Numbers 21:4-9. Enter Into God’s Way of Salvation By Faith-my devotional 9-10-16 

Numbers 21:4-9                     Kevin E. Jesmer

Key verse 21:8                       9-10-16

“The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.”

Look at verses 4-9, “4 They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; 5 they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!” 6 Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. 7 The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. 8 The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.”

The people could not maintain their enthusiasm and their eagerness when hardships ensured. Look at verse 4, “They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way;” The people grew impatient, They lacked food and water and they were tired eating the bland food. They became fatalistic, thinking that they were going to die. All of this was the bad fruit of unbelief.

Notice the resurgence of grumbling and complaining did not stop the Lord from bringing them into the Promised Land. Nor did it stop the victories that they accomplished as a nation that is led by God. It is even more evidence of God’s will unfolding despite fickle human emotions and feelings.

It does not mean that God was pleased with all of their lack of faith and its bad fruit. No, what they were doing was inviting God’s judgement on them.

God’s judgement came upon the camp. Look at verse 6, “Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died”. The whole camp was filled with venomous snakes that bit the people and they died. Their complaining and rebellion could not continue. It was crucial that it stop.

The responded well with repentance. They came to Moses confessing their sins. Look at verse 7a, “The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us…” The asked Moses to pray for them. They were taking the first steps towards forgiveness and restoration.

The coming of the snakes was not God’s fault. The fault was with the people. Sometime it takes personal suffering to lead us to repentance.  Before this it was not easy for them to confess and repent. But when they and their family members were being bit by venomous snakes. their hearts became more tender towards God. Why is it that only humble ourselves and seek God’s forgiveness after we have suffered? Why not come to God quickly, trusting in his love for us right from the start? God would rather have it this way. But that is sinful human nature for you.

Moses responded to their request for prayer. He was not filled with thoughts of, “You got yourselves into this mess, get yourselves out of it. “No. He was ready as a  servant of the Lord to pray for the people he was called to serve.

Moses prayed to the Lord and God provided a way to be saved. Look at verses 8-9, “The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.”  They were to make a bronze snake and place it on a pole. Anyone who was bit by the poisonous snakes could look up at the snake on the pole and live. This was God’s way of salvation for any who were bitten.

It was a type of filter. Anyone who had faith could be saved. Think about it. The venomous snakes were on the ground. They were biting people. Our human instincts would be to save ourselves. We would be looking down on the ground, being extra careful and try to crush the snakes before we or our family members would be bit. But God wanted them to look up to the snake on the pole. This didn’t make sense humanly. It required faith to take their eyes off of the snakes and entrust their lives and the lives of their loved ones to God. They needed to trust God and his word and his way of salvation. Those who had this faith were saved and those who did not perished. All the people were eligible and capable to engage their faith. But some chose not to while some chose to engage faith. God provided a way to be saved and faith and trust and obedience were at the core of that way.

Sometimes our problems and our sins “bite” us. Satan is out to “bite” us. It is like poison entering our veins. We become wounded. We look down trying to solve our problems without looking up to Jesus lifted high and exalted. We don’t trust God’s way of salvation. We reject Gospel solutions to our problems. We grow desperate. We apply our unbelief to our family members. We become weary and falter in our endless futile attempts to save ourselves. Why do we do this? It is because of our unbelief. Our unbelief is deadly.

We tend to think that God’s way does not make sense. We think that our own human plans make more sense to us. But the people in this passage, who thought that their own human plans made more sense, died in their own human sense. We only have so much time to rise up out of the quagmire of the bad fruit of our sin. Don’t waste your time with your human wisdom alone. Find the solution in Jesus. Find God’s way of salvation and enter into that way by faith.

God calls us to glorify him in the midst of our crisis’. In order to do so we need faith. We need faith to look up and see Jesus. Jesus is the Way and the Truth and the Life. (John 14:6) We need obedience to the Gospel. It takes faith. When we hold onto faith, then we experience God’s miraculous deliverance. We see that our salvation is by God’s grace and not by our human effort. It all has to do with lifting the eyes of our heart up to Jesus and off of the problems of this world. Then we experience God’s deliverance.