THE SERPENT OF BRASS: EVERYONE WHO WILL LOOK AT IT, SHALL LIVE

- The only way to be saved -

 

 

 

Men and women, you who live far from God, under the bondage of sin, I am addressing you, listen to me carefully for your good.

In the book of Numbers it is recorded an event which happened in the desert as the people of Israel journeyed toward the Promised Land. Here is what happened: “And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived” (Numbers 21:4-9).

As you can see, we are told that because of the people’s murmurs, God punished the people of Israel by sending venomous snakes among them and many Israelites died. Then the people recognized they had sinned and came to Moses asking him to pray for them so that God might take those snakes away from them. Moses prayed to God, who told him to make a fiery serpent and to put it upon a pole, so that anyone who was bitten by a snake by looking at it might live. So anyone who looked at that serpent put on that pole escaped death.

The above mentioned story – which occurred more than three thousand years ago – is a shadow of the way of salvation which God ordained before the foundation of the world and made manifest in these last times for us. In other words, it shows what a man must do to escape the second death, which is the terrible and awful punishment, yet right, that on that day God will inflict upon all those who have died in their sins.

What must a man do to be saved? He must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I will explain to you as much exhaustively as possible what I have just said. Now, the Scripture says that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), so you also have sinned against God and fall short of His glory. In other words, you also are under the divine condemnation because of your sins. By your wicked and abominable behaviour (or conduct) you have violated the holy law of God, you have offended and despised God, who is holy and cannot tolerate iniquity, and thus He is very angry with you, so much angry that if you died in this spiritual state He would immediately throw you into hell, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Know for sure this, that this would be your end. The wrath of God is upon your head, it weighs a ton. You are sinners, foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures, living in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another, you call evil good and good evil. Maybe you outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness; you are like whitewashed tombs which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and anything unclean. Don’t think that you are righteous and good, lest you deceive yourselves, for you are rebels, you are transgressors. You are in the same condition of those Israelites in the desert who sinned against God and God sent against them fiery serpents which bit them. Thus you are sentenced to death; not the physical death, which is a death that both the righteous and the sinners experience, but the second death, that is, the lake of fire and brimstone, which will be experienced only by sinners. Here is what the Scripture says about this second death: “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8) where they will be tormented for ever and ever. But I bring you the Good News that you can be saved from this horrible end awaiting you. Yes, you have the possibility of escaping the eternal condemnation, and there is only way to escape it, you must look at Jesus Christ, that is, you must believe in Him. As the Israelites in the desert had to look at the serpent of brass put on that pole in order to escape death, so you must believe in Jesus Christ in order to escape eternal condemnation. Why must you believe in Jesus Christ to have eternal life? Because He was made a curse for us. In other words, because Jesus Christ bore the curse of God on His body in that He was crucified, as it is written: “Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree” (Galatians 3:13). He never committed a sin, He never said a bad word, yet He was hanged on a cross as an evildoer. He was thus able to redeem us from the curse of the law.

Here is the fundamental point you have to understand: you are under the curse of the law for you have not done all the things written in the law of God, as it is written: “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them” (Galatians 3:10), and Jesus Christ is able to redeem you from that curse for He became a curse for all of us. Jesus Christ, the Righteous One, bore your curse. Therefore in the story above mentioned, the serpent of brass represented the Son of God, for just as the serpent in the Garden of Eden incurred God’s curse for he deceived Eve into sinning, so the Son of God took upon Himself the curse of the law in that He was hung on the cross. And now anyone who believes in Him, that is to say, anyone who looks at Him, receives eternal life. Jesus compared His being lifted up on the cross, that is, His death, to Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness, when He said to Nicodemus: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:14-15). Therefore, do not hesitate, look immediately at Jesus Christ, believe in Him in order to obtain eternal life. Do not think you can be saved from eternal condemnation by looking at yourselves, that is to say, by relying on your works, for they will be of no use. You must recognize you have sinned against God (as the Israelites in the desert recognized that they had sinned against God) and you must look at Jesus Christ. Salvation is not by works, but by grace, so that no one may boast before God.

And as in the desert when those who had been bitten by the serpents looked at the serpent of brass they lived, so when you look at Jesus Christ you will have the assurance that you will live in the glory for ever. No more condemnation, no more eternal torment in the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels, but the eternal glory in the Kingdom of God. And all this by the grace of God, because of the merits of Jesus Christ. Not by your sacrifices, but only by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, for He, the Righteous One, bore our sins in His own body on the cross. There will be no more condemnation for you, for all your sins will be forgiven through the blood of Jesus Christ: this is what the Word of God teaches when it states that there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1) for God has given them justification that brings life. Instead, if you refuse to humble before God and to look at the Son of God, what is awaiting you is eternal condemnation, an eternity full of torments and shame. That will happen to you because of your pride and arrogance. When you die, you shall be brought down to Hades (hell), thrown into this underground place, where fire is burning. And then in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, when you rise again to be judged, you will be thrown into the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone. Your arrogance therefore will be your ruin, and you will see it with your own eyes. Today, I have solemnly warned you for your good: do not harden your hearts.

 

 

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