Address—B. Prost
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Our God is light and holy God.
That's why.
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I'd like you to turn with me to a very familiar passage in the Old Testament.
Numbers, Chapter 21.
Numbers 21.
What we want to speak about today is the passage of God's word. That I suppose.
Everyone here, including even the young children, are probably familiar.
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The story of the Serpent of Grass.
Let's read it together.
But first of all, we will start with the first verse of the chapter just to get the connection Numbers 21.
And when the Canaanite which dwelt in the South heard tell that Israel came by the way of the spies, then he fought against Israel and took some of them prisoners.
And Israel vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said, If thou wilt indeed deliver this people into my hand.
Then I will utterly destroy their cities.
And the Lord hearkened to the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites, and they utterly destroyed them into their cities.
And he called the name of the place hormone. That means destruction or complete destruction.
And they journeyed from Mount for by the way of the Red Sea to compass the land of Edom.
And the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way.
And other people speak against God and against Moses. Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?
For there is no bread, neither is there any water, and our soul loatheth this light bread.
And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, and much people of Israel died.
Therefore the people came to Moses and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord.
And against thee pray unto the Lord, that he take away the serpents from.
And Moses prayed for the people.
And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole, and it shall come to pass, that everyone that is bitten when he looketh upon shall live.
And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, And it came to pass that if a serpent had bitten any man when he beheld the serpent of brass.
He lived.
I suppose we have been accustomed to hearing this passage spoken of in connection with the Gospel.
And rightfully so.
So that the Lord Jesus in the New Testament, when speaking to Nicodemus, said as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, Even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
And there is no other way that we can be saved other than looking to the Lord Jesus Christ as the one who was made sin for us.
However, I'd like to make a different application of this passage today, because we must remember that primarily this occasion took place among the people who already were in at least outwardly relation with God.
They had been in Egypt and had been delivered by that Passover lamb with the blood on the door.
They had been given at this point the sacrifices that we read about, the various offerings given in the first part of Leviticus. They had been told how to build the Tabernacle so that God might dwell among his people. They were a people already, at least outwardly, in relationship with God.
Yes, to be sure, there was what Scripture calls a mixed multitude.
And some of them were destroyed along the way. And in fact we know that because.
Of their unbelief because of the sad report of those 10 spies.
God had made them wander in the wilderness for 40 years, so that all of that generation.
Who had rebelled and said we can't go up into the land, all of that generation.
Had died.
But what had happened? A new generation had risen up.
I'm not here particularly to speak to the young people. The address is not an address particularly to young people, but I'd like to point out that those who were involved in this incident would have primarily have been young people.
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They were the children of those who had rebelled earlier on in the wilderness.
Because this incident takes place almost at the end of the wilderness journey.
I suppose they were at the very most two years away from entering into the land of Canaan, probably less than two years. And so those that were responsible for all of this were not those who had rebelled against the Lord 40 years or 38 years before.
They were young people, they had seen all that the Lord had done.
They had seen the way that the Lord had provided for them for almost 40 years.
More than that, there was a victory.
The Lord had allowed this King Arad, a Canaanite. Evidently he saw what Israel was planning to do, and he said in his heart, no doubt, let's strike first, let's preempt the situation, let's get them before they get us. So he attacked Israel, and we find that God in his ways allowed.
At least for the moment. King Arad to take some of them prisoner.
But it was a test. Israel turned to the Lord, and they said, Lord, if you will deliver this.
King into our hands we will utterly destroy their cities. And so the Lord gave them a tremendous victory.
You know, the day in which you and I are living, I don't think it's going too far to say that it has been a day of tremendous victories. We are right at the end of the wilderness pathways. And that wonderful Canaan is just just ahead. And they knew it here. They knew it would be 40 years. They knew it. And so they knew that Kanan was just ahead. And so for you and for me.
The Lord's coming is just on the horizon.
It can't be very far off.
And God has given some wonderful victories. He has opened doors in this world that have not been opened before. He has provided opportunities in the gospel that have never been known before. And almost every week I hear some report of how God is working in some place in this world to bring souls to Christ.
Now I grant you that in those lands like North America and Western Europe where there has been a bright gospel testimony for many years, there has been a very sad giving up and we have to hang our heads in shame as we see the way that things are going. But nevertheless, there are bright spots that God has given, showing that He is the same, His power is the same, and He has given.
Tremendous victories.
But you know and I know that we are never so vulnerable to the attack of the enemy as we are after a victory. And if God is working, there is a real danger of resting on our oars, as we say, of thinking we've got it made, and perhaps of looking at ourselves.
And that's the picture we get here.
Because it tells us there at the end of verse four, that the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way.
Does that strike a chord with some here? Maybe with more than a few?
I know that there are discouragements in a lot of lives. There are personal problems, There are family problems. And now with the economic meltdown that seems to be getting worse rather than better that some thought was just going to be a bump in the road. It turns out to be a much bigger bump than that. And literally, we see men's hearts failing them for fear and wondering where it's all going to end. And I.
Suppose that while you and I look for the Lord's coming, yet there may be those here who are feeling the difficulties, who fear the loss of their jobs, who feel a business set back potentially down the road or something like that. And then there may be assembly problems and difficulties that are weighing the Saints of God down.
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And there are. Permit me to say this as I travel around.
More than a few who fit into this category who are much discouraged because of the way. And I am not suggesting that the reasons for it are necessarily the same as what we have here, but I believe that God has recorded this for our instruction because it's easy to become discouraged.
I suppose if we were to define it, discouragement in spiritual things involves.
Getting taken up.
With what I want and expecting something that doesn't come through. Maybe I expect something from others and it's not there. Or even worse, even deeper, I expect something from the Lord and it doesn't come through.
And even though we might not voice it, deep down in our hearts we may be saying, I don't deserve this. Why does the Lord allow this to happen to me? I did not do anything to deserve this.
It doesn't say that they talked like that, but I suppose some of these children that were growing up may have said in their hearts, why should we have to wander 40 years in the wilderness? We were only children. We were victims of circumstance. It was our parents that rebelled and wouldn't go up and take the land.
But you know, it's a wonderful thing there were two men who were among those spies, Caleb and Joshua, and who were ready to go right up and take the land at that point, and who were compelled because of the unbelief of others.
To go 40 years in the wilderness and you know what has encouraged my own heart? Not once from either one of those men do we hear one word of complaint, do we hear one word of murmuring and saying, why do we have to suffer?
For the sins of our brethren. And I say to each one of us here.
You and I may be going on, I don't.
Say that about myself, but I say it in a general way. Maybe you are going on well for the Lord.
And maybe you have a real heart for the Lord, and maybe you say, but I'm not discouraged. But I'm having to put up with all kinds of discouragement around me and it drags me down.
It's difficult.
Caleb and Joshua had to face it, and they had to spend 40 years in the wilderness through no fault of their own.
But you know, the wonderful thing is, and we'll just take a quick side glance at Caleb. When it came to the end of the wilderness and you can read about it in the book of Joshua, Caleb found that the Lord was as good as his word. And Caleb could say with confidence when he was 85 years of age, he could say, I am just as strong today as I was 45 years ago.
And he went out and took the land and enjoyed it even though.
He was past his prime, humanly speaking, and I say to each one here in going along with the condition of things that you may find in your family, in your local assembly in the world of today, you will never lose if you submit to the conditions that the Lord is allowed, but yet don't let them drag you down to that same level.
We never read of Caleb and Joshua being discouraged.
We never read of their being dragged down to the level of their brethren. We never read of their murmuring in the wilderness and saying there's not enough water to drink.
Or there's no bread to eat or listen, that is happening to us. We want meat and there's no meat and all the things that.
They murmured about.
But the fact remains that there were many here. The soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way.
What had happened? Let's read on in verse 5.
And the people speak against God and against Moses.
Notice that.
Oh, it was God in whom they had lost their confidence. First and foremost. It was God whom they were speaking against. And that's the first point I want to make to each one of us, that if I murmur and complain about a situation, I have to recognize that that self.
I don't think I haven't done it and don't think I haven't been upset at situations.
I can be upset with the condition of things in the world. I can be upset with the condition of things among my brethren, and I can say, why aren't they more spiritual? Why aren't they a bigger encouragement? Why do they do this and that and the other thing?
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And that's just what the devil wants. And in reality, I am speaking against God and that's what these people did.
They were rebelling against the Lord.
And against Moses, ultimately, they looked to Moses as their leader, and he was their leader. And Moses did take that place, and rightfully so, of responsibility over them.
But was Moses the one, if we could use the modern expression, who was calling the shots? Was Moses the one who was responsible for all of this? Oh no, Oh no. Moses looked to the Lord and looked to him for guidance and help. And Moses, at least as far as it went, submitted to what the Lord had allowed.
Now we know that if we were to go back a few chapters, we would find that dear Moses.
In being provoked by the murmuring and complaining of the people lost his temper, and dear Moses, man of God though he was, instead of speaking to the rock, as we read this morning in the 20th chapter.
He took the rod and you'll notice if you read carefully.
It says he took his rod. He didn't take Aaron's rod, the rod of priestly grace. He took his own rod, which was the rod of power and authority, and he smote the rock twice instead of speaking to it.
And because of that failure, Moses was not allowed to go into the Promised Land.
So there was failure in Moses too, but nevertheless the people were murmuring and complaining against God and against Moses, and let's take that to heart. We'll see later on the importance of the repentance that took place.
In the right order. But they say, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, neither is there any water, and our soul loathe this light bread.
Was there water to drink? Indeed there was. Was there bread to eat? Indeed there was.
Why could they say then there is no bread, neither is there any water?
The second point we want to make is this.
God did not provide them with either food or water.
Independent of himself.
If they had been wandering in a place.
Lake, Illinois.
There would have been plenty of water, wouldn't there? Plenty of rivers, plenty of streams from which to drink.
And if they had been in a place where there were plenty of farms and plenty of food available, where they could have bought it on their own.
They could have lived and walked in that wilderness independently of the Lord.
But the Lord wouldn't allow that.
He made them, if we could say it reverently, to be dependent on him.
When they needed water, they had to look to him and he brought water where out of the rock where it wouldn't normally come, or when they came to water, such as at Mara where it was too bitter to drink.
They had to look to the Lord to know what to do in order to make.
That water's sweet.
They had to depend on the Lord.
That manner that came every day, It came from heaven, and they could not.
Walk independently of the Lord. They had to recognize that every day it was the hand of God that laid that manna down for them to go out and pick up.
No bread, no water. You know the human heart wants to walk.
Independently of God and I fear and please permit me to share this burden with you, because it's a burden I share from my own heart.
And maybe we're more guilty in North America than in other nations because?
As the dear brother wrote to India, wrote from India to me once and he was wrong to do it and he was in a fit of temper when he wrote it.
Nevertheless, he wrote to me quite a few years ago now and said, when did you last have to worry about where your next meal was coming from? When did you last have to worry about paying your electric bill? When did you last have to worry about paying your taxes on time?
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And he was right because I have to confess to you that I have never been in a position where I couldn't put food on the table or pay my utility bills or pay my property taxes and what have you. He was right, and he was speaking from the vantage point of people who were forced more than we are to be dependent on God.
We like to walk independently, but God has His ways of making us dependent upon Him.
And if the economic crisis that we are facing makes us more dependent on the Lord.
It's not all bad, is it? No, it can be a good thing. I remember a few years ago, at least 30 years ago, 35 years ago, when there was a little economic meltdown. And I remember my late father-in-law, Albert, Hey, Jose, saying, you know, Bill, it wouldn't be all that bad if this world had to go through another depression.
I'm not old enough to remember the depression, but there are those here that doubtless can. A few anyway.
And the times were tough, very tough.
But he pointed out that it was much easier to reach people with the gospel, and it was much easier to get children to come to Sunday school.
And it was much easier to talk to people about the Lord in general because there was a realization that they were dependent on God from day-to-day.
That we have gotten away from that.
And so God makes us dependent in one way or another. And if we are not made dependent so much in natural things.
God will make us dependent in other ways, perhaps in spiritual things, perhaps in family life.
Perhaps in assembly life, perhaps in many circumstances that he brings into our lives, where we have to say.
The situation is beyond me.
But then there was worse there, because it says our soul loatheth this light bread.
Well, they get tired of the man.
Can you identify with that?
If I could say it, humanly speaking, you and I might get tired of eating the same thing day after day for 40 years.
And no doubt desert life was a bit monotonous and a bit boring at times. Get up every morning and gather the Manor.
Same manner, same thing. Oh, doubtless they cooked it up in different ways, as it said, and did things with it to make it more interesting, but nevertheless, that manner came day after day, day after day. And humanly speaking, from their side, life probably did get boring.
Through the wilderness 40 years and your life and mine perhaps acquires a certain monotony to it and natural things.
Every job has its episodes of Board a Minute, some more than others.
But nevertheless, most jobs are not exciting every moment you're doing them.
But you know what?
What does the manna speak of? Manna speaks of Christ.
Particularly Christ in manhood.
And is.
If I could say it very reverently, is there such a thing as boredom in feeding on Christ?
Is there such a thing as getting tired of Christ?
I hope not, brethren, I hope not. I speak to my own soul.
Is there not more in Him to encourage my heart, more in Him to bring joy?
Than any of the circumstances around to discourage Oh indeed there is, indeed there is.
And God has given us that Blessed One as the food of our wilderness pathway.
Do we feed on it?
If you read, and I'm not suggesting you need to, but if you were to read Napoleon Knowles History of the Brethren.
Some of the history is very sad, but I remember enjoying in the front of that book a letter written by a brother by the name of Mr. Bellitt, John G Bellitt, written to his good friend John Nelson Darby. He died quite a few years before Mr. Darby because Mr. Bellitt went to be with the Lord when he was only about 70, so he wasn't a really old man.
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And Mr. Darby was five years younger, so he would have been about 65 when this letter was written.
And Mr. Bell writes something like this, and some here will remember the letter. He was on his deathbed, but he had all his faculties. And he was saying, you know, people come to me and they tell me that I'm going to heaven. I tell them to stop.
He says they tell me of all the glories of that place and I say don't talk to me about that.
He said what do I want to see? Oh, he said. I want to be with the man.
Let's sat at Sidecar as well. I want to see the face of the man who touched the coffin of the son of the widow of name.
I want to see the face of that man.
Who went to Calvary's cross and died for me? That's the one I want to hear about. That's the person I want you to talk to me about. Did he have a deep understanding of the things of God? Indeed he did. Did he have an understanding more than most of the whole counsel of God, as Paul speaks of it in Acts 20? Indeed he did.
What did he want to hear about on his deathbed? That lowly man, the Lord Jesus Christ?
Who himself without sin, came down into this world, walked through this world as a man.
Felt all the effect of sin from without that you and I feel.
And as it were today says to you and me, I have been there. I have been through that wilderness, and now I want to go through it with you. And in my great High Priestly character, I want to help you in every detail of the way, while at the same time I want to be the food that you never get tired of.
Our soul loath at this light bread. Oh, how sad. Well, what happens?
Verse six. The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, and much people of Israel died.
We're not told exactly what character those fiery serpents took as far as what species of snake they were, but they were evidently very poisonous. We don't have to worry a lot about poisonous snakes in North America. Oh yes, there are rattlesnakes and you better stay out of the way, and there is the odd copperhead and so on. But there are countries in this world where you really have to be concerned about poisonous snakes.
I walked with a brother in Christ to work one day in Australia and I noticed he had a little packet in his hand.
They said what's that for? Well, he said that's an anti snake bite kit. He said, because if I got bitten by a snake, he said cutting through this park, he said it's the grass here and that he said a snake bit me on the way through this park. Excuse me.
He said I could be dead before medical help could get to me. So I carry this snake that there's one right there, he said there there's a brown snake, he said. One of the most poisonous snakes in Australia. You see him go.
I didn't say it, but I thought I think I'd go by the road and go a little extra way round rather than cut through the park for that, for that risk. But anyway, it's a real thing in many places.
But here this was from the Lord, this was from the Lord.
What are those fiery serpents?
It can be many things.
Again I say they can be problems and difficulties in your life and mind, a family difficulty, very real today.
More out there than you and I realize.
Job difficulties. Assembly difficulties. Difficulties in many spheres of life. Fiery Serpents.
And much people of Israel died.
Here it was physical death for you and me.
Its moral death, and there are many dear believers today, to use the phrase of our beloved late brother Eric Smith, many dear believers today, as he used to term it, that are dead on the battlefield.
Lost dynamics for Christ.
That was the phrase he used. What did he mean? He meant that those fiery serpents became so overwhelming that people gave up and either went out into the world saying it's no use, I'm not going to try anymore, or they gave up the precious truth that they knew was according to God's Word in order to have an easier path.
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Or they simply did nothing because.
If you don't do anything, then nobody can criticize you. You can't be criticized by something wrong if you do nothing. Oh yeah, you may get somebody that wants to give you a prod now and then, but there are believers who take that position, who get discouraged by the condition of things.
Fiery serpents and much people of Israel died.
We see that happening today.
And it's a very real thing. Does that strike a chord with some here? It does with me. And the devil never gets up, gives up. It wasn't a case of just a few fiery serpents. Usually if you happen to see a snake and it's going after you, if you can manage to kill the snake, you can have a breather and relax. It's not as if they're coming at you from all directions at the same time. But I get the impression here that these fiery.
Were everywhere and that it wasn't sufficient just to pick up a a stick and try and kill one or try and secure your tent against these snakes. It wasn't that easy.
But you know it had the desired effect. And I say to your heart and mind today, if there is a fiery serpent in your life.
Allow it to have the right effect, as it did on these people.
They said first of all, verse seven, therefore the people came to Moses and said we have sinned.
Very important.
We have sinned and noticed that they took very carefully upon themselves exactly what they had done.
For we have spoken against the Lord and against thee.
You know, it's an easy thing to say. Well, we've all failed. I heard a brother many, many years ago who had left the Lord's table for 10 years and then wanted to come back. And when he wanted to come back, there were questions raised about why he'd left and some things that his brethren wanted to hear wasn't in our local assembly. But I knew about it. And his attitude was, well, what do you want me to say? We've all failed. We've all failed.
You know if I can use an expression that's passing the buck?
That's not really getting before the Lord into His presence. If you read about the trespass offering in Leviticus chapter 5, when a man came having committed a trespass, you'll remember he had to confess that he had sinned in that thing. In that thing, he had to identify that in which he had failed.
And confess it. It wasn't enough to make a general statement and say yeah, we've all failed. If I've done anything wrong, well.
Forgive me. No, that's Slytherin out of the situation, isn't it? You know very well, at least I would imagine it's the same today.
If you got called to the principal's office, in my generation it was a serious thing. I don't know whether it still is, but it was a serious thing.
And if you were caught doing something wrong, the principal didn't want somebody to say, well, yeah, we weren't, we weren't doing, we weren't behaving too well.
That wasn't good enough, was it? And if he said what were you doing? Well, yeah, I guess we got into some mischief.
That wasn't good enough either, he probed. What did you do?
And you know God wants to hear that from your lips and mine, not because he doesn't know, but because the pathway to restoration and repentance is to confess that we have sinned and to say before the Lord what it has been. And it may be different for me than for you, but the order here is important because once again, they start with the Lord.
They say, We have spoken against the Lord and against thee.
Isn't that good? Against the Lord and against thee, all we have to recognize if we're going to be right with God.
Where we have departed from him in the 1St place, and I say this to the children here and to the young people, as well as to those who are in my generation.
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It's important to have a personal relationship with the Lord.
The people came and said we have sinned.
But ultimately, it had to be individual. Yes, there was a collective sin, and it was right that they own it collectively. But ultimately it came down to an individual repentance, getting right with the Lord, confessing to him, and then recognizing that they had spoken against Moses.
But then they say, Pray unto the Lord that he take away the serpents from us.
And that usually is our response, isn't it, to something in our lives. Lord, we did wrong. OK, we understand. Lord. Now you can take away the trial. Now you can take away the difficulty because we understand what you're trying to say to us, and we're sorry.
But you know what's very interesting here?
That Moses doesn't pray that way. Moses doesn't pray that way. It says specifically. And Moses prayed for the people. He does not pray. Take away those fiery serpents. Why?
All because I believe that Moses recognized that if those fiery serpents were immediately taken away.
There was a danger in cutting short the work of repentance. There was a danger in the people turning back too quickly to self-reliance and walking independently of the Lord.
283.
And.
I guess we got we can sing the whole hymn. We have time. Let's sing the whole hymn together reading the last verse.
Where the whole realm of nature, hours that were an offering far too small, love that transcends our highest powers, demands our soul, our life, our all.
When we survey.
Now.