The brazen serpent.
Our Window in focus for this week is of the Bronze serpent on a pole. Do you know what texts in the Bible this is connected to? What is the significance for us?
“And 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 3:14-15).
Why did Moses lift up a serpent on a stick in the wilderness? For that, we need to go back to Numbers 21: “From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. 5 And the people spoke against God and against Moses, ‘Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.’ 6 Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. 7 And the people came to Moses and said, ‘We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.’ So Moses prayed for the people. 8 And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.’ 9 So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live” (Numbers 21:4-9).
Here is a list of reasons:
The Israelites showed impatience with God
They spoke against God
They spoke against God’s chosen leader, Moses.
They made predictions about the future - “to die in the wilderness”
Disregard for God’s heavenly food - “we loathe this worthless food.”
1. Impatience
The people became impatient with God in their travels. Something that God was having them do did not match their schedule or their requirements. Does that ever plague our thoughts or our conversations? Do we ever grow impatient with God’s plans, God’s timing, God’s commands on how to live?
2. They spoke against God
This one is easy and hard to understand at the same time. Let’s start with the part that is hard to grasp: logically, there is no reason to speak against a perfect, holy God. He cannot do anything wrong. If He cannot do anything wrong, ever, then no one ever has a reason to speak against Him. But they did; and we do too!
3. They spoke against God’s chosen leader, Moses.
This is just as significant. The perfect, holy God chooses to work through imperfect human leaders. God never states that these leaders will get everything correct. God never said that we will perfectly understand all that they are doing. God asks us to obey and respect them - also pray for them. Do we?
4. They made predictions about the future
When they started to grumble on and on, they stated unequivocally that God brought them here for evil intent. God brought us out here to die! Case closed, end of discussion. What does that tell us about their thinking? What does that tell us about the way Satan influenced their logic? What does that tell us about their faith? Did they suddenly become endowed with superhuman insight so that they could predict the outcome of God’s perfect plan for them? But they were certain they were going to die - or at least that was their stated conclusion. Do we ever predict the future even though God does not give us that ability?
Some could argue that we have godly insight in places like Matthew 24 and 25, the book of Daniel and the book of Revelation and with that knowledge we can have insight into the future. You could argue that point but such insight is always based on God’s revealed will as presented in those books of the Bible. Such insight is often limited and is there so that we trust our loving God on a deeper and more serious level. Did they trust God more deeply in those tough times? Do we?
5. Disregard for God’s heavenly food
This sin is just as ghastly as all the others but it also involved a little twist of the knife that was thrust into God’s chest. They said, “we loathe this worthless food.” It was not worthless - it was daily sent from heaven. It was sweet and nutritious. It was truly heavenly. It gave them all they needed but they did not receive it with thanksgiving. They were grossed out by it.
Are we ever appalled by having the same food two days in a row, or three? This would have been seven days a week for forty years until they reached the Promised Land. That’s a long stretch to be receiving the same menu item. How would we have fared if that was our daily nutrition intake? I’m admitting that I would not have done well. So what’s the reward for these sins? What will God do as a cumulative response to their ungrateful nature? What will be his response to us?
A pole stuck in the ground that the worthless sinners could look to when they admitted their guilt. But this did not come until God let them have just a taste of hellish payback. God unleashed just an ounce of all the judgment they deserved to have.
“Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. 7 And the people came to Moses and said, ‘We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you’” (Numbers 21:6-7).
They reeled from God’s small judgment. I say “small” because what they deserved . . . and what you and I deserve for our continual disregard of God’s holy, sovereign and loving nature is much worse than temporal snake bites and the agonizing death that follows. We deserve hell. They deserved hell.
Then Jesus takes this real historical event from Numbers 21 and informs the religious elitist, Nicodemus, that he was doomed to a worse outcome than them UNLESS he paid attention to another one who would be lifted up on a pole - but that someone was not a fiery serpent. This victim on a pole who would be lifted up would be none other than Jesus.
“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life” (John 3:14-15).
Their satanic sinfulness had consequences - God sent snakes to inflict temporal pain and death. Our satanic responses to all the good that God our Heavenly Father gives us deserve not only temporal death but eternal death. But God offers a way out to those who see there is another option: trust the Son of man, Jesus Christ, is now lifted up on a pole as payment for your mishandling of God’s law. He is condemned and cursed; you may now live if you trust in Him.
Do you renounce the devil and all his unholy desires that have taken root in your mouth, your heart, your internet searches, your wasting of time? Do you repent as the children of Israel did? Or do you simply complain that our new normal is not good enough for you? Will you complain against the Holy God of heaven or will you confess your sinfulness to Him and ask him to cover you in the blood of Jesus, lifted up on a tree?
I trust in Jesus!