The Snake that Brings Death or Life

What adjectives go through your mind when you think of a snake?  How about evil, poison, death, craftiness and betrayal?  For me, it is all of these.  I don't even like to look at snakes and avoid the snake house at the zoo.  Interestingly, snakes are also a symbol of fertility, life and healing.  But I have been following the most recent news on the virus that started in Wuhan, China.  The Coronavirus is so named because it appears like a crown under a microscope.  Its "protein codes" are most similar to those carried by bats and snakes.  Researchers believe there is a strong possibility that the virus jumped from bats to snakes and from snakes to humans.  This is because there were snakes in the fish market where scientists believe the virus started.  The Coronavirus is transmitted through the air.  Its method of movement is called zoonotic transmission because people acquire the virus directly from an animal.
 
My research on the Coronavirus was taken from two scientific journals.  On January 22, 2020, "Scientific America" and "New Scientists Newsletter" wrote about the virus.  Here is something interesting that I found: The snake is the host for the virus however, the virus must go through genetic mutations in order to infect humans.  The Taiwanese or Chinese Krait is a highly venomous snake and is what was being sold in the Wuhan market.  The medical community is still trying to learn more about the virus since so many people have been infected with it.  They are looking for ways that it can adapt to both cold-blooded and warm-blooded hosts.
 
As I was praying about this dire situation, I remembered that the children of Israel were also impacted by snakes.  After they were freed from bondage in Egypt, Moses led them through the wilderness as instructed by God.  The Israelites began to grumble and spoke against God and Moses.  They said, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread!  There is no water!  And we detest this miserable food!" (Numbers 21:5) I am in dismay as I read this.  Where is their gratitude?  Where is their respect?  God did not take kindly to their insolence.  "Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died.  The people came to Moses and said, 'We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you.  Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us.'" (Numbers 21:6-7)
 
God did answer the prayer of Moses, giving him unique instructions.  "'Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.' So, Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole.  Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived." (Numbers 21:8-9) What was God trying to do with this solution?  I believe He was pointing us to Jesus.  Just as the bronze snake was lifted up on a pole Jesus would be lifted up on a cross.  The pole represented the Cross and the bronze snake judgment.  God provided a means for deliverance through admission of sin and faith in His way to redeem His people from death.
 
The children of Israel were condemned to death because of their sin.  The serpent was a symbol of their sin and death.  All who looked on the representation of sin with eyes of faith were healed.  We too have been condemned to death by God because of our sin.  Jesus came to save us by becoming sin on the Cross.  God ordained that all who look at Jesus in faith will be redeemed from death.  "God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God."          
(1 Corinthians 5:21) Let us take time to thank and worship the Lord for His amazing sacrifice.  Even before the time of Moses, God had a plan to redeem us.  "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life."
(John 3:14-15)