stock and barrel, is dealt with. Sins can be and are forgiven. The sinful nature cannot be forgiven, it is CONDEMNED and set aside.
Thus we find Paul and John meeting in beautiful harmony. Paul tells us the old nature is condemned in the death of Christ. John tells us a new nature is ours through the death of Christ. “In this was manifested the love of God towards us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might LIVE through Him” (1 John 4:9).
Let us resume the thread of our narrative in Numbers 21. The children of Israel were journeying, and as they journeyed they were discouraged because of the way. The circumstances were not easy. The desert was a terrible place to traverse. What a contrast are our circumstances here today. We come together as Christians, as we do here, and everything is very pleasant and happy.
It is good to roam about these grounds, and come across none but Christians, it reminds me of what millennium scenes may be. But in a day or two we return to our usual circumstances, and things are often small and difficult, and often meetings are very dry, and sometimes we find things almost, I was going to say, choked, for want of a better word. So we often get discouraged because of the way.
These children of Israel were so discouraged that they said, There is no bread, and there is no water. They got to such a point of discouragement that they actually traduced the goodness of God and they said, There is no bread. We are accustomed to the baker bringing bread to our door every morning. God rained it down from the sky, and a double portion on Fridays to last over the Sabbath, and yet they said, We have no bread, neither is there any water. The wilderness is indeed a very dry place. And yet here was the stream from the smitten rock that followed them wherever they went, stiff-necked and rebellious as they were. God’s goodness never abandoned them for a single moment. Yet they grumbled and murmured. In 1 Corinthians 10:4-10, you find that the chief crime of the Israelites was that they murmured. Why do people murmur? Because they are not content, and when it is a question of not being content WITH GOD’S BEST, it shows that they are in a very sad condition.
God allowed fiery serpents to come and bite them, and when the people turned in their misery to God—for they were dying, and a few minutes or hours at the most would take them out of time into eternity. God met them in His grace. God told Moses to put a Serpent of Brass upon a pole, and those that looked would live.
Now this is the third lesson that is so deeply important. The first, the Passover night, is a very blessed lesson to us, setting forth that the question between us and God is settled according to God and for His glory. The second is the passage of the Red Sea, setting forth the great truth that we are not of this world, and our affections are now in a different sphere. The Christian should not find his joys in this world as such, in the system of things. That crucified his Lord. Then the Third thing is to find out in your flesh there dwells no good thing, that God can only recognize an absolutely new life, and that is set forth here in a very remarkable way. It is a very great matter in the history of the young Christians when they come to this conclusion that in their flesh there dwells no good thing, and that you have that new life given to you by the wonderful sovereign grace of our God, and thus you can go forward in a new way, because no Christian travels far as a Christian until they have learned to judge themselves in God’s presence.
Now we find after this point they began to journey afresh, and there is a very significant expression here. It says, “They journeyed … toward the sun rising,” and it is a great matter for the young Christian to be found journeying in the faith of his soul toward the sun rising. Things are darkening down here, evil and corruption abound, there is sorrow in the church of God, and man is seeking to bring about a millennium without Christ and is only heading for disaster. Things are getting worse and worse, and the political machinery is getting choked, and men are wondering what is going to happen next. We know that the One who saved our souls, is coming by and by, and we are journeying to that scene of glory and blessing.
The children of Israel journeyed toward the sun rising. They were in their tents. The wilderness was not a very happy place to be in, and they struck their tents under the guidance of the cloudy pillar, and journeyed toward the sun rising. It is a very great matter when we realise that we do not belong to this earth system of things. We are here for a little while, and we are here to learn wonderful lessons. We belong to a deathless scene, and are, thank God, journeying towards the sun rising in the best sense of the word.
Just a word now about verses 16 and 17 of our chapter. Beer in the Hebrew is the word for well. We read of Beersheba (well of the oath), and Beer-lahai-roi (well of Him that sees me), but here it is simply Beer, that is THE well. “The Lord spoke to Moses, Gather the people together, and I will give them water.” They came to this well and they sang, “Spring up, O well; sing ye to it.” Does this not remind you of what our Lord said to the poor, erring sinner at the well, “The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:14)? Again we read, “He that believes on Me, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living waters. (But this spake He of the Spirit which they that believe on Him should receive)” (John 7:38-39).
Evidently the springing up well is typical of the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the believer. The gift of the Holy Spirit from an ascended, glorified Lord is the great distinctive feature of Christianity.
Summing up what we have had before us, I make bold to say that until the young Christian has definitely made up his mind to be here for Christ, taking sides with Him against this world, finding himself morally in a wilderness down here, that until he judges that evil nature that is in him, and recognises that God begins with something entirely new, the communication of divine life to the believer, I think until that point is reached, there is not much power for the springing-up well, not much power for praise and worship in the Spirit.
There is one remarkable thing here; the nobles of the people dug the well, and they dug it with their staves. We would say that was easy work. Let me tell you this, you will find when you are on the right lines that Christianity is not a hard thing, but is an easy thing. It is a matter of the soul’s affection. The water that the Lord gives springs up in the heart to eternal life, and there is praise and worship flowing to God.
And those children of Israel passed on until they crossed the Jordan. That is the fourth thing. They went out of the wilderness into the land, and in a little while everyone of us will be out of the wilderness of this world, and into the land of pure delight, the scene of new creation, and that is where we belong, and that is our permanent home.
I would emphasise with all my power that here we are in the place of testimony, and here we are where our lives are getting formed, and I ask the young people here tonight, what is going to happen with your life? Some of us have practically our lives behind us, but you have the privilege of having your life before you.
My closing word is, What are you going to do with your life in the light of Calvary, in the light of the cross of Christ, in the light of the fact that things down here are for a moment and will soon pass away? Are you going to adjust yourself in connection with all that which is for eternity What is your answer going to be? How is your life going to be found when that day of manifestation comes? “For the love of Christ constrains us; because we thus judge, that if One died for all then were all dead, spiritually, and that He died for all that they which live shall not hence forth live to themselves, but UNTO HIM which died for them and rose again.”
I have said my last word. What is your last word going to be? It is a very, very serious matter, and the opportunities of a very blessed life lies before each one of you in in wonderful way.
May the Lord give you willing hearts, and the grace to seize this wonderful opportunity of being definitely under the hand of God, and of the Spirit forming your life for His glory, and according to His intention when He first picked you up and blessed you, for in the type when God sheltered the children of Israel at the Passover He had before Him the crossing of the Jordan, the end from the beginning. And so with us He has in mind the end from the beginning, the beginning nothing but grace, the end the glory of God.