Slithery Sin

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The Lord said to Moses, "Make a poisonous snake and place it on a pole. Whoever is bitten can look at it and live."
- Numbers 21:8 (CEB) - 


When my neighbor was fifteen years old, she decided that she needed a pet snake. At first I was skeptical of my friend’s new pet, but to my surprise I learned that there is such a thing as a sweet snake. This snake, named Draco, loved people, sunshine, and tasty mice. Draco taught me that not all snakes are scary!

However, it would be foolish of me to think that all snakes are nice. For instance, the snakes seen in this story in Numbers are not nice snakes. These are quite terrifying. The Israelites are in the middle of their forty years of wandering in the wilderness because of their sin and lack of faith in God. In the midst of their wandering, the Israelites sin again. The Lord sent poisonous snakes into the camp of the Israelites. The poisonous snakes did their job: the people realized they had sinned. They turned to Moses and begged that he would intercede for them and ask the Lord for forgiveness. Moses did intercede for the people, and the Lord released them from their slithery oppression by having Moses created a pole with the image of a snake on it. As the verse says, whoever had been bitten could look up to it and live.

We all sin against God. Too often we gloss over our sins like it’s not a big deal. We say “everyone does it” like that makes it okay. It doesn’t. The whitest of lies might have minimal consequences and the most heinous offense likely has great and terrible consequences, but every sin matters. Every sin deserves punishment just like the sins of the Israelites were punished. However, as terrible as sin is, there is an equally astonishing truth. Jesus suffered the punishment for your sin and my sin. When we ask forgiveness for our sins, Jesus intercedes on our part as Moses did for the Israelites and we are forgiven by God for our sins. This means that every sin – great or small – can be forgiven for those who look up to Jesus’ sacrifice like the Israelites looked up to the pole. Remember that Jesus paid the punishment for every single sin you have and will commit. Take joy and praise Him in knowing that if you trust in Jesus, you are forgiven!

To Read More: Numbers 21:4-9 and John 3:1-21.

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