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Apples of Gold
Radio Script for June 26, 2009
“Snake Stories”
Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.
“The Lord sent venomous snakes.”
That is just trouble in so many ways.
But that’s what it says in Numbers 21.
“The Lord sent venomous snakes among them…”
Now first of all, most people don’t like snakes of any kind. They’re just creepy.
I remember one time my kids found a huge black snake in our yard. They were both freaked out and fascinated.
We started following/chasing it, and then I saw something that just gave me the creeps. The snake suddenly raced up into a tree.
Let me tell you, you will never look at your back yard the same again after you’ve seen a big snake slithering up one of the trees.
If you are ever in a group of people, and the conversation gets a little slow, just start telling snake stories. One story leads to another and pretty soon everyone’s creeped out.
Well anyway, here are the Israelites, whom God has delivered from slavery in Egypt. He is leading them to the Promised Land, but it’s not exactly a five star vacation.
And they begin whining. In fact, it’s rather spiteful, hateful whining. Numbers 21:5 says “…they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!”
That so-called miserable food, by the way, was the manna God was providing for them out of thin air.
They were ungrateful for what God had given them. They were unthankful. And they were definitely willing to bite the hand that was feeding them.
And this is how the Lord responded. He sent venomous snakes among them. Numbers 21:6 says, “…they bit the people and many Israelites died.”
This is a national disaster. It’s like they camped on top of an ancient poisonous snake burial ground. The snakes are coming on them with a vengeance, poisoning them and killing them.
So what did they do? What would we do today?
We would form a task force. One group would handle the vaccines. Another would handle snake control. We would take action and eliminate the problem.
But the Israelites realized that their snake problem had spiritual roots. Verse seven says, “The people came to Moses and said, ‘We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us.’”
So Moses prayed for the people.
Okay, first of all it’s curious enough that the Lord sent poisonous snakes to get the people. And now what He does next is even more curious.
He doesn’t just make the snakes go away. And He doesn’t just heal all the people.
Instead, if the people want to be healed, they have to do something. It’s a simple something, but it something they must do.
The Lord told Moses to “make a snake and put it up on a pole.”
So Moses fashioned a replica snake out of bronze and put it on a pole.
Have you ever heard the phrase, “Run it up the flag pole and see if anyone salutes”?
Well Moses put this snake up on a pole, and the test was to see what the people would do; because God told them they had to do something, just a little something. If they wanted to survive the poisonous snake bite, all they had to do was look at that bronze snake.
So break it down. Here I am, an Israelite, and I’ve been snake bit. First of all, someone has to tell me about the bronze serpent deal. I have to hear about it somehow, or I won’t even know my options.
Then when I hear about it, I have a choice. I can either continue to try to deal with this snake bite on my own (which isn’t going well, by the way), or I can believe the story I’ve heard and go look at the bronze serpent.
So what do I do? I decide to put my faith in the bronze serpent story. I go look at it, and I live.
Now that makes a really dramatic story in Sunday School. It looks great up on the flannel board. But don’t miss the depth.
Fast forward to Jesus speaking to Nicodemus in John chapter three. Just before Jesus delivers His famous John 3:16, in the two verses before that He says, “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.”
I look at it like this. The world has been snake bit by sin. It’s destroying people; but there is deliverance.
And we don’t have to form a task force. We just need to look to Jesus. When we look to Jesus, we will live.
Jesus Himself brought up the parallel between Him and that bronze serpent in the desert, so take a close look at the story.
Just like the bronze snake, Jesus was lifted up, and now everyone who “looks” to Him, everyone who believes in Him, will have eternal life.
Comments?
E-mail me: dougapple@wave94.com.
May God bless you today! With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
© 2009 The Arrow’s Tip
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(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)
Why “The Arrow’s Tip”? Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold. Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.” I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.
Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL 32315
(850) 926-8000
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