Adrian
Old-Sunday Worship April 5th, 2026
  • Hymn of Praise
  • Hymn of Praise

      • Psalm 136ESV

      • Psalm 136:1–26ESV

  • Hymn of Meditation
  • Doxology

      • Numbers 21:1–9ESV

  • “Look This Way”

    K. Adrian Scott
    April 5, 2026
    Contextual Introduction.
    The preceding chapters of Numbers beginning with chapter 11 chronicle the deep dissatisfaction of the nation of Israel since they had been delivered from the misery of slavery in the land of Egypt but in the eyes of some of the crowd of Israelites their release from Egypt’s hand hasn’t been much better. I want to remind you they found every conceivable thing to complain about including their diet, a lack of water, and the hardships of travel in a wilderness. They even accused God of delivering them from Egypt only to see them die in the wilderness.
    The Israelites are moving closer to the land God promised them, Canaan. In return for God’s favor of a victory over the Canaanites, they promised the Lord they in turn, would repent and return to God in obedience.
    If they are going to successfully overcome the Canaanites, they strategized to travel to Canaan taking the shortest route, then attack once there. However, Israel would have to travel through Edom to facilitate this. However, when Moses requested permission from the Edomites, they were refused.
    They then had to take a long way around the land of Edom along the Red Sea. It was an arduous journey for them. It was long and hot and weary traveling in this dusty and rocky terrain. Additionally, Moses suffered two devastating loses in his immediate family as both Merriam and Aaron, his ‘right hand man’ died according to Chapter 20. Now in a moment of frustration the Israelites spoke out against God and against Moses asking, “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness” (v. 5).
    It was as if they were chastising God and shaking their fists at the Almighty because of their troubles. To dare chastise God is the highest and most audacious of human acts, and to compare mere human intellect to divine wisdom is evidence of a significant lack of faith and sound judgment coupled with an overabundance of arrogant, self-pride.
    With this latest and most blatant attack on God’s good character and judgment -
    v. 6; “the Lord sent fiery serpents into the camp and bit the people, so that many of people of Israel died.”
    The Lord did not merely send the stinging snakes into the camp to scare the people; He sent them into the camp to bite the people and for them to have to deal with the consequences of those bites!
    Note: Please do not underestimate the judgment of God. A line had been drawn in the sand and Israel has crossed it. And even a casual reading of our text teaches us something basic – sin has horrible consequences. It is not always sudden such as in this case, but God’s judgment is coming just the same. This crowd had a bad attitude since they were ungrateful, frustrated; they are bitterly angry, and it should also be said that because of their sin, they are also undeserving. They were so angry they accused God of being cruel - ‘You sent us into the wilderness to die’ they said (v.5). And they are now suddenly being bitten by these snakes the Lord sent into the camp! Yes, the Lord sent them! Please remember, the Lord is Lord over all, including Lord over all of creation.
    Note: We do not get away with our sin.
    Just what are the symptoms of a person who has been bitten by a poisonous snake? A little medical research tells us a person will most likely experiencesevere pain at the bite mark and general weakness of their entire body. They would also have trouble breathing, and numbness to the extreme point of paralysis and shock. The worst part is; however, they will die if they are not medically treated in short order. But we have no information from the text that there was a doctor there, and if there was, he or she could not successfully treat the victims of the snakes. People are dropping like flies. People are dying at an alarming rate because of these snakes! And it is apparent that no one had the power to stop the serpents from biting nor possessed the power to heal them! This circumstance is only something God can correct and a condition that only the Lord can heal! Things are a mess! If something isn’t done, everyone in the camp could potentially die. This is not only a deadly circumstance, but it is universal in its scope; meaning, every citizen of Israel is affected. No one is immune to these snake bites! It does not matter if your tent is in the front of the camp or in the back of the camp, everyone is subject to the same critical judgment of God.
    The serpent is loose and seeking whom it may devour! St. Peter says something like that - “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5.8). I am trying to take the brush of God’s divine revelation and paint a picture for us this morning.
    With the death count of family and friends dying from poisonous venom, it is quite obvious there is something deadly in this serpent’s bite! Here is the true appraisal of sin – it is deadly. This snake that found its way into the camp of the Israelites was lethal. It seems that every tent and every family have its victims. You do not have to look far, just look over there and over here, because there are dying people everywhere. People who had walked into the camp are being carried out! There is no medicine for it, no hospital to treat it, and no surgery to fix it. It is a profoundly sad and hopeless circumstance. This camp has been turned into a war zone.
    Look over there is what remains of a birthday cake over here. Then there are ribbons and a tambourine where people had been joyfully singing. Then perhapssomeone saw some wine and a flower plucked from the desert to celebrate a wedding anniversary, but it has all stopped because either one or both marriagepartners has deceased. There is no more celebrating. The camp for the living, filled with tents, cots for sleeping, blankets and pots and pans, is now an emergency room! There is now more death than life.
    I want to tell you that this world we live in is one big emergency room full of dying, spiritually speaking. Death is out of control here because anyone bitten by the snake’s fangs was sentenced to death unless there is an intervention. Likely no one gets out of this camp alive unless God does something; unless the Lord creates a fix for the problem! Unless someone dares to place a call to Heaven’s customer service and report a problem, maybe there is no hope.
    v. 7a; “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 takes away the serpents from us.”
    Homes are quickly left fatherless, motherless, and even childless. In this instance the evenhanded and non-discriminating arm of divine judgment is the chilly hand of death.
    Question: Is this serpent’s bite somehow a picture of the stinging, deadly nature of sin with its dire consequences of pain, sorrow, regret, and ultimate death and separation? And if so, are these Israelites the only once bitten by the serpent? All humanity beginning with Adam’s fall, are “brought forth in iniquity”(Psalm 51) which speaks of humanity’s total ‘inherited depravity’ (F. F. Bruce) or the state of human beings at birth. “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3.23).
    We, like the Israelites, were injected with the venom of disobedience and rebellion by the fangs of evil against the heavenly authority, and the effect of sin is; it still stings. Because of the effect of sin, we live with the stress of family and work life. That stings. The issues of aging in poor physical and financialcondition; the crumbling family structure and personal relationships, ill health, and frail financial concerns, all sting! The result of sin no matter what stage of our human history still stings and still kills.
    v. 7; “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he takes away the serpents from us.”
    Of course, here is confession; repentance; what is necessary for God to offer forgiveness!
    The people realized the snakes, these troubles, these fiery bites and deathly illness; these feelings of self-righteousness, self-sufficiency and arrogance; this anger and bitterness and complaint toward God will not leave on its own. “Pray to God that he takes away the serpents from us.” They need a God intervention! We need God to provide a remedy because this is only something God can do!
    II. The Lord would help them, but it would require a measure of their own faith -
    v. 8; “make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live” (v.8).
    This is God’s remedy for the sick and dying in Israel. There is no other solution; no other cure is offered, just this one.
    To look at a dead, lifeless figure on a pole was the only instruction for life and healing! It is a simple prescription, however!
    They had not been told to walk or run to the pole, nor crawl or creep or limp to the pole; because they did not have the capacity to get to the pole! They would not have been able to do it! But God! Oh, don’t you remember when you also did not have a heart for God or the Lord’s Church as an institution, or even the people of God? Don’t you remember when you said the Bible was not relevant to you and prayer was not an important part of your life? I remember when I could not get to that pole either. My heart wasn’t in it; my mind was too distracted by other worthless things, and my soul was cold toward the things of God. My condition wouldn’t let me get to that pole either. I was already dead in Spirit, and it was just a matter of time before my body died also. “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2.1). I too had been bitten by that serpent and so had you.
    But then Moses said that probably surprised the people; your healing is not so much what you do but what Yahweh has already done. Yahweh told Moses all the weary and worn had to do was not run to it; not walk or crawl to it or even speak to it for help. All they needed to do was to “look this way” and as many as would in faith look, they would be healed! God has done the work! Just look! This suggests that God will do all the work! God has made the necessary investment; you and I just must look!
    And what am I looking at? Look at the figure fastened to the pole. Remember, what you have aligned yourself to has not worked. In fact, it has only led tosadness, sickness and death. Look this way and see the figure on the pole that reminds you of your sin and the fact that your sin has been fastened to that pole; paid for by the One appointed by God the Father on your behalf, and you will find life.
    Go ahead and look this way while the Lord is present to heal. Look this way while God has extended the Arm of salvation. Look while the Lord is still desiring to save. Look while the wrath of God has been put on pause! Look! While there is still time and God is patient! Look because the Law cannot help you. In fact, the Law condemns you! And while the Law sentences you to death, God’s potent love saves, yes, even the undeserving. If you look, you can have a new life! “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Cor. 5.17).
    That serpent on the pole was an accurate representation of the fiery serpents whose sting had affected that whole camp. The serpent served as a mirror of their sin; the reason for their condition!
    Oh, someone thought, ‘come on. This is too simple, and it does not make sense. The last thing I want to do is look at that pole and be reminded of my sin!’ But isn’t that the point? It served to remind them of their sin and guilt and remind them of the one who would take away their guilt and pain!
    They are weak and dying, life is fleeing from their bodies. They cannot walk to the serpent; they cannot run to it, lest they think it's their efforts that saved them. So, a simple prescription must be written.
    Amid such pitiful conditions, such horrific suffering and numbing sorrow, Moses points them to the one lifted up. Look to the one who heals in sickness, who soothes our sorrows, and lifts heavy burdens; the one who gives us peace in troubling times and sends us a wave of hope when we’re otherwise drowning in hopelessness. Look to that figure who is hoisted high and that hung long enough for everyone who dared look would live. ‘People of Israel, Look to the one exalted high above the chaos of this camp.’ Look to the one lifted up for us!
    This text has its biblical historical significance, but it is also clearly pointing us to the One hoisted upon a wooden beam 2000 years ago, whose whole purpose was to be a reminder of our sin but more importantly, he as our substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ. Be reminded of the simplicity of the Gospel message - “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up; that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life” (John 3.15).
    You can look at this One on the tree, stretched wide and hung high because this one has no poison, but brings life! Jesus did not represent death but life! “I have come that you might have life and that more abundantly” (John 10.10). He knew no sin! Notice that this figure on the pole has the power of life and death! If you only look in faith. Look to this one lifted, elevated high above all others and fixed on the pole; you will not perish but have life! This is a call to Israel’s obedience and saving faith in the word of God (unknown). So only look this way! Romans 5.6 says, “while we were still weak, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.” The right time is while there is still time. Don’t look at the pole, it can’t save you. Look at the One hung on the pole! Don’tlook at the institutional Church, its members or officers; she can’t save you. Look to the One on the pole! If you’re tired, look! Frustrated? Look! Lonely?Look. Heartbroken? Troubled? Hurting? Look! When you look, Jesus will work! And when they ‘looked that way’ death and separation was brought to its knees; sickness and pain was left fleeing, hopelessness took leave, and life replaced death! Because of that look death no longer had power of those who dared look to the One raised for them. This is the hope we have in Jesus,, the beginner and finisher of our faith. Look at the one on the pole.
    The cross of Christ is the answer to the pain of sin.
    Christian, are you again weary of sin’s sting? Have you in your anger, bitterness or shame refused to look to Jesus our healer? Do you feel like you deserve the Lord’s forgiveness and healing? Isn’t that what. Maundy Thursday is all about? Our unworthiness?
    Saints and Sinners, I point you to Jesus.
    Look this way and you too can be healed and live.
    Someone once said, ‘a cross less Christianity does not exist.”
    Look this way.

      • Numbers 21:1–9ESV

      • Numbers 5ESV

      • Numbers 21:6ESV

      • Numbers 21:5ESV

      • 1 Peter 5:8ESV

      • Numbers 21:7aESV

      • Romans 3:23ESV

      • Numbers 21:7aESV

      • Numbers 21:8ESV

      • Ephesians 2:1ESV

      • 2 Corinthians 5:17ESV

      • John 3:15ESV

      • John 10:10ESV

      • John 10:10ESV

      • 1 John 2:1ESV

      • Isaiah 55:6–7ESV

  • Closing Song

      • Ephesians 3:20–21ESV

Adrian
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