“I don’t like snakes,” said Alice, as her brothers exclaimed over the boa constrictor they had seen. “Is there any good reason for them, Grandpa?”

Grandpa leaned back in his chair. “The Bible tells us of a very special snake, and I shall tell you about it. It is called:

The Bronze Serpent

(Reference: Numbers 21:4-9; John 3:14-15.)

There was once a boy, called Hanniel, that took a long journey with his family. This journey was a special journey, because the Lord God had delivered them and all the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt. Now they were following Moses, the leader God had given them, through the desert to freedom. What an exciting trip it was for Hanniel! They had gone through the sea, past enemies, and a great mountain. And every day the Lord sent manna from heaven for food.

Even so, Hanniel was getting very tired of travelling. He complained to his father, “When will we get there? Can’t I have something else to eat?” Everyone else was complaining, too, and soon a crowd of people went to speak to Moses. “We’re thirsty and tired. Did you bring us out here to die?” Then suddenly something dreadful happened. Out of the rocks and behind the bushes serpents began to appear!

“Oh!” screamed Hanniel’s mother, running into the tent with the baby. But when Hanniel looked in the tent, he saw a snake slithering across the floor. Just when he was about to throw a rock at it, his friend, Joktan, yelled, “Watch out!” Hanniel jumped just in time to miss the sharp fangs of a huge snake behind him. He had to keep hopping from rock to rock to keep from the coiling, snapping serpents that were everywhere. Hanniel watched in horror as little Dinah was bitten, swelled up, and turned blue from the poison. Many people were dying and there was nothing they could do!

“Oh, God have mercy on us!” Hanniel’s father cried, clutching his wrist where a wriggling golden snake still clung. When Hanniel felt the sharp fangs snap into his own leg, he began praying, too. “Forgive me for complaining! I have done wrong—please save me!”

The poison was puffing his leg when shouting came from the middle of the camp. Joktan ran up breathless and grabbed Hanniel’s arm. “Look—there is Moses and a pole with a bronze serpent on it. If you look at it, God says you will not die.” Hanniel staggered to his feet and tried to see, but a man blocked his way. Quickly, though his leg hurt dreadfully, he pulled himself up a rocky slope with Joktan’s help. There at last—he could see Moses holding up the pole. Around it twisted a fiery golden snake.

As Hanniel looked, he believed God’s promise and felt the pain leave his leg. How wonderful it was! Hanniel hurried to find his father and mother so they could get help, too. God had given the bronze snake to save them all!

Hundreds of years later, Jesus spoke to Nicodemus about this snake of brass: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”* (John 3:14-15)

Grandpa stopped his story, then asked Sammy, “Who is that Son of man?”

“Jesus,” Sammy said. “He died on the cross for us.”

“Yes, and that was just like the snake being lifted up,” Alice mused.

“How else is it the same?” Grandpa looked at Edward this time.

“Because they had to believe,” he said. “You know, believe so that they could be saved.”

“And they repented first,” Alice said.

Grandpa tipped his head. “And can you remember where the serpent was put?”

“On a pole up high so people could see it,” said Edward.

“Yes,” said Grandpa. “And when Jesus saves us, we need to hold Him up for others to see Him. How do we do that?”

“By letting our light shine and obeying,” suggested Edward.

“And helping Mama,” said Sammy.

“By not listening to the devil and doing wrong,” said Alice. “When Jesus helps us live right all the time, that is lifting Him up.”