The Undoing of Evil
One
The Bronze Serpent
There’s a fascinating episode that occurs during the Israelites’ wandering in the desert. It reveals something profound about the way God works. It’s the story of the bronze serpent.
The Israelites begin complaining again. But this time, it’s not just about lacking food, they’re complaining about the very food God miraculously provided for them. So God allows poisonous serpents to overrun the camp, serpents whose bite brings death. And what’s the result? Repentance. “The people came to Moses and said, ‘We have sinned in speaking against the Lord.’”
Then the Lord shows mercy. He instructs Moses to make a serpent out of bronze and mount it on a cross-bar attached to a pole that he can lift high enough where everyone can see it. And after that, whenever an Israelite was bitten by one of the serpents, he needed only to look at the bronze serpent and he was healed.
In other words, God turns the very effects of evil into the cure for evil. He takes what harms us and makes it the instrument of our healing.
Two
God Uses the Effects of Evil to Undo Evil
The poisonous serpents in the camp were the direct result of the Israelites’ rebellion. The physical poison was the outward effect of their spiritual fault. But look at what followed: The physical disaster led to repentance and return to God. So the venomous serpents became both the effect and the cure for Israel’s sin. Likewise, the bronze serpent itself: God used the very image of the disaster to bring about healing. It was the serpent that became the cure for the serpent’s bite.
This is how God works. It’s not enough for Him merely to defeat evil. He overcomes evil by turning it against itself and making it serve His supremely good purposes.
God doesn’t just tolerate evil, nor does He crush it by sheer force. He conquers it artfully, causing it to be the means of its own destruction. And in this way, His victory is absolute.
Three
Christ
When Jesus speaks to Nicodemus, He explicitly compares Himself to the bronze serpent. He says, “Just as Moses lifted up the bronze serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life” (Jn 3:14–15).
That’s right. If the bronze serpent is the sign that God brings order out of disorder, then Christ raised on the Cross is the supreme expression of God’s unfathomable genius. The bronze serpent was the sign of physical sickness lifted up by God to bring about physical healing.
Christ on His Cross is where all evil, physical and moral, is concentrated in a single moment: the supreme abomination of torturing pure Goodness to death. And yet, this is how all evil is healed. Christ, lifted up on the Cross, opens the way to spiritual healing, to resurrection in a glorified body, and to eternal life.
Four
Believe in God’s Power to bring Good out of Evil
The path to salvation lies in recognizing that God can bring good out of evil. Out of any evil. He brought repentance out of a snake’s poison. He brought the antidote to a snake’s poison out of a snake. And He brought the salvation of the world, and the defeat of death out of the vicious murder of His Dearly Beloved Son.
Do you understand what that means? It means that no matter how awful things are, no matter what the situation, God will use it to triumph. Evil is always evil. It’s always something to be avoided, to be shunned, to be striven against. But God is always God. He’s always stronger than evil and not only stronger, but so creative that He will orchestrate things so that any sin and misfortune will contribute to His saving plan.
God is winning. No matter what the dysfunction, suffering, and brokenness. God is going to bring the greatest possible good out of every imaginable evil, be that suicide, horrible addictions, hideous illnesses, the debilitating mental and emotional problems, or war. God is winning. All those serpents are no match for the bronze serpent He is crafting. All that sickness and suffering and death are no match for the King of Victory who hangs upon the cross.
Five
Make use of your Suffering
We have to follow God’s example, and use the suffering that comes from sin as the antidote to sin. So many of our sufferings are really the result of our own sins. So many of our grievances and resentments come from our pride. So many of our financial anxieties come from buying too big a house, or spending irresponsibly in other ways. So many of our fragilities come from overindulging ourselves in food or drink or sex or entertainment.
So, this Lent, one of the main goals has to be to accept whatever sufferings come our way, and not to complain. When the Israelites complained, things got worse. But when they turned their sufferings into opportunities for repentance, things got better. We can be bronze serpents to other people as well. By patiently enduring our own sufferings, we can be examples to them. By offering up our sufferings with Christ on His Cross, we can assist in saving the world from the effects of sin the way He did.
Suggested Resolutions:
Choose one resolution for today to help you grow closer to God, or create your own. Here are some ideas to inspire you.
Instead of complaining, use your misfortunes as a reminder of God’s care and turn your focus towards prayer instead.
Cut down on complaints in general in your life and try to take notice of all the times in which your conversation leans towards complaining.