In the Book of Numbers, from the Old Testament, chapter 21 verses 4 to 9 describes the story of the Israelites once again complaining to Moses as they continue to make their way through the wilderness. I say once again, because this is not the first time they’ve complained to Moses. On a previous occasion, when they complained about not having anything to eat, they accused Moses of bringing them out of Egypt just so they could die in the wilderness. On that occasion, God responded to Moses’ plea for help by providing the Israelites with manna from heaven and quails to satisfy their hunger. Now they complain that there is no food and water, apart from the manna which they are sick of eating and have grown to detest.
The Israelites have clearly forgotten all that God has previously done for them – rescuing them from slavery in Egypt, saving them from the Egyptian army at the Red Sea, and providing them with manna and quails when they were hungry – and they still lack belief and trust in Him. So God sends poisonous snakes among them as punishment for their complaining and lack of belief. When the Israelites show remorse for their actions, and apologise to Moses and God, God tells Moses to make a bronze serpent on a pole, and whenever someone is bitten by a snake if they look at the bronze serpent they will be saved.
The author of the Gospel of John tells us in chapter 3 verse 14, that when Jesus is speaking with the Pharisee Nicodemus he says to him, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up.” Jesus is obviously referring to the incident in the wilderness recorded in the Book of Numbers. Jesus is saying that just as the serpent on the pole was lifted up by Moses and saved the Israelites from their sin – lack of belief and trust in God – which is represented by the poisonous snake bite, so Jesus will be raised up on the cross in his crucifixion, and whoever looks to him will be saved from their sin.
The word sin no longer forms a part of our modern day language, but the notion of sin is that we behave in a way that is unacceptable to God, and we separate ourselves from God as a result. This means we separate ourselves from God not only now in the time of our life here on earth, but also potentially from the eternal life beyond, in whatever form that takes. Looking to Jesus, that is believing in him and following his teaching, enables us to be reconciled to God, both now, and in eternity.
The idea that Jesus died for our sins so that we could be reconciled to God and have eternal life is of course nonsense to many people in the world today. And it’s just one of many of the teachings of the church that have been challenged through the advances of science in recent centuries. As a consequence of science providing answers to questions that were previously explained by the teachings of the church, a lot of people, especially young people, don’t believe that religion has any relevance in their lives.
If we think about it, many, if not most, of the doctrines and teachings of the church were formulated hundreds (and in some cases thousands) of years ago at completely different times in the history of the world. People in those times, such as the ancient Israelites in the time of Moses or the Jewish people of Jesus’ day, attributed much of what was happening in their world to God. They believed that God was external to the world, but that He would intervene in the world when He felt it necessary. That’s how they made sense of their world. But as we now know, in more recent times humanity has turned to science to provide the explanations for the how and why of the form and function of the world.
Many previously held views of how the world operates and functions, such as the age of the earth and the theory that the earth was the centre of the universe and that all of the other heavenly bodies, including the sun, revolved around it, were informed or influenced by religion. But gradually, one by one, science has been able to provide more accurate answers or explanations for these phenomena.
As a consequence, certain doctrines and teachings of the church may not stand up in the face of rigorous scientific critique, and the church may need to be prepared to rethink or reevaluate its position at times if it wants to be taken seriously and still be acknowledged as relevant in the modern world.
