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The serpent on the pole

A plague and a way to save people from death.
Contributed by Richard Gunther
Story also available on our translated websites: Spanish, Portuguese, German, French
1
Moses had let the people through the wilderness towards the Promised Land. But travelling in the wilderness was hard and people complained to Moses ‘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!’ – Slide 1
2
As the people were so rebellious, the Lord sent venomous snakes among them. – Slide 2
3
The snakes bit the people and many Israelites died. – Slide 3
4
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.’ So Moses prayed for the people. – Slide 4
5
The LORD said to Moses, ‘Make a snake and put it up on a pole. Anyone who is bitten by a snake and then looks at the serpent on a pole will live.’ – Slide 5
6
So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. – Slide 6
7
All those who were bitten by a snake and looked up in faith at the bronze serpent lived. – Slide 7
8
Many years later, when Jesus was talking to Nicodemus, He said, ‘Just as Moses in the wilderness lifted up the bronze image of a serpent on a pole, so I must be lifted up upon a pole, so that anyone who believes in Me will have eternal life.’ (John 3:14-15). – Slide 8
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Slide 9