Week 7 Choice 4

Choice 4: Numbers 21:4-9. The Brazen Serpent

Read Numbers 21:4–9 and the institute student manual Points to Ponder section (p. 212). Then answer the following questions in writing:

•      What did the children of Israel do that resulted in the curse of the “fiery serpents”?  They were ungrateful for everything that the Lord had done for them in bringing them out of Egypt and providing them with food in the wilderness and had began to complain to Moses.

•      In what ways are people today sometimes like unto the children of Israel anciently? (See also 1 Nephi 17:45.)  We are so ungrateful of the things in our lives that keep us happy.  The Gospel is something that we all underappreciate and complain about different things that we see are hard in the Gospel or things in our lives that we feel the Lord should bless us with.

•      According to Alma 33:18–22, what did the brazen serpent symbolize? It symbolized the Savior and the Atonement and what it can do for us.

•      How does one “look to” Jesus Christ for healing?  Come unto Christ and repent of our sins and through His grace and Atonement we can become one with God.

•      Where else do people sometimes turn for healing other than the Savior? The world and the vices that are in it.

•      What are simple things in the gospel of Jesus Christ that can heal us? reading the book of mormon is a big one that I've noticed a lot in my life.  Whenever I am struggling with something in my life it's always comforting to read from the Book of Mormon and to sometimes receive help and guidance on certain things in my life.

•      How have you experienced the healing power of the Atonement in your life?  Just like everyone else has.  The sins that I have committed have been washed away from me because I "Looked", to the Savior and His Atonement.