Fiery serpents

The Living Look

/ Tim A. / Leave a comment

“And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that He take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.” Numbers 21:6-9 (KJV)

The people were complaining, murmuring about the bread that came from heaven, which they had called “Manna” which means “what is it?”. It seems to me that people of today, even professing Christians have grown tired of the Bread from heaven. He is Jesus our Lord and Saviour.

Due to the murmuring of the people of Israel God sent fiery serpents into the camp; and these serpents bit them, and many of these murmurers died. Their deaths were due to their conspiracy with sin to overthrow God’s very means of their sustenance. Murmuring, ungratefulness, says to others and to God, “I know what is best for my life, and this is not it”.

When I first began studying the Bible I came to this verse, and I knew that it was a type, a picture of the sinner looking to Jesus on the cross, and being delivered from sin. My question was, “How does a serpent represent my Saviour?” The study continued until I discovered 2 Corinthians 5:21, then I had the answer. God made Jesus to be sin for us… that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.

Jesus, God’s only begotten Son, became on the cross the very thing that His Father hated and despised; and took the holy judgment and wrath that only myself, and the whole human race was responsible for. If I would have died for my own sin; if you were to die for your own sin, then there would not be eternal life; but eternal death, and dying torment.

By looking to Jesus, His death, burial and resurrection we can look unto Him and live eternally in the presence of God, and in His glory.

Hear the words of Jesus Himself,

“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:14-15

Day 24 – Worship of a Good Thing

/ Tim A. / 2 Comments

This post today will probably be much shorter than usual.

My reading this morning covered 2 Kings 7 – 20.  There was mention of many kings.  Still none of the kings of the Northern kingdom “pleased the LORD”; only one got close yet not sufficient and that was Jehu.  There were some of the kings of the Southern kingdom who “pleased the LORD”, but not like David their father and example.

I want us to look at one king of the Southern kingdom whose name is Hezekiah, and one of the exploits he did in Judah; named in 18:4,

“Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign.   Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also was Abi, the daughter of Zachariah.   And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father did.  He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.”  2 Kings 18:1-4 (KJV)

The brasen serpent is first mentioned in the book of Numbers.  The people had grown to complaining, and GOD sent poisonous serpents into the camp, biting the people, then they were dying; and began to cry out to Moses, and Moses called out to the LORD,

“And the LORD said unto Moses, ‘Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.’  And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.” Numbers 21:8-9

In the days of Hezekiah the people had began to worship the serpent on the brazen pole, bowing down to it evidently, even burning incense to it – “That thing of brass”.  It had lost its real significance, and had become an idol.  Originally when those bitten had looked upon it they would live.  It is a symbol of the cross of Christ; even a shadow of the cross; where all our sins were placed on the perfect sacrifice for sin – the sinless, perfect, holy Son of God – and the wrath of God was poured out on Him and His blood was shed for our redemption, and He bodily arose from the grave giving all who will believe in Him eternal life in glory.

What is the problem with “Nehushtan”?  Worshipping a good thing is not proper worship; and God despises our worship of anything except Him.  Jesus said, “They that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24).  To worship God in spirit is to have a redeemed spirit through the shed blood of Jesus the Christ.  Any other worship is not a “Good thing”

-Tim A. Blankenship