SNAKE
SALVATION
In Numbers 24:4 and following,
it says concerning the children of Israel,
"and they journeyed from
Mount
Hor by the way of the Red Sea to compass the land of Edom:
and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye
brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul
loatheth this light bread. And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the
people; and much people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses, and
said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee;
pray unto the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. And the
Lord said unto
Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass,
that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses
made a serpent of brass and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a
serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived".
The reason for mentioning the story
of the brass serpent is to point out that even though some of God’s commands
may not seem logical to us, we are not to question God as to why. Although the
Israelites were sinful in speaking against God and Moses, to their credit they
did not question God concerning the brass serpent.
They obeyed and lived. Yet there are some today who will
question God’s commands because it does not fit a perceived idea. Such as Mark
16:16 “He
that believeth and is baptized shall be saved”. It is often said, there is
nothing in the water, all you are doing is preaching “water
salvation”. Would the same people that
cry “water salvation”, if back in the wilderness, say to Moses, there is
nothing in a brass snake, your just preaching “snake salvation”? Think on
it! Butch Ellis