(Your) Death Overturned

March 15, 2015

By John Partridge
Scripture: Numbers 21:4-9

John 3:14-21

Ephesians 2:1-10

My grandfather, Max Roos, fought in the trenches for Germany in the Kaisers army in WWI. For him, the
end of the war came, as it did with many, with a gas attack. His lungs were burned by the poison gas contained
in the incoming allied shells and he was carried to the rear for medical attention. As I remember the story,
grandpa said that after the doctors looked him over they were certain that there was nothing they could do for
him, that death was certain, and so at some point, they turned out the lights and left him in the dark to die.
Sometime later he woke up, got out of his bed and went down the hallway to look for help. Since there was
nothing that the doctors did, or could have done, Grandpa always gave credit to God for whatever healing
happened on that hospital bed. Ironically, the damage that was done saved Grandpas life twice. If you have
read anything at all about the First World War, the casualty rates on both sides are incredible. If he had stayed
on the line, the odds of his returning home were almost non-existent. But years later, after he had immigrated
to the United States and become a citizen here, he was still young enough to serve in our military as we ramped
up for the Second World War. But as it happened, Grandpa was deemed medically unfit to serve because of the
scar tissue in his lungs from that gas attack years before. One brush with death, and perhaps a close encounter
with God, saved Maxs life twice.
We all know that for most of us, death is permanent. We are not cats with nine lives, and most of us do not
believe in any kind of reincarnation. We dont die and then come back as someone else. We are born, we
live, we die, the end. Still, those of us who believe in Jesus Christ believe that there is something after death, a
life beyond death. But even so, allowing for Jesus, Lazarus, and a handful of Biblical miracles, few people
return to life in this world after their physical death. This is, of course, one reason that the death penalty has
always been such a significant punishment both physically and psychologically. Once dead, there are no
second chances.
But at several pivotal points in history, God has demonstrated that death does not have the final word.
God, being omnipotent, or all-powerful, has demonstrated that he has power over all things including death.
In Numbers 21:4-9, we hear the story of Moses and the people of Israel as they wandered in the desert. At that
time, the people began complaining about what God provided for them. They spoke out against God for what
they perceived as unfair treatment
4

They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew
impatient on the way; 5 they 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!
6

Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. 7 The 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.
8

The LORD said to Moses, Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and
live. 9 So 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.
Poisonous snakes came in among Gods people and if they were bitten, they suffered and then died. When
they realized that the arrival of the snakes might well have something to do with what the people had done, and
what they had said against God, they repented and asked Moses to pray, which he did. In answer to Moses
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prayer, God instructed him to build a pole with a bronze snake on it and if any of those who had been bitten
looked up at the bronze snake, they did not die.
The people had sinned against God and, as it always is, the punishment was death. But when the people
repented of their sin, God responded by granting salvation and grace. Grace is, by definition, undeserved,
unearned, favor. The people had done nothing to earn Gods mercy but because they had repented of what they
had done, God provided them a path by which they could be saved and transformed death into life.
But that was not the end of Gods mercy. In his Gospel, the Apostle John compares this story of the bronze
snake to the story of Jesus. (John 3:14-21)
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Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who
believes may have eternal life in him.
16

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish
but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the
world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands
condemned already because they have not believed in the name of Gods one and only Son. 19 This is the
verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were
evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be
exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they
have done has been done in the sight of God.
We understand that there is a reason that John 3:16 is quoted so often, but we should also understand that it
was deliberately connected to the story of Moses and the bronze snake. Just as the people of Israel were
rescued when the bronze snake was lifted up on a pole, the rest of the world was rescued when Jesus was lifted
up on a cross. There was no magic in the bronze snake but God chose to use it as a vehicle through which he
would pour out his mercy upon the Israel. Likewise, through Jesus Christ, God has chosen to pour out his
mercy and grace upon the world. But if we stop there, we might just miss the point that John was trying to
make by connecting the story of Jesus to the story of the bronze snake.
I think that Paul understood Johns point exactly and in Ephesians 2:1-10, Paul spells it out.
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the
ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are
disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its
desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us,
God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressionsit is by
grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms
in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace,
expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faithand
this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are Gods
handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
What Paul says is that those people in the story of Moses were exactly like us.
Those people had sinned against God and were facing the consequences. The people who had been bitten by
poisonous snakes were as good as dead, but they just hadnt died yet. All that was left for them was suffering
and death. But if they trusted God enough to look up at the snake, they were healed and returned to life. If
they did not believe, and stubbornly remained in their tents, they died. Paul says that we too are already dead.
All of humanity has sinned against God and has been sentenced to death. Just like the people who were bitten
by snakes, unless someone or something intervenes on our behalf, there is nothing left for us except suffering
and death. We are deserving of Gods punishment, but instead, because of his great love for us, God has once
again provided a way, a path, toward salvation and life. Once again, we have done nothing to deserve it, but
through grace, God has lifted up his Son Jesus. If we are willing to trust God, to get out of our tents and look
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up to Jesus and believe, then God will overturn death so that we will not die, but instead will live forever with
him.
The story about the people of Israel and their rescue through the bronze snake, as well as the story of our
rescue through Jesus Christ are stories of Gods grace. Through our own actions we offended God and in his
eyes we deserved the death penalty. We did nothing. We could do nothing, to deserve a second chance. But
God loved us so much that he made a way for us to live. God sacrificed his own Son and lifted him up on a
cross so that we might have the opportunity to live.
We were already as good as dead.
But just as Israel had to look up to the bronze snake and put their trust in God, all we have to do is look up to
Jesus and trust him for our rescue.
It is by grace that we have been saved. Our rescue is purely, totally, and entirely a gift from God.
Death has been defeated.
Our death sentence has been overturned.
We have been created in Christ Jesus to do good works.
God has prepared work for each of us to do.
If we are truly grateful, then we should get busy doing it.
What is it that God has prepared for you to do?

 You have been reading a message presented at Trinity United Methodist Church on the date noted at the top of the first
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