All I have to do is look up (believe)?

By: The Good News

May 12th, 2023

Faith?

You’ve heard the saying “seeing is believing”, but this is not always true. Why, you ask? It is because having faith does not come naturally to us.

This couldn’t be truer than when we examine Numbers 21:4-9. It’s when Moses put the replica bronze snake up on a pole, and whoever looked at it would be saved.

What I find interesting about this story is that if an Israelite just looked at the bronze snake they would have lived and they had real proof of this because they saw others surviving. Yet, some of the Israelites still didn’t look up (believe). Why?

In John 3:14-20, Jesus indicates the bronze snake is a foreshadowing of what is to come for Him. Yet, many people still don’t believe in Jesus. Why?

Weary Travelers

It has been almost 40 years since Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt. They are extremely tired and impatient with this long journey and their impatience leads them to speak against both God and Moses......

Numbers 21:4-5

4Then the people of Israel set out from Mount Hor, taking the road to the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom. But the people grew impatient with the long journey, 5and 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!”

The Israelites accuse Moses of bringing them out of Egypt without food or water and now they will be left for dead in the dessert. If this were true, they would have been dead almost 40 years ago. In fact, God has been taking care of their needs every day since they left Egypt. Just a chapter earlier, God had Moses call forth water from a rock to replenish the people’s thirst.

The Israelites follow the statement “There is nothing to eat here and nothing to drink” with “we hate this horrible manna”. These two statements contradict each other since the manna is the food they have been eating for the last few decades. The manna (food) their referring to, was provided for them by God during the duration of their wanderings. Every day when they would wake up, there was manna waiting for them in the desert. Their complaining about dying is an exaggeration, since they were receiving food and water every day.

Coming Judgement

The Israelites are really testing God, and what comes next is the result of their disobedience......

Numbers 21:6-7

6So the LORD sent poisonous snakes among the people, and many were bitten and died. 7Then the people came to Moses and cried out, “We have sinned by speaking against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take away the snakes.” So Moses prayed for the people.

First, notice that all the Israelites were being bitten, but not everyone was being bitten at the same time. The snakes were moving through the people, and biting as they went along. Second, notice that the deadly effects of the bite require time to take effect. This is apparent by the Israelites crying out to Moses for help, people were not instantly dropping dead right after being bitten by the snakes. They acknowledge to Moses that they spoke against God and are expressing some repentance during the judgment.

God’s Grace

This is probably the first time God has brought a judgment against the entire population of Israel that could result in everyone’s death. God would have to step in and offer them some sort of grace to stop this judgment, or there would be nothing to save Israel from extinction.

Numbers 21:8-9

8Then the LORD told him, “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.!” 9So Moses made a snake out of bronze and attached it to a pole. Then anyone who was bitten by a snake could look at the bronze snake and be healed!

Now keep in mind, there were probably more than a million Israelites. Moses would have had to walk from tribe to tribe, shouting instructions on how to be saved from this judgement. There is no doubt this would have taken a lot of time. This point also verifies that the Israelites didn't die after being bitten by the snakes.

How do you think the people reacted when they heard this message for the first time? Were they desperate enough to simply follow as Moses said without questioning? I believe some reacted this way, since the Israelites survived that day to enter the Promised Land. But we also know that many did not take Moses’s advice and died.

A bigger question is, why wouldn’t they have listened to Moses? They only had to do two things. First, they had to repent, recognizing that the serpent bite was the result of their own sin. Second, they had to have faith enough to look at the bronze serpent and believe in God’s instructions. But if either one of these two steps were not followed, the bite would prove fatal. So why did God come up with this judgment and solution?

Believe and Live

Jesus gives us the answer here in the Gospel of John......

John 3:14-15

14And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15so that everyone who believes in Him have eternal life.

In these two verses, Jesus is comparing all mankind to the Israelites that were bitten by the serpents in the desert. Like them, we have been “bitten” by the judgment on account of our sin. Paul says in Romans 5:12When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.

Just as the Israelites rebelled against Moses’ leadership, we rebel against God. Keeping His law is the definition of holiness, and it is the requirement for entering into His presence in heaven. God’s word tells us that if we have broken even one of His laws, it is a sin worthy of death.

Referring to Himself as the Son of Man, Jesus said that He was pictured by that substitute bronze serpent. Jesus was to be our substitute lifted on a wooden cross and if we would look upon Him in faith, we will be saved from the death sentence that sin demands.

God’s Love for Us

If we are willing to look upon Jesus who was nailed on a cross for our sins and if we believe in that payment, we will see eternal life, but the outcome is a question of faith.

John 3:16-20

16“For this is how God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. 17God sent His Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through Him. 18“There is no judgement against anyone who believes in Him. But anyone who does not believe in Him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. 19And the judgement is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. 20All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed.

God’s grace was offered to the world, through Jesus, because he loves us that much. He sent His only Son to earth, to pay the debt of sin by being nailed to the cross, and now Jesus says that those who accept this opportunity will see their death sentence reversed to eternal life. Jesus came with this purpose in mind, to bring salvation to the world.

Just like the Israelites who were already bitten by the snakes and had received their judgement, we have already been judged by God. But because of God’s love, He offers a way to be rescued from the pending judgment. For Moses and the Israelites, it was to look upon the bronze snake. For us it is to believe in Jesus.

Failing to believe in Jesus doesn’t bring a new judgment, the judgment for sin is already in place. But Jesus can be our rescue and hope. We don’t have to be that person, the one who dies without hope. We can be the one who heard Moses testifying and looked up to sky and saw the gift of grace that God made available.

Trusting in God

Both these stories show how simple and easy faith should be, with Moses’s bronze snake story having the added element of immediate lifesaving results, it couldn’t get any easier than that. Yet, people still didn’t believe (look). So, if there is a chance that we won’t believe by seeing, why would we believe or have faith in something we can’t see?

In Luke, Jesus tells the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus. But let’s take a look at the last few verses where Jesus talks about this subject of faith, belief, and trusting in God’s word.

Luke 16:27-31

27Then the rich man said, ‘Please, Father Abraham, at least send him to my father’s home 28For I have five brothers, and I want him to warn them so they don’t end up in this place of torment. 29” But Abraham said, ‘Moses and the prophets have warned them. Your brothers can read what they wrote.” 30” The rich man replied, ‘No, Father Abraham! But if someone is sent to them from the dead, then they will repent of their sins and turn to God.” 31” But Abraham said, ‘If they won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they won’t be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.”

Even with real proof, supernatural proof, proof as unbelievable as someone rising from the dead, we will still not believe. People won’t believe because of a hard and unbelieving heart that doesn’t want to be saved and wants to run from the light. A heart that doesn’t want the light to expose it for what it is. The books of Jeremiah and Mathew speak about the heart this way…...

Jeremiah 17:9” The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? Mathew 15:18-20, 18But the words you speak come from the heart-that’s what defiles you. 19For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander. 20These are what defile you. Eating with unwashed hands will never defile you.

Simple Solution

In the desert, the Israelites could see their own people being saved from death, and by that, they knew they could trust in God’s promise. For us today, we can look upon Jesus’s death and resurrection and have our proof that Jesus’ promise of eternal life is trustworthy. The Bible’s message here is to stop looking for proof and to start trusting in God's promise. God wants your faith and belief now, while you’re alive. Because when your life is over, it will be too late. Remember, like the Israelites we are already judged, we just need to look up and believe.