Numbers 21 -- The Snakes And The Cross

The battles recorded here seemed to accomplish several things, including training the Israelites for ware and finishing off that original generation who'd left Egypt.  I used to have problems with the fact that Israel "invaded" other territory, killing men, women, children, and animals under God's direction, but God eventually got through to me with something that I also saw in my commentary this morning:  "The Canaanite culture was unspeakably wicked, especially their religious practices, and God wanted these nations removed from the earth."

Their first victory was followed by a long, hard trek through rough terrain, having to bypass Edomite.  "Courage in the battle must be followed by endurance in the race," my commentary said. 

The appearance of poisonous snakes sent by God because the people grumbled and complained again is examined spiritually in my commentary, and I loved what I read.  Here's a portion:

"But the Lord didn't answer in the way the people might have expected [in their prayers for relief from the snakes].  Instead of immediately removing the serpents and healing the people who had been bitten, God instructed Moses to make a serpent of brass, and put it on a pole where all the people could see it [imagine having to build a fire hot enough to melt brass, then melting it and shaping it -- that took time]."

"All people have been infected by sin and will one day die and face judgment, but if they look by faith to Christ, He will save them and give them eternal life.  Looking to the bronze serpent saved people from physical death, but looking to Christ saves us from eternal death.  But why should Moses make a model of a serpent, the very creature that was causing the people to die?  Because on the cross, Jesus became sin for us -- the very thing that condemns people -- and bore in His body that which brings spiritual death ... The uplifted serpent was the only cure in the camp, just as Jesus Christ is the only Savior of sinners in the world.  Nobody could look at the bronze serpent for another person; each dying sinner had to look for himself or herself.  The salvation Christ offers is personal and individual, and each of us must look to Christ by faith."

Father, thank You for loving and caring for all of us sin-infected people, and for offering to infect Your own Son with my sin as the only way to save me from eternal death.  Thank You that He took on not only my sin, but the past, current, and future sins of the entire world!  How defiled He must have felt!  And You had to turn away and let Your Son die because You cannot look upon sin!  What a terrible thing for a Father to have to endure to save me!


Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford