Look and Live

Numbers 21:8 ~ "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.'"

How despicable it was for the people of Israel to grumble against God and Moses as they were led from captivity to freedom. Numbers 21:4 tells us why they grumbled: they became impatient on the way. In response to their grumbling discontent with God and Moses, the LORD sent a judgment among them--fiery serpents to bite them.

There are some who might think that the people of Israel had every right to be discontent with the LORD, but they are far from the truth. The fact is, the LORD Almighty has done nothing for which we have a right to grumble. The hardships of our life are given by God as well as the easy roads. And they both serve a purpose--and we are to glorify God through them all. But the people of Israel during the days of Moses, and at times the people of Christ in this day, look only to their circumstances and demand that God should cater to their whims and desires.

Such is the nature of our fallenness. From the Garden of Eden until now, we have reached out our hands for that which is forbidden, seeking to satisfy the cravings of our sinfulness. Consider James 1:14-15, "But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death." The people of Israel wanted an easy road, a more convenient way, and their selfish desires tempted them to sin by grumbling against the LORD. And so the LORD judged them with the serpents.

In despair, the people of Israel confessed their sin and cried out to Moses that he should pray to the LORD and seek their deliverance from those dreadful serpents. God did not provide immediate relief, but gave them the opportunity to respond to Him by faith. He commanded Moses for make a bronze, fiery serpent and fasten to a pole. Then those who were bitten by a serpent could simply look to the bronze serpent that Moses had made and they would live. God would see their faith and He would deliver them from the venom.

There was no other bronze serpent permitted. God did not command the people to make their own bronze serpent. No one could copy the serpent Moses made in the hopes that it would be effective against the poison of the serpents. It had to be the one Moses fashioned and fastened to a pole. 

All of us, my dear friends, have been bitten by the serpent of rebellion against God and have within us the venom of sin. The soul that sins shall die (see Ezekiel 18:4). And as we have all sinned and fallen short of God's glory there is no escaping the death that is coming (see Hebrews 9:27). Unless, of course, God intervenes. 

And the LORD has intervened. He has, in Christ, come to be for us the means by which we can escape the venom of sin. Jesus used the serpent on the pole to illustrate what He would do to deliver us from God's wrath. In John 3:14-15, Jesus said, "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." Jesus was lifted up on the cross, taking upon Himself the wrath of God, and He offers to any who believe in Him escape from the judgment of sin and to receive everlasting life. In essence, we must simply look to Jesus and live.

You cannot look to an invented Jesus of the world. You cannot fashion a Jesus of your own design. You must trust the LORD Jesus Christ who, revealed in Scriptures, has given Himself to be for us the source of salvation. The grumbling discontent of a sinful world would have God make their way more convenient, and are impatient with the LORD for He does not fulfill their demands. But you, dear reader, be one who will give up your grumbling and, if you are still facing the judgment of God because of your sins, look to Jesus and live. 

In His Grace,
Pastor Michael

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