Articles
Our Snake on a Stick
Numbers 21:9 says, at the direction of God..."Moses made a bronze snake and put it on a pole. Anyone who had been bitten [by poisonous snakes] would look at the bronze snake and be healed."
What was it about looking at the bronze serpent that healed these people? In and of itself, absolutely nothing, EXCEPT, it was what God had told them to do to be healed, and not die.
What does being immersed under water have to do with us being spiritually healed, and saved from eternal death (separation from God)? In and of itself, absolutely nothing, EXCEPT that when done in response to God's commands, it's absolutely EVERYTHING.
The bronze had no power by itself, the image of a snake had no power in and of itself. God had all the power. The people's obedience afforded them God's power to heal. Today, the water isn't special, it's not magical, it doesn't even have to be clean. It's our obedience to the command that brings the power to save.
God's power through His promise healed those who looked at the bronze snake, and the same saves us from our sin. God could have told us to do something spectacular, but instead simply asked us, through faith and obedience, to re-enact the death, burial and resurrection of His Son, who He sacrificed for our redemption. He requires us to die to our old self, be buried (in water) and raised to walk a new life (Rom 6:3-6,17).
Even though these scriptures tell us the reason, we may not fully understand why God chooses this method over some other, any more than the people who looked at the bronze snake on a stick understood. But that doesn't take anything away from the fact that He has the power, and He dictates the rules.
"For what seems to be God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and what seems to be God's weakness is stronger than human strength." 1 Cor 1:25
