Father, who but You will love us right where we are? Of course, we can not stay there, we must grow and move on to be what You made us to be. But I am grateful that I am accepted for who I am. I don’t have to reach some level of expectation before Your love is given – and that in abundance. There is such comfort in a relationship with You. May I do better in emulating that love toward others. Amen.
John 3:14-15 (<<click here to read the passage)
I am not terrified of snakes, but I am also not a huge fan of them. If I see one around our yard or maybe on a hike, they definitely give me a start, but I wouldn’t run away screaming. I might even choose to follow them to see where they slither off. Maybe because of this, I’ve always been intrigued by today’s passage of scripture.
The devil perverts God’s creation for his own devious reasons but I believe that God rules all. And snakes – or serpents as they are often referred to in Scripture – are one of those things.
At the very beginning, Eve, then Adam, were lured from God’s explicit directive when they yielded to the enticements set forth by the devil in the guise of a shrewd serpent (Genesis 3:1ff).
Then in Numbers 21:4-9 serpents take a key role. In their desert wanderings (due to their rebellion against the Lord) …the people of Israel…grew impatient with the long journey, and they began to speak against God and Moses. “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die here in the wilderness?” they complained. “There is nothing to eat here and nothing to drink. And we hate this horrible manna!” vs4b-5
Patient as He was, it was time for the Israelites to learn to respect all the Lord had done and continued to do for them. Due to their insolence, the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people, and many were bitten and died. v6
In pain and agony, they pleaded with Moses to intercede on their behalf before the Lord and the result was that He said to Moses, “Make a replica of a poisonous snake and attach it to a pole. All who are bitten will live if they simply look at it!” v8
I find it interesting that in Rabbinic literature it is held that God said: “Let the serpent who was the first to offend by ‘evil tongue’ inflict punishment on those who were guilty of the same sin and did not profit by the serpent’s example”.
The devil may have perverted a creature of God’s making for his own intent and purposes but God used it to bring healing to the Israelites in Numbers. Unfortunately, the bronze serpent of antiquity became an idol for later generations of Israelites (2 Kings 18:1-4) but Jesus affiliated it with His ultimate purpose in coming to live amongst us.
In today’s passage, He said,
“Just as Moses lifted up the [bronze] serpent in the desert [on a pole], so must the Son of Man be lifted up [on the cross], so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life [after physical death, and will actually live forever].” John 3:14-15AMP
Something that our enemy the devil perverted became a symbol of our ultimate salvation! But more on that in my next post!
Apr 8th, 2021, Thurs, 8:12 pm
