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And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died - Numbers 21:6
Moses records an incident in Israel’s history when many people were dying in the wilderness from the bites of poisonous snakes. We read that these snake attacks were the result of the people’s complaining against God and Moses for the hardships they were enduring on their journey to the Promised Land. They were being provided for, but it wasn’t enough in their eyes. They even despised the manna that they were being fed everyday miraculously from heaven "And our soul loathes this light bread."
The snake attacks were the direct result of the people’s rebellion against God. When we sin, God withdraws His protection and we open the door to demonic attacks. This is a pattern that the Bible illustrates over and over again, beginning at Eden all the way through the book of Revelation. Sin has consequences.
Today people are being bitten by the fiery serpent bite of a virus that is wreaking havoc across the planet. We live in a world when multitudes are walking in blatant rebellion against God and the Messiah Jesus. This rebellion is opening the door to the plagues and judgments recorded in Revelation’s prophecies and Jesus’ discourse in Matthew 24 where He recounts “The beginning of sorrows.” Mankind has no one to blame for this new misery afflicting the planet other than themselves.
When the Israelites finally realized what they had done and repented, God made a provision for them to be healed. He told Moses to make a replica of a serpent and put it on a pole. When the people were bitten, they were told to look at the image Moses had made and they were healed. Jesus uses this incident as a representation of His sacrifice for humanity (John 3:14). By repentance and faith in His death and resurrection, we are healed of the poisonous bite of sin and its resulting death. As the prophecy that Jesus fulfilled states, “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed” - Isaiah 53:5.
That miraculous deliverance from sin and the death it brings is available for all of us today. We do not have to fear death, illness or anything else in this life - if we have the peace and hope in our hearts that faith in Jesus brings.
Repent of your sins and believe that Jesus died for you and that He rose from the dead so you can have eternal life. Receive Him as your Lord and Savior. Then you never will have to fear dying from a snake bite, or a virus or anything else that can happen to you in this fallen world. You will have hope and the living presence of God’s Holy Spirit with you to lead you into the Promised Land of everlasting life.
Copyright 2020 by H. D. Shively
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