KneEmail - a devotional by Mike Benson associated with Forthright Magazine
Righteousness 1
BECAUSE THE PEOPLE spake against Him, God sent fiery serpents among the people to bite them...
Consequently, much people of Israel died (Num. 21:1-6). Penitence on the part of the people and the prayer of Moses moved a gracious God to provide an undeserved way of escape. God directed that a serpent of brass be attached to a pole and erected in order "that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived" (Num. 21:8-9). What a marvelous picture of salvation by grace through faith! God's grace would save all who you, in faith, obey the command to look at the serpent. Was human activity necessary for salvation from physical death? Did these snake-bitten victims who longed to live contribute anything to their salvation? Indeed. Does this mean that the activity of looking at the serpent thereby rendered the grace of God unnecessary? Indeed not. To look at the serpent was an essential work of righteousness, but it did not place God in the debt of those who looked. His willingness to save them was still an act of His grace although it was predicated upon human obedience to His Divine command. (B.J. Clarke)
KneEmail: "Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted of him" ( Acts 10:34-35; cf. Eph. 2:8-9).