Bible Story of the Day-Prophecy of Good Friday
Bible Story of the Day
The entire Bible is a revelation about Jesus Christ. From beginning to end, Jesus can be found in the text within. Seeing Jesus in scripture is a major step into understanding who our God is, and how He impacts and affects our lives in every moment. My desire through this Bible story of the day project is to show you the reference to Jesus in the Old Testament, and how the story can impact your life. My references will be posted at the bottom along with links that can help you dive deeper into the story than what I have done here. Open your heart and mind and be willing to accept scripture for what it says. If you don’t understand a story or verse or how it applies to your life, then pray to God for clarity and understanding. I pray this helps and affects your life and you have a better understanding of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Prophecy of Good Friday
Numbers 21:6-9
6 The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. 7 So the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and you; intercede with the Lord, that He may remove the serpents from us.” And Moses interceded for the people. 8 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live.”9 And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived. (NASB).
Where is Jesus and What Does This Mean to Us?
Today is Good Friday. Today is the day that we celebrate Jesus dying on the cross for our sins. He took the punishment of the world on this day. We call it “Good” because our God died for us to give us life, but more importantly is that He rose 3 days later. This weekend we celebrate the conquering of sin and death by Jesus to restore our eternal salvation, and that, indeed, is “Good” news.
The events of this day were prophesied hundreds and thousands of years prior. Jesus fulfilled over 100 prophecies of the Old Testament on this one day. One or two prophecies or predictions coming true could be a coincidence, but there is no possible way that one man could have fulfilled over 100 prophecies in 1 day, unless He was God in the flesh. The Lord sent snakes to punish the sinful in Israel. Many people died from the bite of the serpent. The serpent represents Satan, sin, and an unrepentant heart. The people plead to Moses for salvation. Moses represents Jesus in much of the Old Testament stories as the leader of God’s people. Moses erects a standard, which is similar to a cross, with a serpent on it. The people bitten were sinful, and that is why they were bitten. God provided them a way out of their deadly, sinful state. All they had to do was look at the cross and they would be healed. The point is two-fold. First, believe in God’s grace and healing powers by believing in the cross by raising your eyes to it. Second, this is a foreshadow of Jesus being put on the cross high on the mount. The fundamental concept of Christianity is the belief that Jesus died for our sins. It is a heart condition. It is about belief.
What does this mean for us? It means there is nothing you can do or must do to be saved from the bite of eternal death except to believe in Jesus on the cross. When your heart softens and allows you to look up at the cross in a manner that you know when you do then you will be healed, then you will be healed. It is that simple. I spent too much of my life denying Christianity because I couldn’t buy into the religion and legalism surrounding it. Jesus is not religion or legalism. Jesus is Jesus, it is simpler than many people make it out to be. It is also more beautiful. God gave us prophecy so the people during the time of the Old Testament would know salvation is coming in the name of Jesus. God gave prophecy to us after Jesus died and rose to show us that this was the plan the whole time, and irrefutable proof that Jesus is the Christ. No one in the history of the world could have fulfilled so many predictions unless He was the Son of God. If you want to avoid death from the bite of sin all you must do is look at the cross and believe that Jesus died on that cross for you, specifically for you. Your sins are no greater or less than mine or anyone else. Jesus died for all our sins. He died 2000 years ago for the sin you did yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
What will it take for you to look at the cross and believe? As we go through this weekend, I challenge every reader, believer or not, to think about how big of a deal today is, and how it affects your life personally. What are you going to do with your gift? If you don’t believe, why not? What will it take? May God bless all of you this weekend and I pray that we all gain a better understanding to the simplicity of the Cross.
