There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Prov. 14:12
Due to their sin God sent fiery serpents into the camp of ancient Israel. Then He instructed Moses to make a brazen serpent, put it on a pole, and set it in the midst of the camp. Then He healed all who obeyed and looked upon it. There was no other cure.
Donald Grey Barnhouse, the late well-known pastor and radio preacher, illustrated how the human heart responds to “fiery serpents”:
In the religious fashion of our day, there would have been a rush to incorporate the “Society for the Extermination of the Fiery Serpents.” There would have been badges for coat lapels, cards for district workers, secretaries for organization branches, pledge cards, and mass rallies. There would have been a publication office and a weekly journal to tell of the progress of the work. There would have been photographs of heaps of serpents that had been killed by the faithful workers, all of them feverishly trying, by human effort, to overcome the serpent’s bite of sin!
This Old Testament event, found in Numbers 21, is really a wonderful picture of what Christ would do thousands of years later on the cross. He would hang in our place as a sinner so that all who looked upon Him might be saved.
In John 14:6, Christ says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by Me.” There is no other way to God but to look upon the crucified Savior and believe.
People today are surrounded with all the trappings of religion: they join churches, sign pledge cards, go through Bible lessons and catechisms, give money, get baptized, and in the end, still die without the cure for sin. The truth is, we all have been bitten by sin and its poison is steadily and continually rushing through our veins—we are terminally infected with the venom of sin’s curse.
Our only hope is to look to that wooden cross upon which the Lamb of God was held up for all to see. Look there! . . . God has provided your cure.- – –
Though you already may have accepted Christ’s gift of salvation, it is very easy to take your eyes off Him. As Paul said, we must “fix our eyes on Jesus,” and that should be your prayer today. Don’t let yourself forget the awesome work Christ did for you at the cross; practice thanking Him for it . . . start today! (Wisdom for the Heart)
