Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul Miletus
KSA, I agree when you wrote "They looked at the brass serpent in faith and were saved." which is also much applicable to the present truth "In the same way when we look at Christ crucified in faith, we are saved."
However, you have missed the essence of this event in the Old Testament which was rightly referred to by the Lord Jesus in His speaking in the New Testament. You have missed the serpent's venom that have been transfused to the Israelites. This venom that had been mingled in man's body caused their death. There was no death with the Israelites prior to venom's infusion to them by serpents. Only after the venom were injected or transfused to them that they started to die one by one.
This Old Testament picture showed us vividly what happened and pinpoints the cause of the death of the people Israelites. The Israelite nation is a representative nation for all the people at the time this story was being written in the Bible. The Israelites in the Old Testament are actually "us" who have been bitten by snakes and transfused its venom into us which caused our death. Likewise, we all know that "snakes" signify "Satan", and perhaps, "venom" signifies "sin".
From my readings of this thread I can see that most of the posters are not holding the idea of "something" was transfused or injected into man after his fall, however, in this analogy made by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself displays a crystal clear event what had transpired. As I have mentioned earlier, there are spiritual things in the New Testament that cannot be perceived with our intellect but the Old Testament writing is very helpful for us to understand and realize what the Word of God is actually telling us.
Again sorry to say, Nigel Tomes, has also missed this wonderful truth from the Bible, and therefore, Nigel Tomes' writing is DEFECTIVE and LACKED SPIRITUAL REVELATION!
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Dear Paul,
I'd like to ask some questions for clarification.
1. When did Isralites get infused with the venom (i.e. sin) first? When Adam fell in the Garden, or when Isralites were bitten by snakes in the wilderness?
2. If it was when Adam fell, to be more specific, is it when Adam doubted God's word (i.e disobedience) or when Adam ate the tree of knowledge of good and evil (i.e. physical eating of something)?
3 If it was when Isralites were bitten by sankes in the wilderness, how come non-isralites who have no biological connection with Isralites have to be declared as being sinners because of the incident in the OT? Is it because Isralites are the "representative" of all human beings? I'm very doubtful of that... Adam and Christ are two representatives of all human beings, though.
Dear all,
My another simple question. Why are all human beings sinners?
option 1. That is because per se all human beings have Satanic nature in them regardless their real sinful actions.
option 2. That is because all human beings have defected freewill (even though not sin), in turn leading them to act sinful things eventually.
option 3. That is because all human beings commit sinful actions in their life on this earth according to their freewill (undefected).
option 4. That is because all human beings are regarded as having committed sin of Adam, who is
the representative of human beings.
option 5. all of above statements.
Every option seems to have its own reasonable rationale so far....
- Gubei