~ by Terry Walters
Numbers 21:4-9
There is an old hymn by William
A. Ogden called “Look and Live.”
The first verse says, “I’ve a message
from the Lord, Hallelujah!
The message unto you I'll give.
It's recorded in His Word, Hallelujah!
It is only that you look and live.”
That message is indeed recorded in God's word.
It is recorded here that God told Moses,
who passed along to the poisoned Israelites,
that all they had to do was look
up at the bronze snake on the pole
and they would not die. God kept
His word, and many were saved alive that day.
It wasn't that the bronze snake had
any magical powers nor was there anything
special about the actual looking at it
that healed. It was that looking
was an act that showed faith in God's
message that He would save all who did look.
That same message is true today.
All people have been spiritually bitten
by the serpent of sin and without
God's grace will die a spiritual death!
All anyone has to do to live
is trust and look to Jesus,
God's plan of salvation.
Prayer: Dear Lord, thank You for being the sacrifice
for our sins. Thank You for making
salvation a simple matter of faith -
that we just need to look to You
and trust You for our salvation.
P.S. From my “Favorites Devotions” – Day 2:
Remember in John chapter 3 how Jesus
compared His impending death to Moses
lifting up the serpent in the wilderness?
Well, this is the story. Looking up to
the serpent on the pole was comparable
to looking up to Jesus on the cross.
In both cases, the act of looking shows
faith in the saving power of God.
In Moses’s case, God saved from death
due to the poison from the snake bites.
In Jesus’s case, God saves from the
“poison” of sin due to the sinful
influence from the beginning
of that old serpent, the devil.
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