The Messiah and His Miracles

The Conflict with the Sanhedrists

The Reason for the rejection of the generation that rejected their Messiah

Last time we looked at the 10 rebellions that the Rabbis list regarding the rejection of the wilderness generation.

Even a cursory glance at these will show how the children repeat the sins of the fathers. Here are some examples.

The generation that rejected Jesus repeated the essence of the first rebellion of the wilderness generation. If I may paraphrase the first rebellion to suit the second, “leave us alone that we may serve the Romans.  It is better for us to serve the Romans than lose our place and nation”.[1]

Despite the rebellion at Marah, God promised, “none of these diseases”; providing a wonderful name, ‘Jehovah Raphah’, “I am the Lord that healeth thee”. Jesus, “… healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: He Himself took our infirmities And bore our sicknesses.”^[2] Yet they still rejected Him!

When they questioned the beneficence of God at Rephidim, God graciously gave them water from the rock.  After they accused Jesus of having a devil, He graciously offered them living water.[3]

Israel, in the wilderness, blasphemed YHWH by assigning the redeeming power that rescued them to an idol.  The Israel of Jesus’ day blasphemed the Spirit of God, by assigning the miracles performed by the Messiah to the Devil.[4]

Bread of Heaven

Perhaps the most significant rebellion of Israel was the one that took place after the ten listed.  It was a revolt that arose from their dislike of the heavenly manna, the food provided by YHWH to sustain them.  Their rejection of the bread of heaven can be compared with the rejection of the Messiah, ‘the Bread of Life’. In respect of the wilderness generation, God greatly condemned the rejection of the manna, and because of its high significance, did not postpone judgement.  The T’nach first gives us the complaint of the rebels: “… the people spoke against God and against Moses: Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes (detests) this worthless bread.”[5]  Then follows the description of the reaction of YHWH: “So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died.”[6]  When that generation rebelled against the bread from heaven, YHWH lifted His protection from the nation, effectively delivering them to Satan, who immediately sent in poisonous serpents to wreak havoc among the rebels!  The only antidote to the poison of the snakes was faith in the God that had the serpent in subjection, which faith they could express by looking toward the brass serpent impaled on a pole.

The nation under Caiaphas despised God’s provision, Jesus the Messiah, the true bread from heaven. He was “hated without a cause”,[7] and He “endured … hostility from sinners against Himself”.[8] When Israel rejected God’s Son, their Messiah, YHWH lifted his hand of protection (as He had with the wilderness generation) and effectively delivered the nation to Satan. The dogma of the Sanhedrists, like the poison of the serpents in the wilderness, was allowed to course through the veins of the nation. Jesus left Israel to the Pharisees and Sadducees, personnel who mouthed the doctrines of the Serpent and who had the poison of asps under their lips.[9] They would lead the nation to destruction, in the name of patriotism, and in defence of tradition. Those that followed them and their system of righteousness would perish both physically and spiritually. They would be a nation possessed by multiple evils.[10] Those individuals, who wished to remain under the protection of God, would have to repudiate the decision of Israel’s highest court, and receive Jesus of Nazareth as their Messiah, even though the Sanhedrin rejected Him and Rome executed Him.  Like those in the wilderness who wished to survive the activity of Satan, they would have to look to the gibbet, where the physical evidence of ‘the serpent in subjection’ was visible. “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”[11]

The suffering Servant of YHWH, in His death, followed a path that was the exact opposite to the path of Lucifer.  Lucifer tried to exalt himself, while Jesus humbled Himself. Lucifer rebelled against the will of YHWH, while Jesus Messiah embraced the will of His Father. The results were exactly the opposite too. Lucifer was ‘cast down’, where the Son of God was ‘lifted up’.  The rebellion of Satan brought death and suffering whereas the obedience of Messiah brought life and blessing. The Roman gibbet on which He was executed became the symbol of the serpent defeated, for through death He rendered powerless the one who had the power of death, that is, the Devil, and freed those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.[12] God will cast Lucifer down to the lowest depths of the bottomless pit – Jesus will have the highest honour that heaven possesses.[13]

Next Time: The Unpardonable Sin

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[1] cf.Exod.14.11,12 with John 11.48

^[2]cf. Exod.15.26 with Matt.8.16,17

[3] cf. Exod.17.1-3 with John 7.20,37,38

[4] cf. Exod.32.4 with Matt.12.24

[5] Numb.21.5

[6] Numb.21.6

[7] John 15.25

[8] Heb.12.3

[9] Rom.3.13

[10] Matt.12.45

[11] John 3.14,15

[12] Heb.2.14,15

[13] Phil.2.9-11