All this talk about snakes and serpents and such...might create a bit of anxiety in folks who have a phobia towards such critters. And yet...you have ‘churches’ out there today that make ‘handling them’ a part of their church services...go figure! But all we are going to do here today is look further into scripture as to how God used ‘serpents’ and what they may possibly represent. (You might want to read the past few days’ posts to catch up if you missed them)

Why is this even relevant? Well for starters, Paul writes in 1 Cor. 10 how a bunch of God’s people were ‘destroyed by serpents’ because they ‘tempted God’ in the wilderness. (9). And I only mention this because Paul drives home the point that these things were written down as examples, warnings, and an admonition to us NT believers...”upon whom the end of the ages has come.” (6,11). You can refer back to Numbers 21:4-6 to discover how that played out when the people began to speak out against both God and Moses. You can read for yourself there how “the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people and many of the people of Israel died.”

Can I just be transparent with you here for a moment? For years...whenever I would venture back into the OT and read, I would often find myself unable to grasp what I was reading and found myself asking- just ‘who is this God I see here on display?’ He just did not seem to ‘fit’ with my modern day theology and concept of a ‘loving God’ we all have heard about. Well, there are plenty of reasons as to why there was a disconnect for me, and I would imagine for many of you reading here today as well. Which is why I often am compelled to ask: “When did God change?” (Mal. 3:6)

Something we tend to forget, or maybe have never been fully taught...the reason God brings judgments and wrath on His people, is usually because nothing else has worked and it’s a last resort to humble us and bring us to repentance. God is not out looking to destroy His people; on the contrary, He is all about saving and redeeming them...BUT...we can be slow in learning this happens according to His ways, and not ours. Which is why if you continue on there in Numbers 21:7-9, you’ll read how God instructed Moses to make that brazen serpent and hold it up for the people to look up on so they might be healed from the very serpents that had bitten them. Heb. 12:5-11 brings added NT context here as well.

In Jeremiah, we read how God’s people can be so ignorant that they don’t even know or recognize the ‘judgement of the Lord’. This in part, was due to faulty and/or deceptive teachings. (Jer. 8:5-9) That only feeds in to the narrative as to how God’s people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge. (Hosea 4:6). And yet, God continues to implore His people to repent and turn back to Him...or else- “I will send serpents among you, vipers which cannot be charmed and they shall bite you, says the Lord”. (Jer. 8:17)

And yet, to those who come to Jesus with all their hearts, what promise did He offer them? You can find that answer in Luke 10:17-19 & 1 John 5:18. See you tomorrow, Lord willing?