Look and Live

As the children of Israel wandered through the wilderness they started to murmur because of their afflictions.  Because of their unfaithfulness, the following happened: “And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.  And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.  And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived” (Numbers 21:6-9).  I didn’t realize how important the symbolism of this event was.  The Book of Mormon references it many times, and the Savior Himself referred to it in relation to Himself. 

                The first and most obvious message from this story is that we need to look to Christ in order to live.  The prophets in the Book of Mormon repeated this several times.  Amulek said, “But behold, this is not all; these are not the only ones who have spoken concerning the Son of God.  Behold, he was spoken of by Moses; yea, and behold a type was raised up in the wilderness, that whosoever would look upon it might live. And many did look and live” (Alma 33:18-19).  Alma told his son Helaman in what appears to be another reference to story of the serpent: “O my son, do not let us be slothful because of the easiness of the way; for so was it with our fathers; for so was it prepared for them, that if they would look they might live; even so it is with us” (Alma 37:46).  As Nephi taught his brothers he used the story as well to emphasize the simpleness of following Christ: “[The Lord] sent fiery flying serpents among them; and after they were bitten he prepared a way that they might be healed; and the labor which they had to perform was to look; and because of the simpleness of the way, or the easiness of it, there were many who perished” (1 Nephi 17:41).  The people only needed to look to be healed by Moses, and in the same manner we only need to look to and follow Christ in order to find salvation.  Nephi wrote about the story again later in his life, showing how important the story was in teaching us about Christ.  He said, “And as the Lord God liveth that brought Israel up out of the land of Egypt, and gave unto Moses power that he should heal the nations after they had been bitten by the poisonous serpents, if they would cast their eyes unto the serpent which he did raise up before them… yea, behold I say unto you, that as these things are true, and as the Lord God liveth, there is none other name given under heaven save it be this Jesus Christ” (2 Nephi 25:20).  Again the implication is the same: we must cast our eyes upon the Savior for He is the only name that can save us. 

The story also served as a foreshadowing of Christ’s crucifixion.  When Christ taught Nicodemus he said this: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up” (John 3:14-15).  In other words, this symbolic action was not just about looking to the Savior in general; more than that, the lifting up of the serpent represented how Christ would Himself be lifted up upon the cross for the sins of the world.  Nephi gave a similar message to his people: “Yea, did he not bear record that the Son of God should come? And as he lifted up the brazen serpent in the wilderness, even so shall he be lifted up who should come.  And as many as should look upon that serpent should alive, even so as many as should look upon the Son of God with faith, having a contrite spirit, might live, even unto that life which is eternal” (Helaman 8:14-15).  So the serpent was a representation of Christ Himself, which is certainly an interesting choice of symbolism since the devil also is associated with a serpent.  The difference, though, is that Christ as the Serpent is always lifted up to heal us; Satan as the old serpent is always lurking below in order to harm us.  The question for us, then, is will we look up?