Moses Lifts the Bronze Serpent Before IsraelBible World
3:14John 3:14
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
As Moses raised the bronze serpent on a pole in sight of Israel, so the Son of man had to be raised on the cross of Calvary, and Jesus spoke this to Nicodemus in the night interview about the new birth and how to see the kingdom. The serpent lifted in the wilderness was a type of Christ lifted as Saviour, made in the likeness of sinful flesh to bear sin, yet with power in himself to heal which the lifeless symbol and the sacrifices had not in themselves. As the bitten Israelites lived by looking at the raised serpent, poisoned sinners live by looking to Christ lifted up, which is believing and trusting his merits and God's word in simple obedience without stopping to reason how it can be. That life comes through faith alone, not by human effort, works, learning, ritual, feeling, or dwelling on guilt and helplessness, and those who refuse to look will perish in sin as those who refused to look died in the camp. Looking to him brings pardon, cleansing by his blood, justification, the new heart and new birth, healing of soul and body, and beholding him changes the beholder into his likeness in character and victory over sin.
Wilderness History and Words
Jesus spoke these words to Nicodemus in the secret night interview about being born again and born of the Spirit. In that conversation He taught of earthly and heavenly things and of the Son of man come down from heaven and in heaven. He told Nicodemus not only that he must have a new heart to see the kingdom of heaven but how to obtain it, by presenting Himself under the representation of the serpent Moses lifted in the wilderness. As that serpent was lifted, so the Son of man must be lifted up to be looked to by faith for healing and life, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life, because God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son for believing sinners, sending Him not to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved. The terms of salvation are laid out here in distinct lines, so plain that this truth alone would be a guide for the soul and good news to be rung throughout the world.
Its wilderness background was Israel journeying from Mount Hor to compass Edom, growing discouraged because of the way. They spoke against God and Moses, complaining they were brought from Egypt to die with no bread and no water and loathing the light bread. Christ Himself, the only begotten Son of God, One equal with God, had accompanied them and protected them with angels and the pillar of cloud by day covering them as a canopy and the pillar of fire by night, and had done wondrous things for them despite perversity and rebellion and murmuring, until they became so accustomed to it that they treated it as common and became selfish and discontented. Then God withdrew His protecting and restraining power and permitted them to be bitten, and the Lord sent fiery serpents that bit the people so that many died, for sinful Israel could not save themselves from the deadly venom. It was Christ Himself speaking from the cloud who gave Moses the direction for the remedy.
Moses was bidden to make a brazen serpent resembling the living fiery serpents and put it on a pole raised in sight of Israel. He was to proclaim that whosoever looked should live, and the proclamation was sounded loudly with trumpet and by leading men through the camp. The promise to Israel was that every bitten, suffering, dying one who looked on the serpent should instantly be healed and live, and all who looked lived and recovered at once and were perfectly restored. Strange as the likeness of the stinging serpents was, with no scientific explanation given, it required simple acceptance of the word and exact obedience without reasoning how it was possible or questioning wherein the virtue lay.
Seeing Jesus crucified brought these words back to Nicodemus, and the events of the crucifixion and reflection on His death made their meaning clear and illuminated the cross. What had been doubt was turned into faith, and his faith was established and strengthened as he recognized Jesus as Messiah and Redeemer and the world's Redeemer. Having caught its meaning he was converted and began to see the kingdom, and he was led to defend Christ. The disciples likewise did not understand what He had foretold until after the resurrection.
Serpent Symbol of Christ
The bronze serpent Moses lifted in the wilderness was a symbol and type and figure and foreshadowing of Christ lifted up as Saviour and Redeemer. It pointed to the manner of His death on the cross. The sacrificial service and ceremonies likewise presented and revealed Him, and had value only as they revealed Him.
The serpent itself had no healing virtue or power in itself, and sacrifices had no power to atone in themselves. God alone healed those who looked, and looking was trust in His provision and word. Unlike the inert lifeless symbol, Christ has virtue and power in Himself to heal the suffering, repenting, believing sinner.
The likeness of the very serpent that stung Israel pictures Jesus made in the likeness of sinful flesh and coming as sin-bearer and sin-offering. The serpent's sting represents sin's poison and deadly venom, which all have experienced. Sinful Israel could not save themselves from it.
The two thieves crucified with Jesus represent the two classes of people: those who look to and believe in the crucified Christ and live forever, and those who refuse Him and die without hope. The lifting up also applies to lifting up the Word of God as the serpent was lifted, with the Bible alone as the foundation of faith to which nothing may be added.
Lifted Up in Crucifixion
Even so must the Son of man be lifted up means He had to be lifted up on the cross of Calvary in humiliation and expiatory suffering and death as a sacrifice for sin to recover humanity, the Just dying for the unjust. Jesus used the saying beforehand to speak of His own suffering and of being killed and rising again, and as the raised serpent offered healing to those who looked, so Christ brings healing from spiritual maladies to all who look to Him in faith, that whoever believes in Him lifted up should not perish but have eternal life. The lifting was His humiliation and expiatory suffering bearing a dying Saviour, and the ordinances were instituted to quicken the senses to lay hold of that mystery of godliness, with all privileged to comprehend His sufferings far more fully because eternal interests demand looking to Calvary and showing faith in Christ. Only His infinite nature was sufficient for humanity's redemption, for He took human nature and gave His blood and offered Himself for sin.
Roman rule made public crucifixion possible and thus allowed the prophecy to be fulfilled, for crucifixion was a Roman punishment whereas if the Jews had held supreme power they would have put Him to death by stoning instead. By God's ordering of events the cross was erected at Calvary and raised for all nations and tongues and peoples to see, directing them to Christ as the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. He was crucified at one of the yearly gatherings of the Jews when representatives from all nations were present at Jerusalem, so that knowledge of the cruel work done to Jesus would go to the remotest regions of the inhabited world and the message, Look and live, was given in the most decided manner.
His being lifted up reveals the Father's love in giving His dear Son to die for a fallen world, a marvelous gift far beyond finite conception that fills the heart with wonder and amazement at mercy and tenderness and forgiveness blended with justice and dignity and power. At Calvary the Son of God as the world's Redeemer condescends to human feebleness to bring salvation and redemption within reach of all who will accept it, dying in the sinner's place and bearing the penalty of transgression to give the transgressor life, having found a ransom with His blood and having the burden of sins and sorrows laid upon Him and carrying that burden with His hand nailed to the cross to be all-powerful to save. The cross bridges the gulf of perdition opened by sin, bringing man nigh to God and reconciling man to God and God to man and saving the race from hopeless misery and drawing man to the Father, so that penitent believing souls see a forgiving Father reconciling them to Himself. His death is the sacrifice for sin and the central truth around which all other truths of Scripture are understood, displaying mercy and regeneration and salvation and redemption, purchasing immortality for those who look to Him and live and vindicating the unchanging law and showing it magnified. Faith sees the cleansing stream of His blood washing away every spot and stain of sin, and this salvation through His blood is of priceless value and must be fully accepted by faith as the great gift of God through Jesus Christ from One merciful to pardon and mighty to save, kindling love burning on the altar of the heart; when the sinner comes by faith to the foot of the cross and looks to Christ lifted up to save him he receives pardon and may rejoice, and in that prostration he reaches the highest elevation man can attain. Without it there is no connection with the Father and no unity with the Lamb in the midst of the throne and no welcome for the wandering returning to righteousness and truth and no hope in the day of judgment and no power to overcome the strong foe, but every hope of the race hangs upon it, giving light in darkness for the Christian to advance as a conqueror and revealing the depth of Christ's love and the value of even one soul for whom He paid the infinite price, with grace and peace and pardon and eternal life offered to the obedient and with His breaking the tomb and rising securing and proving the gift of life.
When Christ was crucified the disciples' hope died because they did not yet understand what He had foretold, for they had not heard or understood this earlier teaching. After His resurrection their hope and faith revived and they boldly proclaimed Christ crucified and risen, laying hold of the merits of His blood and of Christ as their righteousness as the ground of salvation. Through the Holy Spirit Christ was also revealed as risen and exalted and glorified, and at Pentecost this revelation led people to see their sin and Christ as their Redeemer and to reach out to Him by faith.
Look in Faith and Live
As the bitten, wounded Israelites lived by looking at the serpent raised on a pole in sight of the camp, sinners receive life by looking to the Son of man lifted up. Looking is believing, trusting His merits and God's word in simple obedient acceptance because God said so. It required exact obedience without stopping to reason how healing was possible or wherein the virtue lay, and all who looked were instantly healed and lived while those who stopped to reason and argue died. The brazen serpent itself had no healing power, and the command tested repentance and faith with none compelled, yet God alone healed through the provision where alone hope and salvation are found. Refusing the look of faith until the whole mystery is made plain leaves the mind in doubt and unbelief unto death.
The call is Look and live, addressed to sinners poisoned by sin and bitten by that old serpent the devil. They are bidden to behold the Lamb of God who takes away sin, trusting Him as personal Saviour who bears sin and gives Himself and is able to lift the helpless and sin-polluted. Looking must be steady, earnest and continual, keeping the uplifted Saviour in view rather than human leaders, earthly things, or unfamiliar customs. As the serpent Moses raised was a symbol of Christ lifted up, those who looked to it in faith were healed, and so sinners must look to Christ and trust Him to be saved from sin and receive everlasting life and not perish. This invitation leads directly into the truth that God gave His only Son because He loved the world.
Salvation comes through this faith alone, not through human effort, works, learning, outward obedience, ritual, feeling, making oneself good or better, dwelling on guilt, helplessness, wounds and wretchedness, or a scientific explanation of how the sign works. As Israel lived by looking at the serpent instead of dwelling on their bites, sinners must take eyes off self and cease looking at and talking of and deploring their sins and wretched condition, and fasten their eyes on Christ the Great Physician. Saving faith rests on Christ's death and cleansing blood and the merits of His blood, not on feeling that He is one's Saviour or first making oneself good. Looking is faith not feeling, the hand that lays hold on Christ and appropriates His merits, purifying the soul and working by love, with all who come in penitence and faith accepted and all who rely on His merits saved. The Israelites were saved not by healing power in the serpent or by any work of their own, but by believing God's word and acting on His direction, their look expressing faith, and in the same way salvation rests on Christ's atonement and God's faithful word.
Rejecting the remedy God provides means perishing, for as Israelites who refused to look died, those who refuse Christ will perish in sin and die without hope. Those who refuse Him, refuse the truth about Him, trust human wisdom or other remedies, or turn to earthly things instead cannot be saved by those substitutes. The serpent's sting represents sin's poison which all have experienced, and the two thieves crucified with Jesus represent the two classes: those who look to and believe in the crucified Christ and live forever, and those who refuse Him. Such refusal is described as crucifying the Son of God afresh.
Whoever believes in Him lifted up should not perish but have everlasting and eternal life. This promise gives assurance through living faith in God's word, not through changing feelings or emotions. That belief is the work of God essential for salvation, the simple act of faith that looks and lives, the only true mind cure bringing the sufferer into touch with the great Healer. It is genuine working faith that beholds Him, takes hold of infinite power, draws people to Jesus, and receives pardon with sins taken away and His righteousness imputed, in contrast with the present physical life people strive to preserve. It defines true higher education whose full import is understood only by one born again through sanctification of the Spirit.
Healing Pardon and Transformation
As the bitten Israelites lived by looking at the serpent Moses lifted up, life is found by looking in faith to Christ lifted up, for He is the Healer of both body and soul. Turning from fixation on sin and misery to the Saviour brings hope and peace, for sinners must take their eyes off themselves and cease looking at and talking of and deploring their sins and wretched condition, and fasten them upon Christ the Great Physician, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Belief in Him is the only true mind cure, bringing the suffering one into touch with the great Healer and saving the perishing soul, giving mind cure and body cure and relief in the sickroom and life and light. He is a living Saviour and Advocate who can deliver from Satan's power those under sin's deadly influence when they look to Him, and no drug or medicine in the world can save apart from God's remedy.
Looking brings pardon through the simple act of faith that accepts Christ as a personal, sin-pardoning Saviour, in whom the whole science of salvation is contained. Humble, contrite, repentant sinners who come to Him have their sins taken away, are cleansed by His blood, receive pardon, have His righteousness imputed to them, lay hold of the merits of His blood and of Christ as their righteousness, and have everlasting life. As the bitten Israelites were healed when they looked at the serpent in faith, and without faith looking is of no avail, sinners receive life by looking in faith to Christ as Saviour, receiving Christ in faith as their only remedy for sin and trusting in His imputed righteousness. Faith does not save by earning anything but receives Christ and His merits, bringing justification by faith that heals sin's sting, reconciliation to God and the Father's favor, peace with God, the new heart and new birth, and the condition for God's approval. Christ taking humanity to rescue people from sin gives unmistakable evidence that a great work can be done through a human agent cooperating with God to bring fallen man into close fellowship and union with divinity, for God has done everything God could do to reclaim the race, and Jesus the Majesty of heaven unites to Himself every soul who permits Him to bind them to His great heart of infinite love as lost sheep returned to the Shepherd and Bishop of the soul. The dying thief proves it, receiving peace, assurance and Paradise through confessing and believing, while the Spirit enables repentance and brings new life, renewing heart and mind so that God's law is written within and the person delights to do His will.
Beholding Him continually gives spiritual health and spiritual power, for beholding Him and His character changes people into His likeness. The brass serpent had no virtue in itself but was a symbol of Christ, and God alone healed the bitten, yet all who showed faith in God's provision by looking were perfectly restored; unlike that inert symbol, Christ has power in Himself to save all who by living faith believe in Him and accept His sacrifice. Looking to Christ and beholding His character brings healing from sin's deadly sting and transforms the whole character in words and actions, sanctifying, renewing heart and mind, restoring God's moral image, giving victory over sin and power to overcome the strong foe. That transformation joins believers to God and to one another in unity, unto salvation, eternal life, and a home in the kingdom of God, since Christ has done everything on His part by giving His life to redeem.
His being lifted up in death is the source of life itself, so that even earthly life and daily food are received through His sacrifice, symbolized by the bread and water of the communion service. The life poured out at Calvary is received spiritually by receiving His word and doing what He commands, and faith in His sacrifice in communion brings spiritual life and strength and binds believers to Christ and through Him to the Father. The cross is where people must look in faith to the dying Saviour, and His death makes it possible to look with joy for His second coming as the center of Christian hope. He lives as burden-bearer and support, giving daily saving power to resist temptation and be sanctified by the refining influence of the truth.
As Israel journeyed the Lord protected them from venomous serpents, but because of stubbornness and impenitence and transgression He removed His restraining power and many bitten by the deadly sting died, then the brazen serpent was uplifted so that all who repented and looked to it in faith might live. In the same way the bronze serpent pointed to the Saviour lifted up for people to look to in faith and live. In the time of confusion and trouble such as never was since there was a nation, the uplifted Saviour will be presented to people in all lands and in all places, that all who look may live.
Proclaiming the Uplifted Saviour
Jesus is to be kept uplifted before the people daily, with the Man of Calvary lifted higher and still higher and the cross of Christ exalted in teaching that is always positive, affirmative and borne with assurance that never utters sentiments of doubt, because there is power in that exaltation to awaken those dead in trespasses and sins. Preaching must present Jesus plainly and call people to trust Him, pointing sinners to the crucified Saviour as the bronze serpent was lifted in the wilderness so that all who look to Him in faith may live, and He Himself inspires that faith. The cross of Calvary is to be lifted up before all nations, tongues and peoples so they may look and live, for Christ died for the world and the church is to make this saving message known.
Through the sacrificial service Christ was to be lifted up and presented before the nations, teaching that as the serpent was lifted in the wilderness so the Son of man must be lifted up, and that all who look to Him may live. That lifting up lays out how the new heart to see the kingdom of heaven is obtained, by looking to Him by faith for healing and life so that whoever believes should not perish but have eternal life, with terms of salvation so plain that alone it would be a guide for the soul. The gospel invitation is for every people including those in heathen lands and those in distress and sin, to whom Christ's love and power can restore, and it is good news to be rung throughout the world.
The verse is a grand beautiful truth and a bright shining light especially to counselors and leaders dealing with souls, applying to rulers and counselors today as to Nicodemus, calling presidents of conferences, elders and all in responsible positions to learn regeneration as a little child with vital connection to God before accepting sacred responsibility. They must humble themselves, be diligent students of the Word and submit to the Holy Spirit, as Nicodemus caught its meaning, was converted, began to see the kingdom and defended Christ. Their work is then to hold up Christ Himself before the inquiring mind as the way to be born again, and to help and train trembling sinners to look to Jesus and live, exercising perfect trust in God's goodness when difficulties surround, drawing near to God with earnest hopeful confidence and courageous labor with assurance He will draw near, bless workers, convert souls and cause truth to triumph.
That looking alone to Jesus as righteousness and sacrifice, justified by faith, heals the deadly sting of the serpent, ends self and gives peace with God, opening the door of the heart to let Jesus in, opening blind eyes, making the heart new and giving the righteousness of Christ and the divine likeness, and it must continue every moment in cooperation with God and belief to give daily converting power, especially to men in responsible places. Its meaning is to be discerned by reading verse by verse thoughtfully and prayerfully, for together with John 1 it plainly defines true higher education, the only education of saving value giving definite instruction regarding its nature. It is only feebly comprehended, and its full import can be understood only by one who is born again, received only through sanctification of the Spirit of God.
The ignorant and unbelieving are enlightened not by controversy and discussion, learning or false theories, but by looking to Jesus lifted up and living, receiving life for the soul rather than discussing a theory. What is needed is not learning nor controversy but truth and a new heart, a practical point and new light bringing the hearer into contact with all light, to be kept to affirmatively without being led away into controversy over false theories. Reasoning upon points of difference produces no saving result until the heart is changed, and refusing the look of faith until the whole mystery is made plain leaves the mind in doubt unto death. The uplifted serpent teaches searching the Scriptures in a new way and seeing the kingdom by submitting to the leading of the Holy Spirit, calling thousands who depend on obedience to the law to commend them to favor to look to Jesus instead and believe He saves solely through grace, entering life as the chief of sinners where faith earns nothing and is not the saviour but the hand laying hold upon Christ and appropriating His merits as remedy for sin, with even repentance coming from Christ as truly as pardon.
Daily Life by Looking
To look to the Son of man lifted up is to place entire daily dependence on him at every step in simple confiding faith, trusting God and not man and refusing to make flesh an arm. He supplies grace and strength not in advance for a future trial but for each present need as circumstances demand, including grace to endure persecution and remain faithful. The helpless soul in guilt and sin who so looks will live, for he will never be left to perish, and this looking and living is life itself. That faith is still too little and must be increased, for he is the Author and Finisher of faith and is needed every hour; it lightens the burden and weariness of life by viewing the attractiveness of heaven, humbles human pride, brings light to those who follow God's will, and gives strength and hope even when facing death, receiving his worthiness and righteousness as a robe rather than dwelling on past failures. Looking is reaching up for grace and walking out on the promise, relying on him alone who has the words of eternal life for help and hope.
Looking to him lifted up brings hope, courage, faith, pardon, life, comfort, peace and joy, turning from fixation on sin and misery to the Savior who is the Healer of body and soul. As the wounded Israelites lived by looking at the serpent instead of dwelling on their bites, sinners must take eyes off self and cease looking at and talking of and deploring sins and wretched condition, and fasten eyes on Christ the Great Physician, the Lamb of God who takes away sin. This call to look and live is healing of body and soul and eternal life instead of perishing, for God sent his Son not to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved, offered to all without forcing obedience because true obedience cannot be compelled. It turns thoughts toward God's goodness and Christ's compassion, bridges divine power with human weakness so that the tempted through his strength and grace overcome appetite and degrading passions, and inspires faith in a sympathizing Savior who feels every throb of anguish, while beholding him changes people into his likeness.
Looking requires renouncing self-righteousness and depending wholly on Christ and his redemption, for moral character and respectability cannot spare anyone the need to humble himself before God, as seen with Nicodemus. Self must die that a person may live in the righteousness of Christ, in wholehearted consecration of heart, mind, soul and all to God in perfect obedience, giving time, money, talents and influence to truth and turning from selfishness and worldly concerns in remembrance that his sacrifice bought us at a price so we might not perish but have everlasting life. It reproduces his spirit of humility, forbearance, patience and kindness, treating those he purchased with tenderness, sympathy and love, with the baptism of the Spirit breaking down barriers and self-exaltation. So to look and live is to give self to Jesus and seek a higher standard.
Looking to the crucified Savior in faith reveals sin and its consequences, its enormity and sinfulness, for seeing him die leads the sinner to recognize the need of pardon and God's favor. The contrast between Christ's purity and personal impurity is seen, need and his sufficiency are awakened, the sinner is drawn to follow him, turns from sin, and lives cleansed from every spot, with Christ's purity transforming the heart more powerfully than descriptions of human sin. Repentance itself comes from Christ and not from self, and conversion is genuine even when it comes without violent conviction, terror or remorse. Satan works to turn attention away from Christ and prevent seeing him as the lifted-up Savior, and worldly concerns keep people from looking long enough, so the view must be kept clear and the look kept steady rather than focusing on pain and infirmity; God did not abandon Israel when serpents bit them but provided healing, and beholding Christ alone gives safety from deception.
As Moses raised the bronze serpent on a pole in sight of Israel, so the Son of man had to be raised on the cross of Calvary, and Jesus spoke this to Nicodemus in the night interview about the new birth and how to see the kingdom. The serpent lifted in the wilderness was a type of Christ lifted as Saviour, made in the likeness of sinful flesh to bear sin, yet with power in himself to heal which the lifeless symbol and the sacrifices had not in themselves. As the bitten Israelites lived by looking at the raised serpent, poisoned sinners live by looking to Christ lifted up, which is believing and trusting his merits and God's word in simple obedience without stopping to reason how it can be. That life comes through faith alone, not by human effort, works, learning, ritual, feeling, or dwelling on guilt and helplessness, and those who refuse to look will perish in sin as those who refused to look died in the camp. Looking to him brings pardon, cleansing by his blood, justification, the new heart and new birth, healing of soul and body, and beholding him changes the beholder into his likeness in character and victory over sin.
Wilderness History and Words
Jesus spoke these words to Nicodemus in the secret night interview about being born again and born of the Spirit. In that conversation He taught of earthly and heavenly things and of the Son of man come down from heaven and in heaven. He told Nicodemus not only that he must have a new heart to see the kingdom of heaven but how to obtain it, by presenting Himself under the representation of the serpent Moses lifted in the wilderness. As that serpent was lifted, so the Son of man must be lifted up to be looked to by faith for healing and life, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life, because God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son for believing sinners, sending Him not to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved. The terms of salvation are laid out here in distinct lines, so plain that this truth alone would be a guide for the soul and good news to be rung throughout the world.
Its wilderness background was Israel journeying from Mount Hor to compass Edom, growing discouraged because of the way. They spoke against God and Moses, complaining they were brought from Egypt to die with no bread and no water and loathing the light bread. Christ Himself, the only begotten Son of God, One equal with God, had accompanied them and protected them with angels and the pillar of cloud by day covering them as a canopy and the pillar of fire by night, and had done wondrous things for them despite perversity and rebellion and murmuring, until they became so accustomed to it that they treated it as common and became selfish and discontented. Then God withdrew His protecting and restraining power and permitted them to be bitten, and the Lord sent fiery serpents that bit the people so that many died, for sinful Israel could not save themselves from the deadly venom. It was Christ Himself speaking from the cloud who gave Moses the direction for the remedy.
Moses was bidden to make a brazen serpent resembling the living fiery serpents and put it on a pole raised in sight of Israel. He was to proclaim that whosoever looked should live, and the proclamation was sounded loudly with trumpet and by leading men through the camp. The promise to Israel was that every bitten, suffering, dying one who looked on the serpent should instantly be healed and live, and all who looked lived and recovered at once and were perfectly restored. Strange as the likeness of the stinging serpents was, with no scientific explanation given, it required simple acceptance of the word and exact obedience without reasoning how it was possible or questioning wherein the virtue lay.
Seeing Jesus crucified brought these words back to Nicodemus, and the events of the crucifixion and reflection on His death made their meaning clear and illuminated the cross. What had been doubt was turned into faith, and his faith was established and strengthened as he recognized Jesus as Messiah and Redeemer and the world's Redeemer. Having caught its meaning he was converted and began to see the kingdom, and he was led to defend Christ. The disciples likewise did not understand what He had foretold until after the resurrection.
Serpent Symbol of Christ
The bronze serpent Moses lifted in the wilderness was a symbol and type and figure and foreshadowing of Christ lifted up as Saviour and Redeemer. It pointed to the manner of His death on the cross. The sacrificial service and ceremonies likewise presented and revealed Him, and had value only as they revealed Him.
The serpent itself had no healing virtue or power in itself, and sacrifices had no power to atone in themselves. God alone healed those who looked, and looking was trust in His provision and word. Unlike the inert lifeless symbol, Christ has virtue and power in Himself to heal the suffering, repenting, believing sinner.
The likeness of the very serpent that stung Israel pictures Jesus made in the likeness of sinful flesh and coming as sin-bearer and sin-offering. The serpent's sting represents sin's poison and deadly venom, which all have experienced. Sinful Israel could not save themselves from it.
The two thieves crucified with Jesus represent the two classes of people: those who look to and believe in the crucified Christ and live forever, and those who refuse Him and die without hope. The lifting up also applies to lifting up the Word of God as the serpent was lifted, with the Bible alone as the foundation of faith to which nothing may be added.
Lifted Up in Crucifixion
Even so must the Son of man be lifted up means He had to be lifted up on the cross of Calvary in humiliation and expiatory suffering and death as a sacrifice for sin to recover humanity, the Just dying for the unjust. Jesus used the saying beforehand to speak of His own suffering and of being killed and rising again, and as the raised serpent offered healing to those who looked, so Christ brings healing from spiritual maladies to all who look to Him in faith, that whoever believes in Him lifted up should not perish but have eternal life. The lifting was His humiliation and expiatory suffering bearing a dying Saviour, and the ordinances were instituted to quicken the senses to lay hold of that mystery of godliness, with all privileged to comprehend His sufferings far more fully because eternal interests demand looking to Calvary and showing faith in Christ. Only His infinite nature was sufficient for humanity's redemption, for He took human nature and gave His blood and offered Himself for sin.
Roman rule made public crucifixion possible and thus allowed the prophecy to be fulfilled, for crucifixion was a Roman punishment whereas if the Jews had held supreme power they would have put Him to death by stoning instead. By God's ordering of events the cross was erected at Calvary and raised for all nations and tongues and peoples to see, directing them to Christ as the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. He was crucified at one of the yearly gatherings of the Jews when representatives from all nations were present at Jerusalem, so that knowledge of the cruel work done to Jesus would go to the remotest regions of the inhabited world and the message, Look and live, was given in the most decided manner.
His being lifted up reveals the Father's love in giving His dear Son to die for a fallen world, a marvelous gift far beyond finite conception that fills the heart with wonder and amazement at mercy and tenderness and forgiveness blended with justice and dignity and power. At Calvary the Son of God as the world's Redeemer condescends to human feebleness to bring salvation and redemption within reach of all who will accept it, dying in the sinner's place and bearing the penalty of transgression to give the transgressor life, having found a ransom with His blood and having the burden of sins and sorrows laid upon Him and carrying that burden with His hand nailed to the cross to be all-powerful to save. The cross bridges the gulf of perdition opened by sin, bringing man nigh to God and reconciling man to God and God to man and saving the race from hopeless misery and drawing man to the Father, so that penitent believing souls see a forgiving Father reconciling them to Himself. His death is the sacrifice for sin and the central truth around which all other truths of Scripture are understood, displaying mercy and regeneration and salvation and redemption, purchasing immortality for those who look to Him and live and vindicating the unchanging law and showing it magnified. Faith sees the cleansing stream of His blood washing away every spot and stain of sin, and this salvation through His blood is of priceless value and must be fully accepted by faith as the great gift of God through Jesus Christ from One merciful to pardon and mighty to save, kindling love burning on the altar of the heart; when the sinner comes by faith to the foot of the cross and looks to Christ lifted up to save him he receives pardon and may rejoice, and in that prostration he reaches the highest elevation man can attain. Without it there is no connection with the Father and no unity with the Lamb in the midst of the throne and no welcome for the wandering returning to righteousness and truth and no hope in the day of judgment and no power to overcome the strong foe, but every hope of the race hangs upon it, giving light in darkness for the Christian to advance as a conqueror and revealing the depth of Christ's love and the value of even one soul for whom He paid the infinite price, with grace and peace and pardon and eternal life offered to the obedient and with His breaking the tomb and rising securing and proving the gift of life.
When Christ was crucified the disciples' hope died because they did not yet understand what He had foretold, for they had not heard or understood this earlier teaching. After His resurrection their hope and faith revived and they boldly proclaimed Christ crucified and risen, laying hold of the merits of His blood and of Christ as their righteousness as the ground of salvation. Through the Holy Spirit Christ was also revealed as risen and exalted and glorified, and at Pentecost this revelation led people to see their sin and Christ as their Redeemer and to reach out to Him by faith.
Look in Faith and Live
As the bitten, wounded Israelites lived by looking at the serpent raised on a pole in sight of the camp, sinners receive life by looking to the Son of man lifted up. Looking is believing, trusting His merits and God's word in simple obedient acceptance because God said so. It required exact obedience without stopping to reason how healing was possible or wherein the virtue lay, and all who looked were instantly healed and lived while those who stopped to reason and argue died. The brazen serpent itself had no healing power, and the command tested repentance and faith with none compelled, yet God alone healed through the provision where alone hope and salvation are found. Refusing the look of faith until the whole mystery is made plain leaves the mind in doubt and unbelief unto death.
The call is Look and live, addressed to sinners poisoned by sin and bitten by that old serpent the devil. They are bidden to behold the Lamb of God who takes away sin, trusting Him as personal Saviour who bears sin and gives Himself and is able to lift the helpless and sin-polluted. Looking must be steady, earnest and continual, keeping the uplifted Saviour in view rather than human leaders, earthly things, or unfamiliar customs. As the serpent Moses raised was a symbol of Christ lifted up, those who looked to it in faith were healed, and so sinners must look to Christ and trust Him to be saved from sin and receive everlasting life and not perish. This invitation leads directly into the truth that God gave His only Son because He loved the world.
Salvation comes through this faith alone, not through human effort, works, learning, outward obedience, ritual, feeling, making oneself good or better, dwelling on guilt, helplessness, wounds and wretchedness, or a scientific explanation of how the sign works. As Israel lived by looking at the serpent instead of dwelling on their bites, sinners must take eyes off self and cease looking at and talking of and deploring their sins and wretched condition, and fasten their eyes on Christ the Great Physician. Saving faith rests on Christ's death and cleansing blood and the merits of His blood, not on feeling that He is one's Saviour or first making oneself good. Looking is faith not feeling, the hand that lays hold on Christ and appropriates His merits, purifying the soul and working by love, with all who come in penitence and faith accepted and all who rely on His merits saved. The Israelites were saved not by healing power in the serpent or by any work of their own, but by believing God's word and acting on His direction, their look expressing faith, and in the same way salvation rests on Christ's atonement and God's faithful word.
Rejecting the remedy God provides means perishing, for as Israelites who refused to look died, those who refuse Christ will perish in sin and die without hope. Those who refuse Him, refuse the truth about Him, trust human wisdom or other remedies, or turn to earthly things instead cannot be saved by those substitutes. The serpent's sting represents sin's poison which all have experienced, and the two thieves crucified with Jesus represent the two classes: those who look to and believe in the crucified Christ and live forever, and those who refuse Him. Such refusal is described as crucifying the Son of God afresh.
Whoever believes in Him lifted up should not perish but have everlasting and eternal life. This promise gives assurance through living faith in God's word, not through changing feelings or emotions. That belief is the work of God essential for salvation, the simple act of faith that looks and lives, the only true mind cure bringing the sufferer into touch with the great Healer. It is genuine working faith that beholds Him, takes hold of infinite power, draws people to Jesus, and receives pardon with sins taken away and His righteousness imputed, in contrast with the present physical life people strive to preserve. It defines true higher education whose full import is understood only by one born again through sanctification of the Spirit.
Healing Pardon and Transformation
As the bitten Israelites lived by looking at the serpent Moses lifted up, life is found by looking in faith to Christ lifted up, for He is the Healer of both body and soul. Turning from fixation on sin and misery to the Saviour brings hope and peace, for sinners must take their eyes off themselves and cease looking at and talking of and deploring their sins and wretched condition, and fasten them upon Christ the Great Physician, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Belief in Him is the only true mind cure, bringing the suffering one into touch with the great Healer and saving the perishing soul, giving mind cure and body cure and relief in the sickroom and life and light. He is a living Saviour and Advocate who can deliver from Satan's power those under sin's deadly influence when they look to Him, and no drug or medicine in the world can save apart from God's remedy.
Looking brings pardon through the simple act of faith that accepts Christ as a personal, sin-pardoning Saviour, in whom the whole science of salvation is contained. Humble, contrite, repentant sinners who come to Him have their sins taken away, are cleansed by His blood, receive pardon, have His righteousness imputed to them, lay hold of the merits of His blood and of Christ as their righteousness, and have everlasting life. As the bitten Israelites were healed when they looked at the serpent in faith, and without faith looking is of no avail, sinners receive life by looking in faith to Christ as Saviour, receiving Christ in faith as their only remedy for sin and trusting in His imputed righteousness. Faith does not save by earning anything but receives Christ and His merits, bringing justification by faith that heals sin's sting, reconciliation to God and the Father's favor, peace with God, the new heart and new birth, and the condition for God's approval. Christ taking humanity to rescue people from sin gives unmistakable evidence that a great work can be done through a human agent cooperating with God to bring fallen man into close fellowship and union with divinity, for God has done everything God could do to reclaim the race, and Jesus the Majesty of heaven unites to Himself every soul who permits Him to bind them to His great heart of infinite love as lost sheep returned to the Shepherd and Bishop of the soul. The dying thief proves it, receiving peace, assurance and Paradise through confessing and believing, while the Spirit enables repentance and brings new life, renewing heart and mind so that God's law is written within and the person delights to do His will.
Beholding Him continually gives spiritual health and spiritual power, for beholding Him and His character changes people into His likeness. The brass serpent had no virtue in itself but was a symbol of Christ, and God alone healed the bitten, yet all who showed faith in God's provision by looking were perfectly restored; unlike that inert symbol, Christ has power in Himself to save all who by living faith believe in Him and accept His sacrifice. Looking to Christ and beholding His character brings healing from sin's deadly sting and transforms the whole character in words and actions, sanctifying, renewing heart and mind, restoring God's moral image, giving victory over sin and power to overcome the strong foe. That transformation joins believers to God and to one another in unity, unto salvation, eternal life, and a home in the kingdom of God, since Christ has done everything on His part by giving His life to redeem.
His being lifted up in death is the source of life itself, so that even earthly life and daily food are received through His sacrifice, symbolized by the bread and water of the communion service. The life poured out at Calvary is received spiritually by receiving His word and doing what He commands, and faith in His sacrifice in communion brings spiritual life and strength and binds believers to Christ and through Him to the Father. The cross is where people must look in faith to the dying Saviour, and His death makes it possible to look with joy for His second coming as the center of Christian hope. He lives as burden-bearer and support, giving daily saving power to resist temptation and be sanctified by the refining influence of the truth.
As Israel journeyed the Lord protected them from venomous serpents, but because of stubbornness and impenitence and transgression He removed His restraining power and many bitten by the deadly sting died, then the brazen serpent was uplifted so that all who repented and looked to it in faith might live. In the same way the bronze serpent pointed to the Saviour lifted up for people to look to in faith and live. In the time of confusion and trouble such as never was since there was a nation, the uplifted Saviour will be presented to people in all lands and in all places, that all who look may live.
Proclaiming the Uplifted Saviour
Jesus is to be kept uplifted before the people daily, with the Man of Calvary lifted higher and still higher and the cross of Christ exalted in teaching that is always positive, affirmative and borne with assurance that never utters sentiments of doubt, because there is power in that exaltation to awaken those dead in trespasses and sins. Preaching must present Jesus plainly and call people to trust Him, pointing sinners to the crucified Saviour as the bronze serpent was lifted in the wilderness so that all who look to Him in faith may live, and He Himself inspires that faith. The cross of Calvary is to be lifted up before all nations, tongues and peoples so they may look and live, for Christ died for the world and the church is to make this saving message known.
Through the sacrificial service Christ was to be lifted up and presented before the nations, teaching that as the serpent was lifted in the wilderness so the Son of man must be lifted up, and that all who look to Him may live. That lifting up lays out how the new heart to see the kingdom of heaven is obtained, by looking to Him by faith for healing and life so that whoever believes should not perish but have eternal life, with terms of salvation so plain that alone it would be a guide for the soul. The gospel invitation is for every people including those in heathen lands and those in distress and sin, to whom Christ's love and power can restore, and it is good news to be rung throughout the world.
The verse is a grand beautiful truth and a bright shining light especially to counselors and leaders dealing with souls, applying to rulers and counselors today as to Nicodemus, calling presidents of conferences, elders and all in responsible positions to learn regeneration as a little child with vital connection to God before accepting sacred responsibility. They must humble themselves, be diligent students of the Word and submit to the Holy Spirit, as Nicodemus caught its meaning, was converted, began to see the kingdom and defended Christ. Their work is then to hold up Christ Himself before the inquiring mind as the way to be born again, and to help and train trembling sinners to look to Jesus and live, exercising perfect trust in God's goodness when difficulties surround, drawing near to God with earnest hopeful confidence and courageous labor with assurance He will draw near, bless workers, convert souls and cause truth to triumph.
That looking alone to Jesus as righteousness and sacrifice, justified by faith, heals the deadly sting of the serpent, ends self and gives peace with God, opening the door of the heart to let Jesus in, opening blind eyes, making the heart new and giving the righteousness of Christ and the divine likeness, and it must continue every moment in cooperation with God and belief to give daily converting power, especially to men in responsible places. Its meaning is to be discerned by reading verse by verse thoughtfully and prayerfully, for together with John 1 it plainly defines true higher education, the only education of saving value giving definite instruction regarding its nature. It is only feebly comprehended, and its full import can be understood only by one who is born again, received only through sanctification of the Spirit of God.
The ignorant and unbelieving are enlightened not by controversy and discussion, learning or false theories, but by looking to Jesus lifted up and living, receiving life for the soul rather than discussing a theory. What is needed is not learning nor controversy but truth and a new heart, a practical point and new light bringing the hearer into contact with all light, to be kept to affirmatively without being led away into controversy over false theories. Reasoning upon points of difference produces no saving result until the heart is changed, and refusing the look of faith until the whole mystery is made plain leaves the mind in doubt unto death. The uplifted serpent teaches searching the Scriptures in a new way and seeing the kingdom by submitting to the leading of the Holy Spirit, calling thousands who depend on obedience to the law to commend them to favor to look to Jesus instead and believe He saves solely through grace, entering life as the chief of sinners where faith earns nothing and is not the saviour but the hand laying hold upon Christ and appropriating His merits as remedy for sin, with even repentance coming from Christ as truly as pardon.
Daily Life by Looking
To look to the Son of man lifted up is to place entire daily dependence on him at every step in simple confiding faith, trusting God and not man and refusing to make flesh an arm. He supplies grace and strength not in advance for a future trial but for each present need as circumstances demand, including grace to endure persecution and remain faithful. The helpless soul in guilt and sin who so looks will live, for he will never be left to perish, and this looking and living is life itself. That faith is still too little and must be increased, for he is the Author and Finisher of faith and is needed every hour; it lightens the burden and weariness of life by viewing the attractiveness of heaven, humbles human pride, brings light to those who follow God's will, and gives strength and hope even when facing death, receiving his worthiness and righteousness as a robe rather than dwelling on past failures. Looking is reaching up for grace and walking out on the promise, relying on him alone who has the words of eternal life for help and hope.
Looking to him lifted up brings hope, courage, faith, pardon, life, comfort, peace and joy, turning from fixation on sin and misery to the Savior who is the Healer of body and soul. As the wounded Israelites lived by looking at the serpent instead of dwelling on their bites, sinners must take eyes off self and cease looking at and talking of and deploring sins and wretched condition, and fasten eyes on Christ the Great Physician, the Lamb of God who takes away sin. This call to look and live is healing of body and soul and eternal life instead of perishing, for God sent his Son not to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved, offered to all without forcing obedience because true obedience cannot be compelled. It turns thoughts toward God's goodness and Christ's compassion, bridges divine power with human weakness so that the tempted through his strength and grace overcome appetite and degrading passions, and inspires faith in a sympathizing Savior who feels every throb of anguish, while beholding him changes people into his likeness.
Looking requires renouncing self-righteousness and depending wholly on Christ and his redemption, for moral character and respectability cannot spare anyone the need to humble himself before God, as seen with Nicodemus. Self must die that a person may live in the righteousness of Christ, in wholehearted consecration of heart, mind, soul and all to God in perfect obedience, giving time, money, talents and influence to truth and turning from selfishness and worldly concerns in remembrance that his sacrifice bought us at a price so we might not perish but have everlasting life. It reproduces his spirit of humility, forbearance, patience and kindness, treating those he purchased with tenderness, sympathy and love, with the baptism of the Spirit breaking down barriers and self-exaltation. So to look and live is to give self to Jesus and seek a higher standard.
Looking to the crucified Savior in faith reveals sin and its consequences, its enormity and sinfulness, for seeing him die leads the sinner to recognize the need of pardon and God's favor. The contrast between Christ's purity and personal impurity is seen, need and his sufficiency are awakened, the sinner is drawn to follow him, turns from sin, and lives cleansed from every spot, with Christ's purity transforming the heart more powerfully than descriptions of human sin. Repentance itself comes from Christ and not from self, and conversion is genuine even when it comes without violent conviction, terror or remorse. Satan works to turn attention away from Christ and prevent seeing him as the lifted-up Savior, and worldly concerns keep people from looking long enough, so the view must be kept clear and the look kept steady rather than focusing on pain and infirmity; God did not abandon Israel when serpents bit them but provided healing, and beholding Christ alone gives safety from deception.