THE CASE OF THE VICIOUS VIPERS

Introduction: The occasions in this section happen exceptionally close to the furthest limit of Israel's long term venture through the wild. God conveyed the offspring of Israel from Egypt 40 years sooner. It took them 2 years to arrive at the Jordan River. During that time, the Lord gave them His Law, and showed them loving Him. At the point when they showed up at Jordan, they would not get over the waterway into the Promised Land. Due to their honest absence and resistance to God, the Lord condemned the whole country to meander in the wild until each individual from that defiant age, except for Caleb and Joshua, passed on. It required 38 years for them all the pass on.

During that long term period, God was dedicated to stroll with Israel, to take care of them with Manna regularly, to lead them from one spot to another, and to shield them from their foes. God had been devoted to His kin. The Israelites had developed weary of meandering through the wild. They were fed up with God's arrangement. They were fed up with the Manna. They were fed up with their chief Moses. They were simply weary of everything. In this text, we are informed that "they traveled from mount Hor by the method of the Red ocean, to compass the place that is known for Edom," v. 4. The Israelites had to go this way in light of the fact that the Edomites wouldn't allow them authorization to cross their territory. This constrained Israel to stroll through a horribly brutal desert region. It was hilly, harsh, and ruined. Individuals could have done without it. Refrain 4 says "the spirit of individuals was abundantly deterred in view of the way." "deterred," had the possibility of something "being abbreviated." Their attitudes are short, they are baffled, and they are out of persistence with the entire course of getting to Canaan. Their disappointment over the way they were being compelled to walk, brought to the surface different grumblings they had in their souls. In section 5 they voice a few grumblings. • They whine that God and Moses delivered them once again from Egypt just to have them bite the dust in the wild. • They grumble about the absence of food. • They grumble about the absence of water. • They grumble about the Manna God was sending them consistently. (Sustenance, in the event that you recollect, was a marvel dinner. It fell on their camp around evening time. It was copious. It was free. It was delectable. It was nutritious. It was a benevolent gift from God to take care of His ravenous individuals. A mathematician has determined that it would have required 240 freight car heaps of Manna consistently to take care of a country the size of Israel. The sum and nature of the Manna shows the effortlessness, power, and liberality of Almighty God.) Yet, in spite of God's elegance in conveying them from Egypt, regardless of His liberality in taking care of them, and notwithstanding His direction in driving them, they started to mumble and whine. They grumbled about the pioneer God gave, and they additionally stopped their grievance against the Lord. In light of their protests, God sent judgment upon Israel as "searing snakes." Yet, alongside the discipline came the absolution, and this is the glorious truth that I believe you should see today. This entry is a brutal gander at the outcomes of wrongdoing, yet it likewise outlines the adoration and effortlessness of God for the lost. This section, however old, is a distinctive representation of how Jesus helped delinquents on the cross. While addressing Nicodemus, Jesus involved this occasion as an outline of His Own passing for miscreants on the cross at Calvary, John 3:14-15. For Israel this present circumstance immediately declined into a miserable circumstance. They were being nibbled by horrible snakes and many individuals were passing on. There was no treatment for the snake chomps. There was never a way out from the snakes. They were caught in sad conditions from which they couldn't escape. I would like for us to consider current realities of one more lost cause. Yet again this section instructs us, that there is Hope For The Hard Cases. Today, we will think about The Case Of The Vicious Vipers. This entry will show us there is potential for those caught in the grasp of wrongdoing. There is salvation for the people who are dying. There is potential for the irredeemable. I. V. 4-5 ISRAEL'S SIN In this occasion Israel was at legitimate fault for a few horrible sins against God. A. They Rejected God's Person - Verse 5 says, "And individuals spake against God." Because they did this, the Lord passed judgment on them brutally. Try not to get the thought here that God is excessively delicate. Try not to think briefly that God is combative, and simply holding back to judge the liable excessively fast and too cruelly. God doesn't wear his sentiments on his shoulders. One thing individuals of Israel knew how to do, and knew how to do competently, was fuss and grumble. That is pretty much all they had accomplished for 38 years. Simply pay attention to the record of their pathetic whimpering tracked down in the book of Numbers: • "What's more, when individuals whined, it disappointed the LORD," Num. 11:1a. • "And every one of the offspring of Israel mumbled against Moses and against Aaron: and the entire assemblage said unto them, Would God that we had passed on in the place that is known for Egypt! or on the other hand would God we had kicked the bucket in this wild," Num. 14:2! • "Yet, on the morrow all the assemblage of the offspring of Israel mumbled against Moses and against Aaron, saying, Ye have killed individuals of the LORD," Num. 16:41. • "Also, the offspring of Israel spake unto Moses, saying, Behold, we pass on, we die, we as a whole die," Num. 17:12. Up till now Israel had been at fault for opposing their chiefs. In this section we are informed they "spake against God." Instead of discussing others, they currently turn their annoyance toward their God. Could you at any point envision the daringness and the haughtiness it took for these diminutive people to denounce God? Before God picked them, and before God saved them by His elegance, they were nobodies. They were only normal slaves in the place that is known for Egypt. Presently, they try to criticize God. B. They Rejected God's Promise - Here is what they shared with God, "Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to bite the dust in the wild?" God had guaranteed the country of Israel that he would carry them into the Promised Land. They had His statement on it. However, they looked at God straight without flinching and said rudely, egotistically, disrespectfully, "We don't trust You." basically, they called God a liar. You recall this: each time you question the Word of God, you dishonor the value of God. Recollect what Paul said? He said, "Let God be valid; however every man a liar," Rom. 3:4. In case it isn't already obvious, God holds His Word in high regard! The Psalmist said this, "I will venerate toward thy sacred sanctuary, and recognition thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast amplified thy word most importantly thy name," Psa. 138:2. He anticipates that we should peruse, honor, comply, and make His Word the norm of our lives. C. They Rejected God's Provision - To compound an already painful situation, they expressed, "for there is no bread, nor is there any water; and our spirit loatheth this light bread." God furnished them with bread consistently. At the point when they required water, He gave it to them. They lied, and they didn't see the value in the things they had gotten from the hand of the Lord. Two words in this section are significant. • "Loatheth," signifies "to be nauseated by." God charitably gave them the Manna from Heaven consistently. He utilized it to keep them took care of and solid. However, they took a gander at God's generous arrangement and they said "that stuff is revolting." • "Light" signifies "useless". They said that the Manna was "useless!" Manna was nowhere near useless. While they were in the wild this bread was not just their solidarity, their food, it was their actual salvation. Without it, they would have starved to death! However, the one thing that gave them life, they denied. D. They Rejected God's Prophet - Not just did they oppose God, they talked "against Moses." If a man rejects God, he'll dismiss God's man. On the off chance that you drop out with God, you will ultimately drop out with the righteous man. Assuming that you are going to live for God, the world will turn on you; individuals will dismiss you. Assuming that you love Jesus, and you live for Jesus, you will be detested by the world. The Lord Jesus Himself said, "If the world disdain you, ye realize that it loathed me before it couldn't stand you. In the event that ye were of the world, the world would cherish his own: but since ye are not of the world, but rather I have picked you out of the world, consequently the world hateth you," John 15:18-19. Paul adds this reality: "Yea, and all that will live genuine in Christ Jesus will endure mistreatment," 2 Tim. 3:12. So here is a country for whom God has given all things required to them to be content, solid, and heavenly. What ought to have been the wonderful smell of God's decency had transformed into an odor in their noses. That for which they ought to have adulated Him brought about them turing their backs on Him. They loathed Him for His elegance. They detested Him for His liberality. They condemned Him for His direction. The lost world does each day this. The world, the inhales God's air, eats His food, hydrates, and partakes in His reality, disdains God's Word, they reject His position, and they won't bow to His will. They shake their weak clench hands toward Heaven and gloat of their transgression and voice their rebellion of God. Consistently, all around, the lost world demonstrates that they are mischievous, corrupted heathens, who merit the judgment that God sends their direction, Eph. 2:1-3. The transgression of Israel wasn't exceptional to Israel. It happens consistently in our reality. What makes their transgression so terrible is the way that they knew God. They were involved with Him. They had His Word. They had His presence. They had His promi