A WORD FOR TODAY, September 14, 2021
Peggy Hoppes
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Blessings. Peg
A WORD FOR TODAY, September 14, 2021
“Sing to Yahweh a new song, for he has done marvelous things! His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him. Yahweh has made known his salvation. He has openly shown his righteousness in the sight of the nations. He has remembered his loving kindness and his faithfulness toward the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Make a joyful noise to Yahweh, all the earth! Burst out and sing for joy, yes, sing praises! Sing praises to Yahweh with the harp, with the harp and the voice of melody.” Psalm 98:1-5, WEB
Today is Holy Cross Day, a festival to celebrate the triumph of the cross. The cross stands as a witness to our sin and God’s forgiveness. As we look at the cross, we are overwhelmed with the conviction that we are sinners in need of a Savior. We are also overwhelmed with the promise that we are saints made free by God’s forgiveness. The cross both convicts and sets free those who believe.
God revealed His salvation in love and faithfulness to His people Israel, and through them His salvation was revealed to the nations. The whole creation is invited to sing a new song with joy for the marvelous things He has done. God saved Israel so that His righteousness would be revealed to the whole world. They were not saved for themselves or by their own works, but for the glory of God.
God’s way of salvation seems ridiculous to us. Take, for example, the work in the wilderness. Poisonous snakes were biting the people of Israel. They were dying in large numbers, and they cried out to the Lord. “We have sinned, because we have spoken against Yahweh and against you.” What could possibly have been so bad that they should suffer such a terrible calamity? They became discouraged and grumbled about the hardships of the wilderness. They wanted to know why they were brought out of the comforts of Egypt to die in the middle of nowhere. They were hungry and thirsty, and they wanted to go home. They saw nothing good ahead of them and even despised the manna from heaven. I'm not sure my response would have been much different.
Their grumbling was sinful because they rejected God’s grace. Their life in Egypt was not comfortable. They were slaves. God delivered them from bondage and was leading them to the Promised Land. He protected them from the dangers of the wilderness and from their enemies. He fed them with heavenly food. God graciously did marvelous things for His people, and they rejected it all.
So, God sent the snakes. This story is inconceivable for us because it doesn’t make sense. Why would the God who has promised to protect His people do this? It is a strange way to encourage repentance. It worked though; Israel cried out to Him, “We have done wrong. Save us!” He answered, but again we wonder about His answer. Rather than removing the evil things harming His people, God commanded Moses, “Make a venomous snake, and set it on a pole. It shall happen that everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” Why not just remove the snakes? Why make it so much harder to be saved? The bronze snake was a symbol of what was to come.
One of the most common complaints I hear from non-Christians is the question of suffering in the world. “Why does God allow good people to die?” they ask. That’s the error, isn’t it? Jesus tells us that there are none who are good. We are sinners in need of a Savior and on our own we reject the grace of God. We always look for something we think is better than what we have. We turn away from God our Father and try to do things our own way. Jesus Christ, however, was the perfect Son of God. He was sent as a bronze snake in the desert of our world to be lifted high to provide the salvation those who have been bitten by sin, death, and the devil really need.
It seems to me there should have been an easier way. Couldn’t God just get rid of all the bad stuff? Couldn’t the all-powerful God create a utopian world where there is no sin or devil? We are reminded, however, that Adam and Eve walked with God in Paradise, and they still turned from Him. The Israelites had everything they could possibly need, and they grumbled about God’s grace. We are no better. Rather than take us out of the world, God gives us something to look toward for salvation, His Son. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”
The pole on which Jesus was lifted was the Holy Cross. That is where we will see God’s salvation. Unfortunately, there will always be someone who rejects God’s grace.
I wonder how many Israelites died from those snakebites in the wilderness anyway. They whole idea of looking at a bronze serpent for salvation is absurd. Looking to the cross for salvation is equally ridiculous. Many reject it because it is too ridiculous to believe. As Paul says, the cross is foolishness to those who are dying. Intelligent people don’t fall for myth or live their lives around such folly, or so they tell me. But God does not do what we expect. One day two thousand years ago, He turned the world upside down by lifting the Savior on to the Holy Cross for all to see.
It was first the Jews and then the Gentiles who heard the Good News of Christ crucified, that they might look to Him to be saved. Since that day we sing a new song, a song of joy for the most marvelous thing He has done. Jesus is the right hand of God, the Holy One who revealed the salvation of God to the world by being the Savior on His Holy Cross. Sing to the LORD!
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