Brian Onstead

When was the last time you read or heard a sermon from the Book of Numbers? It kind of sounds boring, doesn’t it? Numbers. Unless you are a mathematician or accountant, who wants to read and study numbers? Well, despite its name, Numbers is not purely about numbers. It is thus named because it records the number of people for each of the tribes and clans of Israel. However, that’s not actually its point. Believe it or not, Numbers is about the Lord Jesus Christ. 

So, how is Numbers about Jesus? Well, I’ll give you just one example. In John’s gospel a conversation is recorded between him and Nicodemus. It’s the one where Jesus made the very well-known statement in John 3:16: “For God so loved that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” 

However, do you know what Jesus said immediately before this that led to this statement? Well, he was actually referring to the Book of Numbers. He said, “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.” (John 3:14-15)

So, Jesus speaks of the incident of Moses lifting up a serpent as the important background for his famous saying in John 3:16. Do you know where it is found? You probably guessed Numbers. And if you did, you’d be correct! The story is found in Numbers 21. The people of Israel were wandering in the wilderness and started to complain against God. In unbelief they grumbled against him and Moses, accusing God of bringing them out there just to kill them. So, God punished them by having serpents invade their camp. These serpents packed a deadly bite. Without modern medicine or a hospital nearby, many of the people died. So, they came to Moses and confessed that it was because of their sin that this was happening and asked for a remedy. What was God’s remedy? It was a serpent molded out of bronze lifted up on a pole. This is the basis for the symbol we often see on ambulances. But strangely, all an Israelite had to do was look at this bronze serpent figurine and they would be healed. How strange! Why this remedy? Well, it was meant to picture Christ.

Just as a dying Israelite facing death’s sting had to simply look and live, so we who have been bit by the curse, facing death’s sting because of our sin (which is all of us), have to simply look to Jesus and live. It is not by our own works, it is not by our own attempts or efforts to heal ourselves. Just as the Israelites did nothing but look, so we do nothing but look to Christ — that is, we simply believe that his death on the cross, his being lifted up on the cross to die, is the only and whole remedy for the sting of death due to our sin. It is Jesus alone who does all the work to save us, who died on the cross to pay for all our sins in full so that we may not die eternally from our sin. And this, then, beautifully illustrates that wonderful good news spoken in John 3:16: “For God so loved that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

(Brian Onstead is the pastor at Trinity Bible Church.)