Fix Your Eyes on Jesus

Many times we get ignited after hearing such sermons as the previous sermon (Praise Through to Your Victory), and shortly after go back to complaining and wailing, wondering what happened to our praise. The problem is that we take our focus off the center of our praise, Jesus, just as the children of Israel used to do.

Numbers 21:4-8

Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very discouraged 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 our soul loathes this worthless bread."  ⁶ So the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died.  ⁷ Therefore 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 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live."  ⁹ So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.

The children of Israel had journeyed for a while, and at the beginning of our text we see God taking them back through where they started, through the way of the Red Sea. Obviously the realized that they were going round in circles, and at this point their souls became discouraged and they started complaining, finding fault in their food. They called the manna God gave them "worthless", and this infuriated God. You see, throughout their encounter with God, He had constantly used imageries to point them and us to Christ. Manna was one such imagery, where Jesus Himself said that the manna Moses gave the children of Israel was not the real thing, that Jesus was the real bread from heaven (Jn. 6:32-33). The manna was just an imagery, a shadow of God's Word, and since Jesus is the Word (Jn. 1:1-3, 14), it was an imagery of Jesus.

Other imageries God used to point them to His Jesus were:

1.  The rod Moses said he had, the only thing he had, and what God used throughout to perform the plagues, part the Red Sea, provide water out of the rock twice, and so on (Ex. 7-10; 14:15-31; 17:5-6; Num. 20:7-11). This rod signified the Word of God, hence Jesus (Is. 11:1). Jesus and God’s Word is all they needed from the time they needed deliverance from Pharaoh’s hand in Egypt and at the Red Sea, when they needed water, and so on. When David says in Psalm 23:4 that God’s rod and staff comforted him, he was talking about God’s Word (Jesus, signified by the rod), and the Holy Spirit (signified by the staff); these were His comfort.

2.  The rock that followed them, that Moses hit the first time and was supposed to speak to the second time, was Jesus:

1 Corinthians 10:4
...and all [the Children of Israel] drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.

I believe this is why God got so angry at Moses when he struck the rock twice, as Jesus was supposed to be stricken once only, for Him to produce the water of life for us (Is. 53:4, Jn. 7:37-39, Rev. 21:6, 22:1). The water is a symbolism of the Holy Spirit. So Jesus was supposed to be stricken once, and the 2nd time spoken to, for us to receive the Holy Spirit. Moses in striking the rock twice implied that Jesus would be stricken twice. This is why God got so angry at him that He denied him entry into the Promised Land, when he struck the rock the 2nd time (Num. 20:1-12).

3.  When they had just crossed the Red Sea and came to the bitter waters of Marah, Moses was told by God to cast a tree into the waters, and they became sweet. Jesus is identified as the true vine (Jn. 15:1), and the tree of life whose leaves bring healing to nations (Jn. 14:6, Rev. 2:7, 22:2). Since the times of the Garden of Eden, God has been using this imagery to point us to Christ.

4. The children of Israel needed Joshua to take them into the Promised Land. The name “Joshua” in Hebrew is “Yehoshua”, which, just like the name “Jesus”, means “God (YHVH) delivers (His people)”. So basically both the name of Joshua and that of Jesus mean the same thing, that God delivers, saves or rescues His people. Joshua, who brought the children of Israel into Canaan, was a picture of Jesus, who we needed to bring us back to God’s ultimate purpose for us (Rom. 8:29, Eph. 1:4-12, 2:10).

Whenever the children of Israel complained of needing something, God gave them an imagery of Christ as their solution. The Bible says:

1 Corinthians 10:11

Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.

All they went through and all God taught them was for our learning. So God all the while was painting pictures of Christ to them to show us that Christ is what we need, for every situation.

Going back to our main text, we see that when they complained against manna (imagery of the Word of God and thus Christ), God sent fiery serpents to bite them, and many died. Then, instead of repenting for complaining for God to heal them, they asked Moses to pray to God to remove the fiery serpents. If you today are attacked by a serpent, would your first thinking be for the snake to be taken away, or for you to be healed? According to them, the solution they needed was for God to take away the serpents. God, in His loving nature, knew that this is not what they needed; they needed another solution, that will both render the snakes harmless to them, and heal them. This was the solution:

Numbers 21:5-6

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” ⁹ So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.

This is the same thing Jesus referred to, later:

John 3:14-15

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

Just as the children of Israel had to keep their eyes on the bronze serpent, an imagery of Christ, for them to live, we today have to keep our eyes on Jesus, for us to live and enjoy eternal life (the God-kind of life). For years, mankind kept on being bitten by the serpent, right from the Garden of Eden, the thief who comes to steal, kill and destroy. For years, man kept crying ignorantly for God to remove the afflictions, just as the children of Israel did. When the appointed time came, God sent His solution, which man did not ask for, but which our loving God saw that we needed: Jesus. When Jesus came and was lifted up, though the afflictions remained and the serpent who caused them remained, man had a better solution that could both heal him, and render the afflictions harmless to man. As long as man keeps his eyes on Jesus, who has been lifted up, he remains above the afflictions and death. That's why Jesus said that He was lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should have eternal life.

Sadly, many people continue to beg God to remove afflictions, sickness, lack, persecutions, depression etc. All this while, God is wondering why we are not making use of His solution for us, and keep our eyes on Jesus, and live. We do not need the devil and his afflictions to be removed; we need to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus constantly, for in Him there is life, and solutions to all we need. Jesus had the ability to pray for us to be removed from earth, for us to be lifted up from the afflictions, sickness, poverty and all the works of the devil. He however chose not to:

John 17:15-16

“I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. ¹⁶ They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. “

Of course God answered Jesus’ prayers, and continues to keep us from the evil one. Above that, Jesus rendered powerless all the attacks of the enemy:

John 16:33 (AMP)

 “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.]”

1 John 3:8b (AMP)

The reason the Son of God was made manifest (visible) was to undo (destroy, loosen, and dissolve) the works the devil [has done].

I am sure that even after the bronze serpent was lifted up, and the children of Israel started to behold it, the fiery serpents continued to bite them, but they could live as long as their eyes were on the bronze serpent. These fiery serpents, despite being rendered powerless and harmless by the lifting of the bronze serpent, kept biting them to distract them from their focus on the bronze serpent, so that they could die. In the same way, today, the devil and his afflictions come to distract us from our focus on Jesus, and when we allow them to distract us we start dying spiritually. That is why the Bible says the devil walks around like a roaring lion, seeking for someone to devour (1 Pet. 5:8), someone whose eyes are not on Jesus. Peter goes on to tell us to resist the devil, steadfast in faith (1 Pet. 5:9), obviously faith in Jesus. For us to continue being steadfast in faith, our eyes have to remain in Jesus. We cannot afford to allow our focus and attention to be stolen by the devil and his schemes.

Jesus said that once a branch in Him ceased abiding in Him, it is cast out and withers (Jn. 15:6). By taking our eyes off Jesus time and again, the devil knows he will eventually manage to draw us away from Him, and when we are drawn away we wither and die. Since the work of the thief is to steal, kill and destroy, he uses afflictions to steal us from our position in Christ, by stealing our focus on Him. Eventually, once he's managed to steal us out of fellowship with Him, he kills and destroys us. 

Have you been allowing the devil to use afflictions to distract you from focusing on Jesus? Our battle today is spiritual, fighting against all that the devil has to throw to us to keep our eyes on Jesus:

Hebrews 12:1-4

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, ² looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³ For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. ⁴ You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. 

Be purposed, like Paul, to fight through to the end, overlooking tribulations, persecutions, trials, temptations etc., and pressing on:

Philippians 3:13-15
Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, ¹⁴ I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.

Fix your eyes on Jesus, for in Him we have life. 


In the next lesson we will delve further into looking at how Jesus is our source of everything, and the importance of keeping our eyes on Him. 


Blessings. 


-- Sam Gitonga.  
  

(31/01/15 Kesha Service Sermon, Teaching Transformation Ministry.) 


Brother Sam is the Youth Leader, at Teaching Transformation Ministry. We are located along the Thika-Ruai Flyover Junction (at the Thika Rd./ Bypass intersection), Next to Eastgate Restaurant.