Christ Was Lifted Up For Us!
"As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life!" John 3:14-15.
Moses made a serpent of brass and put it on a pole so that those that had been bitten by the fiery serpents sent among them might live. Numbers 21:4-9.
"The way of transgressors is hard" and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. Proverbs 13:15. Murmuring against Moses and complaining against God, they said, "Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread!" Numbers 21:4-5.
So, it was at this time that the Lord sent fiery serpents among them and many died. Numbers 21:6. Seeing the sting of death was threatening them, the surviving Israelites came to Moses, saying, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee; pray unto the Lord, that He take away the serpents from us!"
Moses prayed for them who knew the "effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." James 5:16. And God answered his prayer.
"Make thee a fiery serpent," the Lord told Moses, "and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live." Numbers 21:8.
God was the authority who prescribed this unusual remedy for curing people bitten of the fiery serpents. The serpent of brass was made in the likeness of the serpents responsible for the deadly bites. It was then to be lifted up so all could look upon it for healing and life.
"And I," our Lord Jesus declared, "If I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me!" John 12:32. God had also willed and authorized our Lord's sacrifice on the cross that we might look to Jesus for the healing and salvation of our sin-sick souls threatened with everlasting damnation. This was an unusual remedy but it is the only effective "cure-all" for the soul destroying consequences of complaining against God and the preaching of His Holy Word. The old serpent, the Devil, is always deceiving the whole world and, once, Apostle Paul feared that a whole church would be beguiled through the serpent's subtlety! Revelation 12:9, II Cor. 11:3.
So, God "hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." II Cor. 5:21. "God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Romans 8:3-4.
As Moses lifted up the brazen serpent to save a snake-bit people wandering in a wilderness, so also our Lord Jesus Christ was lifted up on the cross for us "That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life!" John 3:14-15.
— Route 8, Russellville, Ala. 35653