looks upon it shall live. The shout that you hear is the shout of the people when they see the serpent lifted up.”
The mother goes back into the tent, and she says: “My boy, I have good news to tell you. You need not die! My boy, my boy, I have come with good tidings; you can live!”
He is already getting stupefied; he is so weak he cannot walk to the door of the tent. She puts her strong arms under him and lifts him up.
“Look yonder; look right there under the hill!”
But the boy does not see anything; he says—“I do not see anything; what is it, mother?”
And she says: “Keep looking, and you will see it.”
At last he catches a glimpse of the glistening serpent; and lo, he is well!
And thus it is with many a young convert. Some men say, “Oh, we do not believe in sudden conversions.”
How long did it take to cure that boy? How long did it take to cure those serpent-bitten Israelites? It was just a look; and they were well.
That Hebrew boy is a young convert. I can fancy that I see him now calling on all those who were with him to praise God. He sees another young man bitten as he was; and he runs up to him and tells him, “You, need not die.”
“Oh,” the young man replies, “I cannot live; it is not possible. There is not a physician in Israel who can cure me.” He does not know that he need not die. “Why, have you not heard the news? God has provided a remedy.”