God is Merciful

I’ve been reading through Numbers again, and today chapters 21 and 25 hit me in a fresh way. I sat down with my Bible open, coffee in hand, and just let the stories sink in.

In Numbers 21, the Israelites are at it again—grumbling against God and Moses like it’s their favorite pastime. No real shock there; it’s practically a pattern by now. Their complaining triggers something terrifying: fiery serpents invade the camp. People get bitten, and many start dying. Finally, they come to their senses, admit their sin, and beg Moses to intercede. Moses prays, but God doesn’t just wave His hand and remove the snakes. Instead, He tells Moses something unexpected: “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live” (Numbers 21:8).

A bronze serpent on a pole. Not a cure in the usual sense—no medicine, no ritual cleansing—just look at it in faith, and you live. It was pure mercy. No one earned healing through effort or good behavior; they were saved simply by turning their eyes to what God had provided. That image stuck with me all day. (Numbers 21 always affects me — see my post from yesterday.)

Then Jesus picks up this exact story centuries later in John 3:14: “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.” The bronze serpent becomes a shadow, a preview of Jesus Himself lifted on the cross. Look to Him in faith, and live. The connection feels so clear and so profound when you read them side by side.

A few chapters later, Numbers 25 tells a different story, but the theme echoes. This time the people plunge into sexual immorality and idolatry—open, defiant sin right in front of God’s presence. A plague breaks out, and thousands die. In the middle of the chaos, Phinehas, Aaron’s grandson, steps up. He sees a man and woman flagrantly sinning, takes a spear, and puts an end to it. The text says plainly, “So the plague on the people of Israel was stopped” (Numbers 25:8).

God’s response is striking: Phinehas “turned back my wrath… because he was jealous with my jealousy” (Numbers 25:11). Because he cared so deeply about God’s honor, God turns from judgment, stops the plague, and makes a covenant of peace with Phinehas and his descendants—a promise of an enduring priesthood.

Reading these two chapters together left me quiet for a while. God takes sin deadly seriously. Rebellion, idolatry, immorality—they bring destruction every time. The wages of sin really are death, and the stories don’t soften that reality.
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But what overwhelms me even more is how swiftly God provides a way out. In one case, all it took was looking up at the bronze serpent in faith. In the other, one man stood in the gap with courage and zeal, and the plague halted. Both accounts shout the same thing: God is holy, uncompromisingly holy. Yet He is also relentlessly merciful. He never leaves His people without a way to escape judgment.

I keep coming back to that tension—His holiness and His mercy woven together so tightly. It makes me grateful all over again for the cross — for the ultimate “lifting up” that lets me look and live — and the ultimate “intercessor” that stands in the gap for me.

Thank you King Jesus for the cross. Thank you Lord  for being both just and the justifier. Help me never take Your mercy for granted, and give me the courage to be zealous for Your name when it matters.