The Bronze Serpent: look and live

The Bronze Serpent: look  and live

We have been walking through the OT looking at some different types and shadows, various people places and things that point forward to greater realities to be found in the NT.  We have putting a special emphasis on types of Christ.   

We have seen God promise to Abraham that he would be the father of many nations, that he would have descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, that all nations would be blessed through him.  We saw that he did indeed have a son, Isaac, who was a type of Christ.  Isaac had two sons: Jacob and Esau.  Jacob was renamed Israel and Israel had 12 sons, who became the heads of the 12 tribes of Israel.  God chose the descendants of Israel to be his very own people, His treasured possession.  By the beginning of the book of Exodus, God’s people, the Israelites were enslaved to the Egyptians.  God raised up His servant Moses to lead them in deliverance them from slavery with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.  We saw that God brought plague after plague after plague on the Egyptians and then eventually the plague of the death of the firstborn in which God’s wrath passed through Egypt but Passed Over the Israelites.  We looked the Passover Lamb as a type of Christ in that it was to be a male without defect, none of its bones broken, eaten by God’s people, sacrificed in the process of delivering God’s people from slavery and its blood covered over God’s people protecting them from his wrath while it remained on His enemies.

God, thus, brought His people Israel out of Egypt as promised.  That is where we find Israel in today’s text.  Let’s open our bibles to Numbers 21.  

Recall last week how we saw that God delivered on his promises made to Abraham.  One of the promises God made to Abraham was to give his descendants a certain portion of land-the Promised Land.  Our context is the wilderness wanderings of Israel, the 40 years they spent wandering in the wilderness between slavery and freedom & rest.

Today I’m reading out of ESV – consistent translation.

Numbers 21:4 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. 5And 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." 6 Then the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. 7 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. 8And 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." 9So 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.

RECAP of what we just read

The Israelites were in the wilderness.  Growing impatient they grumbled against God.  God sent fiery serpents (NIV – venomous snakes) among them.  The serpents [Hebrew Nahas – nayhays: snake or serpent; Greek – ophis: snake or serpent] were fiery [sarap - sayrayp: which can also be translated as poisonous or venomous].  When they were bitten by these venomous serpents, the venom coursed through their veins, entering their blood stream, running to the very core of their being, their heart, which pumped this venom throughout their members.  Their every member was affected by this venom.  V6-many of the people died.  The result of this serpent bite was death.  The people that did not die, those who wanted to live could do nothing in their own power to save themselves.  They told Moses, we have sinned.  We spoke 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 gave Moses the remedy for the venomous snake bite.  He told him to make a bronze serpent and lift it up on a pole; anyone who was bitten by the venomous serpents who looked to the bronze serpent lifted up on the pole would live.

We might have the tendency to criticize the Israelites.  

God just brought them out of slavery with miracle after miracle, showing special favor to them as his people, making a distinction between them and Egypt.  Parting the Red Sea for them to pass through and now they are grumbling and complaining.  After all that shouldn’t they have a very God-centered mentality and focus, but we see that it is self-centered and they are focused inwardly.  What a bunch of stiff-necked and rebellious, obstinate and disobedient wretches!  

It is easy to look at the context and think that way, but in reality, these Israelites represent who we are by nature.  Therefore, in a certain sense we actually find ourselves in the text, represented by these: self-centered grumblers.

In a certain sense:

• we find ourselves in this text
• we find our condition in this text 
• we find our remedy in this text

We find ourselves in this text

NOT LITERALLY.  Now by this I don’t mean that we were literally there.  And hopefully you know me well enough to know that I paid attention to the pronouns and they refer to God, Moses and the Israelites some 3500 years ago.  So we don’t find ourselves in the text literally, but we do in a certain sense find that those in the text, their state of being very much corresponds with us, who are by nature: self-centered grumblers.

JOURNEY WITH ME INTO THE TEXT.  Go with me to the wilderness.  Imagine yourself there.  Our fellow Israelites are complaining that the food is crummy.  There was better food in Egypt.  There is no water out here.  The Nile River was in Egypt – an endless supply of fresh cold water.  There is no comfortable place to sleep.  There were at least living quarters in Egypt.  Somewhat valid complaints, right?  Know what our complaints are?  There’s no wifi, HiDef TV, no iPods.  Doesn’t it always feel like we could find something to complain about, no matter how good we really have it?  

So, we’re hot, we’re hungry and thirsty and cranky.  You lash out against our leader, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die here in the wilderness?”

Drastic Measures to shift focus and straighten priorities

Then God sends something our way that’s a little more critical than how crummy the food is.  Perhaps He can get our focus off of ourselves for a second or two.  We have been bitten by a venomous viper.  We have the poison of a fiery serpent coursing through our body and people who are in the same condition are dying all around us.

The lack of gourmet food and the lack of water and the abundance of heat suddenly became moot points because we have now been bitten by poisonous snakes and the venom of the viper is coursing through our veins.  

Sometimes the LORD does drastic things in order to shift people’s focus.  You may be annoyed at your spouse and their snoring or the way they don’t roll the toothpaste tube or that they use all the toilet paper and don’t replace it, or that he leaves the toilet seat up, but if he or she were to get in a wreck and end up in ICU on the verge of death your grumblings will cease fade into the background as her very life is on the line.  Focus shifts and priorities are straightened in the midst of such tragedies.  

That is the very thing that God has done in our text.  Israel complained about the food and water and so God gave them something worth complaining about.  Bitten by fiery serpents, venomous vipers, poisonous snakes.  No doubt painful, probably irritating, perhaps itchy, accompanied by hallucinations?

First response not God-centered

I would set forth that it is quite likely that our first response would not have been a God-centered one.  What can I do to remedy this situation?  Then after realizing that we can do nothing to save ourselves, we would have likely looked to the physicians among us, first.  Is that not our unfortunate tendency?  How often do we as humans look to our right and to our left first?  How often do we look horizontally before we look vertically?  Once we have exhausted all of our earthly resources, then, “I guess all we can do now is pray.”  We tend to go to God as a last resort rather than a first response.  Prayer should be our first response, not our last resort.

Still with me in the wilderness…we started out self centered looking to self finding that we could do nothing to save ourselves.  Then we looked to others and they had nothing to offer.  And now, finally, we look to God.  Now God has our attention and we cry out to Moses, "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."

By nature, we tend to think and live and operate no differently than these self-centered grumblers.  So often we look to self and at times it is necessary that God do something drastic to cause an awakening in us to move us to repentance and cause our focus to shift from self to Him.

Thus, we find ourselves in the text.

Further, we find our condition in the text.

We find our condition in this text

These Israelites have been bitten by the serpent, their heart infected by the venom.  The venom of the serpent had infected them.  It is in their blood.  It has gone to their heart and affected who they are at the very core of their being.  Their hearts are now pumping the venom of the snake bite through their members.  The result: death was imminent.  They could do nothing to remedy themselves.  They were in need of salvation.

This represents our condition well.  We too, have been affected by a serpent.  Our hearts are affected by the poison of this serpent and the result of that is death.  We, like the Israelites are unable to do anything to save ourselves from this death and are in desperate need of salvation.

In our case the serpent is Satan.  Who is it that deceives the mother of the living in the garden in regards to the forbidden fruit?  The serpent.  Gen 3  ¹Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made.   He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?" ²And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, ³but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'" ⁴But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die.

Rev 12:9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world.

The serpent deceived Eve in the garden.  This has affected us as her offspring.  We, like the Israelites have been affected by the serpent.  The venom with which we have been infected is sin.  It has penetrated our hearts and has affected who we are at the very core of our being.  The result of this poison of sin is death.  The wages of sin is death.  Not just physical death, but spiritual death – separation from God.  We can do nothing in and of ourselves to remedy that condition.  We can do nothing to bring reconciliation between us and God, the poison is in us and we can’t remove it.  We are in need of salvation.

We find our condition in the text.

Just as they were affected by the serpent in the wilderness and the venom’s affect on their heart would result in death, so also we, mankind have been affected by the serpent, and the result of the venom of sin on our hearts brings about death.

Just as they were helpless in and of themselves to save themselves from the death caused by the serpent, so are we helpless in and of ourselves to save ourselves from the death caused by the serpent.  We need rescue.

We find our condition in the text.  Affected by the serpent, infected with its poison, death is certain and we need a savior.

We find ourselves in the text; we find our condition in the text and…

We find our remedy in this text

Num 21:8-9 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.  God told Moses to make a bronze serpent and lift it up on a pole; anyone who was bitten by the venomous serpents who looked to the bronze serpent lifted up on the pole would live.

Those bitten by the serpent were facing an impending death.  In order to go from death to life, the remedy for the serpent bite is to look to a bronze serpent that had been lifted up on a pole.  Look to the serpent and live!

Do you see our remedy there foreshadowed in this bronze serpent, which was a type of Christ?  In order to go from death to life, make a bronze serpent, lift it up on a pole.  Those who look to the serpent will live.  

John 3:14-16 14And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. 16"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  In the same way that the bronze serpent was lifted up in the desert, that all who looked to it for salvation would not perish, but have life, so also the Son of Man was lifted up on a pole and all who look to Him for salvation will not perish but have eternal life.

THIS BRONZE SERPENT IS A TYPE OF CHRIST

The Israelites represent all of mankind, who have all been affected by the serpent.  The venom of sin is within.  Our very nature has been affected.  Surely I was sinful at birth.  In sin my mother conceived me.  Just as Israel faced death as a result of the serpent bite, so also, we, who have sinned, face death as the wages of sin is death.  Just as the Israelites could do nothing in and of themselves to save them from the death they faced, try as they may have, we also can do nothing to save ourselves from the death we deserve.  Just as the remedy for the Israelites’ condition came from God, so also our remedy for our condition comes from God.  Look and live.  As they were to look to the bronze serpent lifted up on a pole, we are to look to Jesus Christ.  Those who looked to the bronze serpent lived.  Those who look to Jesus live.

Though the remedy may sound foolish it is more foolish to ignore the remedy

Imagine again with me being in the wilderness, having been bitten by a serpent, facing death, in desperate need of rescue.  What do we do, Moses?  What do we do?  

Look at a bronze serpent.  Look and live.

“Wasn’t it a serpent who brought this condition upon us?  Now we expect that looking to a serpent will save us?”  Isn’t that foolish sounding?

The answer is yes.  But that is the remedy that God gave them.  That is the prescribed method of salvation from the death brought on by the venomous serpent.

Whether by pride or by their so-called wisdom, imagine how many of the Israelites may have said, “No.  I’m not looking to the bronze serpent.”  Though it sounds foolish, it is such a simple means of salvation that it would be far more foolish not to look to the bronze serpent.

So also today many say, “No.  I shall not look to Jesus,” whether by pride or by their so-called wisdom.  Though it sounds foolish to many that looking to one man dying on a cross 2000 years ago would save them, it is such a simple means of salvation that it would be far more foolish not to look to Christ.

1 Cor 1:18-19 ¹⁸For 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. ¹⁹For it is written: 
   "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; 
      the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate."

Though the remedy may sound foolish it is more foolish to ignore the remedy.

Today I lift up Christ crucified; look and live

John 3:14-16 14And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. 16"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  Today, I lift up the Son of Man, I exalt the Son of Man, I put Jesus on display and lift up His name and proclaim His glory that you may see Him, that you may look upon Him and live.  If you have not looked to Jesus, I urge you to do so.  He is the prescribed means of salvation for the death brought on by the ancient serpent.  Though the remedy may sound foolish, it is more foolish to disregard.  Set aside any pride or wisdom that would keep you from looking to Christ.  Look to Jesus and live.

If you have crossed over from death to life by looking to Jesus, then I urge you with me to lift Him up.

So must the Son of Man be lifted up that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.  You must lift Him up.  You must lift Him up by your words; you must lift Him up by your life.  Do not fail to lift Him up, that others may see Him and believe in Him and have eternal life.

14And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. 16"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.