The Heredity of Sin

God's Men,

In Numbers 21: 4-9 (The Bronze Snake), we have clear and convincing evidence of Israel’s unfaithfulness, including the people’s forgetfulness of what God had done for them, and how ungrateful they were in their approach to God. Imagine, our Creator directly providing everything you need and you responding by saying “I hate this horrible _________.” The Good News is that God is patient and long suffering. Those same complainers were healed from following the instructions of Moses, "look and live.”

Good instruction is wasted wisdom if we find no need, nor time, to apply it. Many Hebrews died in the wilderness that day for various reasons, some may not have gotten the remedy before the poison set in, others may have refused the solution, while some may have been so busy trying to fix themselves that they didn't hear the instructions. Whatever the case, there is really nothing new about this story. People die in their sins every day because they don’t believe that salvation is as simple as "looking and living."

The Israelites were healed of their sickness by looking at the snake on the pole and believing that God could heal them. People today can be saved from the sickness of sin by looking to the Cross of Christ. The nature of sin is not immorality and wrongdoing, but the nature of self-realization which leads us to say, “I am my own god.” This nature may exhibit itself in proper morality or in improper morality, but it always has a common basis – our claim to our right to ourselves.

It is through the Cross of Christ that God redeemed the entire human race from the possibility of damnation through the heredity of sin. God nowhere holds a person responsible for having the heredity of sin and does not condemn anyone because of it. Condemnation comes when we realize that Jesus came to deliver us from the heredity of sin, and yet refuse to let Him do so.

Sometimes, because of misguided and misinformed institutions and leaders, we think there has to be more to salvation than just believing......but there isn’t! Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life, he that eateth this bread will live forever" John 6:51. "If you believe not that I am He, you will die in your sins." John 8:24” You would not come to me that you might have LIFE." John 5:40 My dear brothers, whatever it is that prevents you from "looking and living", ask yourself one simple question, is it worth sacrificing daily peace and life eternal?

Shalom!