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Dripping Springs Weekly Bulletins
How Did Moses Know That?
The advances being made in the field of medicine are amazing. Doctors can do things today that were not even dreamed of twenty years ago. We fuss about the costs of health care, but we stand in awe of today’s medical possibilities.
This winter’s infections can be avoided if we will but follow our Mother’s advice: Wash your hands often with plenty of soap and water.
You may not realize that the Bible contains principles of science and medicine written long before modern science “discovered” them. This “wash your hands” principle was part of the sanitation laws given to Moses on Mount Sinai. They may not have understood all the reasons, but they were commanded to maintain good personal and collective hygiene.
Upon release from Egyptian bondage, Israel traveled over 200 miles to Sinai. They had seen the plagues brought upon the Egyptians, and they had even seen God’s power over those who opposed them in their journey. Some of their own people had been stricken. Then Moses was inspired to write the following: “If you will diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and do that which is right in His sight, I will put none of these diseases upon you which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that heals you,” Exodus 15:26. Note God’s promise: “none of these diseases” will come upon you.
What measures did God give for their protection from disease? Some of these rules may have been a bit puzzling to Israel, and we still may not know the purpose of all of them, but the most prominent was, to put it simply: “Wash your hands!”
Numbers 19:19 contains some of God’s instructions on the subject of cleanliness for all who came in contact with an infected person: “On the seventh day he shall purify himself, and wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water.” They knew little about bacteria, but they could protect themselves in this way.
In the 1840’s a young doctor in Vienna, Ignaz Semmelweis, noted that many in the maternity wards were dying from unknown causes. He discovered that doctors were examining new mothers just after they had finished performing an autopsy. Had they washed their hands, he asked. No, they had not. Upon initiating this simple rule, deaths diminished quickly. Had they read and believed their Bibles, most of these deaths could have been prevented.
Such rules of hygiene are commonplace today, but they were virtually unknown as recently as the 19th century. It took many years for the medical community to realize that the washing of a doctor’s hands is a must for safe medical practice. If we had but believed them, God had given us those instructions centuries before.
Egyptian scientists in Moses’ day taught that applying “goose grease, asses’ hoofs, lizard’s blood, asses’ dung and worm’s blood” would heal certain diseases. Moses was taught those things in his youth in the court of Pharaoh, Acts 7:22. But when he wrote Genesis through Deuteronomy he wrote medical truths that were centuries ahead of their time. How did Moses know that? Because God gave Moses the words. That’s what is meant by the inspiration of the Bible.
Read S. I. McMillen’s None of These Diseases where several other related matters are found that also illustrate the inspiration of the Bible. Yes, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God,” 2 Timothy 3:16, and “scripture cannot be broken,” John 10:35. Clean hands and pure hearts—a good combination, both physically and spiritually.
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"Born Again" - What Does It Mean?
(Part 3 of 3 parts)
Someone may say, “I can see that this is what the New Testament says, but I still don’t understand how the Spirit accomplishes this new birth in the souls of men.” Neither did Nicodemus. After Jesus gave full explanation, Nicodemus asked, “How can this be?” Jesus knew we could never fully understand. He said, “Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born anew. The wind blows where it will, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes; so it is with every one who is born of the Spirit,” (John 3:7-8). You can’t explain the wind. You don’t know where it comes from or where it goes. Likewise, you can’t fully explain the working of the Spirit in the new birth. But you don’t have to be able to explain it – what you must do is accept it by faith, knowing that when you repent and are baptized you have the remission of your sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Then you have been born of water and the Spirit and have entered the kingdom of God.
TRUST AND OBEY - Jesus reminded Nicodemus of the plight the Israelites had once faced in the wilderness. Because of their disobedience to God many of them were bitten by deadly desert vipers. Moses prayed in behalf of these dying, disobedient people. God gave him a strange remedy, designed to test their faith. Moses was to make a brass snake and put it on a pole. God promised that those who looked at the brass serpent would be saved from death. Jesus took this obscure Old Testament incident and gave it meaning. “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life," John 3:15.
Do you see the parallels? -- bitten by serpents, poisoned by sin; -- the hope of healing, the promise of new life; -- a serpent on a pole, a Savior on a cross. And the most crucial point of the parallel is that we must have sufficient faith to do whatever God requires. We can’t understand how looking at a brass snake could save a victim who had been bitten by a deadly poisonous serpent. But the dying man who inched his way to the tent door to catch a glimpse of that brass serpent was proving his faith in God through his obedience to God’s instructions. If he refused to look at the snake, or if he sought any other remedy, he was sure to die.
FINAL THOUGHT - The Lord’s word to Nicodemus – and to us -- is to look to Jesus and demonstrate our faith in Him through obedience to His commands. God said of Jesus, “This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Hear him.”
Are you hearing Him when He says, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God”? Are you hearing Him when He says, “Repent, and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”?
You may not fully understand how being baptized can bring forgiveness of your sins and eternal life. Like Nicodemus, you may ask, “How can this be?” Many of those Israelites wondered how looking at a brass serpent could save them. Some, regarding the remedy foolish, stayed in their tents – and died. Don’t make that mistake. Your eternal destiny is at stake. You need to be a born again Christian – Christ’s way – born of water and the Spirit.
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