The people could not maintain their enthusiasm and their eagerness when hardships ensured. Look at verse 4, “They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way;” The people grew impatient. They lacked food and water and they were tired eating the bland food. They became fatalistic, thinking that they were going to die. All of this was the bad fruit of unbelief.
Notice the resurgence of grumbling and complaining did not stop the Lord from bringing them into the Promised Land. Nor did it stop the victories that they accomplished as a nation that is led by God. It is even more evidence of God’s will unfolding despite fickle human emotions and feelings.
It does not mean that God was pleased with all of their lack of faith and its bad fruit. No, what they were doing was inviting God’s judgement on them.
God’s judgement came upon the camp. Look at verse 6, “Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died”. The whole camp was filled with venomous snakes that bit the people and they died. Their complaining and rebellion could not continue. It was crucial that it stop.
The responded well with repentance. They came to Moses confessing their sins. Look at verse 7a, “The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us…” The asked Moses to pray for them. They were taking the first steps towards forgiveness and restoration.
The coming of the snakes was not God’s fault. The fault was with the people. Sometime it takes personal suffering to lead us to repentance. Before this it was not easy for them to confess and repent. But when they and their family members were being bit by venomous snakes. their hearts became more tender towards God. Why is it that only humble ourselves and seek God’s forgiveness after we have suffered? Why not come to God quickly, trusting in his love for us right from the start? God would rather have it this way. But that is sinful human nature for you.
Moses responded to their request for prayer. He was not filled with thoughts of, “You got yourselves into this mess, get yourselves out of it. “No. He was ready as a servant of the Lord to pray for the people he was called to serve.
Moses prayed to the Lord and God provided a way to be saved. Look at verses 8-9, “The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.” They were to make a bronze snake and place it on a pole. Anyone who was bit by the poisonous snakes could look up at the snake on the pole and live. This was God’s way of salvation for any who were bitten.
It was a type of filter. Anyone who had faith could be saved. Think about it. The venomous snakes were on the ground. They were biting people. Our human instincts would be to save ourselves. We would be looking down on the ground, being extra careful and try to crush the snakes before we or our family members would be bit. But God wanted them to look up to the snake on the pole. This didn’t make sense humanly. It required faith to take their eyes off of the snakes and entrust their lives and the lives of their loved ones to God. They needed to trust God and his word and his way of salvation. Those who had this faith were saved and those who did not perished. All the people were eligible and capable to engage their faith. But some chose not to while some chose to engage faith. God provided a way to be saved and faith and trust and obedience were at the core of that way.
Sometimes our problems and our sins “bite” us. Satan is out to “bite” us. It is like poison entering our veins. We become wounded. We look down trying to solve our problems without looking up to Jesus lifted high and exalted. We don’t trust God’s way of salvation. We reject Gospel solutions to our problems. We grow desperate. We apply our unbelief to our family members. We become weary and falter in our endless futile attempts to save ourselves. Why do we do this? It is because of our unbelief. Our unbelief is deadly.
We tend to think that God’s way does not make sense. We think that our own human plans make more sense to us. But the people in this passage, who thought that their own human plans made more sense, died in their own human sense. We only have so much time to rise up out of the quagmire of the bad fruit of our sin. Don’t waste your time with your human wisdom alone. Find the solution in Jesus. Find God’s way of salvation and enter into that way by faith.
God calls us to glorify him in the midst of our crisis’. In order to do so we need faith. We need faith to look up and see Jesus. Jesus is the Way and the Truth and the Life. (John 14:6) We need obedience to the Gospel. It takes faith. When we hold onto faith, then we experience God’s miraculous deliverance. We see that our salvation is by God’s grace and not by our human effort. It all has to do with lifting the eyes of our heart up to Jesus and off of the problems of this world. Then we experience God’s deliverance.
Look at verses 10-35, “ 10 The Israelites moved on and camped at Oboth. 11 Then they set out from Oboth and camped in Iye Abarim, in the wilderness that faces Moab toward the sunrise. 12 From there they moved on and camped in the Zered Valley. 13 They set out from there and camped alongside the Arnon, which is in the wilderness extending into Amorite territory. The Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. 14 That is why the Book of the Wars of the Lord says: “. . . Zahab in Suphah and the ravines, the Arnon 15 and the slopes of the ravines that lead to the settlement of Ar and lie along the border of Moab.” 16 From there they continued on to Beer, the well where the Lord said to Moses, “Gather the people together and I will give them water.” 17 Then Israel sang this song: “Spring up, O well! Sing about it,18 about the well that the princes dug, that the nobles of the people sank— the nobles with scepters and staffs.” Then they went from the wilderness to Mattanah, 19 from Mattanah to Nahaliel, from Nahaliel to Bamoth, 20 and from Bamoth to the valley in Moab where the top of Pisgah overlooks the wasteland.
Israel was not so passive when passing through the land of the Amorites. Look at verses 21-26. Like their request to the Edomites, they asked to pass through the land. They promised to not take advantage of the nation’s resources. They were very truthful and just in their dealings with the people.
But Sihon, king of the Amorites would not let them pass. He came to them with his armies to drive the Israelites out. Israel fought them and captured all the cities of the Amorites. In the past they did not engage in battle with the Edomites, but this time they did…why?
It was time to enter the Promised Land according to God’s will. It was God’s will to move forward. There were reasons why the Amorites faced such defeat. Only God knows all the reasons. But God was working through his people to unfold his plan of world redemption.
The people of God were experiencing total victory. Look at some of the verses that appear in these verses.
16 God was providing for them as they went.
24a They put their enemies to the sword.
30 They overthrew their enemies and demolished them.
31. They settled in the land that their hearts longed for.
33. They defeated whole armies.
34 God was with them and he spoke to them through Moses.
v.35 They left no survivors.
35 They took possession of the land.
Wow! For so many years, nothing was happening. There were lots of complaints, defeated words, God’s judgement and wanderings in the desert. But now it seems they are experiencing total victory. Can you imagine being among the people through whom God was working through? God is a very victorious God and he wants to share in the victory with all of his people.
The reason for their victory was that God was with them. Look at verse 34, “The Lord said to Moses, “Do not be afraid of him, for I have delivered him into your hands, along with his whole army and his land. Do to him what you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon.” They were not always emoting well, and being enthusiastic and positive. No. It’s is not that they changed. It was that God was with them and it was his time to bring his people into land.
God was with his people. God is the Almighty and All-powerful Creator God. This God is our heavenly Father. He loves us and dwells among us. He is victorious in his plan of world redemption. Nothing can stop our God. And he calls his people to follow him and share in his victory. If God is for us who can be against us?
There is another aspect of sharing in God’s victory. It is found in verse 34a, “Do not be afraid of him, for I have delivered him into your hands, along with his whole army and his land….” God says, “I have delivered him into your hands.” God is speaking in past tense. God wants his people to know that they need to move ahead knowing that God has already achieved the victory. His people are simply involved in a “mopping up” operation. That is how assured the victory is.
Everyone wants to live with a sense of victory and overcoming in life. Nobody wants to live in defeat. One of the greatest compliments that you can give a person is, “You are an overcomer!”. Everyone likes to hear, “You truly are a survivor!”. People like this. They want to live with a sense of overcoming something and surviving against all odds and coming out on top. Some get this through school or the military or sports etc. But that sense of victory is short lived in light of a lifetime and especially eternity.
True and deep and lasting sense of victory comes through following Christ, through faith, into his victory. He invites all to do this. In Christ there is victory. One of my favorite hymns is “Victory in Jesus” When I was a new believer, I used to sing this hymn as I walked to work along the streets of Winnipeg. My heart was filled with a deep sense of victory every day. And that victory came from Jesus Christ and the work that he accomplished in my life. It came through the Gospel. Where else can you experience such victory on life, except in Christ? It just does not exist in the world.
One word: Victory in Jesus, my Savior forever.