FAITH:
DEFINITION OF; SALVATION: BY FAITH ALONE

In a dramatic story in the Book of Numbers (Numbers 21:4–9) faith is seen in action. Israel became discouraged and spoke against God, and the Lord sent fiery serpents among them. “And they bit the people; and much people of Israel died” (v. 6). Then Moses sought the Lord for them and He heard and gave them a remedy against the bite of the serpents. He commanded Moses to make a serpent of brass and put it upon a pole in sight of all the people, “and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live” (v. 8). Moses obeyed, “and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived” (v. 9).…

Our plain man, in reading this, would make an important discovery. He would notice that look and believe are synonymous terms. “Looking” on the Old Testament serpent is identical with “believing” on the New Testament Christ. That is, the looking and the believing are the same thing. And he would understand that, while Israel looked with their external eyes, believing is done with the heart. I think he would conclude that faith is the gaze of a soul upon a saving God.

Numbers 21:4–9; Psalm 123:1–2; John 3:14–15; Hebrews 12:1–2

The Pursuit of God, 82, 83.