FBC Daily Devotional – May 26, 2021

Faith Baptist Church

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Well, a good Wednesday to you. Here we are, middle of the week already, and a week is flying by, this last full week of the month of May.

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And before you know it, we're going to have looking in the rearview mirror at five months of 2021.

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Well, I hope your week's going well, going well for you. Well, today we're reading in Numbers chapters 21 and 2.

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And I was reminded as we read that incident of Moses lifting up that bronze serpent.

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You remember the cause of that. The children of Israel, many had complained and sinned against the

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Lord. And because of that, a plague broke out in the camp.

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And to stop the plague, God instructed Moses to craft this serpent of bronze to put it on a pole.

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And anybody that would just look up at that bronze serpent, they would be healed of the disease that had broken out.

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And so Moses obeyed, and he did that very thing. But you know, Moses had no idea that what he was doing was highly significant for what was to come a couple thousand years later.

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You remember, Jesus alluded to this incident. And he's speaking to people in his day.

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And he said, even as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness.

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And you recall, he was actually telling that to Nicodemus. And Nicodemus was a rabbi.

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He was well -versed in the Old Testament scripture. So he knew the story. And all

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Jesus had to do was just allude to it. Even as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness.

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And Nicodemus would have understood the rest of the story. And everyone who looked by faith at that serpent was healed.

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So Jesus knew he would understand the significance of that serpent and the rest of the story.

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And then Jesus draws this analogy. Even so must the Son of Man be lifted up from the earth.

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And the understood consequence is all who will look to him by faith will be healed of their pestilence of sin.

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And that will be evident of their being born from above. So they will look to him.

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So Moses obeyed the Lord in crafting this bronze serpent.

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Even at the risk that they might perceive it as some kind of an idol to be worshipped.

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No, he obeyed nevertheless because that's what the Lord told him to do. Lifted it up and people were healed.

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They were saved from their affliction. And he provided a wonderful symbol of what was yet to come.

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Now the rest of chapter 21 is interesting because the chapter begins with warfare.

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And it ends with warfare. So the Israelites do battle at the beginning of the chapter.

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And then at the end of the chapter they wage war. Actually war is waged against them.

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And they win the battles against Sihon and Og. And I find it interesting because they're right where the

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Lord wants them to be. And yet he leads them into these conflicts. Leads them into these wars.

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And what he's doing, what the Lord is doing in this is preparing them for what is to come.

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It isn't going to be too much longer before they cross the Jordan River, enter the land of Canaan.

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And then there's going to be quite an extensive time of doing battle.

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Of conquering the Canaanites in this land of promise that God has given to them.

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And so they have a lot of fighting yet ahead. I want to remind you that in our day we're very politically correct.

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And we're thinking well this was a terrible thing for them to do. To drive out the indigenous peoples of this land and so on and so forth.

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You got to remember that the peoples of this land they went back and forth battling one another.

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And conquering each other's territory in the first place. But in the second place we have to understand that this overcoming of the land of Canaan.

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Wasn't merely just to steal somebody's land. The Lord made it clear that when the iniquity of the

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Canaanites was full. Then the Hebrews, the Jewish people would conquer this land.

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So it was a consequence of unbridled determined stubborn iniquity on the part of the

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Canaanites. And so all that battle is coming. And so what the Lord is doing now here on even the east side of the

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Jordan River. With Og and Bashan and so forth. Is he's preparing them for what is to come.

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Now I gained from that some instruction for the New Testament Christian.

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What kind of battles are you going through in your life today? What kind of struggles are you having today?

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What kind of difficulties and hardships? Things that you're just having a hard time dealing with.

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And what have you just come through recently that has been hard and difficult. And yet here you are you're on the other side of it.

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Well one of the perspectives that we should have on these things. Is that the Lord uses these difficulties, these trials and hardships and so forth.

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To prepare us for what is to come. We get through this experience and that strengthens us.

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That encourages us. That gives us confidence in him for what lies ahead.

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This is what happened a few thousand years ago. On the east side of the Jordan River.

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And it happens in a different way. But nevertheless it still happens today. The Lord is using today's experiences.

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And using them to strengthen us. To grow us. And to encourage us to trust him.

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To be confident in him for the days ahead. So let's learn of that.

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Let's learn of that. And grow thereby. So Father we do thank you today for how you do work.

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And how you have graciously worked in providing a Savior. All we have to do is look to him in faith.

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And trust in him. And he brings healing to our sin sick soul.

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And Father we thank you that you do graciously use today's trials and difficulties.

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To grow us and strengthen us. And to prepare us for greater usefulness and blessing in the days to come.

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May we learn that lesson and trust in that truth. And we pray it in Jesus name.

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Amen. Alright. Well have a good rest of your Wednesday. And if you can join us tonight at 7 o 'clock for our midweek service time of Bible study and prayer.