The picture of deception and death will show us the means of grace and eternal life.
Numbers 21:6-9 So the LORD sent poisonous snakes among the people, and many were bitten and died. 7 Then the people came to Moses and cried out, "We have sinned by speaking against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take away the snakes." So Moses prayed for the people.8 Then the LORD told him, "Make a replica of a poisonous snake and attach it to a pole. All who are bitten will live if they simply look at it!" 9 So Moses made a snake out of bronze and attached it to a pole. Then anyone who was bitten by a snake could look at the bronze snake and be healed!
Snakes have been a part of God's story from the beginning, just about anybody
that knows something about God's word knows about the snake that
deceived Adam and Eve in the garden, but that is just the beginning.
God's people learned about the importance of snakes while they were living in Egypt. The Egyptian people saw the snake as a political and religious symbol that they worshiped. The cobra goddess was
supposed to be the protector of Egypt so imagine how surprising it must have been when God used the
snake as the first miraculous sign to validate Moses' and Aaron's authority.
God proved his superiority when he changed Aaron's staff into a snake but then it went to the next level when Pharaoh's
magicians did the same. God had Aaron's snake swallow all of the
other snakes so that there should have been no doubt about who was in control. (Exodus 7:8-12)
The next encounter with snakes was forty years later while God's people are on their extended tour of the wilderness on the way to the Promised Land. They have already been to the edge of the
Promised Land once but they doubted their ability to be victorious against the Canaanites.
They could have been eating the awesome food in the Promised Land but instead they despise the food that God is still providing for them in the wilderness. The same God that was miraculously brought them out of Egypt proved to them daily that he was still in control of nature as he provided them with food but they didn't respect that power.
They were anxious to tell God that he wasn't coming through for them. God's power and his blessings in there lives was not appreciated so God used his power through snakes again. This time be uses them to discipline his people by sending poisonous snakes. God is very good at making his people aware of their sins so that they can repent and beg for mercy.
God provides salvation for his people
God reveals the method that he will use to allow his people to be healed from the wound that
the snake caused. Moses had to craft a snake out of bronze and attach it to a
pole so that the people could look to it and be saved.
It is interesting to note that bronze was used in the Tabernacle on the altar
of burnt offering where the sacrifices were made for sin and also for the basin that the priest used for purification. The use of bronze stands in contrast to the use of gold in the Holy of Holies.
It is also interesting to consider that the cure did not come immediately, it
would probably take a few hours or maybe a day or so to make the bronze snake,
we don't know why used human interaction as a part of the remedy instead of healing them instantly. It seems likely that more people died before the cure for the snake bite was in place.
Perhaps God was showing us that we don't usually get relief from the fallout of our sin immediately, the consequences can be severe and long lasting.
But why did God choose to use a snake?
It is ironic that the snake brought healing to everyone that could look up in faith and see it. The snake already has a bad history of deception, pain and death. so it seems a bit peculiar to see the snake in a positive light as a source of hope and healing.
God doesn't erase the negatives, he works through them for a much greater good, he took the symbol of everything wrong in our world and repurposed it into a symbol of life and healing. That sounds a lot like what he did with the cross.
It's just like God to re-purpose a negative into a positive.
John 3:14-16 And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life. 16 "For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
I don't know how you feel about snakes but it seems a little bit disturbing to think that the snake on the pole is a symbol or type of Christ but even Jesus compared himself to this symbol in his first recorded gospel conversation with Nicodemus.
The snake on the pole was a foreshadowing of Jesus redemptive work. God's judgement was on me until I looked to the cross and saw my Savior there. Jesus took the curse of sin and redeemed me from the kingdom of darkness. The same cross that was an instrument of death and shame became a symbol of victory and salvation!
The snake points to Jesus, but Jesus surpasses it, embodying the ultimate expression of God’s love and grace. Jesus isn't like the snake at all, he is actually the antithesis of what the snake represents, as with every foreshadowing of Jesus the symbol has limitations.
The man made snake didn't have any power on it's own, through God's power it offered physical healing but it was powerless as a remedy for the consequence of sin. It did not offer forgiveness or eternal life. When Jesus was lifted up on the cross he became the means for my spiritual healing. Jesus sacrifice went beyond judgement and discipline to offer me complete redemption and reconciliation with God. (Romans 5:10)
The dead snake on a pole pointed to Jesus but perhaps it also foreshadows the ultimate fate of Satan as the serpent in Revelation. Just as the bronze snake was destroyed by King Hezekiah because it became a source of idolatry, Jesus will destroy the serpent at the end of time. (2 Kings 18:4, Revelation 12:9)
God's story began and it ends with the snake. Satan is described as “that ancient serpent, called the devil,” linking him directly to the snake in the Garden of Eden. Remember God's promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent’s head? That day is still in the future but it will finally happen as Satan will be powerless against God's judgement.
Thank you God for going above and beyond the temporary, physical healing to provide the only eternal, spiritual healing that I desperately needed. I was powerless to help myself on judgement day but I know how to overcome by relying on your power to reverse the curse of the snake so I will not share in his fate!
