As Christians, it is vital for our personal spiritual growth, as well as for the health and well-being of the entire Body of Christ, to nourish the inner life with a daily diet of the Word of God.  It is necessary that we eat regular "spiritual" meals throughout the day just as we would our physical meals (and not try to stuff in everything the Lord has for us for an entire day into one 15 minute sitting!).  God taught His people Israel the importance of spiritual meals when He led them in the desert those forty years, "to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.  He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither your nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD" (Deuteronomy 8:2-3).  Somewhere along the way, however, the Israelites grew tired of the food that God had provided for them and "they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert?  There is no bread! There is no water!   And we detest this miserable food!" (Numbers 21:5).  God had sent them bread from heaven in a miraculous way each and every day of their journey, and rather than receive it with grateful hearts, they rejected His grace!

The serpent in the garden had deceived Eve, by causing her to question God's Word and to doubt His goodness.  Now, the Israelites were falling for the same old temptation as they responded in the flesh to God's gracious provision of food, so the Lord sent serpents as their punishment, and "...they bit the people and many Israelites died" (v.6b).  While the first man and woman hid themselves from God, the Israelites came to Moses confessing their sinfulness and asking him to pray for them.  "So Moses prayed for the people" (v. 7b), and the Lord answered him with the remedy:  "Make a snake and put it on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live" (v.8b).  The instrument of their death, would now become the remedy which would save their lives.  This illustration of the bronze serpent on the pole was also used of Jesus when He spoke of His own death on the cross.  "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life" (John 3:14-15).  At the root of all our problems is sin in the heart, and Jesus is our only remedy.  The cause of our original sin would become our cure, as Jesus became sin for us, bearing our sin in His body and being lifted up on the cross, so that all who would look upon Him by faith would be saved.

Just as the Israelites had to look upon the bronze snake on the pole in the desert to receive their healing, today, we must look upon the crucified Christ by faith.  His suffering and death were put on display for the whole world to see, and every single person on the earth has been poisoned by the venomous bite of the serpent of sin, and their only hope and remedy is found in Jesus Christ.  A popular slogan declares the simplicity of God's salvation which is available to all: Life is short - Death is sure - Sin is the curse - Christ is the cure!  May we be found faithful in proclaiming the good news of salvation that is available for all who will look to Jesus and believe! "For God did not sent His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him" (v.17).