As the Serpent in the Wilderness (Numbers 21:4–9)
From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. 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 no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” 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 take 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 and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.
—Numbers 21:4–9
What an amazing and intriguing story.
When you think about it, all these people—because of their sin, complaining, rebellion, and grumbling against God—are experiencing his judgment. They are being bitten by fiery serpents. So Moses intercedes, and God provides a way for them to be saved. But consider the way he provides it: “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.”
When people are bitten by a snake, they must look at a snake in order to live. Why? If you have just been bitten by a snake, the last thing you want to see is another snake.
Numbers 21:4–9 points to Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice.
But the whole picture here—just as we see throughout the Bible—is setting the stage for the coming of Jesus. When we get to John 3, Jesus makes a direct connection between this story and himself. When he speaks of being “lifted up,” he is referring to being lifted up on a cross.
See the parallels between Numbers 21 and John 3, and what Jesus ultimately did on the cross for you and me. We deserve death for our sin. So how can we be saved? Lift up your eyes and look to Jesus, dying on the cross for sin. Look to him and live.
Numbers 21:4–9 calls us to believe so that we may live.
Believe in him, trust in him, and have eternal life. You will be forgiven of your sin through faith in Jesus—by looking to him on the cross. Numbers 21 is a powerful picture of how God saves. It is not by doing works or checking off boxes. It is by looking and living. Salvation comes by believing and finding life.
Just as John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
So, God, we praise you for making a way for the forgiveness of our sins, for making a way for us to live. Jesus, we praise you for being lifted up on a cross and for bearing the price of our sin. We look to you afresh even now, and we praise you. God, we exalt you for the forgiveness of all our sins through faith in Jesus.
A Prayer for the Bauchi People
O God, help us to share this good news with someone today. Help us to point someone to Jesus, that they might look and live. We pray for the spread of this good news around the world, including among the Bauchi people of Nigeria, a Muslim people group numbering 42,000. Please cause the good news of Jesus—who died on a cross and rose from the dead—to reach them, that they might see him, hear about him, and live.
Thank you for saving us from our sin and rebellion by your grace, not by our works, but by looking to Jesus and living. We praise you for the life we have in him today. Help us to live it to the full and to spread this life to others around us and to people groups around the world.
In Jesus’s name we pray. Amen.
