The Fiery Serpent

Numbers 21:4-9

Numbers 21:4–9 ESV

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. 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.” Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. 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. 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.” 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.

Alright lets get some context into where we are in the Bible. Genesis was the beginning. We see creation, the fall, God sending a worldwide flood, but saving humanity through one faithful man Noah. A man Abram and his wife Sarai then get a call from God to leave everything they ever knew and journey to where God called them. God promised to make Abraham into a great nation but the problem was Sarah was barren. So they try to take matters into their own hands and it backfires. God eventually keeps His promise and gives Abraham a son Isaac. Isaac will have twins. God tells him that the younger brother would rule over the older one. We see Esau come out of the womb with his brother Jacob holding his heel. Jacob a bit of a swindler (estafador). He managed to get the birthright which belonged to the older brother from Esau. After Jacob gets his fathers blessing that was meant for Esau. Jacob has to flee for his life and goes to Haran. He lives with his uncle Laban and marries his 2 daughters Rachael and Leah. Jacob will have 12 sons and 1 daughter that we know of. Later Jacob wrestled with God and God would change his name to Israel. Israels 10 of Israels sons would have their own land allotments. Joseph’s 2 sons would have land in place of Joseph. And the tribe of Levi won’t get land. Instead they are put in charge of the the temple and sacrificial system. Well Joseph was taken by his brothers and sold into slavery in Egypt where God uses him in amazing ways. He will go from a slave, to a prisoner, to the second in charge of Egypt where he will save the world and his family included from a great famine. Judah who had the idea of selling Joseph was willing to sacrifice his freedom for his brother Benjamin's. We will come back to him. So after a while the people of Egypt forget about Joseph and the Israelites are put into slavery. They will go through a horrible 400 years of being beaten and doing hard labor. Pharaoh forces the Israelites to kill all of newborn sons. But one baby was set apart. Moses. Moses would be rescued by the faith of his parents and older sister. Pharaohs daughter adopts Moses and he is raised with an Egyptian education. Moses will remember his people the Israelites. And as a way to show that he is going to lead them out of slavery he kills an Egyptian beating one of the Israelites. He took things into his own hands instead of waiting for God’s plan. As a result 40 year old Moses flees for his life where he will end up in Midian. He will get married and for 40 years God will humble this man. He is now instead of being trained to be the next king of Egypt, a father, a husband, and a shepherd. Now 80 year old Moses who has been humbled gets the call from God to go back to Egypt and God gives him all sorts of signs and wonders to prove God is the one using him. God through Moses and his brother Aaron will bring forth 10 plagues on the Egyptians and free His chosen people. Moses will then lead these people to a land promised to Abraham. But the people are afraid and refuse to enter the land. As a result God has them wander around for 40 years until the generation of people older than 20 all die. We find ourselves in this 40 year period today. They leave mount Hor where they had buried Aaron and they around the land of Edom. Edom was the name given to Esau’s descendants. It would be much quicker to go through the land of Edom but they are afraid so they go around it. They get impatient and complain against God and Moses. Now a little bit of a spoiler for those of you who might not know the whole story about the Israelites. Throughout the entire old testament they will over and over and over again complain against God and the people that He put in charge of them. From the time God brought them out of Egypt they have done nothing but question and turn their backs on God time and time again. God shows so much patience, grace, and mercy to these people. But he also corrects and disciplines them. The people said why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? Okay lets pause for a moment. The Bible uses Egypt to be a picture of sin. When Abraham went to Egypt he lied and passed his wife off as his sister. The people of Israel were in slavery in Egypt. We are in slavery to our sin until God saves us from it. But if we are not careful we can look back to our times in sin and only remember the enjoyable things about the time in sin. But with all sin comes consequences. With drinking alcohol comes losing control of ourselves and numbing our mind. While that seems great as soon as you wake up the next morning you feel the effects and just feel worse. All sin does that to us. While it feels good in the moment it leaves you with regret. The people of Israel have forgotten the bad parts and are remembering that there was food and water. Also its worth noting that they call the food worthless. God has been proving this food in the form of Manna and Quail from Heaven. They are calling God’s provisions worthless because they which they were back in Egypt as slaves. How arrogant. God we don’t want what you have to offer. We want what the world has to offer. But don’t we do the very same things today? God you are cool but like this relationship with this person who is an unbeliever is more important. God you are cool but I want to do the things that make me happy instead of following your way. Even if we wouldn’t say that with out words our actions prove that. The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people. Okay by fiery serpents they would likely be some sort of a viper. The fiery part would be the venom in the human body. Now I come from Florida where there is plenty of venomous snakes and I hate snakes. If I see one I run the other way screaming. This might be my biggest fear. Many people of Israel die from these snakes and finally in verse 7.

English Standard Version Chapter 21

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.

The people realized that they have sinned. I wonder what gave that away! So they realize that they sinned against the Lord ultimately but also Moses. I think we see the heart of this man Moses. The people have turned their backs on him time and time again but here he still intercedes on their behalf to God. What a picture of forgiveness. So after Moses has prayed for the people the Lord said to him.

English Standard Version Chapter 21

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.

Now if you are like me this might confuse you at first. Why are we making a statue? Isn’t that why the people got punished for making the golden calf? Well there is a lot more to this serpent than what we might think. But before this serpent if they looked at it they would live. so the people are saved through looking up at this serpent on a pole.

So lets try to figure out why God chose this way to save His people. We need to go all the way back to Genesis 3 to start. Satan disguised as a serpent tempts Eve who ate the one thing from the garden she wasn’t supposed to eat. God then made a promise. That from one of Eve’s offspring would come a savior who would crush the head of that serpent. Going forward to Abraham. When God finally provided a son, Isaac, God made Abraham take Isaac to a mountain where Abraham was going to sacrifice him. Now moving on to the 10th plague in Egypt. The killing of the the firstborn sons. Israel was told to keep something in their homes. This something would be a perfect without blemish lamb. They would sacrifice the lamb, paint its blood on the doorway, and the angel would passover the house. The last piece of the puzzle comes in John 3:14-16

John 3:14–16 ESV

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. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Most of you know the verse John 3:16. But verse 14 is equally important. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness. Just like how that serpent was lifted up and gave the people life from certain death. So will I, Jesus THE Christ be lifted up. That whoever believes in Me may have eternal life. We are like Isaac on the alter. We faced certain death until God sent a ram from the brush that took Isaacs place. We are like the Israelites facing certain death until a lamb was sacrificed in our place. We are like the Israelites dying but there is salvation. By looking up at this serpent which is a picture of Jesus defeating Satan once and for all we are given life from death. We look at the cross and we see this man Jesus Christ who lived a perfect life. And died the death we deserved to die on our cross. He took sin, death, and Satan down once and for all. We are told in Romans 10:9

Romans 10:9 ESV

because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

So we need to confess that Jesus is Lord. The one who came to save us. But thats not all. We need to truly believe that in our heart. And once we have it will change our lives. God doesnt say clean yourself up and then come to me. Matthew 11:28

Matthew 11:28 ESV

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

He will do the fixing. We dont go to the hospital when we are perfectly healthy. We come when we are sick and hurting. God is the great physician. So for those unbelievers in the room. Turn to Jesus. He is calling. Confess and believe that He did everything he said he did. Repent, and turn from your ways and follow Him. And the believers in the room. Pick up your cross daily and follow Him. Live all in for Christ. He has redeemed us from our sin. Now as a result we should share that good news with others. We get to walk in freedom because of the lamb who was slain on our behalf. Revelation 5:12

Revelation 5:12 ESV

saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!”

He is worthy of our lives. Amen?