Live Not Only on Manna Alone, but by the Word of God (Numbers 21:4-9)
The content of today’s message is about the bronze snake that was lifted up in the wilderness. It took them 40 years to traverse through the wilderness, when it should have taken just one week, and simply put, it just means they didn’t have to walk through the wilderness for so long, but there’s a reason why God delayed this trip and made them walk through the wilderness for so long.
As we know, they sent 12 spies into Kadesh Barnea to survey the land and they came back with a report saying, “We are no match for these people,” and the people began to shake. Without a doubt, the Exodus from Egypt and going into the Promised Land of Canaan was a promise given even from the times of Abraham, and that was God’s planned work.
However, when the Israelites looked at their opponent and the present circumstances, they said it was impossible. In other words, they could not go into the land of Canaan because they didn’t have the faith, so they could not enjoy the true rest.
The reason why God kept them in the wilderness for so long is mentioned in Deuteronomy 8:2, “Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years,” remember the reason why God made you walk for 40 years, something that should have only taken one week.
The reason God delayed that journey for so long was, “To humble you and to test you.” In the past when they lived in Egypt, they were living according to their will, they were living very arrogantly. God made the Israelites walk for 40 years in order to test what was in their heart, whether they would keep His commands or not. It’s possible that this could have been avoided, if they simply had faith, they could have directly gone in, but God humbled and tested them in order to show them what this faith is.
Then in Deuteronomy 8:3, it says, “He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known,” and when it says “lowering them or humbling them,” it’s humility before God. He caused them to hunger, why must the people of God go hungry? They had nothing else, God humbled them and made them hunger so they could really see their spiritual state.
In the time of Egypt, they made as much money as they could make, and they lived their lives centered on the physical things they saw. God was testing their faith to see if they could live without the physical things or not. In the wilderness, there’s not even a single thing to eat, and that’s why God led them there and fed them manna.
Manna was like bread that came from the sky, but manna had all the nutrients the Israelites needed for traversing the wilderness. Why did God give them manna each and every day? To teach them that man does not live by bread alone. In the past, they only lived for bread, and they lived their entire lives to get more bread, since they would die without it. Now, God has brought them into the circumstance in the wilderness where they have nothing and they’re only loving off with the manna God gives them every day.
The reason is because God wanted to show us that we live our lives based on God’s Word. They ate God’s manna, God promised to give them food every single day, and then the food came. What do these words mean? In the past, they were centered on the things to eat, the things they saw, but saved people of God do not prioritize what to eat first. Their first priority is the Word and faith. From that, God gives them all the physical needs, and they live with that.
God is continuously training us. God also gave them quail. I have a quail at home, they’re so small, there’s not a lot of meat, but it’s enough for one meal. Sure, it may not be a chicken, but God has given them meat, God has given them manna every day, so he is preparing everything they need and providing it, for the people of God, God perfectly prepares for and guides the people of God, but the problem is that we don’t believe it, so we think we need to see something, and therefore, more than worship, we prioritize eating and surviving and more so than receiving God’s word, we prioritize our work. Then what will happen? You will wander the wilderness for 40 years.
We have to quickly go into the land of Canaan to get true rest and to conquer the world, but instead, we live as slaves to the things we see, in other words, the saved people of God were living a religious life. In the records they left over the 40 years in the wilderness, God told them to not live this way. If there are any members of the church who believe that God exists to give them food to eat, they will wander and suffer for 40 years. If you believe in God but you prioritize eating and living, you will suffer until those priorities change.
Numbers 21:4, “They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew very impatient.” If you’re impatient, it means you have your own goal and your own standards. We have to go through the wilderness, however, we get very impatient with the fact that we have to go around Edom instead of straight through it.
This impatience comes from unbelief towards God. There’s a difference between having a hasty personality and being impatient. If someone has a very fast personality, then if they have faith, they will be used in a hasty way. But if you’re impatient, it means you’re not aligned with the temple of God; you’re moving faster than Him.
Because the people were growing impatient, it says in Numbers 21:5, “they spoke against Moses.” If you’re impatient, you will get caught up in your own impatience. Your direction may be the same as God’s, but your time schedule is incorrect. The Israelites have to go through anyways, but God is telling them to go around, and that’s when they begin to resent God. Imagine how hard it was for them to go around Edom, they were resentful towards God, “Why have You brought us out of Egypt to die in the desert, there is no bread or water!” Simply put, they are thinking that God is too weak, they say, “Why are you not taking us through Edom so we can get water there?”
“We detest this miserable food,” which means, “We’re sick and tired of eating manna and quail. We want to go out and eat something new. I’m so sick of the food you’re always giving us. I want to try food from other nations.” They’re filled with these kinds of resentments.
Numbers 21:6, “Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them,” so if they got bit by a snake, they would die. These snakes bit the people, and many Israelites died. The result of the Israelites’ sin of disobedience and grumbling and resenting against God, the physical sight of being killed by these venomous bites. Do you think that, while they were going through the wilderness, God was collecting all the venomous snakes to release them and said, “Go bite them”? I don’t think that’s it.
Deuteronomy 8:15, “He led you through the vast and dreadful desert that was thirsty and waterless land, with venomous snakes and scorpions,” which means the snakes and scorpions were always there, what does that mean? It means God was protecting them until that point, and so when God takes away His protection, these are the things that happen. The Israelites were under a misconception, thinking this was just how they were living their lives, they didn’t realize the fact that, after God brought them out of Egypt, He was completely protecting them in his arms in this very barren and difficult environment.
Even if God stops guiding us for one moment, these things happen, then can you be thankful for the circumstances you find yourself in? People are very grateful and thankful when they face an urgent situation and no longer have to face it, but we don’t know how to be thankful for the guidance and protection we already receive. Then, when an incident like the venomous snakes take place, the people who did not get bitten are thankful, and the people who.. dead, but the future generations will see, and that’s what God is interested in.
Honestly speaking, the next generation did not have sin, and because of the sins of the first generations, they wandered the desert, and the next generation could be sent into Canaan. God is saying, “Go, look at what happens with unbelief.” In Deuteronomy, He says, “put this Word in them over and over again, then send them into Cannan.” There’s no water in the wilderness. Why do you think God led them into a place without water? “Only trust in Me, otherwise you will die,” and a lot of people died looking at the bitter water of Marrah because of their disbelief.
In Egypt, because they were wealthy enough, they had water purifiers and they had imported water, but the journey of our faith is not based on the things we see. First we are believing and holding onto the covenant God gave us, first seeking His Kingdom and His righteousness, then the material and physical things we see come into fruition; the order is backwards.
Numbers 21:7. The people were dying and knew that Moses can do something about it, “The people came to Moses and said, ‘We sinned.’” And sin is disbelief regarding God, even before you go anything with your actions, when you disbelieve regarding God, that is the beginning of all curses. In 1 Peter 5:8, it says Satan prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for those in disbelief. The enemy attacks us based on our worries and unbelief. The faith we must have is the faith regarding the words of God’s covenant.
Then, Moses prayed for the people, and the LORD said to Moses in Numbers 21:8, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” He gives a solution. So, there were people dying due to the venomous snake bites, and God’s solution is to make a bronze snake and to put it on a pole, and whoever looks upon it will live.
Numbers 21:9, So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then anyone who was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived. What do you think is the important thing here? Do you think the bronze snake is most important? What do you think is important? You can only live if you look at the snake, so what’s the important thing here? It’s your skill. Answer right now in your hearts, what do you think is the most important thing here? Because based on what you say, you’ll see your spiritual state. You’ll only know what you say is right if you know what you’re thinking inside.
If any of you understand this like the Israelites understood this, it’s going to be a headache. “You will live if you look upon the bronze snake upon the pole.” It says in 1 Kings 18:4, written during the reign of King Hezekiah, He removed this bronze snake Moses has made all this time they held it and they were burning incense to it, that’s an idol, they looked at the bronze snake in order to live, and that’s why they wanted to keep it. “It’s efficacious!” Because it worked, they kept it for 700 years.
Is the image of the bronze snake what’s important? That’s how the Israelites understood it, because they looked upon it and they lived, so they wanted to keep it because they thought, “If I get bitten by a snake, I’ll look at it and live.” That’s how they misunderstood God’s Word. John 3:14, Jesus Christ is speaking about the bronze snake from the Old Testament. “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the son of Man must be lifted up.” Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so Jesus Christ must be lifted up on the cross to die, so when Moses made the bronze snake in the wilderness, that means, that’s the way to live.
Yes, it does contain the meaning and parallelism between the bronze snake being lifted up on a snake and Jesus Christ being lifted up on the cross, but what’s important is that, because God gave them the Word, they did it in faith. The image of the snake itself does not contain anything, but what God is continuously showing the Israelites is, “When you have faith regarding God’s Word, you will have life.” God is continuously showing that, whenever you let go of God’s Word and focus on physical things, you will become resentful and you will die in your disobedience.
Let’s go back to Deuteronomy 8:16, “He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you.” Do you think there’s a meaning to the manna? Do you think there’s a meaning to the bronze snake? No. The meaning is in God’s Word that promised to give them manna.
Your forefathers ate in the desert, the wilderness, and they still died whether they ate the manna or not, so the manna doesn’t matter; Jesus Christ is saying that you will only live with the words that come out of His mouth. In the Old Testament wilderness, they received the manna only after God gave them the Word in faith, so the Word came first. That’s the difference between two people who are both eating the manna given by God, but the difference is one believes, and one does not.
Deuteronomy 8:17, If you keep going out centered on material things, then when you go out into the land of Canaan, there’s going to be many blessings, and you’re going to think that you accomplished this wealth yourself by the strength of your hands,” and that’s never okay. All the things you see with your eyes are prepared by God, it is not by not by your power. It was by God’s will and God’s Word that God gave you all the manna in the wilderness.
Deuteronomy 8:18, “Remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today.” This does not belong to you. God gives you this power in the work of fulfilling His covenant and His Word, why? To fulfill His covenant; it’s never about “me.”
The Word of God was the standard for the people who received salvation and experienced the Exodus from Egypt. Are there any of you who are shaking because of your reality’s you’re in, or the resentment and disbelief you live in, then without a doubt, you will be oppressed by Satan. We are not people who live for those things, we are the ones to fulfill God’s covenant in faith. The things you see will follow as the answers to the covenant, but we are not people who live, chasing after those things.
Deuteronomy 8:19, “If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed.” Why do you think they would serve other idols or gods when they went into Canaan? In the same way that the Israelites who saw the bronze snake in the wilderness and were about to die but came to life, they wanted to keep the idol, the bronze snake, so when they go into Cannan they will see other idols too, and when they see that worshiping these idols will give them blessings like children, they’ll want to keep those idols, too.
So the LORD shas, “Remember the LORD.” Therefore, the saved people of GOd must live in the complete covenant of His Word. Only faith in the covenant can overcome all circumstances and realities, and by faith in the covenant, success will follow. Some people succeed without that faith covenant, but the Bible warns that they will surely be destroyed. In fact, if anything, the better you do without faith in God’s covenant, the bigger the problems you will have. On the other hand, if you face suffering, there’s a higher probability that you will return to God’s covenant.
The person who is in the most danger is the one who thinks their life is ok without faith and without worship. The saved people of God have the Word God gives them as the covenant every week. What do you think is the goal? God guides them week by week with the Word, with the absolute goal of conquering the world through world evangelization of the land of Canaan. God already gave them the covenant to save their family line, this region, nation, and the whole world, and gives the Word week by week.
Therefore, if you believe in Jesus Christ, you gain eternal life. What does eternal life mean? It means God will be with you forever. Then what am I going to do on this earth? On this earth, we have the God-given covenant, world evangelization. This isn’t something you only do when you receive grace and stop when you don’t receive grace. Many people interpret “world evangelization” however they want, “I’ll do it when I receive grace.” It’s not wrong, but it means you won’t do it if you don’t receive grace. That in itself means you’ve departed from the covenant and are relying on yourself, and when you listen to those people’s words, they will never have world evangelization because they are so self-centered, “I’ll do it if I receive grace, if God gives me grace,” but preceding grace is God’s covenant.
Do you believe in that covenant? I received salvation by believing in Jesus Christ, and through you, God has given the covenant to all people, all nations; will you believe in that covenant? What happens if you don’t have that covenant? If you don’t have faith in the covenant, you will put your rest and peace in physical things.
Therefore, God gave us this authority in Luke 10:19, “I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy. Nothing will harm you.” “Snakes” here refer to the dangerous snakes in the wilderness. They can’t do anything about the snakes and scorpions as they traverse the wilderness, and now in the New Testament, they are saying you can now trample on the snakes and scorpions which were seen as dangerous in the wilderness. “And power to overcome all the enemy,” in other words, God will enable you to do all the things Jesus did.
You can use the authority of God to block all the snakes and scorpions in the wilderness for world evangelization. These were the words Jesus Christ gave to His disciples before sending them out into the field to evangelize. If you have the life of Jesus Christ within you, then to have His authority means you can do the things He has done.
To what extent? Matthew 10:1, “Jesus Christ called his 12 disciples and gave them authority to drive out in pure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.” This is the work that only God can do, but God promises to give this authority to the evangelists, because you have to save the world, but there will be enemies like snakes and scorpions there. Snakes and scorpions represent the danger in the world, and God promises to give us the authority to overcome the snakes and scorpions to do world evangelization.
Mark 3:13-15 says, the reason Jesus Christ called us is to be with Him, to send us out to preach, and to cast out demons. The eternal spirit of Jesus Christ, Who is God, is within us. He is telling us to absolutely utilize the power and authority of Jesus Christ for missions and evangelism because there are surely enemies in the field. This is the evangelist’s right.
How could we possibly heal diseases and cast out demons? How could we block the dangers of the world by ourselves? God is promising to send His power and authority to us, because if we want to save this world, there will be those who oppose and block you. Do you believe this? If you don’t believe this, then you can never escape from the dangers of the world. Even if you believe in Jesus Christ, it doesn’t work.
In the New Testament, the Word of God is being revealed all the more, now they have conquered the land of Canaan, Jesus Christ was born on this earth, and the gospel must spread to the rest of the world, and we are in this time schedule. I hope the saved people of God will be able to hold onto the mission of the covenant, of world evangelization, in faith. Otherwise, you’re bound to hold onto some kind of physical goal and you will have resentment, and you’re bound to be arrogant regarding physical things.
God gave you the ability to do this, but you think you did it on your own, and so without even realizing it, you’re going to end up serving idols. That’s the reason why people who even go to church will fail. Today at this time, I hope you will have the grace to realize that the only way to discard your disbelief is to hold onto the covenant, then you will first have rest in your heart due to the faith in the covenant, then when you have the faith to testify of the covenant, your fears in the world will disappear.
Not only will you be the believers in the church, but you have to have the work of God that will testify of this out in the world, and may you enjoy the blessings of this faith for the rest of the week.
Prayer
Let us pray together holding onto the Word.
The fact that God raised this church and you and I in this region is for the covenant to save our family lines and this region. Not only this region, but God’s covenant is to save this entire land. It’s God’s unchanging covenant to go out to save the 237 nations and the world and the 5000 unreached people groups, and within that is Temple Construction and the next generation. The difference is whether this is the covenant or if it’s an idol. Let us pray now for the evangelization of the nation, the region, the world, and Temple Construction.
There are people who are weak in the church, in particular, God has sent very precious multiethnic people, and because there’s a language barrier, I’m asking you to pray because the one who has faith and prayers receives the same answers is the one who folds onto the covenant. Any action you take apart from the covenant is unbelief, and if it doesn’t have faith, God does not recognize that. Even when you give your offering, God doesn’t accept the money, but God accepts your faith, and that’s why we give our offering as faith to God, and we must save the remnants and the multiethnic people through faith. People who do not have faith cannot enjoy the blessings.
Let us pray at this time for the multiethnic people, the remnants, and the vulnerable people in our church.
Let us pray for our missions fields, for Africa, South and Central America, as well as Mongolia, Navajo, Utah, and Karen.
So there’s someone named Gregory Kim I met on Monday and he’s going from church to church, introduced by Pastor Lee, and he hasn’t felt welcome in any of them. He speaks Korean not fluently, he speaks Russian so please welcome him, but not too aggressively so as not to startle him off, if there is anyone who can interpret the messages and forum with him in Russian afterwards, we don’t really have anyone like that but please do pray, his name is Gregory Kim. So let’s pray for the multiethnic people.
Benediction
Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the unlimited love of God, and the indwelling, working, guidance, and communion of the Holy Spirit, be upon all the heads of all the people of God, the multiethnic people, and the remnants who desires to hold onto the covenant of God through faith to save the church, this region, the nation, and the world, be with us from now until forevermore always, amen.