1. The Bronze Serpent November 27, 2005

2. Did God love His people? How did God show His love? He gave them Moses, who showed them miracles that only God could do. He made pharaoh submit to His will and release his people Moses, with God’s hand, struck the sea and split it. The Lord led them with a cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night. The Lord sent His people manna and quails so that they wouldn’t starve. When they were walking in the wilderness and needed water, God gave them water from a rock. He cared about their souls and gave Moses the Two tablets of Covenant.

3. Would YOU give up on God? If God did all this for you…would you stop trusting him??? His people did!! They complained bout the manna and quail that they ate for a long time in the wilderness. God punished them with serpents that bit them and a lot of them died. All because they spoke badly about God. This was their punishment!

4. “I’m Sorry” Why were they punished? Did they realize what they were doing was wrong? They went to Moses and said, “We are sinners, please take these serpents away. We are sorry we sinned against You.”

5. Forgive them Moses went to a lonely place, and prayed to the Lord and said, “I have sinned and these people have sinned against you. Forgive me and them and take these serpents away.” But God was sooo mad at them that He didn’t listen to Moses……….right?

6. The bronze serpent WRONG! God LOVED Moses and His people soo much…especially since they repented. He told Moses to make a bronze serpent and put it on a pole so that anyone that was bitten could look at it and be healed. Did they believe this time?

7. What does the serpent resemble? Who else heals us from our sin, no matter WHEN, how MANY, and how HORRIBLE? The bronze serpent = The sacrifice of Christ

8. Conclusion: Why go through all this trouble God? Why did God want to make them go through the trouble of making a bronze serpent? Putting it on a stick? Making people look at it? Couldn’t He just heal them right away? Without the middle man? What was He trying to teach his people?

9. Memory Verse “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you.” -Numbers 21:7