The Fang of the Snake that Bit You

After one of the many times the children of Israel rebelled while wandering in the desert, the Lord sent venomous serpents among them. He also prepared a way for them to be cured. He instructed Moses to fashion a bronze serpent and place it on a pole for the Israelites to look at, but we are told that many chose not to look and perished. I’ve always assumed that the Israelites choosing not even to look had to do with either laziness or stubbornness or pride. They didn’t think it would work and so they couldn’t be bothered. Or they were still so mad and sulky that they wouldn’t even try because they weren’t going to be told what to do. But I don’t think it’s that simple. What were they being asked to look at? A snake. The thing that bit them. I don’t think they were being lazy. I think they were afraid. I don’t think they were being stubborn. I think they were ashamed. To go out and look at that snake was to be honest about the situation that they were in. It was to put it all out in the open. They rebelled and suffered the consequences of their rebellion and if they were going to be saved, they would need to confront the reality of their situation. They would have to look at the snake that bit them. One of the most effective treatments in cognitive therapy is exposure therapy. If someone is afraid of snakes, you make them look at an image of a snake. If they can’t even look at a picture of a snake, you start by talking about the snake. And then, even though this is terrifying and horrible for them, eventually they’ll be comfortable talking about the snake. And then they will eventually be able to look at a snake. The snake may still be scary, but eventually they will discover that they are stronger than their fears. God, through Moses, wanted the children of Israel to know that they were stronger than their weakness, and so he invited them to look at an image of the thing that bit them. But it wasn’t just about the fear. It was also about the shame. As long as they stayed in their tent, they could die pretending that nobody knew their secret shame. But if they went out into the light, and looked at a reminder of their rebellion, then their shame would be visible for all to see. Shame can only exist in the dark. The whole essence of shame is this falsehood that if anyone ever knew the truth, we would die. The ground would swallow us up, or everyone would look on us with horror and revulsion and loathing and immediately tear us limb from limb. Shame convinces us that we have gone beyond saving and if God ever loved us then He hates us now. But shame is a venom that runs through our veins and a shackle that tries to bind us down, but it has no power against light and truth. For those brave enough and humble enough to tear themselves away from their shame and walk into the light and look at their rebellion with honesty, they were saved. Do you know how antivenom works? They inject small doses of venom into an animal so that the animal can build up an immunity and then they extract the blood from that animal and use that as the antivenom. Antivenoms aren’t universal. You need the antivenom for the particular species that bit you. Christ is the sacrificial lamb that allowed Himself to be injected with venom so that His blood could save us. The serpent may have been given power to bruise Christ’s heel, but our Savior has the power to crush the serpent’s head. He took upon our specific sins so that He could provide the specific antivenom to cure us. Christ knows exactly the pain and the fear and the shame that we feel because He got bit by the exact same snake. And He wants us to allow Him to help us to cast the fear and the shame out by looking honestly at the snake that bit us. There are a lot of snakes out there, and if we keep pretending that they don’t exist, or that they can’t hurt us, then we’re going to keep getting bit and we’re going to keep feeling awful. But if we confess our sins and forsake them and repent and take upon us Christ’s life-saving, antivenom blood, then we can protect ourselves. It is no trivial matter to leave the dark and look on the bronze serpent, but when we do, the truth will set us free, the light of Christ will burn all of the shame and fear and poison out of us, and perfect love will fill us with healing and hope and sweet, sweet relief.