View source for Question: Why would God send poisonous serpents to kill the Children of Israel?

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==Question: Why would God send poisonous serpents to kill the Children of Israel?==
===The moral of the story is that one who looks upon Christ will be saved from spiritual death, not "don't complain or God will kill you."===

In {{s||Numbers|21|5-9}}, God teaches the Children of Israel an important lesson not only about obedience, but about the future atonement of Jesus Christ. 

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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.<br>
6 And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.<br>
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.<br>
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.<br>
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.
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Jesus Christ actually used this story to foreshadow his own crucifixion {{s||John|3|14-15}}:
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14 ¶And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:<br>
15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
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The moral of the story is that one who looks upon Christ will be saved from spiritual death, not "don't complain or God will kill you."  The snake on the pole is a representation of Christ and the atonement. Those that simply looked at it were saved from physical death. Those that look upon and accept Christ are saved from spiritual death. What is amazing is that there were people who simply wouldn't look at it, despite how easy it would have been to do so. They simply refused to believe.
[[File: Numbers-bronze20snake.jpg|200px|thumb|center|Moses lifts up the bronze serpent to the Israelites.]]
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[[Category:Letter to a CES Director]]

[[es:Pregunta: ¿Por qué Dios enviar serpientes venenosas para matar a los hijos de Israel?]]
[[pt:Pergunta: Por que Deus iria enviar serpentes venenosas para matar os filhos de Israel?]]
[[Category:Questions]]