Every person around the world has some concern or interest in the Coronavirus or COVID 19.  It is affecting daily life in most places, including the US.  Many are feeling the effects in one way or another.  Whether it be from disrupting normal daily life to the volitile stock market swings, no one is immune to its hold on our lives.  In a sense, we have all been infected by it.

While praying the other day, I heard the words so clearly, “I have taken care of this.”  I was taken to a familiar story to me.  One where God takes care of His children by an unusual means through His servant Moses.  First, let me tell you another story you probably aren’t familiar with.  The story of the Rod of Asclepius.

In Greek mythology, there was a god named Asclepius who supposidly was a diety associated with healing and medicinal arts.  They had healing temples called asclepions named after him.  In their rituals, Aesculapian snakes crawled freely in the rooms where sick people slept.  According to them, these snakes would heal the afflicted.  This started a tradition that even “snaked” it’s way into the Hippocratic Oath (with Hippocrates most likely being influenced by this god), which originally started by saying, “I swear by Apollo the Physician and by Asclepius and by Hygieia and Panacea and by all the gods …” which has since been dropped.  It also created an Asclepian cult which combined a snake and a staff as a symbol of healing.  This is where we get the modern caduceus which was also used by the Greek god Hermes, although his symbol, which is still used today, had two snakes on a pole.

Now, for those of us who believe the Bible is the ultimate and final source of Truth, we know this story in a better sense.  It’s not hard to see where something that God had meant for good, the manipulator of truth has again “snaked” his way around the truth of this story.  Satan knows how to take the truth of God’s Word and change it to deceive people.  He’s been doing it since the garden.

In Numbers 21 we find the story of how the children of Israel spoke against God and Moses.  As a result, God sent fiery serpents into the land to bite the Israelites and cause them to die.  When the people came to Moses repenting, God spoke to Moses and told him to fashion a serpent and put it on a pole and everyone who was bitten, when they looked on the pole, would live.

Sounds like a fascinating story, doesn’t it?  But it doesn’t end there.  Just like typical humans, we tend to take something that was meant to focus us and turn it into an idol.  In 2 Kings 18, we find King Hezekiah began to reign and did what was right in the sight of the Lord.  He began to remove the high places which were against God.  He broke the images, including the brazen serpent which Moses made.  Why did he do this?  Because the people had begun to worship it and burned incense to it.  It was called Nehustan, which means “piece of brass.”  There was no magical powers.  It was only a focus point and was only viable out of obedience to God, not because it was anything special.

Bringing that story to it’s completion, Jesus said that as Moses lifted up the serpent, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.  Jesus was the fulfillment of the metal snake.  God’s commandments are now complete…look to Jesus as our healer.  The prophet Isaiah shared this prophecy of the Messiah when he said in Isaiah 53,

“But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”

Peter confirmed this truth by saying we “were” healed, an acknowledgement of a previous act that stands as fact.  A pole won’t save us.  A metal snake cannot heal us.  A man nailed to a pole has no power to save us unless that man is Jesus, the Son of the Living God.  Please understand this…it isn’t the cross that saves us.  It is the Son of God who was nailed to it that can save us….if we look (acknowledge Him in faith believing) and trust Him as our Savior.  That’s the only way to gain healing from our sin-sick souls.

In bringing this back to our present state of suffering, I want to be clear.  Yes, we should follow the guidelines set forth.  However, my trust is TOTALLY in Jesus Christ.  Remember the hymn?  My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteous.  I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.  If we will look to Jesus who is the author and finisher of our faith, we will be healed…body, soul, and spirit.

My friends, look to Him today.  There is no other hope.  There is no other refuge.  There is no other Savior.  If you need prayer for healing or if you are struggling through this and not sure what you should do, please contact us.  God has provided a way through the awfulness of sin.  He has provided a way of escape and His name is Jesus.

We love you and are praying for you!  Our prayer for you is that of the Apostle John:

Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers