Num 21:4-7 | KingComments | STEP | First the people have to go in the direction of the Red Sea again. At the end of the wilderness journey it is useful to look again and let it sink in well that this is the place where we have been delivered from the power of the enemy. The picture of the cross must come alive before us again. If we can’t appreciate that, there will be grumbling. The people are getting impatient because of the detour they have to make. Again the reason for their grumble is that they have no water and bread. How can they say it! They have it, but they are fed up with it. It can no longer please them. When the people despise the bread of life, the fiery serpents come and with them death. Throughout their journey through the wilderness they have been surrounded by fiery serpents ( ), but the LORD has always kept them. But their aversion to the heavenly bread makes it necessary to teach them (and us!) a penetrating lesson. The plague of the fiery serpents makes the people reflect. Through the fiery serpents, the people must discover that sin still dwells in them. It concerns the people of God who must learn what effect the bite of a fiery serpent has. Then we hear the people say: “We have sinned.” They confess guilt. They appeal to the intercession of Moses. They also tell him what to pray. In doing so, they indicate what they think is best for their recovery. But God always has in mind the glory of the Lord Jesus when He hears a prayer. Therefore He does not take away the fiery serpents, as the people suggest. Compare Naäman who also suggested how he could be cleansed from his leprosy ( ). The LORD gives outcome, but in a way that salvation is connected to the faith of the people. Moses has to make a bronze serpent and put it on a standard. A single look at the lifted up fiery serpent is enough to be healed. The ‘looking’ at the fiery serpent does have the meaning of intensely looking at. In his conversation with Nicodemus, the Lord Jesus explains the spiritual significance of this event: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life” ( ; ; ; ; ). God heals the people not by taking away the serpents, but by adding something to it. Moses must take the means by which the people are plagued. Thus the Lord Jesus had to enter into our circumstances. He could not save us by speaking a word of power or by judging the devil. Then we would have remained in our sins. It is only because He was made sin for us on the cross that it became possible to deliver us from the power of sin ( ). The Son of Man must be exalted. This is not so much to forgive sins, although it is included, but He had to be exalted to give eternal life to all who believe in Him. The lifting up on the cross opens the richest, heavenly, eternal blessings for all who believe. The fiery serpent not only speaks of salvation of the serpent’s bite and of not having to die, but on top of that of eternal life. At the end of the wilderness journey we are reminded of this by this history. Eternal life is knowing the Father and the Son ( ). Eternal life is knowing the Lord Jesus, for He is “the true God and eternal life” ( ). What eternal life means, we do not know at the beginning of our journey through the wilderness, when we have just been converted. We learn this as we give up more and more of ourselves through the lessons of the wilderness. Then we also see better and better that the eternal life means much more than forgiveness of sins and being freed from hell. The fiery serpent is taken by the Israelites to Canaan. There it becomes an idolatrous object, that is destroyed by Hezekiah ( ). Thus, the cross can be deprived of its true meaning and made into a kind of mascot. For example, a cross can be worn as a piece of jewelry and a protective effect can be attributed to it.

‏ Numbers 21:4-7

The Bronze Serpent

First the people have to go in the direction of the Red Sea again. At the end of the wilderness journey it is useful to look again and let it sink in well that this is the place where we have been delivered from the power of the enemy. The picture of the cross must come alive before us again. If we can’t appreciate that, there will be grumbling. The people are getting impatient because of the detour they have to make. Again the reason for their grumble is that they have no water and bread. How can they say it! They have it, but they are fed up with it. It can no longer please them.

When the people despise the bread of life, the fiery serpents come and with them death. Throughout their journey through the wilderness they have been surrounded by fiery serpents (Deu 8:14-15), but the LORD has always kept them. But their aversion to the heavenly bread makes it necessary to teach them (and us!) a penetrating lesson.

The plague of the fiery serpents makes the people reflect. Through the fiery serpents, the people must discover that sin still dwells in them. It concerns the people of God who must learn what effect the bite of a fiery serpent has. Then we hear the people say: “We have sinned.” They confess guilt.

They appeal to the intercession of Moses. They also tell him what to pray. In doing so, they indicate what they think is best for their recovery. But God always has in mind the glory of the Lord Jesus when He hears a prayer. Therefore He does not take away the fiery serpents, as the people suggest. Compare Naäman who also suggested how he could be cleansed from his leprosy (2Kgs 5:11).

The LORD gives outcome, but in a way that salvation is connected to the faith of the people. Moses has to make a bronze serpent and put it on a standard. A single look at the lifted up fiery serpent is enough to be healed. The ‘looking’ at the fiery serpent does have the meaning of intensely looking at. In his conversation with Nicodemus, the Lord Jesus explains the spiritual significance of this event: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life” (Jn 3:14-15; Rom 8:3; 2Cor 5:21; 1Pet 2:24; Col 2:14-15).

God heals the people not by taking away the serpents, but by adding something to it. Moses must take the means by which the people are plagued. Thus the Lord Jesus had to enter into our circumstances. He could not save us by speaking a word of power or by judging the devil. Then we would have remained in our sins. It is only because He was made sin for us on the cross that it became possible to deliver us from the power of sin (Jn 3:15).

The Son of Man must be exalted. This is not so much to forgive sins, although it is included, but He had to be exalted to give eternal life to all who believe in Him. The lifting up on the cross opens the richest, heavenly, eternal blessings for all who believe. The fiery serpent not only speaks of salvation of the serpent’s bite and of not having to die, but on top of that of eternal life. At the end of the wilderness journey we are reminded of this by this history.

Eternal life is knowing the Father and the Son (Jn 17:3). Eternal life is knowing the Lord Jesus, for He is “the true God and eternal life” (1Jn 5:20). What eternal life means, we do not know at the beginning of our journey through the wilderness, when we have just been converted. We learn this as we give up more and more of ourselves through the lessons of the wilderness. Then we also see better and better that the eternal life means much more than forgiveness of sins and being freed from hell.

The fiery serpent is taken by the Israelites to Canaan. There it becomes an idolatrous object, that is destroyed by Hezekiah (2Kgs 18:4). Thus, the cross can be deprived of its true meaning and made into a kind of mascot. For example, a cross can be worn as a piece of jewelry and a protective effect can be attributed to it.