Snake Bit
Pastor Matt Bell
Sermon Summary
In this sermon, Pastor Matt explores the story of the Israelites in the wilderness from the book of Numbers, focusing on their grumbling against God's provision and the subsequent discipline they faced through fiery serpents. He breaks the narrative into four main points: the people's sin of impatient complaining, God's loving but painful discipline, the people's prompt repentance, and God's remedy through Moses' intercession and the bronze serpent. Pastor Matt connects this Old Testament account directly to the Gospel, demonstrating how the bronze serpent prefigures Christ on the cross, who became sin so that whoever looks upon Him in faith will receive eternal life, and he concludes by challenging believers not to grow entitled or bored with Jesus and the ordinary means of grace.
Sermon Transcript
Journey to the Promised Land
And so Abraham's family, the children of Israel, found themselves enslaved in Egypt, and they called out to God to deliver them. God sent them a deliverer, a man named Moses, who delivered his people from slavery in Egypt. God was leading his people into the land of Canaan, which God had promised to give to Abraham, so we know that land as the Promised Land. He was leading his people into that land, but his people rebelled against God and said, "We cannot go into that land because we will be killed if we try to do this. If we try to take the land from the people that live there, we're not strong enough, we don't have enough weapons. We're outnumbered, they will kill us."
They didn't trust God to help them. Because of that, God judged them and made that unfaithful, unbelieving generation live out all of their days in the wilderness. For 40 years, they wandered in the wilderness until that generation would pass away, and a new generation would come of age that God would lead into that land of promise.
Where we find ourselves in this story is they are very close to the end of that 40 years. They're ready to now enter into the Promised Land, and they ask their cousin, Edom—Edom was descended from Esau. If you remember Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, these are the descendants of Jacob. They ask Esau, Edom, "Can we just cut through? Can we do a shortcut and cut through your territory on our way to the Promised Land? Instead of having to go all this long way around back to the Red Sea, all the way around this treacherous territory. It's a really nice shortcut, we'll just cut right through. We won't mess anything up. We won't take any of your stuff."
And Edom said, "Absolutely not. You may not pass through our territory," and they sent an army out to fight against them, to keep them from entering through their land.
So they're right ready to go into the Promised Land, this next generation, and then this delay comes. This opposition comes, and now they have to go all the way back around, through this treacherous territory, to go into the Promised Land. It's on this trip it says they went out back to the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom. And it's in this moment that we see this story.
My title today for the sermon is Snake Bit. I have four points for us this morning from this passage.
1. The People's Sin
The first thing I want to draw your attention to is the people's sin. They first begin, it says, they became impatient on the way. Remember, they only had to pass through. They were so close, and now they have to go all the way back around, and they become impatient. It says the people spoke against God and against Moses. They said, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food."
Their accusation is against God and against Moses: God, after this 40 years of provision and protection, you're just going to kill us again in the wilderness. We have no food, and we have no water. Now, if you've been reading the story, I want to ask you, is that true? Were they out of food and water? No, it's not true. We know it's not true by their own lips because they say, "We have no food, we have no water, and we loathe this worthless food." So they do have food. They do have water.
Twice, God had provided water for them from the rock. God was also providing for them bread from heaven every single day that was called manna. I just want you to think about how amazing it would be for God to provide food for you every single day. All they had to do was to walk outside of their tent, and this manna, this bread-like substance, was on the ground. It was collected with the dew, and they just had to go and scoop it up. It would nourish them. It said it was sweet like honey. It was like tortillas from heaven, if you could imagine. Or sopaipillas, right? It's God raining down bread every day, and it was the nourishment that they needed, sustaining them in the wilderness for 40 years. Yet they counted God's provision as worthless. They became discontent with what God was providing.
At some point this week, I blurted out to my children, "Y'all are so entitled." I only remember this because they said, "Dad, what does that mean? What does entitled mean?" I had to think for a second, and I said, "It means you think you deserve things you don't deserve." That's what entitlement is. You think you deserve things that you don't deserve.
They had become so accustomed to God's blessing in their life that they thought they just deserved it. They looked down upon God's provision, and I just wonder if the same might be true of any of us. God so richly provides for our needs every single day, and we become so discontent. We find ourselves longing for other things that he has not provided, but things that are flesh, desires, and wants. When we do that, in a way what we're saying is we are not grateful for the provision that God has provided.
We know earlier in Numbers, they became bored with the manna, and they began to long for the fish that was in Egypt. Oh man, they had great fish in Egypt. Wouldn't it be wonderful to have fish? It says they wanted the cucumbers and the melons, and the onions, and the garlic. They had this longing in their flesh for something that God had not provided for them in the wilderness. Essentially, what they were saying is, "Couldn't we just get some spices to put on this manna? Couldn't we just spice this up a little bit? A little bit of garlic, some paprika, or some cumin? Just something to spice this up. It is so boring, and it is so bland."
And yet it nourished them. God was feeding them. But their hearts became discontent, and so they grumbled, it says. They complained. They spoke against God and against Moses. Now again, if you're reading the story with us, you know that this is not the first time they have grumbled and complained against God and Moses. The first time they grumbled and complained was just as soon as God had led them out of Egypt; when they came up to the Red Sea, they grumbled and complained. "Why did you bring us out of here to die in the wilderness?" They complained they had no water. When God provided water, they complained the water was bitter; it wasn't to their tasting. They complained about a lack of food. They complained after the spies went in and reported. They wanted to return to Egypt.
These people have been complaining and complaining and complaining. Now if you're a parent, you know exactly what this is like: no matter what we give you, it's never good enough. And the children of Israel—I'm sorry to spoil the punchline—are a picture of the church. This is God's church in the wilderness. This is the congregation of his people. And it is so true of us as well, that so often we become discontent and we even complain about what God has blessed us with.
It says here explicitly that they complained against God and against Moses. Earlier in Exodus chapter 16, verse 8, reflecting on one of these complaining stories, it says:
"And Moses said, 'When the Lord gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the full, because the Lord has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him—what are we? Your grumbling is not against us but against the Lord.'"
Every time they grumbled against Moses, they weren't just grumbling against Moses. They were grumbling against the Lord. When they grumbled against the leaders that God had placed in their life, they were grumbling against the Lord. When they grumbled against the blessings that God had given to them, they were grumbling against the Lord. Listen, God is sovereign. His providence is over all things. When we grumble against our situation in life, we're not just grumbling against that situation. We're grumbling against the Lord.
And the way that this story reads—because later they have to confess after the serpents come and bite them, they have to go to Moses and say, "We have sinned"—because of that fact, it reads that they were grumbling in their hearts. This wasn't even a vocalized grumbling. This was an internal discontent that they had harbored in their life.
I want to warn you, I want to caution you against grumbling, against complaining, against this spirit of discontentment that is so prevalent in our culture. Our culture complains about everything. You will not find anything happening that people are not grumbling and complaining about. The most silly things, the most ridiculous things, the most non-consequential things, the things that truly don't matter at all, people will find reason to grumble and complain about.
I'll illustrate it for you. The last three weeks, people have been grumbling and complaining as if it's the end of the world about the NFL's choice of the Super Bowl halftime show. As if this is some grand affront, the end of our union. People get whipped into a fury over the most ridiculous things. Who cares? I'm talking about for the people of God, for the children of God who are part of the kingdom of God, who cares? So then, some other organization decides they're going to have their alternative Super Bowl show. And as if you know anything about that, you know that didn't satisfy everybody either.
Look, we need to not be led by the spirit of the world that is just grumbling and complaining about everything all the time. Has God not blessed us richly? Do we not have reason to be grateful for the blessings that we do have? How ridiculous is it that we would let the most silly little things rob our joy, our peace, and our contentment in Christ? As if they picked some better artists, like that would really bring you joy. It wouldn't even make it to the end of the football game if your team lost! So if it's not going to bring you lasting joy, why are you letting it bring you so much anger, discontentment, and grumbling?
We need to be grateful for what God has placed in our lives. As our grandparents used to tell us, don't curse the darkness, light a candle. Be thankful. Moses wasn't a perfect leader. He had his issues. Apparently, he had some anger issues; he struck the rock. But yet, they were called to follow him. He was the leader God had given them. So Moses says, "When you rebel against me, you're rebelling against God." When we rebel against what God has placed in our lives, it's ultimately against God, is it not? Let us be careful that we don't allow the culture that we live in to lead us, but that we are being led by the Spirit with a spirit of gratitude towards God every day.
That's why we pray before we eat, by the way. It's not because we're worried that it's poisonous, or that praying is going to reduce the calorie count. That doesn't work. The prayer before we eat is to give God thanks. Thank you, God, for your provision. Because everything good and perfect comes from you.
Yesterday, we were driving in the car, and my children were having a conversation. The conversation was: "Would you rather not be able to smell or to taste?" Asher speaks up confidently, and he says, "I'd rather not be able to taste." I thought, Hmm, that's interesting. How awful would that be, not being able to taste? And then Charity is like, "Why?" He says, "Because then I could eat mom's food." I just thought, that poor guy, man. He needs to have a little bit more gratitude in his life for the provision that God is giving him! The prayers that we're praying before we eat our meals aren't really landing with Asher just quite yet. We need to be grateful for what God has provided for us.
2. God's Discipline
The second point is God's discipline. We see that in verse 6:
"Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died."
God brings discipline on his people. They want to act like snakes, so God sends them snakes. They want to bite and devour the leader that God placed in their life; God's going to send them some snakes as discipline.
And truly, this is discipline, not judgment. Judgment from God is reserved for his enemies. These are not God's enemies; they are God's people. Discipline is reserved for his children, and discipline is how God draws his children back to himself. Discipline is how God keeps his children on the path that he has for them. As they begin to wander off, God will bring discipline into our lives to put us back on the right path. The writer of Hebrews reminds us of this in Hebrews chapter 12, starting in verse 5:
"And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?
'My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
nor be weary when reproved by him.
For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastens every son whom he receives.'
It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it."
God was disciplining his children, and God will also discipline us in our lives. I want to bring out four very quick things from this passage in the book of Hebrews.
The first is that God does discipline his children. As we stray from him off the path he has for us into patterns and lifestyles of sin, God will bring discipline. The discipline the writer of Hebrews is talking about here is persecution. These people were enduring great suffering, and the writer is saying, God is disciplining you. We need to make sure that we don't impose upon God our culture's secular version of parenting that says parents should just approve of everything their children do. No, that's not God's way. God's way is to bring correction to our lives when we stray.
The second thing in verse 7 is that God's discipline is proof that we are, in fact, God's children. When God allows things into our life to chasten us and bring us back onto the straight and narrow path, that is proof that we belong to him. He does not discipline those who don't belong to him. Just like I don't go around disciplining children that are not mine—though often I would like to! I have enough to take care of in my own house. God doesn't discipline the children that are not His. He lets them go headlong into their sin. But not his own children. He arrests us. He brings us correction. He does not give us over to our lustful and sinful desires. He guards us and keeps us.
The third thing is that God's discipline is for our good. He says that explicitly in verse 10.
And fourthly, God's discipline is painful, but it produces good fruit. The good fruit that God is producing in our lives through his discipline is holiness. It says that in verse 10, "that we may share his holiness." It's unpleasant, it's painful in the moment, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. God is more concerned with our holiness than our temporary happiness.
So if we find ourselves undergoing various trials, it is right and good for us to ask the Lord to search our hearts to reveal if we have any hidden or unconfessed sin. Now, when God brings this discipline on his children, as soon as the snakes show up and start biting people, the people know exactly what's going on. They know what God is disciplining them for. I want to be careful that I'm not saying every trial in our life is because we have some hidden sin. But there are times where God will bring trials that point us back to him.
We all know this is true. When our life is going really good, our spiritual life typically is not as fervent. When life is difficult, do we not cling to God more closely? Do we not pray more? Do we not spend more time in his word? Yet when life is easy, do we not find our spiritual discipline lowering? So God, as a loving father, will allow things in our lives that loosen the grip that temptation and sin have on us. Not all trials are the result of sin—Job is a great example of someone who suffered trials not due to sinful behavior. Yet those trials drew him closer to the Lord. God does use trials to sanctify us.
3. The People's Repentance
If you find in your life the discipline of the Lord, look at what the people did in verse 7. The third point: they repent of their sin.
The people said in verse 7, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you." It's interesting to note that it is only after they experience this chastening of the Lord that they confess their sin and repent. Had the discipline never come, the people would have continued in their sinful behavior to their destruction. But because the Lord disciplined them, they go to Moses and confess, "We have sinned against God, we have sinned against you."
Dear friends, if you find that you are in sin, the first thing we must do is run to Jesus. We must confess our sin to our great High Priest. 1 John 1:9 says:
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
When we sin, we are being unfaithful. But even when we are unfaithful, if we confess our sin, he does not respond to us in kind; instead, he is faithful and just to forgive us. Are you burdened with sin today? Take it to Jesus. Call out to him in repentance and faith, and he will cleanse you. Jesus is our High Priest, our mediator. We go directly to him.
4. God's Remedy
The fourth thing I want to draw your attention to is God's remedy. We see the remedy in two ways.
The first is Moses' prayer. Moses prayed for the people at the end of verse 7. This is a prayer of intercession, standing in the gap. He takes them before the Lord. But we have an even greater intercessor than Moses: we have the Lord Jesus. Romans 8:34 says:
"Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us."
Paul is calling back to Romans 8:1, which says there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, and says, How could we be under condemnation? Jesus is the one who died for us, shed his blood for us, was raised to the right hand of God, and is interceding always for us. Moses was a man, temporary, sinful, and flawed. But Jesus is the God-man, eternal, always making intercession for us. Hebrews 7:25 says:
"Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them."
Jesus is praying for you right now. Just as the people found themselves sinful and snake-bitten, and Moses interceded for them, Christ right now intercedes for you.
The second part of the remedy was the bronze serpent that God tells Moses to make. He says, "Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live." This is a picture of the gospel. This is a picture of Jesus. Anyone who would look upon that bronze serpent when bitten by the snake would be healed.
The reason I say this is a picture of Jesus is because Jesus himself says it's a picture of him. In John 3:14-15, Jesus says:
"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life."
What was happening here in the book of Numbers was a picture of Jesus on the cross. Jesus himself, who never sinned, goes to the cross willingly because of the great love he has for his people, to lay his life down so that we who have been bitten by the snake might have eternal life. Those who looked upon the serpent were healed of the snakebite temporarily. But we receive something much greater when we look upon Christ: life eternal. All they needed to do was look and live. Jesus says, All you must do is look to me, look to my sacrifice, and believe.
Friends, this is the good news for us in the wilderness of this life. This is not just the message for the sinner or the pagan; it is for the children of God as well. We will live out our days in this wilderness, tempted by the devil, experiencing things not going the way we planned. There are many times where the snake would come and bite us, where we may find ourselves complaining about God's plans. All the remedy we need is to look to Christ and to live.
Some of you may be thinking, If it's a picture of Christ, why is it a snake? Jesus is the lamb of God, not the snake of God. I wrestled with this until one day I realized that on the cross, Jesus became the serpent. Jesus became sin on the cross. He became the object of God's wrath against sin. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says:
"For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."
Jesus took our sin upon him, and all who look to him in faith will live. All of humanity have been bitten by the snake, but if we will look to the one hanging on the cross, we will receive healing from the deadly poison of the serpent.
Clinging to Christ and the Ordinary Means of Grace
As we close today, I want to draw your attention back to the children of Israel and their complaint. They called the provision of God worthless: "We despise this worthless food, this manna. It's boring. I could just use a little bit of Tabasco, it would go a long way on this manna." Later in the gospel, in John 6, Jesus will say, "I am the bread of life." He will say, "I was the bread that came down from heaven in the wilderness." The manna is a picture of Christ. The rock which Moses struck twice was a picture of Christ. So what they really became bored with in the wilderness was Jesus.
Because they became bored, God allowed this fiery trial in their life to cause them to put their eyes back on Jesus. I want to pose the question for you: Have you become bored with Jesus? Have you become bored with the gospel? It's so easy in our flesh to become accustomed to the provision God has made for us in Christ, to become so familiar with salvation and mercy that his grace is no longer amazing to us anymore, that we become entitled.
The Puritans used to speak of the "ordinary means of grace"—the ways in which God would show his grace to us and give us spiritual nourishment. The ordinary means of grace were the Word of God, prayer, and the Lord's table. There's nothing spectacular in the natural sense with the Word of God, prayer, and the Lord's table. It's all quite ordinary. But there is supernatural life there. There is grace there. How often do our sinful hearts become bored of these means of nourishment? We become bored of worship, preaching, and our time in the Word. If we find ourselves in that condition, we're no better than the Israelites who called the manna worthless.
In our flesh, we want things to be spiced up. We want the gospel to tickle our ears and entertain us. When that happens, God, who is a good father, allows trials in our lives to keep our eyes fixed firmly on Christ, that we would not esteem his provision as worthless but that we might cling to it with all our might. We must hold onto his unmerited favor and make all use of the ordinary means of grace that he has provided, receiving them daily with thankful hearts.
We all need spiritual strength. We live in incredible times, with the lies of the enemy running rampant through our culture and families. Where are we going to get strength? It's from the Word, prayer, worship, and the Lord's table. If we look to them in faith and with gratitude, we will receive the strength we need for each new day.
Hebrews chapter 12, I'll close with this today:
"Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God."
May we all nourish ourselves on Christ and the provision that he has given to us. Amen.