And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. 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 21:5-9)
13 Notice, then right in that crucial moment, serpents had come in among the people and were biting them. And Moses was taught in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and they were boasting positions, far beyond in many things, than what we are today. Had our doctors skinned by hundreds of miles. But Dr. Moses had no cure for that snakebite. Nothing could be done. There they was, way in the wilderness. And Moses prayed and God came to him and told him the remedy for it. I like that. What is He? God, Jehovah-jireh, the Lord will provide, make a way. I love it.
Notice, then God told Moses, in this type or symbol; said, “Go make a serpent out of brass and put it on a pole.” Now, the serpent, in a symbol, meant sin. The serpent represented the serpent from the garden of Eden already judged: snake turned from a—a animal.
Now, he wasn’t a reptile. The Bible said he was the most subtle of all the beasts of the field. He wasn’t a reptile; he was a beast. And he turned to a serpent on his belly. And that snake represented sin judged. And made out of brass meant Divine judgment. Brass means Divine judgment in the Bible. See, the people were sinning because they didn’t believe the prophet. They were chiding against him and against God. They had sinned, and because of sin, serpents had bit them, and they were dying.
14 And all sickness is caused by sin. That’s right. Before we had—before we had sin, we had no sickness. But sin—or sickness, is an attribute of sin. Sickness came because of sin: maybe not what you done; inherited it. Three or four generations it’ll follow. God said so.
Notice. And so God put up this—had Moses to put up this ensign to Israel. And when he lifted it up, sickness and sin, a compound reason for both sickness and sin. Jehovah-jireh was providing an ensign that represented that their sin was forgiven and a healing for their sickness. You get it? Serpent represented sin judged.
15 Brass… See brass is one thing that you can’t tamper with. Brass cannot be tempered. You find some form or a temper brass, your tithings for six months will pay my way for fifty years around the world missionary, if you can find something that’ll temper brass. Can’t be tempered. Goes to show that God’s represented brass as Divine judgment and God’s Divine judgment cannot be tempered. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Here you are. I want you to get it now.
Look. Brass, the brazen altar where the sacrifices were burned: judgment, Divine judgment. And in the days of Elijah, when he went out and looked at the skies, he said they looked like brass: Divine judgment upon a rebellious nation. God have mercy. The skies sometimes look brass around here in America. Divine judgment, hardly can break through. Judgment…
16 Notice, then the ensign was lifted up; a beautiful picture of this, it’s pictured in—in Ruth.
53-0606 - "An Ensign"
Rev. William Marrion Branham
