Numbers 21:6-15: a reflection

6The LORD sent venomous snakes among the people, and they bit the people. Many people of Israel died. 7The people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us.” Moses prayed for the people. 8The LORD said to Moses, “Make a venomous snake, and set it on a pole. It shall happen that everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” 9Moses made a serpent of bronze, and set it on the pole. If a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked at the serpent of bronze, he lived. 10The children of Israel traveled, and encamped in Oboth. 11They traveled from Oboth, and encamped at Iyeabarim, in the wilderness which is before Moab, toward the sunrise. 12From there they traveled, and encamped in the valley of Zered. 13From there they traveled, and encamped on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness that comes out of the border of the Amorites; for the Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. 14Therefore it is said in The Book of the Wars of the LORD, “Vaheb in Suphah, the valleys of the Arnon, 15the slope of the valleys that incline toward the dwelling of Ar, leans on the border of Moab.”

When venomous snakes come among the people because of their sin, and many are dying, God provides a remedy that is strikingly simple: Moses is to make a bronze serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live. The remedy is not to strive or to work, but simply to look: to turn the eyes to the bronze serpent God had provided, and live. Those who looked lived; the remedy was to look to what God had lifted up.

Notice the simplicity of the remedy: to look and live. The dying did not have to do some great work to be healed; they had only to look at the bronze serpent God had provided and lifted up on the pole. The remedy was entirely of God's providing; the people had only to turn their eyes to it in trust, and they lived. And this, Jesus himself would later say, was a picture of him: as the serpent was lifted up, so the Son of Man would be lifted up, that whoever looks to him in faith might live. The remedy God provides is to look, in faith, to Christ lifted up.

That points us to the heart of the gospel: that we are saved not by our striving, but by looking in faith to Christ lifted up for us. Like the dying Israelites, we are perishing, and can do nothing to heal ourselves; but God has provided a remedy, Christ lifted up on the cross, and calls us simply to look to him in faith and live. Do not imagine you must accomplish some great work to be saved; look, in faith, to Christ lifted up for you, as the dying Israelites looked to the bronze serpent and lived. The remedy is God's own provision, lifted up for you; turn the eyes of your faith to Christ crucified, and live, as those bitten by the serpents looked to what God had lifted up and were healed. Salvation is to look, in faith, to Christ lifted up, the remedy God has provided for our perishing, as Israel looked to the bronze serpent and lived.

Lord, when venomous snakes came among the people because of their sin, and many were dying, you provided a remedy strikingly simple: Moses was to make a bronze serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live. The remedy was not to strive or to work, but simply to look: to turn the eyes to the bronze serpent you had provided, and live. Those who looked lived. Show me the simplicity of the remedy: to look and live. The dying did not have to do some great work to be healed; they had only to look at the bronze serpent you had provided and lifted up. The remedy was entirely of your providing; the people had only to turn their eyes to it in trust, and they lived. And this, Jesus himself would later say, was a picture of him: as the serpent was lifted up, so the Son of Man would be lifted up, that whoever looks to him in faith might live. That points me to the heart of the gospel: that I am saved not by my striving, but by looking in faith to Christ lifted up for me. Like the dying Israelites, I am perishing, and can do nothing to heal myself; but you have provided a remedy, Christ lifted up on the cross, and call me simply to look to him in faith and live. Keep me from imagining I must accomplish some great work to be saved; help me look, in faith, to Christ lifted up for me, Lord, as the dying Israelites looked to the bronze serpent and lived. Thank you for the remedy you have provided for my perishing.