Bible Passage: Numbers 17:112; 20:112,1420; 21:49
Big Picture Question: What happens when people repent from sin? Sin comes with consequences, but God provides the way of salvation.
Key Passage: Exodus 20:117
Unit Christ Connection: God instructed His covenant people how to live holy lives in an unholy world. This sustained their relationship with God until the perfect plan was revealed through Jesus Christ.
Christ Connection: The Israelites faced a huge problem because of their sin. God sent snakes to punish them. Anyone who was bitten could look at the snake on the pole and not die. Because of our sin, we face a huge problem: we are separated from God. We deserve to die. Anyone who looks to Jesus on the cross and trusts in Him will be saved and be made right with God.
God had done some pretty amazing things for the Israelites—He rescued them from the hand of Pharaoh, He parted the Red Sea so they could safely cross, and He provided manna for them to eat. But to the Israelites, it wasn’t good enough.God punished them because He knew their dissatisfaction was a sign of a bigger issue: a heart problem—a sin problem. They stopped believing that God was good. In their hearts, the Israelites believed the same lie that rattled Eve in the garden. Maybe God isn’t interested in giving us what is best. Maybe He is holding out on us. God sent poisonous snakes that bit the people and killed many of them. The Israelites repented. They wanted Moses to ask God to take away the snakes.
God provided a solution: “Make a snake image out of bronze and mount it on a pole. When anyone who is bitten looks at it, he will recover.”
In John 3:14, Jesus said, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up.” What was Jesus talking about? God put Jesus in the position of the snake; Jesus was lifted high on the cross. So Jesus invites us, “Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth. For I am God, and there is no other” (Isaiah 45:22).
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