Bloody in the fading sunlight

They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!"

Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died.  The people came to Moses and said, "We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us." So Moses prayed for the people.

The LORD said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live."  So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived (Numbers 21:4-9a).

A lot of people have little use for the Old Testament; at most, they might read the Psalms or parts of Genesis.  But the Old Testament makes up 3/4s of the Bible, and it is very important.  It tells us why we need a Savior.  It tells us how to identify Him in a world that’s full of false religions.  It explains why Jesus had to die on the cross.  It assures us of the resurrection and life everlasting.

Today’s Old Testament lesson is a case in point.  In six short verses, we are shown much more than just a miracle in the desert.  God used this incident to teach us about sin, faith, and the Savior who comes from heaven.

The people grew impatient on the way; they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!"  This is one ungrateful bunch of people.  They had been slaves in Egypt.  They were forced to work long hours for scraps of food.  If they had too many children, some were dragged off and killed.  Then God sent Moses to free them.  God afflicted Egypt with ten horrible plagues, none of which hurt the Israelites; as a result, the Egyptians gave all sorts of valuables to God’s people and begged them to leave.  God parted the Red Sea so the Israelites could cross safely on dry ground. He led them through the wilderness with a pillar of smoke by day and a pillar of fire by night.  Every morning God made sweet cakes condense out of the morning dew so the people always had good tasting, nutritious food. 

But the people grew dissatisfied.  God had given them freedom, He fed them every day and He showed them what direction to go.  But that wasn’t good enough.  They wanted more comforts.  They wanted more variety in their diet.  They even called God’s sweet cakes “miserable food”! 

Boy, are they like us!  We’re never satisfied either!  Grocery stores full of choices, and we complain about the selection.  Closets full of clothes, but we have nothing suitable to wear.  Every week there are job openings in the classifieds, yet people file for unemployment because they are picky about the kind of job they’re willing to do.  Others feel sorry for themselves because they’re lonely, yet they won’t go to a hospital or nursing home to visit those who are confined there.  No matter our situation, things are rarely good enough for us.  So we grumble, whine and complain. We act as if we are entitled to whatever we want. 

Of course, nothing could be further from the truth.  We’re not entitled to anything.  God made us—we owe Him, not the other way around!  Scripture says, He…gives all men life and breath and everything else… in Him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17).  Such generosity deserves our gratitude.  We should focus on what we have and be thankful; instead, we focus on what we don’t have and complain.  We act like spoiled little children who have no regard for anyone but themselves.

Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died.  When you see a snake, it ought to remind you of mankind’s fall into sin.  The devil spoke through a snake when he tempted Adam and Eve to disobey God.  The first couple had everything a family could want—a beautiful home, plenty to eat, easy and pleasant work.  But when they listened to Satan they became dissatisfied.  They wanted more than God had given them, and they were willing to break His law in order to get it.  As a result, they were cursed with pain and death—they and every generation to follow.  And so the snake has come to represent sin—sin that hurts us and results in death.

But why does God punish sin with pain and death?  Look at what happened in the Israelite camp. The people came to Moses and said, "We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you."  Punishment leads to repentance.  If God had ignored the complaining, it would only have grown worse.  But when the Lord inflicted pain and death, the people changed their behavior.  This is a lesson every parent should take to heart—the correct use of punishment is to bring about a change of attitude.  The Bible tells us, do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son…God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it (Hebrews 12). 

God punishes our love for sin so that we turn to Him instead. The people came to Moses and said, "Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us."  This is what God was waiting to hear.  They stopped treating Him with contempt; instead they came to Him in humility, asking for His love.  They realized that they were treating their heavenly Father shamefully; now they started giving Him the respect He deserves. 

God lets troubles assail us for the same reason.  Much of the week, we ignore God.  We don’t pray, we don’t read His Bible, we don’t take His priorities into consideration as we make decisions.  We act as if He doesn’t exist.  Even worse, we often complain that He isn’t giving us enough of what we want.  We treat Him like a punching bag for our frustrations instead of respecting Him as our holy Father.  And so God punishes us.  He lets bad things happen to our health, our family, our reputation, our property, or our success at work.  He does it to make us stop and think about what we’re doing.  There’s an old saying that goes, ‘when God lays you in a hospital bed, you are forced to look up towards heaven.’

Moses prayed for the people.  The LORD said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live."  God was waiting for a prayer asking forgiveness.  And as soon as it came, the Lord acted.  He had Moses make a snake out of bronze and set it up on a pole; the people who looked at it survived the snakebite.  What an unusual solution to the problem!  But it is a solution that teaches us many things.

God had Moses put a snake on a pole to help us understand the cross of Christ.  Centuries later Jesus told Nicodemus, Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life (John 3:14-15).  After that, Jesus told His followers, "when I am lifted up from the earth, [I] will draw all men to myself."  He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die (John 12:32-33).  When Jesus speaks of being lifted up, He means being lifted up on the cross.  In the desert, the snake was raised up on a pole so everyone could see the way to be saved from painful death; on Calvary’s holy mountain, Jesus was lifted up so that all mankind could see God’s offer of forgiveness and everlasting life. 

Notice that the people were not purged of snake venom.  They were not instantly made healthy and comfortable.  The benefit they received was life.  By gazing at the snake on the pole, they survived the poisoning.  This teaches us about our relationship with Jesus.  When we gaze on Him hanging from the cross, our sins don't disappear; we remain sinners until the day we die.  The benefit we get is this—we will survive being poisoned by sin.  Its venom will not kill our souls, sending us to hell.  Because of Jesus we will live in spite of sin, and when our bodies die we will join Him in paradise, freed of sin’s destructive power forever.

Notice also that salvation was a matter of faith.  The ones who lived had to believe in God’s cure.  If someone thought that going to see the snake on the pole was foolish, he would stay in his tent and die.  If you don’t believe in God’s promises, it’s all the worse for you.  So it is with Christ.  God hung Him on the cross so that anyone who looks on Him in faith might survive the poison of sin.  But many think the message of the cross is foolish.  They don’t see how faith in God can do anything to help them with the troubles that they’re going through.  The cross of Christ means nothing to them and their souls will die, poisoned by wrongdoing and guilt.

Notice the color of the snake.  It was made of bronze.  Bronze is a metal with red highlights; in the desert sun, it would have looked fiery in color.  To the bitten Israelites, that fiery glint made them think of how they burned from the venom coursing through their veins.  To see a snake hung defeated on a pole would give them hope of recovery from the serpents’ bites.  But this also makes us think of Jesus as He was dying on the cross.  He was covered in blood—blood from the thorny crown jammed on His head, blood from His back that had been whipped mercilessly, blood from His hands and feet where the nails hand been pounded through into the wood that suspended Him above the earth.  Jesus was covered in blood, blood that washes away our sins so we can live with joy because we are free from guilt and regret.  On the cross stained red with God’s blood, the power of sin was killed along with Christ.

Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived.  God sent His Son to live among us in human flesh, and hung Him on the cross to suffer and die for our sins.  When anyone bitten by sin looks up the cross in faith, he lives.  Paul writes, the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God (1 Corinthians 1:18).  Life can seem like a long, tough journey through the wilderness.  Life is hard enough—don’t anger God further by grumbling that He doesn’t love you like He should.  He loves you plenty; He loves you so much that He put His Son on a pole, bloody in this world’s fading sunlight, that you might gaze on Him and live.