adapted from the book Road to Faith_The Lamb of God Takes away the Sins of the World (Part 11)
The Israelites were enslaved in Egypt and went through many trials and difficulties. Then, with God’s grace, they left Egypt and went to the land of Canaan. However, even if a little problem arises without remembering God’s deliverance of themselves from Egypt, of overcoming many enemies, protection with pillars of fire and clouds, manna in the wilderness, and water coming out of the rock. I complained and resented. In Numbers chapter 21, the Israelites resent God because they were hurt by the road.
Everyone who was bitten by a serpent looked up and lived.
God sent a fiery serpent to the Israelites who were full of resentment. Fiery snakes crawled around in the tent, and people were bitten by fire snakes and died. Then the Israelites begged Moses.
“Pray to Jehovah, please let the fiery serpent go away!”
Moses prayed, but God did not let the fiery serpent leave. Instead, he said:
“Make a fire snake and put it on a pole. Anyone who is bitten by a snake will live by looking at it.”
Moses made a fiery serpent out of bronze and hung it on a pole. In the Bible it is written, “Everyone who is bitten by a snake looked at the brass serpent and lived.” How do you live when you look at a brass snake bitten by a fiery snake? In John 3, Jesus said about this.
“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. God loved the world so much that he gave his only begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:14-16).
Each word in the Bible has a meaning. Wine represents joy. Where there is joy, wine appears. Oil represents the Holy Spirit. Gold represents the glory of God, silver represents the price of redemption, and bronze represents judgment. The brass serpent on the pole represents’the judged serpent’. It means that death came because of the fiery serpent, and that fiery serpent was judged. In other words, death came because of sin, and sin was judged. The brass serpent on the pole refers to Jesus Christ on the cross.
Salvation is only by looking at Jesus crucified
. Imagine that a man who is bitten by a fiery serpent and his son talks.
“Father, when you look at the brass snake, it is alive. Look at the brass snake.”
“Don’t say useless! I’m going to die because of the poison spreading in my body. Can you live by looking at the brass snake?”
“Father, look at me.”
“Well, don’t be bullshit!”
“Father, look at me anyway.”
“Stop it!”
“It’s not possible. Then the father dies. I will force my father to see the brass snake.”
The son took his father to the place of the brass serpent and made him look up and look. Then, the poison of the snake inside the body disappeared.
“This is really amazing! When I looked at the brass snake, my body was full!”
Salvation is very simple. All you have to do is look at Jesus crucified.
‘The Israelites blamed God, so a fiery serpent came. The fiery serpent came because of sin. The brass serpent means that the serpent was judged, meaning that our sins were judged. Then the sin is over!’
The cross is not simply to mark Christianity or to look good. Look at the cross. The cross is the place where our sins were judged by the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. This is where sin ends, curse ends, judgment ends, and suffering ends. The moment we realize that, we are tormented and suffering because of our sins, and then we look at the cross.
‘The cross on which the Lord ran! On that cross, Jesus forgave my sins!’
A ring of the Arius family…
There is a movie called’Ben-Hur’. The characters Ben-Hur and Metsala were friends when they were young. As they grew up, Ben-Hur and Metsala, a Jew, and Metsala, a Roman, have different ideologies and become enemies of each other. After returning to Judea, Metsala became a tribune over Jerusalem and turned Ben-Hur into a rowing slave on a Roman ship. Shortly thereafter, Archon Arius, Rome’s supreme authority, leads his fleet out into the sea to wipe out the pirates, where Ben-Hur boards a rowing boat. Soon there is a fierce battle between the Romans and the pirates, and during the fight, Arius falls into the sea. Ben-Hur sees the scene and jumps into the sea, rescues Arius, and places it on the large wooden board of the broken ship.
When Arius wakes up and sees his ship engulfed in flames, he tries to kill himself, but Ben-Hur grabs his arm and takes the sword. After a while, ships flock, and I think Arius might be a pirate, but as the ships approached, it was a Roman fleet. As Arius got on board, a general reports that he’lost only two ships and annihilated the pirates’.
Returning to Rome, Arius adopts Ben-Hur as his adopted son, and puts a seal ring from generation to generation on Ben-Hur’s finger. Ben-Hur thinks of her mother and younger sister and goes back to Judea to meet Metsala. Before going, send a gift to Metsala with the words “From the son of Arius”. Metsala saw the gift and said, “Did Arius the Archon have a son?” Let’s say, the officer next to you has a son who has recently adopted him. Then Ben-Hur appears, and Metsala is surprised.
“What witchcraft did you become the son of Arius?”
“You are the main character of magic! You sent me to a slave ship and I saved Arius from the battlefield.”
Then, “You know the mark, right?” And put the seal of the seal on the tablet and show it to Metsala. The Metsala is embarrassed because Ben-Hur is the son of the most powerful consul in Rome, not the previous Ben-Hur. Says Ben Hur.
“Bring me the news of my mother and my sister. Then I will forget everything.”
“It must be approved by the governor.”
“Get permission!”
If Ben-Hur became the son of Arius and wore the family ring, he would still have to be condemned by Metsala if he did not know its ability, but Ben-Hur knew the power of the’Arius Family’s Signet Ring’.
Look at the
cross again There is power in the cross. Satan often whispers to us. “You lied! You did something bad!” The fact that we have sinned makes us sad and tormented. They can’t breathe properly and make them anxious. Satan constantly condemns us. “Because you have sinned, God will hate you, punish you, and forsake you!” That’s when we look at the brass serpent and the cross.
‘Satan, that’s right. I have sinned. But in front of that cross, sin is not a sin. All my sins are forgiven on that cross. Sin is over there! The judgment is over!’
When he looked at the brass serpent, he lived. The Israelites were bitten by a fiery serpent, and they were all healed when they looked at the serpent. Likewise, when Satan taunts and torments us for sin, looking at the cross will free us from that suffering. Even if you say, “You lied!”, you might say,’Jesus was crucified! There the sins I lied to are over and all the sins are over!’ Just do it. The Bible certainly says that.
There is no record of our sins anywhere in the world or before God. All the blood of Jesus shed on the cross was blotted out. There is nowhere to condemn us. The blood shed on the cross washed all sins as white as snow.
He was not atoned for as a treasure that would disappear like gold or silver, but was atoned for by
the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of the Holy God.
This hymn was once sung by mouth, but can now be sung by heart.
Atonement Atonement Lord Jesus Atonement for my sins
Hallelujah Praise together with the sound of
Atonement with His blood
We were atoned for not by our good deeds, by our efforts or hard work, but by grace, and by the blood of Jesus Christ. God has put stories of salvation in every corner of the Bible to teach you how the blood of Jesus washed away our sins.
The Israelites sinned against God and were bitten by fiery serpents and died, looking at the brass serpent. At first we only know the contents of this Bible story. Then, through God’s grace, you learn the meaning of it. The brass serpent refers to Jesus on the cross. “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” (John 3:14-15) Jesus took our sins and was judged on the cross. All our sins ended on the cross. There are no more sins left to be judged. So our hearts are freed from sin and we have true freedom.
Those who have accepted the word of God live brightly after the curse ends and pain and sorrow in their hearts. When you are deceived by Satan and sinned, look at the cross again. ‘The judgment of my sin is over there!’ God has given us a joyful and joyful life by grace free of charge. May we all rejoice and rejoice in this Gospel and become people who preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth.
only the gospel to the end 