00:02a celebration of catalyst for good
00:06or corrupted for evil
00:12then the Lord told him that's Moses
00:15who was facing a difficult situation
00:18because this incredible plague of his
00:21illness had swept through the people
00:23he said this make a replica of a
00:25poisonous snake and attach it to a pole
00:28all who are bitten will live if they
00:32so Moses made a snake out of bronze and
00:35attached it to a pole then anyone who
00:37was bitten by a snake could look at this
00:39bronze snake and be healed
00:42now this is a fascinating story there
00:45was no healing properties in the bronze
00:48healing happen when people obeyed God in
00:52faith if God said if you'll look at it
00:54and you'll be made well they did that in
00:57obedience to God and they were indeed
00:59heal so this act of Celebration it took
01:04time from the time the lord gave him
01:06this instruction he would have given
01:07instruction maybe Bezos
01:10one of the artists would have assisted
01:12him in fashioning this bronze snake
01:15making this image and then putting it up
01:19and it was a thing of blessing and
01:22Redemption and healing in that
01:24generation but time went on and if you
01:27read in Second Kings 18 verse 4 you see
01:30that many generations later
01:33this brown snake had been kept and was
01:35being used in inappropriate ways it had
01:38actually become an object of idolatry so
01:42different from the original purpose of
01:44being a source of blessing because they
01:50rather than the purpose of the artistry
01:53the faith that it inspired and the focus
01:56on God and trust in God and returning to
02:01so we see that this story it was used
02:04well in Moses time and later generations
02:07it was used incorrectly
02:10but Jesus picks up this theme again when
02:12he's talking to Nicodemus we all
02:15probably can say John 3 16 for God so
02:18loved the world that he gave his only
02:20begotten son that whoever believes in
02:22him should not perish but have
02:25do you know what the two verses that are
02:28just before that verses 14 and 15.
02:33it begins with for God there's a
02:37what happened just before is what gives
02:39the foundation for that very famous
02:41verse that we often cite
02:45so John 3 14 and 15. Jesus is talking
02:48about the same snake there was a
02:50blessing at one time and use an idolatry
02:53as another time he says as Moses lifted
02:55up the bronze snake on a pole in the
02:57wilderness so the son of man must be
02:59lifted up so that everyone who believes
03:01in him will have eternal life
03:04so it became once again a paradigm a
03:08virtue of ultimate Redemption because
03:10Jesus would be lifted up on a pole this
03:12was a metaphor for a dying on the cross
03:14and if we look to him
03:17with faith in our hearts just like they
03:19looked at the snake with faith in their
03:21hearts and Moses generation we would be
03:23saved as they were healed and so once
03:26again God comes to restore this artistic
03:29expression which was well used then
03:32misused and then redeemed in its use to
03:35point us toward God's ways of redemption
