Page 33 - Biblical Backgrounds

Rebellion in the wilderness (Hebrews 3):

Like Paul, the author of Hebrews views the return of Christ as coming at any moment. He warns the
people not to go back to Judaism. He reminds them that the last time the people of God failed to go
forward in faith to attain the promise, a whole generation died in the wilderness. In 70AD Jerusalem was
conquered and the Temple was destroyed. If the Christians had gone back, they would have died with
the Jews.

The tabernacle of Moses (Hebrews 8:1-3):

The tabernacle tent is the earthly copy of the Heavenly temple. The tent of Christ is called the “true
tent” as opposed to the copy Moses set up.

The Bronze Serpent in Numbers 21:8-9

Throughout the wilderness wanderings of the Israelites, God
constantly taught them things about Himself and their own
sinfulness. He brought them into the wilderness, to the same
mountain where He revealed Himself to Moses, so that He could
instruct them in what He required of them. Shortly after the amazing
events at Mt. Sinai, God brought them to the border of the Promised
Land, but when the people heard the reports from the spies, their
faith failed. They said that God could not overcome the giants in the
land. As a result of this unbelief, God sent them into the wilderness
to wander until that generation died out (Numbers 14:28-34).

In Numbers 21, the people again got discouraged, and in their
unbelief, they murmured against Moses for bringing them into the
wilderness. They had already forgotten that their sin caused them to
be there, and they tried to blame Moses for it. As a judgment against
the people for their sin, God sent poisonous serpents into the camp,
and people began to die. This showed the people that they were the
ones in sin, and they came to Moses to confess that sin and ask for This is a picture of a bronze
God’s mercy. When Moses prayed for the people, God instructed him serpent located on Mt. Nebo in
to make a bronze serpent and put it on a pole so the people could be Jordan today. Notice the snake is
healed (Numbers 21:5-7). formed in the shape of a cross.

God was teaching the people something about faith. It is totally
illogical to think that looking at a bronze image could heal anyone from snakebite, but that is what God
told them to do. It took an act of faith in God’s plan for anyone to be healed, and the serpent on the
stick was a reminder of their sin, which brought about their suffering. There is no connection between
this serpent and the serpent that Satan spoke through in the Garden of Eden. This serpent was symbolic
of the serpents God used to chastise the people for their unbelief.

A couple of additional lessons regarding this bronze serpent are taught in the Bible. The people did get
healed when they looked at the serpent, and the image was kept for many years. Many years later,
when the Israelites were in the Promised Land, the serpent became an object of worship (2 Kings 18:4).
This shows how easy it is for us to take the things of God and twist them into idolatry. We must never

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