QUES. 17. In Num. 21:the bitten Israelite was to look upon the brazen serpent lifted up among them ; and in John 3:the Lord, making use of this as a figure, bids us believe on Him as lifted up on the cross. Was the look of the Israelite to be constant on the brazen serpent; that he might not only be healed, but remain healed? And is the look of faith on Jesus on the cross to be constant, to be saved, and to remain saved? Also, is not the word "believe" in John 3:similar in meaning to the word "look" in Num. 21:?
ANS.-Beginning with the latter part of your question-Yes, surely, the word "look" in Numbers thoroughly illustrates the word "believe" in John. As to the rest, remember that in both Numbers and John it is a question of life-in Numbers, of life temporal; in John, of life eternal. By the bite of the fiery serpents, the Israelites lost their life; the serpent's venom once in them, it was death; and so it was a question of restoring to them that forfeited life. God's verdict was, "It shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it (the serpent on the pole), shall live." Accordingly, "it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived." One look gave him back his forfeited life, and he needed never to cast a second look. It was one definite act of the bitten man to look, and it was one definite act of God to give him back his forfeited life.
Just so, too, in John 3:, only there it is a question of life eternal -a matter as much greater than natural life returned to the Israelite as the Lord Jesus Christ is greater than a brazen serpent. The poor sinner, realizing that he is "dead in trespasses and sins," casts one look of faith on Jesus dying for him there on that cross, and God answers that look of faith by giving him eternal life. It is one definite look of faith on Jesus, and it is one definite act of God, neither of which is ever again repeated. It lasts as long as God lasts.
It is not that this life now received from God is independent of Jesus. No more is it so than the life of my hand or of my foot is independent of my head. With it, it stands or falls. So also does eternal life so truly identify the believer with Christ that with Him every believer stands or falls. But He stands for all eternity; and so we, being wholly dependent on Him, stand too, thank God, for all eternity.
QUES. 18.-Was Balaam a prophet of God, or only a diviner? Would he answer to a fortune-teller of nowadays? Of what people was he ?
ANS.-Num. 22:5 states he lived in Pethor, a city near the river Euphrates, where his people dwelt. This would be near the parts where Abraham lived when God called him.
As to what he was, the New Testament amply interprets it for us:1 Peter 2:describes the "false teachers" which were to rise up among Christians by the "false prophets" of the Old Testament; and, as prominent among these "false prophets," he names Balaam (vers. 15, 16). Again, Jude, in warning Christians about the awful condition of things, and the character of some in Christendom preceding the return of our Lord, mentions Balaam alongside with Cain and Core (ver. 11). Once more he is mentioned in Rev. 2:14.
After such revelations concerning Balaam, it is not difficult to conclude that he is no mere diviner or fortune-teller, but a man who professes lo be a prophet of God, though at heart but an ambitious hireling, who, for selfish ends, is ready to curse the people of God, or to ensnare them out of the path which belongs to them. How prominent the Cain and Balaam characters have become in Christendom, and how rapidly the Core character is developing, only shows how near we have come to the time of which Jude writes-"Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of His saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him " (vers. 14, 15).