"Then the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. And the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people. And the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live." So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live."
(Num. 21:6-9)
The people desire the serpents to be removed, but instead the serpents and their bites remain and God says look and live.
Look at the the very image of your suffering. Look and live.
In this life we groan and desire the removal of our sin and suffering and the deadly bite of the serpent, but God says, Look and live.
"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believes in him may have eternal life."
(John 3:14)
Look to your suffering substitute. Look to Him who was made sin for you. Look to the very image of your suffering poured out upon Him as He hangs there upon the tree. Look and live!
