Today's Favorite Verse: Numbers 21:7, 8-9

Today's Favorite Verse: Numbers 21:7, 8-9

"And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.

And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.

And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived."

There are other verses in The Book of Mormon that give more details on this event.

"And he did straiten them in the wilderness with his rod; for they hardened their hearts, even as ye have; and the Lord straitened them because of their iniquity. He sent fiery flying serpents among them; and after they were bitten he prepared a way that they might be healed; and the labor which they had to perform was to look; and because of the simpleness of the way, or the easiness of it, there were many who perished."

(1 Nephi 17:41)

"But behold, this is not all; these are not the only ones who have spoken concerning the Son of God.

Behold, he was spoken of by Moses; yea, and behold a type was raised up in the wilderness, that whosoever would look upon it might live. And many did look and live.

But few understood the meaning of those things, and this because of the hardness of their hearts. But there were many who were so hardened that they would not look, therefore they perished. Now the reason they would not look is because they did not believe that it would heal them.

O my brethren, if ye could be healed by merely casting about your eyes that ye might be healed, would ye not behold quickly, or would ye rather harden your hearts in unbelief, and be slothful, that ye would not cast about your eyes, that ye might perish?

If so, wo shall come upon you; but if not so, then cast about your eyes and begin to believe in the Son of God, that he will come to redeem his people, and that he shall suffer and die to atone for their sins; and that he shall rise again from the dead, which shall bring to pass the resurrection, that all men shall stand before him, to be judged at the last and judgment day, according to their works.

(Alma 33:18-22)

This brass serpent was not only a representation of Jesus Christ it was also a means to heal them from a very serious bite from a fiery serpent. Some were healed because they looked, and others died because they refused to do so because of the simpleness of the way. Throughout this pandemic I have thought often of these verses. In the past several days they have been pressing on my mind. I am witnessing this pandemic continuing and spreading, and a virus that is mutating. Even with the miracle of vaccines, as a prophet of God called them, available to us. There are people that will deny the miracles God has prepared to save us. We are witnessing those now perishing because of the hardness of their hearts and the simpleness of the way. It breaks my heart even more so because of the innocent being hurt. What will it eventually take for the fiery serpent to burn out?

Day 2297