Numbers 21:8-9 The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.
God’s people are yet again rebelling against God and what’s happening is there’s basically a curse among God’s people and they are all getting bit by snakes and dying.
God delivered judgment, but then He delivered mercy
When the grumbling Israelites looked to the bronze serpent held high on a pole, they were saved from the punishment they deserved. Mercifully, God used the emblem of His judgment to draw His people back to Himself.
First we see that the people asked Moses to pray that the snakes would be removed.
Numbers 21:7 “Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us.”
God didn't answer that prayer. Are you asking God to remove your illness? In the same way, God can answer in a different way. He nailed the sickness to the cross but we need to obey him to receive what we are asking.
Jesus talking about the snake of bronze
John 3:14 “just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert. So the son of man must be lifted up that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”
When Jesus talks about being lifted up, he’s not talking about being exalted here in Heaven at the Father’s right hand. He’s talking about being lifted up on a cross.
* The Israelites looked to a snake on a pole for healing from poisonous venom.
* We look to the Savior on the cross to heal us from the poison of sin.
* They were given an injunction against immediate physical death.
* We’re saved from spiritual death, and granted eternal life instead.
There is healing in Jesus
God asks Moses to erect a bronze serpent which in the Bible is symbolic of judgement. You see, God has judged the illness you live with on the body of Jesus.
Numbers 21:8 Then the LORD said to Moses “Make a fiery serpent and mount it on a pole. When anyone who is bitten looks at it [hebeit], he will live.
You and I look at the Cross with the intention and expectation to receive all that Jesus died to give us. Healing, restoration, provision, peace, and victory
Hebrews 6:12 it is through ‘faith and patience we inherit the promises’.
It’s by ‘looking intently’ at the cross (and the Scriptures) that builds our faith.
