57 - A Sanctified People

We’re delighted that our good friend and brother, Simon Chase, has agreed to prepare a few “lockdown ponderings” for us! These are adapted from a series Simon is teaching at Gillingham Baptist Church, and which began when the UK went into Lockdown due to the coronavirus.

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1 Peter 1:13-16 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

We have seen that these Christian folk are a scattered people, a suffering people, but also a joyfully saved people. So far, Peter has described them, their situation and the blessings that are theirs now and eternally. Now he prescribes – the word ‘therefore’ is there for that reason. As theologians say, the indicative (what we are and have in Christ) comes before the imperative (how we are to live, in and for Christ). The former is the motive for the latter. In other words, because of who you are, be who you should be.

1. BE PREPARED  v 13

If only we had had enough PPE; if only we’d seen this Covid-19 crisis coming. Well Christians must always be ready in every way, especially with the right spiritual outlook. How?

(a) By ‘preparing’ – in our ‘minds’. Peter uses a picture that our translation loses of hitching up long robes so that vigorous work can be done. We have to have a ready outlook and attitude.

(b) By being ‘sober’-minded. Originally related to not being inebriated, we are to be wise, measured, balanced. We must not be caught up in panic or the tide of opinion.

(c) The key attitude is hope; points (a) and (b) above are ‘participles’ – the way we exercise our ‘hope’. That is why the -ing tense is used: prepar-ing, be-ing. We have ‘hope’, v 3; an ‘inheritance’, v 4; eventually ‘salvation’, v 5. Grace will be delivered to us!

(d) And we know the ‘timing’, ‘at the revelation of Jesus Christ’, which is the ‘last time’, v 5.

The end of Covid-19 restrictions isn’t what will sustain us; but everything connected with Jesus’ return – that is, glory – should!

2. BE OBEDIENT  v 14

We should live as if we were children belonging to the family whose surname and reputation is ‘obedience’. Did I say ‘as if’? This is a reality. That is what we were born again to – ‘for obedience’, v 2.

But as we saw yesterday, that makes us distinctive, different from the world, ‘not conforming’, Rom 12:2. New birth has changed us; ‘former ignorance’ was never acceptable and must not condition us now. Now, a sober mind and living hope controls, not ‘passions’. This is the same word for what angels have in v 12 ‘long’. There it is a strong urge rightly expressed. Here it describes the ruling principles of our old, Christless life. Being a Christian is bound involve living as a Christian; now we are oriented eternally, not to this world.

3. BE WHAT YOU WERE CALLED TO BE  v 15

Instead of being ‘passion’ controlled, we are to be ‘holy’ – sanctified, v 2. We do not need to join the panic of the world when crises hit, whether nationally or personally. We have a surer foundation.

The pattern to follow is God Himself – He has ‘called’ us. It is a calling that transforms us. But the calling determines who we should be like – Him. God in Christ by the Spirit is the pattern, standard and degree of our holiness. This holiness is to be lived out; this holiness is to be pervasive. It is what God has always expected of His called people, Gen 17:1. What does ‘holiness’ look like? Is it not explained in Scripture? It is the two love commands; love God, love your neighbour. Everything else flows from this.

4. BE HOLY  v 16

This call to holiness is consistent with Scripture (see Leviticus 19:2) and throughout the Law of the Old Testament. The being and character of God is the basis for the way we are to live now. I wonder how much have we actively employed that motive as a way of pursuing holiness. It is easy to overlook this as the standard required. Do we assume our God is content with us just taking ‘baby steps’? He wants us holy from day one, and each day after.

Is this an incredible, impossible – even blasphemous – command? As holy as God? Surely not for those created in the image of God – and though marred, being remade, Colossians 3:9. Surely not for those ‘chosen’ for ‘sanctification’ for ‘obedience’ and for ‘sprinkling’, v 2. Surely not for those to whom ‘grace and peace’ is ‘multiplied’, v 2.

To summarise, the character of God is the pattern and standard for the character of our lives.

The reward of God reserved for us and the return of God for us is our incentive.

In John’s gospel Jesus frequently says ‘I AM’. But here is another I AM – I am holy. Ultimately, the I AM is the reason for us TO BE.

56 - A Saved People

We’re delighted that our good friend and brother, Simon Chase, has agreed to prepare a few “lockdown ponderings” for us! These are adapted from a series Simon is teaching at Gillingham Baptist Church, and which began when the UK went into Lockdown due to the coronavirus.

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1 Peter 1:10-12 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.

The Christians Peter wrote to were scattered. Only at Christ’s return will the church truly be together. Meanwhile we are a suffering people and this ‘grieves’ us. Sufferings are ‘trials’ which refine our faith and will be to Christ’s glory on that wonderful Day. Though in the world now, we can rejoice because we have a secured, personalised inheritance. And for all this, we bless God who has done, does , and will do so much for us.

In these verses Peter writes of five things, explaining that we are a saved people;

1. A SALVATION PROPHESIED  v 10

‘This salvation’ is the salvation of our souls, v 9. It includes all that verses 2-5 describe, and  is also ‘the grace that was to be yours’, in verse 10. This salvation has been ‘prophesied’. Those who prophesied were ‘the prophets’ of the Old Testament. Having done so they ‘searched and inquired carefully’ because they didn’t fully grasp it all!

This is because, v 11, it was ‘the Spirit… in them’ who was at work; even in the wicked prophet Balaam. The Spirit ‘predicted’ so that God’s people would know this was His doing. In the Old Testament we read of God telling us that He makes known in advance what He will do, so we know it is Him – for example Isaiah 46:10. Peter tells us here that the prophets had the plan explained (‘indicating’) but, like Jesus’ disciples, they didn’t really comprehend it. Prophecy doesn’t originate with humans, 2 Pet 1:20-21, but is the Spirit’s own testimony.

Notice that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit ‘of Christ’ since the crucial content of prophecy is Christ and His kingdom.

2. A SALVATION PLANNED  v 11a

Salvation was planned based on God’s ‘foreknowledge’, v 2. Only this makes prophecy possible. That this salvation was prepared in advance is emphasised by the Spirit ‘predicting’.

The prophets knew this so they tried to understand the what and when by ‘inquiring’.

We may have our thoughts directed to the ending of Covid-19 restrictions, but all these earthly horizons must bow to the perspective of God’s plan of redemption.

3. A SALVATION PERFORMED v 11b

There was a specific focus in all of prophecy – ‘Christ’; which is why the Spirit is ‘of Christ’. There are two parts to this testimony: firstly ‘the sufferings’ of Jesus in life and chiefly in death. Secondly ‘the subsequent glories’; resurrection, ascension, Pentecost, new covenant, apostles, New Testament Scriptures, churches. Churches in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the end of the earth, Acts 1:8.

This has several implications:

·     all our salvation is bound up with the person and purpose of Jesus Christ: these are historical facts

·     the sufferings are done; now we are in what follows – ‘glory days’!

·     the full glory will be ‘revealed in the last time’, v 5, at ‘the revelation of Jesus Christ’, v 7

·     but suffering precedes glory – though glory certainly follows!

·     we have been saved; we are being saved; we will be saved

·     all this for the glory of Jesus Christ – for all Scripture, and redemption’s plan concerns Him

4. A SALVATION PROVIDED  v 12a

The coming of Christ confirms the fulfilling of the prophesied plan. That changed everything.

What did the prophets find out? ‘It was revealed’ – God did explain to them. They understood that their prophecy was not chiefly for their time but ours – ‘now been announced to you’. So the prophets spoke to their own time provisionally, but to our time principally.

That means Christians don’t receive the Old Testament ‘second hand’ from the Jews; it chiefly exists for us. Paul says the same thing in Romans 15:4 and 1 Corinthians 10:11. The Jews had the ‘prototype’ and so the ‘glories’ described in the Old Testament have their fulfilment in the light of the New Testament and Christ’s coming. All Scripture is directed to – channelled through – Jesus Christ. Just as he explained on the road to Emmaus to astonished disciples.

5. A SALVATION PROCLAIMED  v 12b

So Scripture has one message – ‘the things… now announced to you’. There is a continuity between the prophets’ ministry and the gospel preached. It was always about Jesus.

This salvation comes through faith in ‘the good news’ which was ‘preached… to you’. This came ‘through those’ who had been the means of their conversion. But who is the ‘real’ preacher? ‘The Holy Spirit sent from heaven’. He applies the message. So preaching the good news has the same accompaniment as the Old Testament prophets – the Spirit of Christ. He doesn’t inspire as he did then, but he does empower so that hearers believe. Preaching and speaking the gospel are special, unique. It is the power of God to salvation.

And angels, like Mary at the tomb, Jn 20:11, ‘stoop down’ (it is the same word) to understand all of this salvation. If they are preoccupied with grasping this, this good news should continually fill us with joy.

55 - A Scattered People

We’re delighted that our good friend and brother, Simon Chase, has agreed to prepare a few “lockdown ponderings” for us! These are adapted from a series Simon is teaching at Gillingham Baptist Church, and which began when the UK went into Lockdown due to the coronavirus.

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1 Peter 1:1-3 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: may grace and peace be multiplied to you.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

In vv 6-9 Peter explained that Christians are a suffering people. But there is a reason – these ‘trials’ establish the ‘tested genuineness’ of our faith, which God prizes. True faith is indestructible, unlike even gold. Christians who endure trials bring ‘praise, glory and honour’ to Jesus Christ at the last day and for eternity. So we can be a rejoicing people, even in our trials, for we ‘love’ the Lord Jesus, and are being saved for our ‘inheritance’ which is ‘kept’ for us. We will be ‘guarded’ until that time. Our blessed position, though involving trials, is utterly Covid-19 proof and filled with hope.

So now, let’s look at the beginning of the letter, where we also see a reality that we are even more conscious of today. The reality is that we are, in this world, always a scattered people.

1. WE ARE DETACHED  v 1

We should take great notice of this, for Peter the apostle is writing, and this is Scripture. He is writing to ‘exiles’; really temporary residents, strangers here. Like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob we are in a place, but not of it. We really belong somewhere else.

Nor are we all together; we are a ‘Dispersion’. Peter uses a term the Old Testament applies to Israel. For example, Psalm 147:2 and in the New Testament John 7:35. The church  is the Israel of Israel; Israel as she was always meant to be. But in this case too, dispersed while in this world.

Under the new covenant local churches are meant to be individual; consider the seven churches of Rev 2-3. Peter’s letter is addressed to Christians spread across parts of the Roman empire that covered most of modern Turkey. They could hardly know each other, but despite distance they were a unity in Christ. Jesus does not intend his church in the world to be building a great HQ with regional branches. At present, now, the church has a scatteredness. So our inability to meet together as the Lord’s people is not new. It doesn’t mess up God’s plan. Nor will this current period of isolation destroy Christ’s church or Christ’s individual churches.

2. WE ARE DISTINCT  v 2

Though distributed, scattered, detached, we are united – in being different from the world. God has made us distinct. But this distinctiveness from the world is also a unity with one another. Even separate churches have between them a unity. After all, Peter wrote one letter to this ‘group’ and in Revelation 2 & 3 each message is ‘to the churches’.

Now Peter describes this unity. We are ‘elect’ exiles, united by the Father’s eternal choice, for He ‘foreknew’ us. We are ‘sanctified’; made holy and being made holy by the work of God the Holy Spirit. We are saved ‘for obedience’ as disciples of the Lord Jesus. We follow and obey Him. We are ‘sprinkled’ by His ‘blood’; cleansed and purified, fulfilling Moses’ act at Sinai, Ex 24:8.

We are equipped to live for God by the multiple, continual blessings of ‘grace’ and ‘peace’.

Despite being physically, geographically scattered, we are one with each other, separate from the world. This is the work of the Trinity – Father, Spirit, Son. We can be distinct for we are distinct. Christians are Christians because of God’s choice. Christians are forgiven sin! God has dealt with us and does deal with us not for anything in us but ‘according to his great mercy’. God chooses to deal with us on this basis. Mercy is the governing principle of our relationship. We can’t sin our way out of this, throw it away, run out of steam or fall short – Jesus saves.

3. WE ARE DOXOLOGICAL  v 3

So how are we to react to this astonishing relationship with God governed by mercy? We praise God, just as Peter does here. ‘Blessed’ says Peter; ‘blessed’ say God’s people in praise of God. When we bless God, we cannot do what he does in blessing us. But we can acknowledge and praise his great goodness. We can utter ‘glorious words’! That’s what ‘doxo-logical’ means (and that’s how I get my third D).

Why do we praise God?

• Because ‘abundant mercy’ has been shown to us. We deserve judgement but rejoice in mercy.
• Because we are ‘born again’ – and this the act of God the Father. We have new life!
• Because we have the birth right to a ‘living hope’. A God-guaranteed inheritance awaits us.
• Because all this is founded on and flows from ‘the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead’.

So it all revolves around ‘Easter’ – it all revolves around the first day of the week. It all stems from cross, tomb and Jesus’ resurrection. From the death and resurrection of Christ flows the power to provide and guarantee our hope. We are third day / first day people for it is his resurrection life that is at work in us.

This blessing we give to God by thanksgiving and praise stops us being self-centred and this-worldly. Thankfulness is a wonderful antidote to such faults.

Though scattered, we’re nevertheless, and in every condition, detached, distinct, doxological.

We don’t rejoice that we have trials, but rejoice in our trials, with glorious grounds to do so.

54 - A Suffering People

We’re delighted that our good friend and brother, Simon Chase, has agreed to prepare a few “lockdown ponderings” for us! These are adapted from a series Simon is teaching at Gillingham Baptist Church, and which began when the UK went into Lockdown due to the coronavirus.

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1 Peter 1:6-9 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Given our unusual situation due to the Covid 19 crisis, I want to  jump straight in to 1 Peter Chapter 1 to see what Peter says in verses 6-9. The Bible was written to real people and is for real people in every place and every time – including ours, now. Since this is God’s Word, we can depend absolutely on its truth.

1. THE REALITY OF OUR SUFFERING  v 6

It is a present reality for these people – Peter says ‘now’. We too are in a situation: how do we understand it? Well, Peter calls it a ‘trial’; life may bring a lot of them. The word means exactly that, not just a kind of difficulty but actually a period of scrutiny and testing – a ‘trial’ in the strict sense of that word. Trials come in ‘various’ forms and may affect each of us differently.

The impact of these trials is also real – they ‘grieve’ us. We are human and so we can be made sad, fearful, distressed, upset by the events of life. This is not in itself wrong and we need to accept the fact that such responses happen. But we must not get things out of proportion. They have come ‘for a little while’. This is in relation to what he has said about ‘now’. Keep the big picture in view. Life is more than stocks of toilet rolls – we must remember this!

We should not be surprised when ‘trials’ come; Peter says ‘if necessary’. He is not simply saying that suffering in this life is inevitable, but that such things, because they are trials, are necessities, essential. That puts a different slant on the word ‘essential’. They have to come because they are not senseless or meaningless, but for a purpose.

2. THE REASON FOR OUR SUFFERING  v 7

‘So that’ is a colossal term – in order that, for this reason, because; there is a purpose to all ‘trials’. It is all about our ‘faith’ – we believe in Jesus Christ; our response to trials shows the reality of that faith. So what do trials have to do with our faith? ‘Tested genuineness’ – this is the reason for them. In trials our faith is tested to prove it is authentic; as in Rom 5:4’s ‘character’. When trials come we move towards God, not away from Him. We trust more not less. This shows our faith is no fake, no counterfeit, you are not deceiving yourself or others. It is true faith – as Job showed.

Why go to all this trouble? Well, see how much God values faith! It is ‘more precious than gold’. And see how indestructible it is! Gold ‘perishes’ but your faith cannot be extinguished: you may feel weak, but God in you is mighty and will prove it!

When we stand firm in trials our faith is ‘found to result in praise and glory and honor ’ – did you know that this would be the result of the test? Trials have great significance; the result is tremendous. For ‘at the revelation of Jesus Christ’, when we stand before His judgement seat, this will be to our – and far more to his – praise, glory and honour. The grim trials of the present will so refine our faith that the outcome will be glorious on that great day. So the ‘now’ of our Covid-19 ‘trial’ will produce glory in eternity! How we respond in faith in 2020 counts for eternity.

‘Why is this happening to me?’ Now you know. ‘What’s the point of it all?’ Now you know. So we understand that our trials now are for Jesus’ praise and glory then. That’s worth it!

3. THE REJOICING IN OUR SUFFERING  vv 8-9

Thomas, who doubted, might have written this – I’m sure he never forgot the lesson. We have not seen the Lord, but is it not true that you ‘love him’? And though now we ‘do not see him’ we most certainly ‘believe in him’. That’s faith. That’s valuable in God’s sight. So we matter to him. Love changes everything; if this will be for the exaltation of Jesus whom we love, surely we can stand this!

And that love and faith (which is what is being tested) should create ‘rejoicing’ – for look what lies ahead of us – the ‘outcome’, that is, the whole purpose of, ‘our faith’. And that is ‘the salvation of our souls’. Haven’t we taken Jesus for our ‘Saviour’? He saves!

And what sort of salvation is this? Look at verses 3-5. It is ‘a living hope’ and ‘an inheritance… kept in heaven’ which is intended ‘for you’! Do you think, returning to verse 8, that we might just manage a bit of ‘joy’? Just a little bit? Or even a great deal; even in our trial. For surely this means God is working out in us exactly what he always intended, so that for all eternity we might be to the praise of his glory.

What can Covid 19 and all its implications change about this? Nothing! Our inheritance is ‘imperishable, undefiled, unfading’.

Yes, we are a suffering people. But we understand why this has had to come, and what it is achieving. And we know what comes after. We also know and love the one who is in control of all this. So we might be really suffering – but by God’s grace we can be rejoicing too!

53 - A Time for Patience

James 5:7–11 Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. 8 You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. 9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door. 10 As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

I heard a message by a well-known preacher about 3 years ago, in which he said something that really struck me and has stayed with me ever since. It was this: “The normal posture of God’s people in this world - in this life - is to wait.” It’s ironic, isn’t it, that just about the one thing we are all terrible at by nature is being patient?

We’re not great at waiting for the Amazon delivery truck to swing by our house with that special thing we have wanted for so long. Maybe we track it with their app. “It’s 10 stops away - it’ll soon be here! ....How can it be stuck at 7 stops away for so long? OK - just 2 stops now....!” Am I the only person who goes through this ritual? I suspect not!

The preacher I mentioned earlier pointed out that God’s people had to wait 2000 years from Abraham (who received the promise) and 1000 years from David (to whom God said one of his descendants would rule over an everlasting kingdom) before Christ came to fulfill that promise and to become that King. And now again, we await His coming from heaven - already it is 2000 years since Christ was born, ministered, died, rose and ascended - and we continue to wait.

If waiting is bad, though, waiting patiently while suffering is worse - and that is what James is talking about in the passage above. Farmers are patient, he says. They really have no choice. They can’t make the seasons speed up so they can get the harvest sooner! We need to take a leaf out of their books. The Lord’s coming is drawing near. It’s nearer now than when we first believed. He will not be early or late, but will come at precisely the right moment. We must be alert and wait patiently for Him, our Hope, to come. In the meanwhile, we’ll each know times of suffering and sometimes (as today) collective suffering.

In the genius and love of our God, though, He has given us exactly what we need to endure patiently. One thing we have, of course, is His Word. In the Bible, we see people keeping on keeping on, even in the midst of suffering we cannot begin to imagine. The prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord and as often as not were despised, reviled and even killed for their trouble (remember Christ laying the responsibility for their righteous blood at the feet of that generation). Yet as God’s people, we admire their courage and steadfastness, don’t we?

Think of Job, James continues - consider the horror of what he went through, not really knowing why, and how he clung to God almost when he had nothing left to cling with, or rather, when he had nothing else to cling to.

James doesn’t say this, but others do... Think of Jesus - who resisted temptation to the point of shedding His blood and who went, despised and rejected, to the cross for His people.

How is this kind of patience possible? Because of future hope, says James! The farmer hopes for the harvest. The prophet speaks of the coming of Christ and the glories that will follow. Job knew for sure that his own eyes would see God after his skin had been destroyed. Jesus despised the shame of the cross because of the joy set before Him - the delight of His Father and having those for whom He died with Him as brothers and sisters in heaven.

We have the same hope - the return of the Lord and the ushering in of the eternal state, in which we will all participate with great joy, thanks to the grace of our amazing God!

Also high on the list of God’s provision to help us endure patiently is the local church. We get to go through life together, to weep with those who weep and to rejoice with those who rejoice. We get to pray together, to minister Christ to one another while we wait for Christ.

And that is where James sounds a note of caution, because believers back then were no better at this patience thing than you or I. When we get impatient, our behavior can go downhill fast. We get frustrated and we vent on the nearest pair of ears. We grumble against one another, because each of us privately thinks we are being singled out for an unfair share in the suffering that is going around. Watch out, says James. Remember that God is compassionate and merciful. Remember that when you grumble against a brother or sister, you are grumbling against one who is beloved in God’s sight, and for whom Christ died on the cross. Since Christ lives in them and is being formed in them, and since He is sovereign over your circumstances, you are grumbling against Him, too. This present life is just a temporary thing for all of us - the Lord’s coming is at hand, so be patient!

This really applies to us in spades right now, doesn’t it? Very few of us enjoy being in lockdown, and it’s not natural for members of a body to be divided up the way we are. We get impatient, frustrated. Perhaps we start to grumble against one another. We certainly have an enemy who loves to see that happen in the church. More than ever right now, we are to love one another, be patient with one another and remember that the Lord’s coming is at hand!

52 - Life For a Look!

Numbers 21:4–9 From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. 5 And the people spoke against God and against 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 worthless food.” 6 Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. 7 And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. 8 And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.

I gather that the technical term for a fear of snakes is “ophidiophobia” and it’s clear that the people of Israel brought upon themselves such a condition in this account. Not, of course, a groundless fear but rather one based on the recognition that these animals appeared supernaturally and were charged with inflicting God’s just punishment on them because they had grumbled yet again against Him and against Moses. When they confess and Moses prays for them, God provides a solution which does not instantly remove the problem but rather inserts a remedy if the people will use it. A few things to note here:

1. This isn’t the first time we have seen serpents having negative effects in the lives of men and women. The serpent in the Garden of Eden poisoned Adam and Eve in their hearts, introducing spiritual death, which destroyed their relationship with God. In the account above, it is likely that the affliction sent by God is a graphic re-enactment of that original scene, in which the venom of serpents causes the death of those who rebelled against God.
2. When God banished Adam and Eve from the Garden, it was not without a word of promise that there would come a seed from the woman who would crush the serpent’s head. And here, in providing the remedy for the snakebite that would otherwise kill the people, God graciously gives a visual promise concerning that seed, this time in the form of a bronze serpent lifted up on a pole. When someone was bitten by a serpent, they had only to turn away from the snake that bit them and to the replica on the pole and they would be saved.
3. It isn’t fanciful in the least to see a representation of Jesus in that bronze serpent. Jesus Himself gives us license to do that:
4. John 3:14–15 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
5. Jesus uses the language about his being “lifted up” specifically in connection with His crucifixion, when He was lifted up on the cross in order to die in the place of his people. He was suspended between heaven and earth - in the very territory of the Prince of the Power of the Air, to overcome the ancient serpent and release His people from bondage to death. The people of His day understood that He was talking of His death:
6. John 12:32–34 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33 He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. 34 So the crowd answered him, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?”
7. The serpent was a cursed creature (since the day of the fall) and Jesus was made a curse for us - He was made in our likeness, we who were under the curse of the law (Galatians 3:13-14). He was lifted up on a tree to manifest that curse to the world. And Moses put the bronze serpent on a pole. So the serpent points us to Jesus in this way too.
8. The people had put Christ to the test, thus bringing the judgment from God upon themselves (1 Corinthians 10:9). Yet it was through an emblem of Christ (the bronze serpent) that their salvation came! How gracious is our God!
9. An Israelite who realized he had been bitten by a snake and was certainly dying could look to God’s remedy - the bronze serpent on the pole - and live. In the same way, anyone today who realizes they have the deadly venom of sin in their hearts, which spells certain, eternal death for their souls, may look to Jesus, trust His work on the cross to save them (God’s remedy for iniquity) and have eternal life. That is what Jesus said in the two passages from John above.

One of the greatest preachers the church has ever seen (Charles Spurgeon) was converted by God through this text in Isaiah:

Isaiah 45:22 Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: For I am God, and there is none else.

His heart was unlocked to understand that all he had to do was to look to Christ to be saved. The eyes of his heart were opened so that he could look. He turned from himself, turned completely to Christ, and he was saved.

The way of salvation has not changed since it was anticipated in the episode of the bronze serpent and subsequently, most wonderfully, transacted by Christ on the cross. Spurgeon was saved by looking to Christ - what about you? As the hymn-writer put it:

There is life for a look at the Crucified One,

There is life at this moment for thee;

Then look, sinner, look unto Him and be saved,

Unto Him who was nailed to the tree.

Look! look! look and live!

There is life for a look at the Crucified One,

There is life at this moment for thee.

51 - Who Can Tame The Tongue?

James 3:5–12 So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. 7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. 11 Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? 12 Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.

Over 20 years ago, Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan starred in a movie called “You’ve Got Mail”. At one point, her character complained to his that there were times when she wanted to unleash her tongue on someone, but she never found the right words in time. He cautioned her that if that moment came, remorse would follow. Then the moment came, and this is how she summed it up:

I was able, for the first time in my life to say the exact thing I wanted to say at the exact moment I wanted to say it. And, of course, afterwards, I felt terrible, just as you said I would. I was cruel, and I'm never cruel.

She was going through a hard time, in which her whole livelihood was being destroyed and the person she let fly at was the cause of her grief. And so she let fly - and felt awful.
We’ve all had moments when we don’t engage our brains before our mouths get into their stride. Words are so powerful. Hateful words can really hurt and once they are spoken, there is no “unsaying” them. But according to James, to tame the tongue unfailingly is something that no human being can do in this world. Our tongues are by nature restless - they want to be active. And they are full of deadly poison. They can set the whole course of life on fire, being set on fire themselves by hell.

For this reason, James begins the chapter with a caution for those who would become teachers. Teaching, of course, is done to a large degree with the tongue, and to have an untamed tongue as a teacher of others necessarily incurs a stricter judgment. James’s warning, though, comes to everyone who has a tongue and I think in this day and age, to anyone with a Twitter account or a similar social media tool where we can type a quick note and hit “send” before really thinking about what we are saying.

Why are our tongues such a big problem? It is because they give expression to what is in our hearts:

Luke 6:45 The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

The only power that can tame the tongue is a power that can change the heart - God’s Holy Spirit. Before we come to know Christ, our tongues are untamed and untamable by us. They speak out of hearts that are full of hatred towards God and overflowing with love of self. When we are saved, the Holy Spirit takes up residence in our hearts and begins the work of making us more like Christ. He produces good things in our hearts that we can speak with our tongues, and He provides a restraint to hold back the wicked things we might otherwise have said (malicious, slanderous, hateful things, gossip, lies, character assassinations etc.). Our tongue is progressively tamed! Sadly, we sometimes push past His restraint and speak from our old nature, with potentially dire consequences.

It is worth taking James’s warning to heart, especially right now in the midst of a global crisis. We can be less guarded than we should be when we are under stress and experiencing difficulties in our lives. We become tired and irritable. Someone provokes us, or we provoke them. Before we know it, we are in a situation where restraint is abandoned and the air is thick with sinful words. At that point, we have handed the enemy of our souls a victory. We have used tongues that have been saved to utter the praise and worship of the most high God for the purpose of tearing down, defaming and insulting those who are our brothers and sisters in Christ. But whatever we do to them (seeing they, too, are joined to Christ and made in God’s image) we do to Him. But there is still good news in this situation:

1. God has promised that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So there is a path for wrongs to be righted.
2. While no human being can tame their tongue, God changes the heart when they trust Jesus to save them from sin. Gradually, they’re more and more able to win this war!

And so this is a word of real encouragement to us, and not a mere warning. In Christ, believers can rise up and be victorious over all the sins that used to beset them. We do not have to fall into sin - Christ has delivered us from our bondage. While friends and family who do not know Christ are still enslaved to sin, we have power to live a new life that testifies to the truth of the gospel!

Let’s seek in the coming days, and by the power of God’s Spirit, to tame our tongues and to make sure that we give all the glory to Christ!