VICTORY IN THE WILDERNESS IV

Text: Num. 21:1-9

Verses 8-9 reveal the divine prescription. Divine prescription is always the best. God asked Moses to make a brazen serpent and place it on a pole so that whosoever ‘looketh’ on it shall live. ‘Looketh’ here implies that it is not a one off thing; they must continue looking upon it.

In this scripture, we see a tortuous journey in the wilderness resulting in discouragement and out of that discouragement proceeded toxic attitudes; attitudes of grumbling, complaining, murmuring, backbiting; speaking against God and against his servant. This is a commonplace today. Whenever you are faced with a challenge mind what you say. The best time to know a person is not when everything is working fine for him or her, no, it is when the chips are down. Watch the person’s reaction to challenges. It is very easy to sing hallelujah when everything is working out fine, but it is when there is a change of season that you can know a true child of God.

What brought about the fiery serpents in the first place? Divine judgment! May we not bring divine judgment against ourselves by what we wish, or say especially when under pressure in the name of Jesus. One of the easiest ways to score an own goal is to make the wrong confession especially when you find yourself in the wilderness. Mind what you say. The wilderness experience of the Israelites which should have lasted eleven days eventually lasted for forty years. Why? Wrong attitudes!

We notice a positive attitude in verse 7, the same people who manifested a negative attitude turned around in an attitude of repentance in the face of divine judgment. They turned back to God and asked Moses to pray for them. They acknowledged their sinfulness and after Moses prayed for them; our merciful Father opened his hand to welcome them back. A man of God says that whenever you repent, God will take you to his pent house. Don’t justify your sinful habits, always acknowledge your mistakes; cry out in repentance from the depths of your heart. God will surely intervene.

In verse 8, based on the repentance of the children of Israel and the prayer of Moses, God gave the children of Israel a prescription which is still potent today; the prescription of the cross. A brazen serpent placed on a pole so that whoever looks to it shall be healed. If you depend on science alone, you are likely to miss God because God exists in the heaven of heavens, science cannot get there because it exists in the realm of the mind. It is limited because it is earthbound. That is why faith is superior to science – science deals with facts. Some of the strategies that God has given us in this ministry concerning certain divine interventions do not make sense to the mind.

The divine prescription against every work of the devil, the antidote to every work that the devil has done is the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The brazen serpent on a pole typifies the wisdom of God, it is immeasurable and boundless. Divine prescription for man’s malady is the cross of Christ. Keep your eyes on the cross and continue to focus on what Jesus has done for you. Brass, in the Bible, represents judgment. Sin has been judged on the cross. Every serpentine poison has been taken out of the way on the cross, these include sicknesses, diseases, infirmities and so on; send them to the cross.

Pray –

• Heavenly Father I worship and adore you. I can never thank you enough for the generous provisions you have made for my well-being here and here after, through the death, burial and resurrection of your dear son Jesus Christ. I celebrate and appropriate the victory of the cross of Christ as my victory. I thank you in Jesus’ name. Amen.

TO BE CONTINUED………