Look and Live
“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. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.”Numbers 21:8–9 (KJV)
In the wilderness, fiery serpents bit the people, and many died. God’s answer was strange. “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.”
No medicine. No ritual. No work to earn it. “if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.” All a dying person had to do was look.
Centuries later Jesus told Nicodemus what that pole was pointing to. “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.”
We are all bitten. Sin has its poison in every one of us. The cure isn’t trying harder to heal ourselves. It is looking to the one who was lifted up on the cross. Look and live. That is still the whole invitation.
Read it yourself
Read Numbers 21:4–9 and John 3:14–17. What word in John 3:15 and 3:16 tells you who the invitation is for?
Are you still trying to treat your own bite, or are you looking to Christ?
Lord Jesus, you were lifted up for me. I look to you, and I live. Amen.