The Bronze Snake

Numbers 21:8 

"And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent,

and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that

every one that is bitten, when he

looketh upon it, shall live.

    The people were plagued by serpents for some time, because the Lord did not take away the serpents as they had requested. It is likely that they carried the brazen serpent with them, setting it up wherever they camped. It was placed in a permanent location once they enter into the land. However, it was later destroyed by King Hezekiah because the people had begun to worship it. "He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan," (2 Kings 18:4). 

    The brazen serpent is a type of Christ, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:  That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life," (John 3:14, 15), and since a crossbeam was likely needed to support the snake, the pole is considered by some to be a symbol of the Cross. The Jews themselves claim that faith in God, and not the mere sight of the brazen serpent, was what healed. 

    Such faith in our Lord Jesus Christ is the way of salvation and it is attested by both Old and New Testaments, "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else", (Is. 45:22). "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God," (Heb. 12:2).  My Friend's, let us not forget the meaning of the Cross and the suffering that was undertaken by our Saviour Jesus Christ! 

Amen!

Reading: (Num. 21:4-9)

Ref: HG SB

May God Bless You

And Your Family

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry

.