The Object of Our Faith – Chukat – June 27

(As a precursor to this article I want my readers to know that the three terror attacks that occurred in France, Tunisia, and Kuwait on Friday, June 26, 2015 (the same day that this article was posted) were carried out by Islamic extremists that took innocent life because they hate.  I know of no greater power to transform the lives of people than that of Yeshua the Messiah. I hope the following story and teaching in this article will make this point crystal clear!)

The video below gives a short overview of the teaching in this article.

I recently visited the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem and when I exited the Temple Mount area I was approached by a Muslim missionary.  This Muslim missionary, whom we’ll call Hasan, asked if I’d like to receive a copy of the Quran in English.  I politely declined and then he offered me a booklet about Islam which I accepted.  Hasan then told me about the beauty of Islam and how there is only one true God.  I told Hasan that I believe in Isa (Yeshua or Jesus) and he responded that he did as well.  Hasan continued to tell me that he believes in all of the prophets as he started rattling through the list of prophets and finally exclaimed, “But the final prophet was Muhammad!”

Hasan is an Arab young man of about 28 years old with a shaved head, a skullcap, a long beard, and he was dressed in typical Muslim religious clothes.  I asked Hasan if he has read the Quran and he told me yes.  I then challenged Hasan to answer a question for me; “The Quran states, in agreement with the New Testament, that Yeshua was born of a virgin birth. No other prophet was ever born in this manner, only Yeshua.  What is the significance of the virgin birth of Yeshua?”  Hasan gave me a quick reply but didn’t answer my question.

Over the course of the next 15-20 minutes, as our conversation moved from English to Hebrew, I continually asked Hasan to provide an answer to my question about the significance of the virgin birth of Yeshua.  Hasan didn’t have a good answer to this question and he finally said to me, “It can’t mean that Yeshua was the Son of God because God can’t eat and drink and do all of the things that we as humans do.  God is not like us!”  I told Hasan that Yeshua came into this world through the miraculous virgin birth to be the sinless One who would die on the cross and take away our sin.  Hasan struggled to believe what I was telling him.

Hasan’s time was short and he needed to get going.  He quickly handed me his business card and told me that he’d like to talk again sometime.  We said our appropriate farewells and parted company.

Is it enough to believe in the one God of the universe? 

 (Photo courtesy of a friend who was with me at the time)

What is the Object of our Faith?

Hasan is a young Muslim man who believes strongly in the faith that has been handed down to him from his family and community, however, he rejects the deity of Yeshua and His death on the cross to atone for sin.  Will Hasan stand condemned because he doesn’t believe in God like I do?  Does the object of our faith really matter? 

The Wilderness Test

I’d like to turn our attention to this week’s Torah Portion where we find an excellent illustration of the fullness of the faith that God requires from His people.  In the three chapters of this Torah Portion (Num. 19 – Num. 21) both Moses and Aaron are denied entry into the Promised Land because of unbelief and both Miriam and Aaron die (Num. 20).  Immediately following the death of Aaron, the Canaanite king of Arad came against the Israelites and he took some of them captive.  Israel made a vow to the LORD and told the LORD that if He would give the people of this king into their hands then they would completely destroy them and their cities.  The LORD agreed to their vow and the Israelites had a complete victory (Num. 21:1-3).

Chronologically, it seems that all of the events mentioned above occurred during the final year of wilderness wanderings for the children of Israel (Num. 20:1).  There had been much trial and tribulation for the past 39 years.  This 40th year appears to be no different as it began with both tragedy and triumph.

After these events the Israelites set out from the Mount Hor and a new tragedy was about to strike. “Then they set out from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the people became impatient because of the journey” (Num. 21:4).

Traveling is always a challenge, even in our modern day.  When we leave the comforts of home we have limited provisions for a designated time and we are never certain what we may encounter along the way.  Traveling in a group is even more complex as the group needs to move together, endure the differences that will most definitely be amongst the people, and be patient with one another.  The Israelites became impatient on their journey and they began to complain.

The people spoke against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this miserable food.”  (Num. 21:5)

Once again the people questioned why they were brought up out of Egypt. They complained about the lack of food and water and were discontented with the manna that God faithfully provided for them daily.  The people failed to trust and believe in God during this journey and only saw death as a possibility.  So God gave them what they asked for.

Be Careful What You Ask For!!!

We as human beings can easily be hasty and make rash statements.  It is easy to see no solution to a particular problem and only dwell on the worst possible scenario.  This is what the children of Israel did in this situation.  They became discontent along the journey, despised their daily provision of manna, and saw death as the next step.  They were not crying out in desperation but they were complaining about their situation and blaming God and Moses.  They themselves proclaimed that death would be the result and God gave them over to their own words: “The LORD sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died” (Num. 21:6).

The People asked for death in the wilderness and God answered their request.  God sent “fiery serpents” that bit the people and they died.  The people recognized their fault immediately and cried out to Moses: “So the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against the LORD and you; intercede with the LORD, that He may remove the serpents from us.” And Moses interceded for the people” (Num. 21:7).

Is it Enough to Simply Believe in God?

The Israelites responded to the punishment of God and acknowledged their own sin.   They turned back to God and asked Moses to intercede for them.  Was this enough?  Is it really enough to simply repent and believe?  I don’t want to get too theological regarding this, however, I think it is a good question to ponder.

I would answer Yes and No to the above question!  I will start with why I said No.  Most religions in this world teach an aspect of repentance from the “wayward life” and belief in God, whoever this may be.  This may help a person be a better citizen who conforms to the norms of society, however, it may not change their relationship with God in any way.  To simply believe in God and conform to a set of standards only makes a person religious but it has no affect upon his or her spirit or eternal state.  There is a perfect example of this in the book of Acts.  A certain man named Simon, who was a magician of sorts, came to believe in Yeshua along with many in his city, however, his faith proved to be nothing more than a desire for spiritual power in an ungodly manner (Acts 8:9-23).  Repentance and belief in God without a right focus on the object of our faith is totally meaningless.

At the same time I would say Yes, to repent and believe in God is sufficient, however, the object of this belief is of crucial importance.  If a person has had a true encounter with the living God then his or her life will be radically changed.  Belief is individual and personal.  The desire of the God of the Bible is that we know Him through faith and conform to a life of holiness according to His standards.  The fruit of this kind of belief is new life.  We see this clearly illustrated in the context of this story:

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live.” And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived. (Num. 21:8-9)

The people had repented of their sins and believed in God but their healing was dependent on a response of faith.  God instructed Moses to make a bronze serpent, just like the fiery serpents that had bitten the people, and put it on a standard.  Anyone who was bitten by a serpent and looked at the bronze serpent lived.  The bronze serpent was not magical in itself, rather, it was belief in God which was expressed through faith in what God had promised.

The Significance of the “Standard”

The word for “standard” in the above verse is the Hebrew word “נס” pronounced “nes.”  The word “nes” can mean banner, flag, pole, sign, or standard.  It has the meaning of something that is raised up and communicates a message to others.  In modern Hebrew this word “nes” means both “miracle” and “banner.”

How did the word for banner, pole, or sign come to mean miracle?  In one Jewish commentary regarding the word “nes” I found the following explanation:  “Frequently, neis means “sign,” but in rabbinic literature, it came to be used for “miracle,” probably because it was seen as a “sign” of God’s involvement in the cosmic drama” (Drazin, Israel. and Wagner, Stanley M. Onkelos on the Torah, Numbers, p. 192).  As perfectly illustrated in our text today, this word “nes” was used as a sign of God on which the bronze serpent was lifted up and a miracle occurred for all of those who looked to it in faith according to what God had promised.

The Significance of the Bronze Serpent

It needs to be emphasized here again that the bronze snake itself, which was placed on the pole, was not the source of healing. The source of healing was God alone.  This point is also brought out in the same Jewish commentary mentioned above: “the emblem alone would not cure the one bitten immediately; a stricken person must “look” intentionally with an attempt to understand the symbolic meaning of the emblem…the curative effectiveness of the emblem rested on the stricken Israelite looking up to heaven and making his heart subservient to God” (Ibid. p. 147).  The miracle of healing occurred as the faith of the people combined with belief in the provision which God made available to them.

At some point later in history the Israelites ended up getting their focus of faith confused and worshiped the created image rather than the creator.  The people worshiped the bronze serpent that Moses had made for hundreds of years up until the time of Hezekiah, king of Judah (2 Kings 18:4).  Hezekiah had to destroy the bronze serpent so that the people would no longer burn incense to it. Just like the children of Israel we need to be careful not to confuse our faith in God with faith in religious symbols.

We don’t know exactly why God told Moses to make the symbol of the bronze serpent as the text does not give us a clear reason.  It appears, however, that God had Moses make the bronze serpent to remind the people of their sin while trusting God for their healing by ultimately looking to Him.  The serpent was just an instrument.  It was faith in what God had promised which brought life to the people.

It is ironic that God had Moses use that which brought death, the fiery serpent, to give the people life.  Nachmanides, a 13th century Jewish sage also known as the RaMBaN, also noted the irony of the bronze serpent stating, “it is a miracle within a miracle: that which generally kills (a poisonous snake) here cures” (Ibid. p. 147).  It was only by looking upon the instrument of death that the people found life as they put their trust in God’s word to them.

Nicodemus & The Cross

Yeshua would use this same account of the bronze serpent which Moses lifted up in the desert to explain the plan of salvation to Nicodemus.  The dialogue between Yeshua and Nicodemus was not so different from my recent conversation with Hasan.  Nicodemus was a Pharisee and a ruler of the Jewish people.  Nicodemus was a man of faith and respected Yeshua as a rabbi and prophet.  Nicodemus could not deny that God was with Yeshua as the signs which He performed attested to God’s power (John 3:1-2).

The dialogue between Nicodemus and Yeshua was intense and to the point.  Yeshua challenged Nicodemus that he must be born again, meaning born from above or born of the Holy Spirit (John 3:3-8).  Nicodemus struggled to accept the words of Yeshua and stated “How can these things be?” (John 3:9)  Yeshua told Nicodemus that as a teacher of Israel he should understand these things.  Yeshua then began to speak of Himself as the Son of Man and told Nicodemus: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life” (John 3:14-15).

As a Pharisee and a religious Jewish leader, Nicodemus would know well this story of Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness.  Yeshua explained to Nicodemus that He too would be lifted up and whoever believed in Him would have eternal life.  Yeshua was communicating to Nicodemus that He would be crucified and that it would be through His death that others would have eternal life as they looked upon and believed in Him.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John 3:16-18

We know that Nicodemus saw Yeshua on the cross and helped Joseph of Arimathea take Yeshua’s body down and bury Him (John 19:38-40).  More than likely Nicodemus continued in faith in Yeshua after He was resurrected, believing unto eternal life.

Just as life was only granted to those who looked upon the bronze serpent in the wilderness by believing in God’s provision of healing, so today eternal life granted only to those who believe on the Son of God who was raised up on the cross to bear our sin.

“And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) 

The sign of the cross is the sign of death that brings eternal life to those who believe.  The cross is the “nes” (standard or banner) that God provides for all of mankind today to look upon and receive the “nes” (miracle) of eternal life.  We don’t worship the cross but the One who was placed upon it and raised up for us all.  God alone, through Yeshua, is the object of our faith!

Shabbat Shalom!

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Torah Portion: Num. 19:1 – Num. 22:1

Hafatara: Judges 11:1 – Judges 11:33

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