The Mystery of the Bronze Serpent: A snake healed Israel?

If you know the story of the Exodus, it seems like Israel is complaining about food a lot. But many people don't realize just how often this complaining was occurring. And this is important to understand, because today we're going to see how. It seems quite harsh how God responds to complaining. And I want you to notice how in Exodus 16, we see this beginning where Israel leaves Egypt, and they have this initial complaint where they say to God, look, we don't have food. And God answers them graciously, and he gives them this manna from heaven. And after eating this manna for about a year, they start complaining about the manna itself, yearning for the meat that they had in Egypt. And so God responds by giving them this massive amount of quail. And they dig in. They eat so much of this quail, stuffing themselves, and in a plague, a sickness bursts out in the midst of them. And then about 40 years of Israel dwelling in this wilderness, they complain about food again. And it is here where Moses comes and brings forth this water from the rock for them in Numbers 20. But in the next chapter of Numbers 21, Israel complains again. And it is at this point where you have to ask, but why? You know, it's easy to judge them as foolish, but I want you to ask yourself, how would you do 40 years in a wilderness? I mean, we're talking about 40 years. And then also ask yourself, how could mere complaining, murmuring with words, lead to the death of many in Israel? Because that's what would ultimately happen in numbers 21, where a plague of snakes break out in the camp, bite them. And as the venom is running through their veins, God does something unexpected. He tells Israel to look upon a bronze serpent to get healing from the snake bites. What does this all mean? Okay, so we're going to Open in numbers 21 to look at this moment. It says, and the people spoke against God and against Moses. Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and there's no water, and we loathe this worthless food, food. Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people so that many people of Israel died. So we see that Israel complained once. Just as they left Egypt, God provided the manna. And now, after about 40 years, this manna becomes the target of their complaining. What God had provided them was not enough for them. And we see Paul actually speak about need and want. Because, see, this is really what's going on in Israel's hearts is, I want more. I'm not satisfied with just my need being met by God. And Paul says in Philippians 4:12, I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound in any and every circumstance. I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. But when Israel continued in their complaining, they were judged for it. The constant complaining against Moses and God was a sin so great that the Scriptures say that many people died. Now, I want you to just stop and think about that for a minute. That complaining can lead to death. See, it's good for us to make our requests known to God. But it is when we are filled with ingratitude towards the manna that he has given us and we start complaining about that, then that becomes dangerous territory. I mean, I want you to listen to the nature of their speech. They said, why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and there is no water, and we loathe this worthless food. I mean, you can just hear the ingratitude that's fueled by this emotional overreaction that is even distorting the facts of their reality. I mean, listen to what they're saying. They're saying we have no food. That's not true. God has been providing them manna for 40 years to eat, but because it didn't taste like Egypt's food, they call it worthless. In other words, what God has for us can sometimes taste different from what the world offers. But nevertheless, it. It is good for our souls. And that's how Jesus himself is right. He is the manna, the true manna that tastes different from this world and what the world has to offer. But he is truly good for our souls. But it can be easy to look at the world, have the root of ingratitude bubble up in us. And we start complaining about not having what the world has. But what the world has isn't better. God's message for us is to not seek to return to the sin, the abuse or the slavery that you were set free from in past times. I mean, don't forget just how bitter the bitter slavery of Egypt actually was. Don't become disillusioned with your current blessings in Christ being somehow worse. But Israel's emotional overreactions didn't stop there. They further distorted the facts when they accused God of bringing them out of Egypt to die in the wilderness. The truth is so far from this because the fact is that they were taken out of slavery into freedom. They were taken from Death into life. Israel had a false assumption of what true freedom means. Because true freedom doesn't mean that you no longer have a master with boundaries. See, you will always be a slave to someone, either to Pharaoh or to God himself. Romans 6:16 says, do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either a slave of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness. But thanks be to God that you who were once slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness to become a slave to righteousness towards your master, Jesus. That's true freedom. Because he does not put his people in the bondages of this world. Rather, he gives them commandments to protect them from the evil, evil in this world. See, the world looks at God's commandments and they call it bondage. Because the world does not like restriction to sin. They don't like someone, especially God, telling them what they can't do. But the question is, what is true restriction? What is true bondage? The dead cannot think, they cannot speak, and they cannot do. That is death. That is restriction. That is bondage. Death is a curse, and sin leads to death. That's what came in at the Garden of Eden. With the fall of man, those alive in Christ will eternally think with the mind of Christ. They will speak the words of God, and they will do his will. So Israel telling God that he has brought them to die in the wilderness or to call the manna from heaven worthless. They're calling good evil and evil good. Like Israel. When we get emotional about something because of what we don't have, it becomes easy to exaggerate, to distort the facts, or to blame another, to justify our strong feelings and strong cravings. So it's best to step away for a moment, to calm down and to think before we act. When we are highly emotional about something and speak only when we are calm. Again, Proverbs 17:27 says, Whoever restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding. I want to remind you how important this is. It is because Israel did not restrain their words and that many died. So what is the antidote to Israel's chronic complaining and ingratitude? I want you to see how God finally deals with them. In Numbers 21:6, it says, Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people. So that many people of Israel died. And the people came to Moses and said, we have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord that he takes away the serpents from us. So Moses prayed for the people, and the Lord said to Moses, make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten when he sees it shall live. So Moses made a bronze serpent, set it on a pole, and. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live. So I want you to see how God does this. First, he sends a strong consequence for Israel's complaining. This is where it's written, many people of Israel died. And that led to Israel's heart change where they come and say, we have sinned. See, God is teaching us that people who live in constant complaining, criticism and ingratitude may need to face strong consequences for their actions before they have a change of heart. And if they have that change of heart, by showing repentance, God calls them to look upon a bronze serpent lifted high on a pole. And that part, that kind of sounds strange, almost heretical. I mean, doesn't the serpent represent Satan? And why would God use the serpent as the symbol to look out for healing? Let's just be real. It's kind of confusing. But first, I want us to remember that the plague that was sent into the camp of Israel as punishment for their complaining were serpents. And they would be healed from the venom of these serpents bites if they looked upon the bronze serpent lifted up. But how does looking upon a serpent heal from a serpent's bite? As we discussed, disobedience to God's law brings a curse. Deuteronomy 28:15 says, but if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God, or be careful to do all of his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you. We have all disobeyed God's commandments, and our sin causes the curse of death to come upon us. All of us will die in our sin unless we grab ahold of God's solution. Galatians 3:13 says, Christ redeemed us from the curse of breaking the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree. When Jesus was lifted up and pierced for our transgressions and the world looked upon him, he became the curse. He became the curse that was heading for all of us, the curse of death. He carried the sins that we deserved, the punishment for the serpent is the ultimate symbol of the curse of sin and death that came through the serpent in the Garden of Eden and Israel. Looking upon this bronze serpent lifted up is a picture of what is to come, where the world will look upon him whom they have pierced. The Son of God, who became a curse for us, lifted high. And yet it was all his choice. He was innocent, he didn't deserve any of it, and he was without sin himself. But our curse of death was placed upon him. He became the curse for us that we looked upon, and he died in our place. And he allowed us, Psalm 103:12 to become real for us. Where it's written, as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. For when we have the venom of sin running through our veins, and we know that we only have moments left to live in this world, our only cure is to look upon the Son of God lifted high, so the curse that came from the serpent may be removed from us so that we may be healed and so that we may walk a new life. That just as Christ was resurrected from the dead, we too may be. I want you to notice that it wasn't Israel murdering someone, stealing or committing adultery that brought this curse of death upon them. In this case, it was their tongues. It's written that death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit. Satan had recreated his image in in Israel, that image that defies God through ingratitude, complaining, and constant criticism of others. It led to the death of many in the camp of Israel. And I want to share with you that if this is you today, if you're someone who's just in a cycle of complaining, criticizing others, or just being full of ingratitude, I want to ask you to consider repentance today before our Father needs to resort to something greater to get your attention. For Israel, they had great cost. And I want you to not have great consequences come upon your life before you wake up. And on the other hand, if you're already living in some of those consequences right now in your life, repent today before it's too late. There is time right now to turn and say, like Israel did, we have sinned. We have spoken against the Lord. We have spoken against Moses. We want to turn from this. And he will lift up the the sun high for you to look upon, and you will be healed from the snake bite that is available for you now. But it may not be available tomorrow, for no one is promised tomorrow. And so if any part of this message has connected with you, pray with me as we surrender this to our Father who is in heaven, who loves us so much and who wants to deliver us from all of our sins, bondages, sicknesses, and whatever you may be facing right now. Father, I ask that you would come and heal us from the bite of the snake. Lord, where we have started to act in ways contrary to your Holy Spirit, we repent. Where we have complained, we have had ingratitude, where we have criticized or broken down others because we are broken ourselves, we repent. We ask that you would give us a new heart. We ask that you would heal us from the venom and that you would make us into your image so that we may stand high and look with joy to the hope that you have for us. A good future is your plan for us. Yeshua, I thank you for this revelation. I thank you that you give us time, that you did not just destroy us in our sin, but came to save us from our sin. Thank you. In the name of Yeshua, I pray thank you for joining me. May the Father bless you no matter what you're going through. And I'll see you again. Shalom, Sam.