Lessons the Israelites Learned in Numbers 21 - Part 5 of 5

    The next time the Israelites had a meltdown was in Numbers 21.  But this time it wasn't about the leadership, it was about their food. Eating manna three times a day every day without any leeks or garlic for seasonings was obviously trying their patience.

Deception Pass Beach

The soul of the people became impatient because of the way…spoke against God and against Moses, why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?   For there is no bread or water, and we loathe this contemptible bread. 
Numbers 21:4b-5

    When you look back at Numbers 20, you can tell that God was understanding and didn’t like that Moses had spoken harshly with them when they were thirsty.  But this time when the people complained, God stepped in to punish them. In chapter 31 of the Life-Study of Numbers Witness Lee points out that God didn’t promise the Israelites that their journey to Canaan was going to be easy.  Their complaints displeased God, and He sent fiery serpents into their camp that killed many of them.

     No doubt this was frightening to the people, and they quickly confessed that they had sinned against God.  They asked Moses to pray for them.  In answer to their prayer God told Moses to make a bronze serpent and put it on a pole.  When an Israelite was bitten, they were supposed to look at the brass serpent and that would heal them. 

     I learned from my reading that this account is full of spiritual meaning.  In John 3:14 when the Lord was talking to Nicodemus about being born again He said that He was going to be lifted up like the brass serpent. I really like the tie-in he gave on pages 233-234 of this chapter: 

My granddaughter checking out the water

The bronze serpent had the form of a serpent but not the poisonous nature of a serpent.  This is a full type of Christ coming in the likeness of the flesh of sin (Rom. 8:3) to be our replacement…..The bronze serpent was put on a pole, which signifies the cross. Long after Numbers 21 was written, Christ came, and in his conversation with Nicodemus He referred to the type of the bronze serpent. The Lord Jesus seemed to be saying to him, ‘Nicodemus, the picture of the bronze serpent on a pole signifies what I will be for you. That serpent was the replacement of your forefathers so that they could be saved from death and have life. I will do the same for you. I will die on the cross as your replacement so that you may have eternal life’ (Lee, Witness. Life-Study of Numbers. Living Stream  Ministry: Anaheim. 1992, Print).

     What spoke to me in my reading of this chapter is we may not realize it but as fallen people we were all bitten by Satan who actually was the serpent in the  garden of Eden.  And because of that, the Bible tells us the poisonous nature of Satan got into all of us; even a good guy like Nicodemus had been bitten by this serpent.  This brings back to my mind the times the Lord in the Gospels called the Israelites a brood of vipers.  He wasn’t name calling here, He was trying to help them see what was within them wasn’t always good. 

     I like the way Witness Lee closes this section by saying whether we’re still serpents or not depends on if we drink  of Christ as the living water. It’s helped me to see that even though I’m regenerated, I still have a fallen nature within me  I can't fix it, but I can come to God every day and spiritually drink Him. And if I really drink Him, it's never boring! And drinking the Lord in His word actually ends up swallowing up a lot of my complaints, too.

 You can listen to excerpts of Witness Lee's speaking the Life-Study of Numbers on Life Study of the Bible  with Witness Lee.   You can also read the online Life-Studies of Numbers and check out other resources available to enhance your study of the Bible on Living Stream Ministry's website.

Other Posts on Numbers:

What is the Spiritual Meaning of the Book of Numbers
Lessons the Israelites Learned in Numbers 11 - Murmuring About Manna - Part 1 of 5
Lessons the Israelites Learned in Numbers 12 - Miriam Rebels Against Moses' Authority - Part 2 of 5 -
Lessons the Israelites Learned in Numbers 13 & 14 - The Evil Report of 10 Spies - Part 3 of 5
Lessons the Israelites Learned in Numbers 16 - The Rebellion of Korah, Dathan, & Abiram? Part 4 of 5
Lessons the Israelites Learned in Numbers  21 - The Judgment of the Serpents in Numbers 21 - Part 5 of 5