LifeLink Devotional

Monday, June 1, 2020

Have you ever been simultaneously scared and filled with hope? I remember it happening to me as a young boy. It happened in Sunday School class. The teacher was telling us the story of an invasion of poisonous snakes that was used by God to punish the Israelites for their rebellion against Him. Thousands and thousands of snakes. She even had a picture. I was so scared that I totally missed the opportunity to make a joke about how old she was to have taken the picture.

But my fear was confronted with faith when I saw, in the middle of the picture, Moses lifting up a pole with a brass snake on it, and people’s eyes turning to look at it. There were snakes all over the ground, and people were dying from their bites. Yet one look of faith at the brass snake on a pole, and the bite of the serpent was healed.

John 3:14-15 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

Our world is dying from the bite of the Serpent. Satan, the Garden Serpent, lures us with deception and brings us death. We are deceived into believing that there is life to be found in the pursuit of self-fulfillment, pleasure, power, and possessions. We build our personal value systems on principles rather than the Prince of Peace. The same Serpent that bit Adam and Eve with the fear that God could not fully satisfy their need for self-worth has bitten all of us, and we are all dying while we try to prove to ourselves that we can make ourselves better.

The story of Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness shook me as a boy, but it taught me an incredible lesson. While the snake on the pole had no power to remove the effects of deadly venom, the God who commanded the people to look at the serpent does. The faith of people looking at the serpent on the pole healed their snakebite.

Jesus declared that He would also be lifted up on a pole, and those who look to Him in faith will also be healed from the Serpent’s deadly venom of death. The crucifixion of Jesus conquers every sin by crushing the head of the serpent so it can bite no more. When we look to Jesus in faith, believing that He saves from every effect of sin, we are instantly healed from death and given new life that is eternal.

So whatever snakebite has you suffering in pain today, look to Jesus on the cross. He died to save you. He died so that you may have life. He has destroyed once and for all the power of the Serpent. By faith, He will be your Savior.

If you want to know more, please contact me. The world is dying. It’s time to live.

Pastor John