April 1, 2024
Read Numbers 21, Psalm 91, Mark 15
Most people are fearful of snakes and who would blame them since the first time we find on in the Bible it is busy deceiving Adam and Eve. Here in Numbers 21 we find an instance of snakes that were scary and that saved some lives. “They travelled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go round Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way” v. 4. Their impatience turned into talking bad about the leaders again. “they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, ‘Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!’” v. 5. Here is where the snakes come in. “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” vv. 6-7. The people realized just how their actions had stirred the Lord’s anger, and they confessed their sin. The solution to the snakes was another snake. “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, he lived” vv. 8-9. Jesus mentioned this another snake on a pole in the Gospel of John. “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life” – John 3:14. The verb “lifted up” in John 3 has a deeper meaning than we might know. It’s not referring to being “lift up” as being praised, rather it refers to being lifted up on the cross. A few chapters later we see this in John 12. “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” 33 He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die” vv. 32-33. This is another symbolic reference in the New Testament that Jesus and the disciples connected to Jesus.
What else stands out to you in these chapters? What words, phrases, or themes do you notice?
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DId God Really Say... 