The Bronze Serpent

Numbers 21:4-9

Life in Christ Lutheran

3/22/09

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The other day, I was sitting there in a quiet moment and began to wonder why it is so easy for us to get dour and sour and frustrated over our lot in life. Statistically speaking, you would think it would be easier for us to see the bright side of things. Ninety to ninety-five percent of what happens in our lives is good, but we don’t see that so readily. Nope, we see the bad. We focus on the bad. We get angry and torn up about the bad. Why do we do this to ourselves? Is someone paying us to put on a frown all day? No, I don’t think so.

Well, the children of Israel, in today’s old testament lesson had the same problem. Let’s hear their story. And maybe in the process of hearing their story, we’ll figure out our story as well.

We come upon them as they were wandering in the desert. Why were they wandering? Because they refused to trust God! They had been brought to very entry point of the land of promise but were afraid to enter. They didn’t believe that God would help them take the land and so they wandered the desert. And rather then get mad at themselves, they get mad at God. They blamed him for the consequences of their own sinful unbelief.

Not a very wise thing to do! You see God had done nothing but bless them and bless them! And now they were badmouthing both God and Moses. Well, the Lord wasn’t about to allow such ridiculous and warped behavior go on for very long. The text says “The Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people.....”

Would you agree that the Lord is trying to send them a message? I think he was too. Many of them were going to early graves as a result of what they had done. Is that the message? You rebel against God and there’s a price to be paid? Indeed that’s surely part of it, but I think the main message is much more subtle than that. It’ has to do with the snakes.

Where do we see snakes before? In the Garden of Eden of course. Satan Tempted our first parents and he appeared in the form of a snake! And what was the result? Adam and Eve became mortal, and they became sinful in nature and so did their progeny. The rebelliousness of the Israelites was not some new problem, but an ancient problem a problem that has plagued mankind ever since what happened in the Garden. That’s why the children of Israel were rebellious. That’s why they couldn’t see the overwhelming goodness of the Lord! The venom of Sin, passed down through the generations was now running through there veins and messing with their understanding of reality. They couldn’t see how good God had been to them. For their hearts became dark and their vision clouded. This is what sin does in our lives too: Prevents us from seeing things as they are; prevents us from seeing how Good God has been to us; prevents us from feeling gratitude and Joy for all he has done.

So the people of Israel, with venomous snakes biting all over the place, immediately began to recognize their sin. They confessed their sin and they plead with Moses to ask God to take the snakes away. God tells Moses to make a bronze snake and put it on a pole so that it can be seen by all the people in the camp. And if anyone is bitten, they can look at it and live. And so it happened.

Did you notice, that in the solution that God offered he didn’t make the snakes go away? The consequences of their sin remained with the them. They were still bitten, they still felt the fiery venom coursing through their veins. But God did provide salvation. If they believed his words they could look to serpent on the pole and they would not die. There was no special anti snake serum, no special procedure before the priests, no special thing they had to do....they just had to look up and they would be saved.

As I’ve often say, the great things that God did for Israel are just a small sample of the greater things he would do through his Son. About fifteen hundred years later, Jesus used this event in the history of Israel as an illustration of what he came to do. He said “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in my may have eternal life.” This is why Jesus came into the world. He is the God-provided solution for all those who have bitten by the great serpent of old. He would be lifted up on a cross between heaven and earth.....raised high so that everybody in the camp of humanity could see it. God has seen fit to make this account of Jesus’ death the most well known story in the world. And there is no special thing that you have to do. No special serum or religious procedure. All that is needed is for you to believe....and look up and see in faith what God has done for you in his Son.

Why a snake? Why did Jesus take bronze snake to be a symbol of himself? That seems rather odd doesn’t it? I think the bronze snake reminded the Israelites of two things at the same time. The bronze snake showed them their sin and their salvation at one and the same time. Jesus on the Cross does the exact same thing for us. First, we cannot help but see him bleeding and dying on this instrument of execution without recalling how our own depravity, our own sins are what put him there. And second, We cannot help but remember that since he took our sins, that we are saved. The cross of Christ Shows us our Sin and Salvation.

God did not take the snakes away. Why? Well, it wasn’t until they got bit that the Israelites realized they had sinned and how much they needed help from God. And so their troubles with the snakes were used for their ultimate good: it drove them to their life-giving Lord. I think this answers the question of why God allows troubles in our lives doesn’t it? Imagine if this were not so. Imagine if we never suffered in any way. Imagine if we always had our way and everything always came up roses for us. What would happen to us? Besides becoming insufferable and self-absorbed, we would never turn to the Lord. With such a perfect life, the cosmic questions that we eventually learn to ask would never even be considered and the answer to them would never be learned. The troubles and setbacks and indeed also the pain that we feel in life are reminders of who we are....children of Adam and Eve; sinful and in need of salvation. Yeah the trouble can sting sometimes. It can sting like crazy. And what are we to do? Whine and complain about the raw deal we’re getting? No. Confess and look up in faith to the one was lifted up on a cross for us.