THE BRAZEN SERPENT AS A TYPE OF CHRIST
If this narrative was a bare record of facts, it would supply precious lessons respecting sin and salvation; but being one of the typical histories, applied by the Saviour. to himself,… it has in itself "no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory which excelleth. It was a type, not through the discernment of men, but by the preordination of God. Among the analogies the following may be suggested, from which such truths may be selected as will best further the object for which the subject is used in the pulpit.
1. The origin of the evil in the camp and in the world was the same sin.
2. The fiery serpents apt "ministers" (2 Corinthians 11:15) of "the old serpent," and so sufferings and death the natural work of Satan, who "was a murderer from the beginning," and who hath the power of death (Romans 6:23; Hebrews 2:14).
3. The devil could have no power to injure "except it were given him from above." "The Lord sent the serpents "(cf. Isaiah 45:7; Amos 3:6; 1 Corinthians 5:5; 1 Timothy 1:20).
4. The helplessness of the sufferers the same. A new life needed in each case. But neither herbs, nor cordials, nor caustics, nor charms could expel the poison from the blood. And neither reformation, nor tears, nor services, nor ceremonies can avert the consequences of sin.
5. The remedy of Divine appointment. "God sent forth his Son" (Romans 8:32; Galatians 4:4, Galatians 4:5; cf. Wisdom 16:6, 7, 12).
6. In both cases a resemblance between the destroyer and the deliverer. The brazen serpent a deliverer in the likeness of the destroyer; Christ a Saviour in the likeness of the stoner (Romans 8:3). But the serpent was without venom, and Christ without sin.
7. Deliverance was provided not by words, but by deeds. The Son of man, like the serpent, lifted up.
8. In both cases a declaration of God's plan follows its appointment. Moses proclaimed to the camp the heaven-sent remedy, and "we preach Christ crucified."
9. An appropriation of God's offer required: "when he looketh," "whosoever believeth." Salvation limited to those who trust.
10. No obvious connection between the means and the result. The serpent and the cross "foolishness" to the scoffer.
11. Saving faith impossible without "godly sorrow working repentance'' (cf. Numbers 21:7; Acts 20:21; 1 John 1:9).
12. The offer of salvation made to all, and the effect of faith alike in all. Cf. Numbers 21:9 and the world-embracing "whosoever."—P.
HOMILIES BY D. YOUNG
A HARD BIT OF THE ROAD
"The soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way."
I. THE ACTUAL REASON FOR DISCOURAGEMENT. Discouragement and trouble of mind because of the difficulties of life is of course very common, but a great deal depends on where the difficulties come from. Here we are plainly told the discouragement arose because of the way.
1. It appears to have been a bad bit of the road in itself. None of the way over which the Israelites had traveled since they left Egypt could be called easy. They had begun with a strange experience, marching through the depths of the sea, and ever since they had wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in. For forty years they had been accustomed to wilderness life, but the district through which they were now passing is, by the description of travelers, desolate and repellent in an extraordinary degree. So the course of the Christian, all the way through, is subject to external difficulties and hardships, and the more faithful he is, the more these may abound, add at certain stages they may be so increased and intensified as to become well nigh intolerable. Discouraged by different things at different times, there may come a time to us, as to Israel, when we shall be especially discouraged because of the way.
2. It came as a sort of rebuff after God had given them special encouragement. For forty years they had been under chastisement, a doomed, dying, hopeless generation, but recently God had brought them back to Kadesh, and made the dry, forbidding rock to pour forth plenteously for the thirst of man and beast. Man is easily lifted up by anything that satisfies his senses, and gives him a visible support, and when it subsides he is correspondingly depressed. The desolate district through which the people passed probably looked all the worse because of the hopes which had been excited in them at Meribah.
3. It was particularly vexatious because they had been turned out of a more direct way. They were compassing the land of Edom, because brother Edom, of whom Israel expected kinder things, had closed the way through his land with a drawn sword. Even though the road had been pleasanter in itself, the very fact that it was circuitous was enough to cause some annoyance.
II. THIS ACTUAL REASON WAS NOT SUFFICIENT. It was natural enough, to some extent excusable, but not a reason worthy of the people of God.
1. It pointed to purely external difficulties. It was by no fault of Israel that it found itself in this cheerless and starving place. Canaan was not a land easy to get into, and the Israelites had been shut up to this road, difficult as it was. We dishonour God greatly when we are discouraged by difficulties rising entirely outside of ourselves. The less of help and comfort we can discern with the eyes of sense, the more we should discern those unfailing comforts and resources which come through a childlike dependence upon God. The Israelites wanted a Habakkuk among them to say, "Though the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation."
2. There was a negligent and ungrateful omission to consider reasons for encouragement. Even if the way was hard, it was a mercy there was a way at all. The way through Edom, direct and easy as it looked, might have proved both tedious and perilous in the end. God knows the way of the righteous, even when the righteous himself scarcely knows it. Bad as the way was, it is called the way of the Red Sea, and the very sight of those memorable waters should have brought to mind, and kept in mind, an unparalleled instance of God's guiding and delivering power.
3. The discouragement because of the way prevented other and weightier reasons for discouragement from being felt. The state of the heart within should have caused far more depression and anxiety than the state of the world without. We know the people themselves were in a bad state of heart, for the words of murmuring prove it. Whatever hopes the gushing waters of Meribah had raised were carnal, and found no sympathy with God. There are two states of heart on which we may be sure he looks with approval.