Text: Numbers 21:4-9, John 3:1-21
When we know what to look for, we can find Bible teachers everywhere.
For example, the next time you see an ambulance, look for the blue symbol of a snake wrapped around a pole. Perhaps, like many of us, snakes (and ambulances) give you the heebie jeebies and your eyes naturally want to look away. But pay attention, friend. That obscure little symbol is preaching the gospel.
Smack dab in the middle of the Exodus epic, we find a strange little story. As the Israelites moved from Egypt toward the Promised Land, they developed a chronic grumbling problem. Despite repeated warnings and punishment for complaining against God and Moses (Numbers 11:1, 14:2), God’s people continued to bellyache. God’s judgment for this sin is found in Numbers 21:6:
“Then the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people, and they bit them so that many Israelites died.”
The fact that God takes sin so seriously makes me squirm like a snake myself. When I see that He won’t skip judgment for those offenses I’d call “inconsequential”—like grumbling—I squirm even more. But God’s judgment and mercy are inseparable. When you see judgment in His Word, or feel it in your own life, look deeper. Once flipped over, we see that God’s infinite mercy is on the other side of that coin.
“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a snake image and mount it on a pole. When anyone who is bitten looks at it, he will recover.’ So Moses made a bronze snake and mounted it on a pole. Whenever someone was bitten, and he looked at the bronze snake, he recovered.’”
-Numbers 21:8-9
God delivered judgment, but then He delivered mercy. This wasn’t back-peddling or flip-flopping. It was His divine nature on full display. Because He is holy, He must deal with our sin. Because He is love, He chooses to offer us mercy.
When the grumbling Israelites looked to the bronze serpent held high on a pole, they were saved from the punishment they deserved. Mercifully, God used the emblem of His judgment to draw His people back to Himself. That’s good news for them that points to even better news for us.
“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in Him will have eternal life.”
-John 3:14-15
Don’t miss this—it’s too wonderful!
The Israelites looked to a snake on a pole for healing from poisonous venom.
We look to the Savior on the cross to heal us from the poison of sin.
They were given an injunction against immediate physical death.
We’re saved from spiritual death, and granted eternal life instead.
I doubt the Israelites wanted to fix their eyes on a bronze snake while actual snakes were striking at their heels. But God needed them to look hard at His judgment so they could receive His mercy.
Like the snake-bitten Israelites, we’re sinners deserving of God’s judgment. It’s tempting to look away from that truth. But, look! His mercy is easy to spot. God uses the cross, the emblem of His judgment, to draw us back to Himself.
Because of our sin, the cross was necessary. That’s judgment. Yet, from the cross, Jesus took the punishment we deserve, and in His mercy, He overcame the Snake and death once and for all (Hebrews 2:14). What mercy!
Look past God’s servant Moses, and see the God who delivers both righteous judgment and loving mercy. Look past the snake on the pole and see the Savior on the cross.
Erin Davis is an author, blogger, and speaker who loves to see women of all ages run to the deep well of God’s Word. When she’s not writing, you can find Erin chasing chickens and children on her small farm in the Midwest.
(If you’re pushing vaccines on anyone, you clearly do not love them nor know your research.) By vaccines, you then mean (and this list is non-exhaustive): Anthrax, Cholera, Diptheria, Hepatittis A & B, Human Pappilomavirus, Measles, Meningococcal, Mumps, Polio, Rabies, Rubella, Shingles, Smallpox, Tetanus, Tuberculosis, Typhoid Fever, Yellow Fever and, yes, Coronavirus-19. Love, according to you and your narrow
Interpretation of scripture, revokes all of these from use? Ah.
(All vaccines have basically been debunked for being poisonous.) Please cite a source. On Earth, this remains perfectly untrue. Nevermind that snake aren’t, technically, poisonous, but venomous; all a poison amounts to is an agent that causes harm. The best candidate for that right now ia no vaccine, but this delirious, if not deranged, commentary from the L, our scientifically-illiterate companion .
(They are man-made, not God-made.) And? Nevermind this logic makes little sense; if it makes any sense it could only to you, and not to virology. That said, every word we are exchanging is “man-made”—language is an intrinsically and uniquely human invention—as even implied in scripture: “And out of the ground Jehovah God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them: and whatever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field” (Genesis 2:19–20). If your plagiarized god bequeathed to the first man the power of language, the impulse to name, and saw this as good work, you have little ground to argue here that our other impulses to doctor, heal or vaccinate is not good simply because we, not your god directly, created them.
(God gave us antibodies.) As she did critical thinking, invention and inquiry: would that you make full use of them all, please. These are all words or concepts you’d at least spy in scripture; “antibody,” of course, ain’t there.
(Lucidereans made these kill shots.) Lucid who? As far as I recognize and Google informs, you and you alone know what this word even references as you, alone, invented it. “Lucidereans,” a man-made thing. God gave us light.
(God help us all we have a “for the greater good” pusher out here.) Now all lucidity to your prose escapes me. I can’t pretend to know what this sentence attempts to say or randomly quotes with no citation, and won’t.
(Help me control my anger, Jesus.) Now what Jesus got to do with this, L? He ain’t got nothing to do with your anger, babe. You ain’t even angry; your manic, you’re besides-yourself given you’ve clearly been manipulated outside of clear, logical thinkings toward mobthought. When all anyone (for reasons that truly exemplifies the divine in them) has ever urged you toward in the last three years is your own and community’s continued health. Ask Jesus ease that fear, babe, coddling all these biases and ignorances that limit you.
(And convict them who love the world system more than your natural one.) The “World” system? But I thought God was the World? “But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.” Isaiah 45:17. It is not you leave aside fear, shame and confusion, but educate yourself. It is time you actually read this scripture you hardly know. And it’s time for (just a wilddddd guess here, but I bet I’m right) panicked whiteness to go.
@rckylrnts
If you’re pushing vaccines on anyone, you clearly do not love them nor know your research. All vaccines have basically been debunked for being poisonous. They are man-made, not God-made. God gave us antibodies. Lucidereans made these kill shots. God help us all we have a “for the greater good” pusher out here. Help me control my anger, Jesus. And convict them who love the world system more than your natural one. Amen
You left out how they made the ROD into an idol 2KINGS 18 4-6 King Hoshea clave to YHWH and kept His 10 commandments………4th remember sABBAth, Saturday no buy, no sell, NO WORK, it’s a delight, keep it HOLY. The evil one uses sorceries/ pharmakia/ dr.s/ AMA/WHO to get people to “drink” of her cup full of wrath…….REV. 18:3
This was also a test of obedience- would they turn from their “grumbling” (read: protest…) & turn their will (their agency) to align w the Lord’s, as He directed them to “look upon” (take unto them) the semblance of the thing plaguing them. We do not know or need to know how He imbued that object such that it provided protection, even to those “bitten.” The Lord used the science they had available to them: Metallurgy. He again uses the science He has made available to us in our time. Was this not the vaccine of their day? Our nation in particular has an obedience problem, with a large percentage of the population vehemently declaring their right of choice as more important than and superior to the welfare of others. If we understand and appreciate in even the smallest ways the incredible sacrifice Jesus Christ made for all mankind, then we cannot claim to follow His teachings to “Love one another AS I HAVE LOVED YOU” if we are unwilling to make even a small sacrifice to benefit others.
Sometimes we assume Christian faith because of the impressively great things that God manifests but fail to see and acknowledge what’s behind these great things,JESUS,OUR SALVATION AND HOPE without whom we have no assurance of life.JOHN 3:36.
Thank you so much for sharing this! I love how similar a slimy snake is to the slimy world of sin and death. It’s so subtle and sneaky, and you don’t notice it at first, just like a low moving snake. Like our Pastor says, sin takes you further than you want to go, for longer than you want to stay, and costs you way more than you want to pay. Thankfully we do not only have a picture of a bronze snake in that desert, but we have the Son of God risen high above all deserts! We have Jesus who takes away the sin of the world!
Perfect analogy. Especially at the beginning of the Lenten season.
I needed this today as I have just had Two major surgeries to fix a 45 year problem. Time in the wilderness? I now understand that – especially the complaining part. But more especially – the redemption and healing part!
Thanks – !
J Corcovelos
In response to Jen’s comment:
That is very perceptive of you. That is, unfortunately, just what the Israelites did. 2 Kings 18:4 says this, “He [Hezekiah, a king of Judah] removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan).
https://www.bible.com/59/2ki.18.4.esv
The Israelites were very prone to take the methods through which God decided to display His salvation toward them and worship those methods instead of the God who did it. Unfortunately, how often do we do the same things? There are so many times when we look at the way someone is saved and say that they are only saved if they are baptized, or have been baptized by the Spirit, or do good works, or go to church. These things are well and good and can be signs of someone’s salvation, but they aren’t the things that save us. God and God alone saves us and we must learn to worship Him alone.