I wonder why he chose to do it that way?
Why did God choose to have Moses make a snake and have the people look at the snake to be healed? Could they not just have gone to the tabernacle and ask for prayer? Couldn't they have prayed from their own tent and have been healed? I wonder why? Would the people not be tempted to start worshipping the bronze snake?
And, why did Jesus have to die on a cross? Lifted up from the ground for all to see? Why not a quick death? Why not in a day when there was the electric chair where one could be executed in privacy away from the public eye?
I wonder if the reason has something to do with "faith." The people had to exercise their "faith" to be healed. The very act of looking at the snake was an act of faith. And you had to do it the way God said.
The effect Jesus brought about on the cross also has to do with faith. Once again, those who want to receive the benefit Jesus brought need to exercise their faith.
And what will I do about it?
4They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; 5they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!”
6Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. 7The 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.
8The LORD said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” 9So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.
- Numbers 21
Why did God choose to have Moses make a snake and have the people look at the snake to be healed? Could they not just have gone to the tabernacle and ask for prayer? Couldn't they have prayed from their own tent and have been healed? I wonder why? Would the people not be tempted to start worshipping the bronze snake?
And, why did Jesus have to die on a cross? Lifted up from the ground for all to see? Why not a quick death? Why not in a day when there was the electric chair where one could be executed in privacy away from the public eye?
21Once more Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.”
22This made the Jews ask, “Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, ‘Where I go, you cannot come’?”
23But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.”
25“Who are you?” they asked.
“Just what I have been telling you from the beginning,” Jesus replied. 26“I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is trustworthy, and what I have heard from him I tell the world.”
27They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father. 28So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. 29The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.” 30Even as he spoke, many believed in him.
- John 8
I wonder if the reason has something to do with "faith." The people had to exercise their "faith" to be healed. The very act of looking at the snake was an act of faith. And you had to do it the way God said.
The effect Jesus brought about on the cross also has to do with faith. Once again, those who want to receive the benefit Jesus brought need to exercise their faith.
And what will I do about it?
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