1) God sent fiery serpents to punish the Israelites for complaining against God and Moses in the wilderness. 2) The serpents bit the Israelites, God's chosen people, and many died. 3) The Israelites confessed their sin of speaking against God and Moses and asked Moses to pray for the serpents to be removed. 4) God instructed Moses to make a bronze serpent and mount it on a pole, so that anyone bitten could look at it and live, providing a remedy designed by God.

1. A Remedy for a Rebel
NUMBERS 21:5-9
JOHN 3:16
Num 21:5-9
5) 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.
6) And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and
much people of Israel died.
7) 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.
8) 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.
9) 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.
This is a strange story that is the context to the most famous verse of the NT, John
3:16.
Doctrinally “the serpent on a pole” pictures Christ becoming sin for us (John 3:14; II
Cor. 5:21).
John 3:14
14) And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of
man be lifted up:
2Cor 5:21

2. 21) For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made
the righteousness of God in him.
Salvation came through faith—look and live, Isaiah 45:22.
Isa 45:22
22) Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there
is none else.

3. Notice the facts of the case: Num 21:5-9
1) God sent the serpents.
2) It was the Israelites- God’s people that were
bitten.
3) The way of escape (v7) “we have sinned”.
4) “Serpent on a pole” was God’s design.
Notice the facts of the case:
• God sent the serpents.
• It was the Israelites- God’s people that were bitten.
• The way of escape (v7) “we have sinned”.
• “Serpent on a pole” was God’s design.

4. A Remedy for a Rebel
1) GOD SENT THE SERPENTS.
• God sent the serpents.
Num 21:6
6) And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and
much people of Israel died.
John 3:19
19) And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved
darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
Isa 30:8-13
8) Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for
the time to come for ever and ever:
9) That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law
of the LORD:
10) Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right
things, SPEAK unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:
11) Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel
to cease from before us.
12) Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and
trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon:
13) Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a
high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenlyat an instant.
God sent the serpents.

5. Exod 16:8b
…the LORD heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against him: and what
are we? your murmurings are not against us, but against the LORD.

6. A Remedy for a Rebel
1) GOD SENT THE SERPENTS.
2)IT WAS THE ISRAELITES- GOD’S
PEOPLE THAT WERE BITTEN.
• God sent the serpents.
• It was the Israelites- God’s people that were bitten.
Ps 2:1-4
1) Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
2) The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together,
against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,
3) Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.
4) He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.
Prov 1:26-30
26) I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
27) When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a
whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
28) Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early,
but they shall not find me:
29) For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
30) They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
Num 21:6
6) And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and
much people of Israel died.
God sent the serpents.

7. It was the Israelites- God’s people that were bitten.
A Remedy for a Rebel
1) GOD SENT THE SERPENTS.
2) IT WAS THE ISRAELITES - GOD’S
PEOPLE THAT WERE BITTEN.
3) The way of escape (v7) “we
have sinned”.
• God sent the serpents.
• It was the Israelites- God’s people that were bitten.
• The way of escape (v7) “we have sinned”.
Num 21:7
7) 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.
Num 21:4-5
4) 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.
(God’s way)
5) 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 fieryserpents…)
John 15:22-23
22) If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they
have no cloke for their sin.

8. 23) He that hateth me hateth my Father also.
Hos 14:1-3
1) O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.
2) Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away all
iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips.
3) Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any
more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth
mercy.
God sent the serpents.
It was the Israelites- God’s people that were bitten.
The way of escape (v7) “we have sinned”.

9. A Remedy for a Rebel
1) GOD SENT THE SERPENTS.
2) IT WAS THE ISRAELITES -
GOD’S PEOPLE THAT WERE
BITTEN.
3) The way of escape (v7) “we have sinned”.
4) “Serpent on a pole” was God’s
design.
1) God sent the serpents.
2) It was the Israelites- God’s people that were bitten.
3) The way of escape (v7) “we have sinned”.
4) “Serpent on a pole” was God’s design.
Num 21:8
8) 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.
This is not an exaltation of the serpent or any sin the traps a man. It is an
exaltation of God’s power that is larger than life, to do what is humanlyimpossible.
Eph 4:8
Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and
gave gifts unto men.
Ps 68:18
Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts
for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them.
John 3:16

10. 16) For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
1John4:9
9) In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only
begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
The “pig pin” was better for the prodigal son than could have beenthe Taj Mahal.