On this fine Sunday, you may be attending a church service and hearing these songs. Whom Shall I Fear and How Great Is Our God. These words are great if you live by them, but many don’t. Most church goers will run to the serpent on the pole before they go to God. Worst, that they don’t even go to God. These are people who call themselves believers, but do they really believe? One of the names of God is Jehovah-Rapha, “the Lord who heals.”
When I mentioned that many church goers will run to the serpent on the pole, I was talking about the symbol for pharmacy. This does not represent the Kingdom of God. This is for those who don’t believe that God is their healer. Don’t get me wrong. everyone’s faith is at a different place. The more you have faith in God, the more He will work through you. Some people will say that God created doctors. I don’t see that in the Bible. I know that a doctor wrote the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles. Many who were afflicted by doctors came to Jesus and got healed.
Jesus said John 3:30 Jesus answered and said, “This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake. 31 Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. 32 And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” 33 This He said, signifying by what death He would die. Those who wrote the Bible made a mistake here. “All peoples” is NOT in the original Greek it was added. Jesus did tell Nicodemus in John 3: 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. This is all true for today if you believe. In the wilderness, the serpent represent the serpent in the garden that is biting them, they looked at the bronze serpent on the pole and what is biting them has no power. The bronze serpent in the wilderness wasn’t drawing “All peoples,” it was drawing the sin that is killing them. Today, there are two different poles, pharmacy and Jesus. Are you looking around and seeing what is trying to bite you. Which pole are you looking too for help? We are to look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
There are two guys I want to look at. These two are Caleb the son of Jephunneh from the tribe of Judah and Hoshea the son of Nun from the tribe of Ephraim. These two guys were two of the twelve that spied out the promise land. These two men were the only ones who had confidence in God that He give them the promise land. It’s not like today’s thinking where God would just give it to you. The people would have to fight, with God’s help. They eventually did take the promise land. Today’s promise land isn’t physical, it’s spiritual. That is why it is written, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12. We need to fight to keep what is rightfully ours as it is written; 1 Timothy 6:11 But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
This entire situation that the earth is going through right now is a shaking to separate the sheep from the goats. You action prove what you believe. When you get squeezed does Christ come out or the love of this world? Have you made yourself ready to receive Jesus? Which of the 10 virgins are you, the wise or the foolish?
Many don’t know what happened to the bronze serpent that Moses made in the wilderness. You would find out that God’s people would bow down to it, as it became an idol to them. Just as it is an idol today.