Snake Bites

There is an old “preacher’s story” that has floated around for years. I can’t remember where I first heard it or who I heard it from. I have read several variations through the years and you can probably find it online if you search for it. The way I remember it is…

One day a local preacher was in the last five or six minutes of his sermon when the church doors flew open. In ran Old Jake, a member of the church who hadn’t been in worship for a number of years. Jake came into the auditorium and right down to the front row. Obviously agitated, Jake could barely keep his seat. When the invitation was offered, Jake practically flew into the preacher’s arms. “Preacher, I need the prayers of the church! I done got bit by a big ol’ rattlesnake. The doctor patched me up, but he says I’m still in danger. I done promised the Lord that if He would heal me, I would get back into church regular!” The preacher put his arm around Jake and assured him that the congregation would pray. Stepping before the congregation, the preacher shared Jake’s predicament and then began to pray. “Father, we come before you this morning to ask for healing for our brother Jake. We ask that you bring strength and cleanse the poison form his body. We are grateful for Jake’s commitment to be back in worship and in fellowship with his brothers and sisters in Christ. Father, we are also grateful for the snake that bit Jake. We pray that you would send some little rattlesnakes to Jake’s family in order to help them make the same commitment and experience the same transformation. Father, we pray for two great big old rattlesnakes for Jakes pa and grandpa. We ask that those men could come back into the family of God. Thank you God for the rattlesnakes!”

While it is a humorous story, there is a lot of truth and few lessons to be learned. They are the same lessons that the Israelites had to learn in Numbers 21.

The Israelites were complaining again. This time the Bible is very specific. It tells us that “the people spoke against God and against Moses.” (vs. 5) Their complaint had to do with the food and water they were given. They were tired of it and wanted something else. They forgot the provision of God and complained about His blessing and about the leadership of Moses. Their complaint angered God. Their sin was taking root in heir hearts. God needed to move. He needed to call His people out of sin and back into a trusting relationship with Him. So God sent “fiery serpents” among them. A fiery serpent is a poisonous snake. The people began to experience snake bites. They were reminded again that sin leads to death. Sin is painful and deadly. Sin destroys the body, relationships, and trust. The sin of Israel had taken them down a path of disobedience and sin. They no longer looked to the provision of God. They experienced the consequences that come with sin.

You and I deal with snake bites all the time. We live in a fallen world. A world marked by sin. We deal with a culture that promotes sin as entertainment, self-fulfillment, or simply natural behavior. We experience desire and temptation. We walk in a world full of snakes and we deal with snake bites. We need a remedy, a cure, a healing from God. And that is exactly what He provides.

In Numbers 21, God provided healing for His people. He commanded Moses to make a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. Whenever someone had experienced a snake bite, all they had to do was look at the bronze serpent and live.

In John 3:14-15, Jesus tells Nicodemus that He is like the bronze serpent. Jesus came to be lifted up so that man could look at Him and live. Jesus came to die for our sin. He came to offer a path of healing and hope for all men who live in our fallen world.

The lesson is clear. We are all snake bitten. We all need a cure. Jesus calls us to see Him and follow Him and be healed. Embedding the Bible is about learning to look to Jesus for the answer to our greatest needs. It is about learning the power of healing that Jesus gives us when we are snake bit.