Jesus said: “For as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”
My wife’s a doctor. One day they brought a man in for treatment. He was in a coma. Like a dead man. In fact, she could see that if he didn’t get treatment quick, he really would be a dead man.
After a couple of questions to his friends, and a quick examination—she’s a great doc!—she realized he was diabetic and his blood sugar had dropped, and he had fallen into a hypoglycaemic state. So she gave him some sugar. That was all he needed. Just a spoonful of sugar. Within seconds, he woke up and started talking. Just like that. “Oh hello,” he said. “What am I doing here?” And they explained. And he was all smiles. “Oh thank you, thank you, doctor.” And she told him, “Watch your insulin.” It was like a miracle.
ON THE WAY OUT OF EGYPT
Something a bit like that happened when the Israelites came out of Egypt. Remember, they had escaped from slavery. They had come as far as the eastern border of the Promised Land, to the Arava desert east of the Dead Sea. They were almost there. And the Lord was feeding them day by day with bread from heaven. They were almost there.
But then we here about the sad events of Numbers, chapter 21. The people grumbled. “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food. And there is no water. And we hate this miserable food.” And then the Lord sent poisonous serpents among the people. And they bit the people. And many Israelites died.
WHAT KIND OF SNAKE WAS THIS?
Now this snake was a viper. We know this because the Arava is rocky and only vipers live there. Cobras, you see, prefer sand. But vipers like the rocks. In fact, these vipers were probably Saw-Scale Vipers. They have rough scales like a saw. And they live in the Arava to this day. The Bible calls it “a fiery snake”. And it’s red in colour and its bite burns like fire. And it has a fiery temper. It is very aggressive. It’s probably the same snake that Isaiah called a “flying, fiery serpent”. He called it this because, when it attacks you, it leaps up into the air, as high as your chest, and strikes you on the arm or the stomach or the back or even the neck. A deadly foe indeed.
Its bite causes a slow death by bleeding. After one day, bleeding begins in the gums and nose. Then it appears in the urine. Then you haemorrhage from the abdomen, with much pain and vomiting of blood. Then blood comes from your bowels. After two or three days, the unhappy victim dies from heart failure, in great pain.
MOSES LIFTED UP THE SERPENT IN THE WILDERNESS
Well, when this happened, the people, as you can imagine, were pretty sorry. They recognized their fault. And they repented and said. “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord to take away the serpents from us.” (Num. 21:7) And Moses prayed for them. And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a serpent, and put it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten may look at it and live.” (Num. 21:7) Moses did as he was instructed.
Now imagine that you were an Israelite bitten by a snake. You are in pain from the red burning wound. You are terrified. People around you have already died in a pool of blood. And now you are next. Blood begins to come from your mouth and nose. Death stands before you. You see no hope.
GOD PROVIDED A MIRACLE CURE
But suddenly a ripple goes through the camp. A rumour of a cure. Moses has made a bronze snake. And everyone who looks will be healed. You look at the great Mishkan, the Tabernacle, in the middle of the camp. Yes! Moses has lifted up the serpent in the wilderness. There it is. A bronze serpent, hanging on a pole.
You ask yourself, “How can this take away my sickness and death?” But you look at it. You gaze upon it. After all, you have no other hope.
And then—a miracle!—you begin to feel better. The bleeding in your mouth stops. Yes, there’s still a taste of blood. But the bleeding has stopped. And the pain from the bite is less. It’s getting less all the time. After ten minutes, you can’t believe it, but you think you may be healed. After half an hour, you know you have been healed. What an amazing cure! What a great salvation! You get up and walk around. You tell everyone, “Hallelujah. It’s OK. Everybody, look at the bronze snake and you’ll live!”
Now maybe you wonder why I’ve talked so much about snake bites. But, of course, there are lessons for us in all this. Jesus says, As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up—lifted up on the cross—so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. (John 3:14) And I’d like you to notice four things.
1. THE SERPENTS WERE SENT BY THE LORD
The first thing to realize is that the serpents were sent by God. You may say, “What? God wouldn’t do a thing like that. It was just bad luck.” Or “Maybe the devil sent them.” But no. The Bible is very clear, The Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people. (Num. 21:6)
Maybe you feel like your life is full of snakes. Maybe you are way out of your depth, the waters are over your head, you feel like you are going down. If so, think carefully. Has God sent these troubles into your life? Now we must be careful when we speak of this. Not all sorrows that come to people are because of sin (John 3:9). However, some are (John 5:14). God can and does send suffering and adversity on those who do not walk in his way. He does this so they reconsider their ways and turn to him. So think carefully about your life. It may be that your troubles are due to you not walking in God’s ways. If so, then you need to turn to him and seek his forgiveness.
But, of course, as members of the human race, afflictions come to all of us because of the fallen condition of our race. Our first father sinned, and the sentence of pain and death passed from Adam to us all. This was the will of God. Suffering is God’s good plan for his fallen world. But from this too the man hung on the cross can save us. By looking to him, the sentence of sickness and death will someday be reversed.
2. YOU NEED TO BE SAVED
The next thing you need to realize is that you need to be saved. And so do I. Like the Israelites in the desert, we have all been bitten by a snake. That snake is the great serpent, Satan. His venom is killing us. It is the venom of sin. And it leads to death. As the Bible says, The wages of sin is death. If the Israelites didn’t look at the bronze snake they came to a painful and horrible end. And if we do not look at the man on the cross, we will also come to a terrible end, poisoned by the serpent’s venom.
The Israelites could not save themselves. They could not cook up a potion with leeches and treebark and cowdung to make them better. Nor can we save ourselves from the bite of the serpent. We need to be saved.
3. IT IS EASY TO BE SAVED
The third thing is, it is easy to be saved. Just like the Israelites only had to look at the bronze snake, so we only have to look at the man on the cross. There is nothing more we need to do. There is nothing more we need to add. If we only look at Jesus, and keep on looking, we will be saved. And as soon as we look, our healing will begin. The poison of sin grows weaker and our healing begins. We get stronger. And we begin to hate our sin and long for righteousness.
4. ANYBODY CAN BE SAVED
The last thing is, anybody can be saved. The bronze snake cured anybody who looked. It didn’t save the young and not the old. It didn’t save the men and not the women. It didn’t save the rich and not the poor. It saved anyone. In the same way, the man on the cross saves anyone who looks to him. He doesn’t save just white people and not black. He doesn’t save just Anglicans and not Baptists. He doesn’t save just preachers and not taxi-drivers. He saves anybody who looks to him.
AS MOSES LIFTED UP THE SERPENT IN THE WILDERNESS…
So the Son of Man was lifted up, so that all we who believe in him may have eternal life.
By looking at the Son of Man lifted up we can all be healed and saved. But, you say, “How do I look at him?” After all, we can’t actually seen him. But you start by looking in your mind’s eye at the pains Jesus bore for sinners like you and me. Then you will see him more when you attend church. And you’ll see him more when you read the Bible. And you’ll see him when you pray. You will see his sufferings and the injustice he endured. And you will see that he hung there not for his own sins, but for yours and mine. You know, there is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole. There is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin-sick soul.
For God loved the world so much, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that everyone who believes in him should not perish but should have eternal life. Amen.
Here’s a song about how the Lord can heal us.