Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Good late afternoon, dear ones.

Crazy day. Lots of stuff going on. Not much work. And now we’re in flight mode…trying to take off for a senior’s dinner and fellowship in Portland where we are booked to present…goofy songs, serious songs, and devotional.

We’ll be in touch next time around. Blessings.

Love, Dad/Ray.

Perhaps the most well-known verse of the Bible is John 3:16. But how many who know that verse notice the prior connection Jesus makes to the bronze snake incident of Numbers 21? Let’s review the two verses just before John 3:16: “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life” (John 3:14-15).

I realize that many people do not really like snakes. They don’t like to touch them, see them, think about them, and certainly not be bitten by them. But please allow me to challenge you using my most compelling preacher voice—take a very good look at that snake there on the pole that Moses sets up as an anti-venom icon for those snake-bitten in the wilderness. Look at it and think carefully. What do you see? If you fail to see YOU there, then you may be missing out on a fuller understanding of the most central theme of Biblical revelation! “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24). Consider it this way—“He Himself bore our snake bite on the tree as the one and only antidote for sin’s venom.” Who has not been bitten by this snake? It’s the same one that bit Eve. But here’s the Gospel deal—“’Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:55-57). Haleluia!