Look Up

      "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."

      Israel's forty year long march through the wilderness was marked by a series of highs and lows. Life hasn't changed much. We still live our days riding emotional and physical crests and troughs of life's sea. At one particularly low point, Israel began to grumble about the direction God was taking them. Some thought God had intentionally led them into this barren place to kill them all. The people grumbled about the leadership of Moses and his willingness to blindly follow wherever God took them. They grumbled about the lack of water. They even grumbled about the manna God sent them everyday.

      

     In response to these venomous attacks, God sent poisonous serpents into the camp. As people began to die from the serpents' bite, Israel's attitude changed. Suddenly, Moses wasn't such a bad leader after all. Israel was more than willing to overlook any faults Moses might have if only he would pray for them. It seems they now wanted the God who led them into the wilderness to die to save them from the serpents.

     Moses, being the meek sort, refused to give in to the temptation to tell Israel to lie in the bed they made for themselves. He prayed for their deliverance. God, being the loving and forgiving sort, heard Moses' prayer and sent a remedy. God did not make the serpents vanish. He did not take away their venom. The deadly plague of serpents continued, but God sent salvation. He instructed Moses to make a serpent of brass and put it atop a pole. The pole was placed strategically within the camp and anyone who was bitten by a serpent had only to look on the serpent of brass to be spared. Israel was free to consult physicians or grandma's home remedies. They were free to consult Baal, Chemosh, Dagon or any other god the liked. They would die, but they were free to pursue salvation any means they wished.

     Now, there is no physical healing power in a brass sculpture. In Israel's case, there didn't need to be one. A physical healing was the immediate concern, but it was not the real need. Israel needed a spiritual healing. The brazen serpent was a spiritual cure that solved a physical problem. Looking on the serpent was curative only because God said it was. Those who believed God's promise were saved--everyone else died.

      Those who mocked Jesus knew that a man dying on a cross has no inherent power to save. Such a person is really quite helpless. The power of Jesus to save rests in the promise of God that whosoever believes in Him has eternal life. Believing God enough to look to Jesus as our salvation; produces salvation. He is the only cure for the sin that is slowly killing us.

     Mankind is free to try psychiatry, philosophy, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism or any other "ism." Modern society offers a wide spectrum of broad avenues to salvation. Christianity offers Jesus Christ and Him crucified, as the only means to God and the only name given under heaven whereby we must be saved.