Numbers 21:9

"Handfuls of Purpose"

For All Gleaners

"A serpent of brass." Num 21:9

Physical objects may be made the medium of spiritual suggestion. The true use of material objects is to find out their spiritual suggestions. The sown seed, the growing corn, the fields white unto the harvest, are all instances which may be turned to spiritual advantage. So may all growth, all life, all beauty, all force. It is very significant that the word "serpent" should be identified in the Bible with its sublimest remedial activities. It would seem as if God intended even in this way to humble and punish the tempter who ruined our first parents. It was the "serpent" that was more subtle than any beast of the field. In the last book of the New Testament the enemy is referred to as "the great dragon, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world." Images and relics are to be strictly limited in their use. Nothing is to stand between the soul and God but the priesthood of Jesus Christ. Hezekiah "brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made." Why did Hezekiah take this course? Because the children of Israel had become image-worshippers, and had a superstitious veneration for an institution which had served its purpose and was no longer needed. The only eternal institution is the work of Jesus Christ himself. It is nothing less than wickedness to go back to the symbol when the reality is before us. Men are not at liberty to judge themselves by the commandments when they can adopt the more penetrating criticism of the Beatitudes. The whole meaning of the serpent of brass was realised in the uplifting of the Son of man. The proof of this is found in John 3:14 , John 3:15 . The uplifting is an action as remarkable as is the name of the serpent. Jesus Christ referred to it repeatedly, thus: "Even so must the Son of man be lifted up"; again: When ye have lifted up the Son of man." The lifting up is an act equivalent to manifestation; the lifting up is highly symbolic; it means separation, elevation, exposure to the whole world, welcome to all mankind. "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil."