The Bible Binge: Jesus for the Snake-Bitten! (Numbers 21:4-9)

Indiana Jones is afraid of _________?

Indiana Jones is afraid of _________? Snakes. A running theme of the Indiana Jones franchise is his fear of snakes. In one famous scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark, Harrison Ford and Karen Allen make their way through the Well of Souls. For that scene, Ford and Allen were surrounded by more than 10,000 real snakes that had been shipped in just for that scene, creating a lot of stress for the actors. Indiana Jones isn’t alone. Ophidiophobia is the fear of snakes… and it is not an uncommon trait.

Snakes. Just saying the word makes the hair raise on your arm. We have them here. We see a snake and we have to say something about it. We have a team called the Vipers. Texas is known for its boots because we have snakes that can hurt us. I saw on Facebook a few months ago someone in our neighborhood caught a rattler in their backyard. It’s cause for conversation. We fear, respect, and are fascinated by snakes.

Snakes have been part of the human story since the very beginning of time. The first snake story is found in the Garden of Eden. It doesn’t end well for us… it doesn’t end well for the snakes. And throughout the Bible, snakes show up and do not have the best of intentions.

The Bible Binge: Numbers

And snakes are front and center of our story today. We are continuing our Bible Binge. This past week and this week we are in the book of Numbers, the fourth book in our Bibles. And the story we are looking at today is in the reading for tomorrow. If you haven’t started, this is a good time to jump in.

The book of Numbers resumes the story of Israel making its way to the Promised Land. God rescues Israel from Egypt and saves them through the Red Sea, he gives them the law at Mount Sinai and makes them His people, a nation. Numbers is their departure from Mt Sinai and the expectations are that Israel will soon be making a new home in the Promised Land, on the east side of the Mediterranean.

There are 3 major themes in Numbers.

Numbers is about:

Offspring

Wandering in the Wilderness

The Big Disobedience

The book of Numbers is about offspring. The book begins with the numbers.. the census taken of Israel and their military divisions. God has made good on his promise to Abraham. Abraham would be the father of a great nation. And these numbers indicate that God has done just that: Israel is a formidable nation. The promised offspring, at least in part, has been fulfilled.

The book is also about wandering in the wilderness. Early on, it becomes obvious that Israel is not taking the direct route from Egypt to the Promised Land. If you’ve been following the news in the middle east, and what’s going on with Gaza, Gaza lies on that direct route. God didn’t lead Israel on the most direct route, bypassing some of the neighbors to prevent war. But the wandering in the wilderness takes on its own new life after the third main idea in Numbers.

Numbers tells us about the Big Disobedience. Chapters 13 and 14 of Numbers are two of the most significant chapters in the books of Moses. Israel gets to the brink of going into the Promised Land and they send 12 spies to scout the land. 10 of the 12 spies come back and there’s a mutiny… they wish they had stayed in Egypt. The land is full of big bad people and we can’t do this. Two guys named Joshua and Caleb attempt to encourage the national leaders to go ahead and take the land with God’s help because He Promised that the land is theirs. But the people revolt. They say “no”. And God lowers the hammer. He executes the 10 spies. And he promises the rest of the nation, almost 2 million people, that anyone over the age of 20 would die in the wilderness.. and that Israel would be wandering in the wilderness for 40 years. That generation would never see the Promised Land.. only their children and grandchildren.

Snakes in the Desert

We don’t know how much time has elapsed between chapter 14 and chapter 21 where we are today. But we can surmise that most of the 40 years has elapsed by the time we get to where we are. That’s the backdrop for our story today. As they make their way through the wilderness we begin to see that this new generation has a lot in common with their parents.

In the course of their wandering we come across this tidbit:

Numbers 21:4–5 Israel set out from Mount Hor by way of the Red Sea to bypass the land of Edom, but the people became impatient because of the journey. The people spoke against God and Moses: “Why have you led us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread or water, and we detest this wretched food!”

The people became impatient. You just know something not so great is about to happen. This has been happening since before Israel left Egypt. These kids aren’t much better than their parents. They are again complaining about food. They’ve been eating manna and quail for 40 years. How many of you open a fridge full of food and say, “There’s nothing to eat.” Been there, done that. Just ask Emily. I have no idea why we don’t just label the leftovers. LOL Anyhow, they are complaining about food.. but then here’s the kicker, the Big Question: “Why have you led us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness?” Most of these people hadn’t been in Egypt. But they had heard the stories. Their parents complained and asked the same accusing question. It’s not just a question. It’s an accusation.

And the irony of ironies here is that their parents did die in the wilderness. And it wasn’t God’s doing. It was their own unbelief. Short memory. Short memory of how bad it was in Egypt. Short memory as to why their parents died and the last 40 years have been in the wilderness.

Moses goes out of his way to let us know that this complaint wasn’t just aimed at him and his leadership. This was aimed at God. And it’s God, not Moses who responds. God sends snakes. We don’t know what kind. We do know that the carpet vipers that live in that area of the world are among the most deadly. But this isn’t simply Indiana Jones stumbling into a room full of snakes. These snakes have been sent by God and people are dying. And what’s interesting is that the people know that it’s God who sent the snakes.

The people come to Moses, they confess their sin, and God in his grace provides healing and relief and salvation. We read the story moments ago:

Numbers 21:7-8 Moses interceded for the people. 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.”

There are three things we need to see here.. the point of this story. Because this becomes important later.

Moses interceded for the people.

The snake image is God’s provision for salvation and healing.

It only takes a look.

First, Moses interceded for the people. That’s in the middle of the entire story. In fact, the entire story orbits this idea that Moses is the go-between God and his people. This isn’t the first time. When Israel sinned at by worshipping the golden calf years earlier, Moses had been the go-between. Someone standing between God and the people. Over and over we find Moses as the mediator, the one who appeals to God on the people’s behalf. And the one through whom God provides his grace and mercy.

Second, the snake image is God’s provision for salvation and healing. The irony here is that God will use the very thing that is killing Israel to save them. What’s different about this story is that when the people confess their sin and admit they’ve been wrong, God doesn’t immediately remove the snakes. He could have. He didn’t. In fact, this story ends and there is no resolution to the presence of snakes. In fact, one can presume, based on what God is saying here is that the snakes will remain and the snakes will continue to bite people. You can surmise that after a period of time and Israel has moved on, that the remedy of the snake pole is still valid. There is no end to this story.

Third, it only takes a look. God is after their hearts. The people’s real problem is that they, like their parents, have not fully embraced God as their provider. They are more worried about death and dying. Why have you brought us out here to die? is a question that people ask when they love life so much they want to hang on to it, even if it kills them. They fear death. They have not embraced the idea that we all die at some point. And they are not willing to trust God with their lives. He can’t even give them a decent menu for dinner, in their mind. And in God’s grace, he is going to orient their eyes to see him for who he is… look at the snake. This is God’s provision for you for healing embrace it. Look at the very thing that is killing you and receive God’s grace and mercy and life. And in order to receive God’s grace, they simply have to believe His Promise. His Promise of life. This “look” carries the idea of belief. They look at the snake and believe God’s promise that he would heal them.

There’s no “doing” anything to get healing. There’s no formula. There’s no saying a prayer 20 times. There’s no walking 5 miles. There’s no payment. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Just “look” at the serpent… look to God for your healing. That’s it. That’s all.

Jesus for the Snake-bitten

Fast forward hundreds of years later, and Jesus is having a conversation with one of Israel’s most important religious leaders at night. Jesus is explaining to Nicodemus what it means to have new life and along the way explains to Nicodemus how he plans on accomplishing salvation for Nicodemus and everyone else. And here’s what Jesus says to Nicodemus:

John 3:14–15 “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 may have eternal life.”

Just as Moses lifted up that snake in the wilderness. That’s how I’m going to save you Nicodemus. Jesus isn’t just looking for some example in the Old Testament. “Oh hey, I’ll use that to help Nicodemus understand.” No… Jesus is interpreting that Old Testament story and saying “that story about the snakes was about me. It was always about me.”

You see, it wasn’t an accident that God used snakes in his judgment of the unbelieving Israelites who were accusing him of evil. The very first Promise to man that God would fix the sin problem begun in the garden included this comment to the snake who had tempted Eve:

Genesis 3:15 “I will put hostility between you, the snake, and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. Her offspring will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”

The salvation of people and freedom from the original serpent is a life and death matter. And unbelief leads to death. Sin leads to death. The original serpent is capable of inflicting mortal wounds. The snakes in the desert are a reminder that the temptation to accuse God and to not believe God are ever present, ready to rob us of life, eternal life.

The story about snakes in the desert is part of the bigger picture. And Jesus is telling Nicodemus that the snake on the pole was picturing way back then how Jesus would accomplish salvation for Nicodemus and every single person ever born. We’ve all been snake-bitten. We’re all dying of sin and unbelief. We’ve all accused God of not having our best interests in mind. We’ve all succumbed to unbelief.

And we’ve all loved this life more than dying to ourselves. We’ve all complained against God. We do all we can to hang on to what we have. We’re all about what we need and want. Trying to hang on to life at the expense of those things that are eternal… that’s the life of death. That’s the snake-bitten life that ends in death. Always about me.

And our salvation is to look to Jesus. To place our eyes of faith on Jesus. We give up our lives and we entrust our lives to Jesus. Jesus is our provision. Jesus is our healer. Jesus is our life-giver. Jesus is both the mediator that Moses was and the Bronze Serpent lifted up by Moses in the wilderness. He’s the ultimate Bronze Snake. And that’s the irony of ironies. In crushing the head of The Serpent, the Devil at the cross, Jesus is the Snake-crushing Snake, providing life instead of death, even as He dies the death of one who has been snake-bitten. Jesus died the Snake-bitten death, so that those who’ve been snake-bitten would live. That’s the story of the snakes in the desert. Jesus for the snake-bitten.

Let’s Pray.

The Table

This Table is where we look to Jesus to save us from our snake bite. The snake bit of unbelief. Of sin. Of wanting our own way. Of always putting ourselves first. Of always having to be right. This Table is for the snake-bitten. And it is here that the Bronze Snake who was snake-bitten for us provides us with forgiveness, life, and salvation in his body and in his blood. This is where we look to Jesus in faith to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.

Benediction

Numbers 6:24–26

May the Lord bless you and protect you;

may the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;

may the Lord look with favor on you and give you peace.