Many people have a great fear of snakes, and usually for a good reason. A snake bite can be extremely painful, and many of them are poisonous. Unless you get to a doctor and receive an antivenom you can die. Having an infestation of snakes in your neighborhood would be frightening to many, especially if they are poisonous. That’s what happened in our Scripture passage for today. However there were important lessons the Lord wanted to teach here. Let’s take a look.
As our Scripture passage opens, the Israelites have been wandering in the wilderness, having not yet entered into the Promised Land. Throughout this time they continually complained to God about their perceived lack of food and water (vs. 4-5). God had been providing them with manna every day, but they were growing tired of that, and they were moaning and groaning, griping and complaining to Moses. Each day God had provided a miracle for them, giving them the manna in the desert, providing for their needs. They were tired of that, and said they would rather have the food they ate in Egypt, even though that meant slavery. Slavery was more appealing than another meal of manna.
In response to the Israelites complaining, God sent fiery serpents among the people (vs. 6). They were probably described as “fiery” because their bite was burning and poisonous, and possibly because they might have been reddish in color. These snakes bit many people and brought death. The people realized their sin, and begged Moses to pray for God to remove them.
The people were not grateful to God, and were complaining and whining. Their spirits were not faithful to Him. They forgot all that God had done for them, refusing to obey. How do we respond to some of the blessings God gives us? Do we start to complain because things are not exactly the way we want it? Are we ungrateful? No matter how difficult our way may seem, we must not complain. Instead, be thankful to God.
In response to the people’s pleading, God told Moses to make a bronze serpent and place it upon a pole. God’s cure for Israel was to look at the bronze serpent lifted on that pole. Whoever looked at the bronze serpent would be healed from the poisonous bite (vs. 8-9). By doing that, they were looking in faith to the Lord’s power to heal. Only God could cure, and the people needed to look to Him with eyes of faith.
It was not the bronze snake that healed them. It was their belief that God would heal them. This belief was demonstrated by their obedience to God’s instructions. There were undoubtedly people who were bitten, but did not believe that looking upon a bronze serpent would cure them. They probably scoffed at this, and because of their unbelief they died. Some might have hesitated at these instructions, but at the urging of their family they looked and were healed. What was required was looking, turning to the bronze snake, looking upon it, and then they would live. Only those who looked, lived.
This event was a picture of what would happen centuries later with the Lord Jesus Christ. This was an example of what Jesus would accomplish when He died on the cross (John 3:14-15). The Bible used this incident of the bronze serpent as an illustration of Jesus’s death on the cross for our sins, and the necessity of personal faith for salvation. Jesus was raised up upon the cross for our sins, and those who look to Him in faith will be saved, and will receive eternal life in heaven.
Not everyone who was bitten by the snakes were healed. Many weren’t, and they died, all because they did not look at the bronze serpent. Just because the bronze serpent was made didn’t mean everyone was healed. One had to look, believe, and be healed. Jesus died on the cross for sins, but that doesn’t mean everyone will be saved. One needs to turn to Him and personally accept Him for themselves. They have to personally apply His sacrifice, His shed Blood, for themselves.
A bite from a poisonous snake would mean a slow and painful death. The same is true with the “bite” from sin. Sin brings a slow, and in various ways, painful death. The cure for the snake bite in our passage was to look at the bronze serpent. The cure for the bite of sin is to look to Jesus and His shed Blood, and believe. If one doesn’t they will suffer eternal death. As the old-time hymn says, “Look to Jesus now and live. ‘Tis recorded in His Word, hallelujah! It is only that you look and live!”
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