Daily Devotion | Numbers 21:1–9 | 2026 May 26

Title: Daily Devotion | Numbers 21:1–9 | 2026 May 26

Scripture: Numbers 21:1–9 (ESV, reference only)

Date: 2026 May 26

Speaker: Rev. John Chen

Transcribed, translated & edited by: Joseph Wang (Yufan)

All right, peace to all the brothers and sisters who have come in. We thank God for His grace. We have come to a new day, and we are learning Daily Devotion. The Scripture we are studying today is Numbers chapter 21, verses 1 through 9. Let us pray. Lord, we thank You for Your grace, for leading us. Lord, let us know how we ought to rely on You to gain victory. Our lives are truly weak. Lord, we truly are not worthy to be Your children. But Lord, since You have had mercy on us and shown us grace, we ask You, every morning, to awaken our ears, so that we may follow Your will, and so that in this present life we may live a victorious life. By Your redemption, may we overcome all these enemies. In Christ’s name, amen. All right, let us continue looking at Numbers.

Yesterday, in Numbers, we spoke about the death of Aaron, the end of an era. For the Israelites, they were facing a new era. Then chapter 21 begins, in verses 1 through 3, by speaking of one victory of theirs. This is a very beautiful victory. Why? Here there is one issue that we need to pay special attention to. This place is called Hormah. This place, Hormah, appeared before in Numbers chapter 14. When they first attacked the land of Canaan, did God not forbid them to go? Right? But once they acted in the flesh, they insisted on going up to attack the Canaanites. In the end, they were struck by the Amalekites. In chapter 14, verse 45, it says that the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and defeated them and pursued them, even to Hormah. Then what about chapter 21? This is very clear.

Chapter 14 is speaking about the failure of the first generation of Israelites. By the time we come to chapter 21, it is speaking about the victory of the second generation of Israelites. They defeated the king of Arad. But here there is a question. The event in chapter 21, verses 1 through 3, when exactly did it happen? Did it happen after chapter 20, or did it happen before chapter 20? This matter is not especially clear, because from the perspective of geographical location, if you look at a map, you will know that Arad was in the southern part of the land of Canaan.

But now, according to what would normally make sense, they had already come to the east side of the Jordan River, south of Edom. They had to pass through Edom, reach the east side of the Jordan, and then attack the Canaanites from the middle area on the east side of the Jordan. So this is, as I said, maybe after I say it, you still may not quite understand it. That is all right. Just look at the map and you will know. These are two places. Chapter 20 describes the southern part of Edom, on the east side of the Jordan. But in chapter 21, Arad, this place, is actually in the southern part of the land of Canaan, west of the Jordan. So this is a little unclear: when exactly was this battle fought? But I think it is possible that Moses intentionally recorded this victory here in order to encourage the second generation of Israelites. So we should not be too tangled up over what exactly is going on in this place.

In any case, the people of Arad came to attack the Israelites. We also notice that this kind of warfare was initiated by the Canaanites, right? The Israelites were passing by, and they even captured some of the Israelites. The Israelites said, all right then, we will devote their cities to destruction. Because to devote all the cities of the Canaanites to destruction was the command God had given them. So the LORD listened to Israel and gave the Canaanites into their hand, and they devoted the Canaanites and their cities to destruction. The name of that place was called Hormah. They had failed at Hormah; now they gained victory at Hormah. The failure of the first generation was transformed here into the victory of the second generation.

Here, once again, we also see something that runs through the Pentateuch and then through the whole Bible: God actually very seldom records how they fought these battles, because that is simply not the main point. What is the main point? It is that the LORD listened to Israel and gave the Canaanites into their hand. So the perspective in verse 3, this perspective in the third verse, is something we especially need to pay attention to. God hears prayer; God gains the victory; God gave them into the hand of Israel. So every victory in warfare depends on the LORD, and not on man’s battle tactics, military power, and such things. This is also the reason why the Bible especially passes over the details of these battles. They are not the main point. If God wants you to have victory, then no matter how, you can have victory. But the main point is whether this battle is one that the LORD wants you to fight. Very clearly, among the first generation of Israelites, God did not want them to fight that battle, so they were defeated. But now, God wanted them to fight this battle, so they won. This is the way of thinking that the Bible continually wants to train in us. We must have this awareness: God is the center; God’s blessing is the center; God grants us victory. Who makes us rely upon His name? So this is something we need to be trained in.

Thanks be to the Lord. This battle was won, and it reversed their previous decline. I think this battle, for the Israelites, for the second generation of Israelites, was also something that strengthened their faith. Why? Because think about it: their ancestors had been defeated at Hormah, right? Now they gained victory again at Hormah. What a reversal this was. Thanks be to the Lord. However, the good situation did not last long. After they gained victory, they began to fall again. Next, the text returns to the matter of their going around by the way. They set out from Mount Hor by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. We said that in Edom there was a King’s Highway. There was a commercial trade route. They wanted to borrow the road and pass through. But when they asked to borrow the road, the Edomites were unwilling. If they were unwilling, what could they do? They had to go around. This was indeed a very, very painful matter, because the road was very difficult to travel, right? At that time, would the common people have thought, why do we not simply take Edom down? Haha, did they have this kind of thought? We do not know. Because the way was difficult, the people became impatient. They began to blaspheme God and Moses. So here we see that the Israelites still needed to practice faith.

The second generation of Israelites, in terms of trusting God, truly still had some insufficiencies. But from the human perspective, we can also try to understand the Israelites. They truly were in an extremely difficult situation. What did they say? “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?” This was the same as their fathers’ generation. “For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” For forty years they had eaten the same food. Man’s sinful desires were not being satisfied, and so they began to complain. But God had to deal with this complaining, because for the second generation of Israelites, they needed to fear God. Therefore the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and the serpents bit them, and many people of Israel died. Then in verse 7 the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have blasphemed the LORD and you. Pray to the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us.” Pay attention here. It seems that the whole model for handling this event has changed somewhat.

What changed? Earlier, in chapter 20, when they said there was no water and complained against Moses and Aaron, God did not become angry. He did not become angry. But here, God became angry. God sent fiery serpents among them to bite them. This is the first change in the model. They murmured, and God began to become angry and used fiery serpents to bite them. There is also a change in Moses. Have you noticed the change in Moses? What was it like before? Whenever there was a plague or disaster, Moses would immediately fall before God and plead for God’s mercy, so that this wrath would be stopped. But this time Moses did not move. Moses was very passive. Here it does not say what Moses’ reaction was. They complained against Moses, and it also does not say that Moses had any reaction. So here the model changes again. Moses no longer seems to come among them so actively, to play the role of mediator.

Then what is the third change in the model? It is the people’s own repentance. The people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have grumbled against the LORD and you. Please pray.” The people began to repent. So here we see that the model has begun to change somewhat. For example, among the first generation of Israelites, what was the model? The Israelites sinned; Moses fell prostrate on the ground; God was about to become angry; Moses and Aaron restrained it; and finally the Israelites were saved. It was this kind of model. But now, the model in chapter 20 changed, right? As soon as the Israelites complained, Moses became angry. God had not become angry yet; Moses became angry first. Then Moses and Aaron could not enter the land of Canaan. Now, in this event of the bronze serpent, this model changes once again. The people complained; Moses was silent; God became angry; the people themselves repented; Moses prayed; and the LORD said to Moses. So this is the change in the model.

Why is there this change in the model? Of course, there are many reasons. I think one thing in it is that Moses’ state of heart must have changed. At the beginning, Moses became angry. For forty years, as a mediator, leading this stubborn and rebellious group of Israelites, right? Although the text does not record their complaints during those thirty-eight years in between, I believe there certainly were no fewer complaints. So Moses’ disposition also became less patient. Seeing their complaints, and even striking the rock, Moses seemed no longer to have that kind of energy to go again and ask God for forgiveness, for pardon. Instead, it was the Israelites themselves who repented.

I think this change in Moses is actually reminding us of one thing: a mediator like Moses was in fact still not that most perfect Mediator. I think this is something we need to be reminded of. Of course, we completely understand Moses. I am not saying that Moses did something wrong here. But now he could not enter the land of Canaan and had been punished, and you are complaining again. Moses’ seeming inaction, haha, is completely understandable. I am not complaining against Moses. But you can see that in this model, Moses began to be weak. He was no longer very active in interceding before God for the welfare of these Israelites. By contrast, the common people themselves repented. So you can see that what God wants to accomplish, He will certainly accomplish.

Although Moses was weak in this matter, God could move the Israelites themselves to repent. The Israelites repenting on their own—if we search through the Pentateuch, this is probably the first time. That is, they took the initiative to come to Moses and say, “Pray to the LORD for us.” This was probably the first time. Thanks be to the Lord. Moses’ weakness also led the Israelites into strength, and this was also a good thing. All right, then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a bronze serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” Then Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole, and if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live. According to the historical background at that time, this should be relatively clear. After being bitten by the fiery serpents, what should they do? They quickly made a bronze serpent. After this bronze serpent was made, the next time someone was bitten, he would look at this bronze serpent, and he would live. You can imagine that this bronze serpent must have been very high. Think about it: there were hundreds of thousands of people, right? Where would you be? How high would it need to be lifted in order for people to see this bronze serpent? This bronze serpent should have been placed on a very high pole.

The bronze serpent—thanks be to the Lord—in the New Testament, the meaning of this bronze serpent is explained for us. This is not something we came up with ourselves. It is the New Testament that tells us that this bronze serpent is a type of Jesus Christ, a type of Jesus Christ. The meaning is that this bronze serpent took the place of the curse that the Israelites ought to have suffered. The Israelites had blasphemed the LORD and Moses. Clearly, they ought to have been struck down. Right? This is certain. They were to be struck down. How could they escape this destiny of being struck down? There needed to be a bronze serpent, hung on wood and lifted up, and people would look at this bronze serpent and be saved. Otherwise, the fact that looking at a bronze serpent could bring healing and preserve life is a very strange thing, right? They should have offered sacrifices, should they not? They should have properly asked God, “We have sinned against God.” Because the tabernacle was still there, they should have quickly gone to offer sacrifices, make atonement, confess sin, and find Moses. Eleazar had already succeeded Aaron, so they should have quickly offered sacrifices and asked God for forgiveness. But no. Here, outside this sacrificial system, it is as if they received another way of being saved, which is the bronze serpent, being saved by means of the bronze serpent. So here, I think through different layers, it tells us about the redemption of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The meaning here is that the priestly sacrificial system there at the tabernacle, the system of the high priest, still existed. This was still necessary for atonement. At the same time, in order to explain this system of atonement more fully, God used this event of the bronze serpent to tell us. What does the bronze serpent mean? It means that the bronze serpent, the bronze serpent hung on wood, shows that it bore the sin of the Israelites. Therefore, when you look at the bronze serpent, you can be saved. So here, God gives a deeper revelation, telling the Israelites how to be saved in Jesus Christ. Besides the atonement system expressed by the tabernacle sacrificial system and the priestly system, there is another way to understand this system of atonement, and that is to look to the bronze serpent. This whole event is made very clear in John 8, in the words of the Lord Jesus Himself. In John 8:28 it says, “So Jesus said to them, ‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he.’” So this lifting up means that Jesus Christ Himself is that bronze serpent who is lifted up.

Then how can a serpent save? A cursed serpent, a bronze serpent—bronze is red, right? A red bronze serpent, a cursed bronze serpent—how could it possibly become a salvation? It is because the Lord Jesus Christ bore the sins of His elect, so that in Him, as long as you look to Him and follow Him, we can be saved. So in this event of the bronze serpent, it is actually telling us from another system, explaining to us from another angle, the redemption of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what we need to know. We have spoken about the tabernacle. We have spoken about the priestly system. We have spoken about the sacrificial system. All of these were to typify Christ. In the same way, the event of the bronze serpent also tells us about the meaning of redemption. The Israelites had to have a substitute to make atonement for them. They complained against God and Moses. This matter, in fact, did not simply pass by. This matter had to be dealt with. Their sin had to be dealt with. Then how was it dealt with? It was through the cursed bronze serpent, the bronze serpent hung on wood, showing that the curse had already been removed. This serpent took the place of the curse. Therefore, the Israelites, simply by looking, could trust in Christ who was crucified for us, and they could be saved.

So this meaning, at that time, they probably were not very clear about it. But now, under the light of the New Testament, we are very clear: the Lord Jesus Christ came to bear this sin and transgression. That is to say, this serpent certainly had to be cursed, just like the serpent in the Garden of Eden that tempted Adam and Eve to sin. The serpent had to be dealt with. This serpent had to bear sin. It had to be dealt with.

In the end, it is Jesus Christ who bears it. The serpent, the serpent used by Satan, and Satan himself, will be cast into the lake of fire in hell. But God Himself, in the end, bore the sins of His people. All right, so I think this is what this story, this event of the bronze serpent, needs to remind us of: concerning the salvation of the Israelites, they had to have an atoning substitute. In the priestly sacrificial system, it was those animals. But in this system, in the event of the bronze serpent, it had to be that bronze serpent. And this bronze serpent had to be lifted up, hung on a pole, hung on wood. So from this angle, we can more deeply understand the meaning of the Lord Jesus Christ being nailed to the cross. The cross was made of wood. Jesus Christ hung upon it, as if He were the worst fruit, as if He were a cursed bronze serpent. In the Garden of Eden, there should have been good fruit. In the Garden of Eden, those fruits should have been pleasing to the eyes and should have been good for food. This is the role that the fruit on the trees in the Garden of Eden should have played. But the true fruit of the tree of life is the Lord Jesus Christ, who hung on wood. He poured out His precious blood and redeemed us. So this, as it appears—if you regard the cross as a tree, then the fruit on that tree, Jesus Christ hanging on it, is truly the fruit of the tree of life for us. That cross is our tree of life.

Then someone may say, “Pastor Chen, is this not too far of a leap? Right? How can these things be connected?” Actually, this is precisely what the Bible wants to tell us. It is not—so we need to have a little bit of a leaping kind of thinking, an artistic kind of thinking, in order to understand these symbols and types in the Old Testament, right? This tree, the true tree that saves us, is the tree of the cross. The fruit upon it, the fruit of the tree of life, is Jesus Christ. He is the fruit of our tree of life. So we rely on Jesus Christ and trust in His shed blood. We believe that He is our Messiah. We believe that He has already borne our sins, and that He has also imputed righteousness to us. When we believe in this way, we can be justified.

Of course, a person who believes in the fruit of the tree of life on the cross must live a sanctified life. This is necessary. It is impossible that after Jesus Christ saves you, you can then be safe and sound and also act however you please. This possibility does not exist. So thanks be to the Lord, who was nailed to the cross for us. The reason the Israelites could simply look at the bronze serpent and live was that this bronze serpent bore their sin. At their time, of course, they were not clear about this doctrine.

But today, we already know that the fruit of this tree of life, Jesus Christ, has already been given for us. Therefore, we ought to live for Him. We believe that we ourselves cannot make atonement for sin. By ourselves, we cannot be saved. Only by eating the fruit of that tree of life can we be saved. By trusting Him, we are saved. At the same time, a person who has been saved must follow God’s statutes and rules and live a life that glorifies the name of the Lord, trusting His commandments in all things. This is our response to the fruit of this tree of life. So may God help us to receive this message of victory more fully in today’s Scripture: the victory of the Israelites, and their salvation through looking to the bronze serpent, all of this is because Jesus Christ had already borne their sins. All right, thanks be to God for His grace. Our sharing today will simply stop here. Thank you, everyone.