Israel had a lot to learn about being the people of the holy and faithful God. In our story today the people grew impatient with God again as they traveled through the wilderness.

They spoke against God and against Moses, saying, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?” Sometimes the Lord was merciful when the people acted so rebelliously, but other times, when they had gone too far, the Lord sent punishment. This time the consequence for their actions was a plague of venomous snakes, and a number of the people died from snakebites.

What would happen next? How would salvation appear for these unfaithful people?

In what is a preview of the saving work of Christ, a bronze snake became an instrument of healing and life. Moses made a bronze snake and lifted it up on a pole, and the people were told to look at this snake and live. Many years later Jesus explained that this miracle in the wilderness pointed to the gift of his own life for us all (being lifted up on a cross—John 3:14-15). Through this act of faith, we are freed from death!

In the coming week, as we focus on the time of Jesus’ suffering, death, and rising to life again, let’s remember that, like God’s people in the wilderness, we are lost without God’s faithfulness.