Numbers 21:9, commentary and pictures

Moses set a bronze serpent high on a pole in the midst of the camp, and every bitten Israelite who looked at it lived and was instantly healed. The bronze itself had no healing virtue, for God alone healed by His power. The serpent lifted in the wilderness foreshadows Christ lifted on the cross on Calvary, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. All have been bitten by the poison of sin which no human remedy can cure, and as bitten Israel saved bodily life by looking, sinners find pardon, salvation and eternal life alone by looking to Jesus in faith and laying hold on His atoning blood and righteousness. Looking was simple obedience showing faith, trust and repentance, while those who refused to believe and look, stopping to reason and mourn their wounds instead of using the remedy, died though healing was available.

Wilderness Setting and Provision

On the journey from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea to compass Edom, Israel grew discouraged because of the hardships of the way and spoke against God and against Moses for bringing them up from Egypt to die in the wilderness, claiming there was no bread and no water and that their soul loathed the light bread. The Lord sent fiery, venomous serpents among them whose deadly bites caused many deaths among the people of Israel. Those bites brought upon them the very death they had complained of, and humbled by suffering they confessed they had sinned in speaking against the Lord and against Moses and asked Moses to pray that the serpents be taken away.

In answer to Moses' prayer, Christ speaking from the cloud and from the pillar of cloud directed the remedy, telling Moses to make a fiery serpent and set it upon a pole with the promise that every bitten person who looked upon it would live. So Moses made a serpent of brass and put it upon a pole, placed on high in the midst of the congregation. The promise was verified to every one who looked in simple obedience, who instantly lived and recovered health at once.

God had continually protected Israel by angels and by the pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night, restraining the fiery serpents all around them in the wilderness. Because of stubbornness, impenitence, transgression, selfishness, discontent, murmuring, rebellion, perversity and lack of faith He withdrew His protecting and restraining hand and permitted the bites. The same protecting restraint still guards the honest in heart, and if it were withdrawn the enemy would bring destruction, so the account illustrates God's control over forces threatening His people.

The withdrawal and affliction were a bitter lesson, test and correction to make Israel recognize ingratitude, remember God's care, repent, submit, trust His care and protection, and become a pure, holy people revealing His character and testifying that He honors those who honor Him. By this means the people were made to know that God had permitted the serpents to afflict them because of their murmurings and lack of faith, and that while obeying Him they need not fear the dangers continually surrounding them in the wilderness, for He would be their friend and preserve them. The promise was proclaimed through the camp with trumpet by leading men of every tribe, not whispered or left to discussion and scientific explanation, to be accepted on Christ's word to Moses through Moses. The people were not to reason how healing was possible, nor question wherein lay the virtue to make them whole, nor demand explanation, but to do exactly as bidden and act at once, for the word obeyed brought life and healing.

The healing miracle also displayed God's power to the surrounding nations as evidence that He is the true and living God.

Healing by Simple Looking

If a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass he lived, and everyone who looked lived, recovered health at once and was healed of all effects of the poisonous wounds. Even a single look while fainting and dying brought instant revival and complete cure to the suffering, wounded and bruised. The promise was verified to all who looked in simple obedience, bringing life and salvation to the dying.

The bronze serpent itself had no healing power or virtue in itself and no natural connection to the bite that human reasoning could explain. God alone healed, and preservation came from His power, not chance. In wisdom He chose this simple means to display His power, to show He was with Israel and that those obeying His will were under His protection.

Looking was the simple act of obedience required for life, showing faith, trust and repentance toward the provision God had made, without murmuring or distrust. Their own efforts could not save them, and the look tested repentance and faith. That faith in the remedy He appointed was acceptable to Him.

Those who refused to believe and look died, though healing was available to all. They asked what good looking would do, questioned its efficacy, stopped to reason and argue, demanded explanation, kept talking of their dreadful wounds and hopeless case, and mourned their wounds instead of using the remedy. To delay to look, to refuse to obey, and to reject the appointed remedy brought death.

No explanation of the means was given, and the people were not to reason how healing was possible nor question wherein lay the virtue to make them whole, but to do exactly as bidden and act at once. The lesson is to obey God's provision in faith even when its purpose is not understood, to look first and trust rather than refuse help until every question is answered. The soul is not enlightened through controversy and discussion, and those who stopped to argue died.

Serpent Foreshadows Lifted Christ

The serpent lifted up in the wilderness symbolizes Christ lifted up on the cross on Calvary, for as Moses lifted the serpent so the Son of man must be lifted up that whosoever believes should not perish but have eternal and everlasting life. Looking to Jesus by faith gives eternal life just as looking gave bodily life then, and looking to the brass serpent in faith represents sinners simply trusting Christ, who alone saves from sin and is their ransom. Rejecting the salvation God provides in Christ leaves people to perish in their sins, for refusing to look and believe brings death without hope. As the bitten Israelites lived by looking, people poisoned by sin live forever by looking to and believing in Jesus.

As the image made in the likeness of the destroying serpents was lifted up for healing, so One made in the likeness of sinful flesh was to be lifted up as Redeemer and Sin-bearer, bearing sin to rescue man. It was a strange symbol set before the vast congregation entrusted with sacred truth, set forth beforehand so that when Christ appeared in person men might recognize His mission and cooperate with Him in saving humanity. Those bitten by the devil, that old serpent, are called to look to Christ and live, and this message brings hope, courage, faith, pardon, and life. No human agent must interpose himself to receive the homage due to God only, but Christ must be lifted up before the people, for in Him alone is eternal life.

Unlike the lifeless bronze symbol which had no virtue or healing power in itself, Christ has virtue and power in Himself to heal the suffering, repenting, believing sinner from sin and give life forever. God alone healed those who looked in faith, and preservation came from His power, not from the serpent. Continually beholding Him brings spiritual health and power, while turning the mind from Him leaves no safety. Israel's sacrifices and offerings likewise had no atoning value or power to atone in themselves; like the serpent they were types directing faith to Christ the coming Redeemer, the true sin offering and one great offering. Both were to lead minds to the Saviour, and are valueless if He is rejected, with Christ as the key that unlocks the Old Testament and gives access to its treasures, so that the passover and the lifted serpent cannot be explained without Him.

The public lifting fulfilled prophecy in manner and timing, for Roman rule made death by crucifixion instead of stoning possible, making the cross a public sign calling all peoples to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The cross was raised before all nations at a yearly gathering at Jerusalem with representatives from many nations present, carrying the message of looking to Him for life to the remotest regions. The timing and manner of His death were governed by prophecy, as the bronze serpent raised in the wilderness pointed to Christ raised on Calvary. Jesus showed Moses the meaning down the stream of time to His first advent as babe at Bethlehem, humble life at Nazareth, ministry of love and sympathy and healing, rejection by a proud and unbelieving nation, Gethsemane, betrayal, cruel mockery and scourging and nailing to the tree. He later used the image to teach Nicodemus the new birth and entrance to the kingdom of heaven, and Nicodemus remembered this comparison when he saw Jesus crucified, where the surrounding events confirmed his faith.

The sting and poison of the fiery serpents is the poison of sin felt by all mankind. Looking upon the lifted serpent and living means looking upon and believing in Jesus Christ and living forever, and refusing to look and dying means refusing to look upon and believe in Jesus and dying without hope. The two outcomes are shown by the two thieves crucified with Jesus, one looking to Him in faith and living, the other refusing to look and believe and perishing without hope.

Salvation Through Faith Alone

All have been bitten by the serpent of sin and feel its deadly sting and poison in a lost condition with vile human nature, and no human invention, earthly drugs, medicines or remedies can cure one bitten soul. The bitten can do nothing to heal themselves or to earn life by rigid obedience to the letter of the law, for as the dying Israelites lived not by doing something but by looking at the bronze serpent raised on a pole, so life comes only from Christ who alone has virtue and power in Himself to heal. God's remedy for the sinning soul cannot fail and no human device can supply it.

As bitten Israelites saved bodily life by looking, sinners poisoned by sin find hope, pardon, salvation and eternal life alone by looking to Jesus in faith. Looking and living means believing that Jesus died for the sinner and that His blood now cleanses from all sin, laying hold on the merits and efficacy of His atoning blood and imputed righteousness as ransom and sacrifice. Their look expressed simple trust and obedience toward the provision God made, acting at once without waiting to feel saved or to make oneself good, rather than spending strength mourning sins and wounds. This remedy is for people of every age.

Faith earns nothing and is not the Saviour but the hand by which sinners receive Christ and appropriate His merits as the remedy for sin. Even repentance comes from Christ as truly as does pardon, depending on the aid of the Spirit, received by confessing every sin before God with contrite heart and pleading Christ's merits and character who takes away sin and removes every acknowledged sin. Beholding the Lamb of God who takes away sin reveals the love of God drawing sinners, and if not resisted leads to the foot of the cross in repentance for the sins that crucified the Saviour, where through faith thoughts and desires are brought into obedience. Keeping the eyes fixed steadily on the uplifted Saviour and accepting by faith the merits He dispenses must be the sinner's life business, for without it the sinner can no more be saved, and this faith is the life of the church.

No helpless, sin-sick person who comes to Christ in penitence and faith is turned away or will perish, but everyone who trusts in Jesus' merits can be saved. However grievous or scarlet the sins have been, even the vilest and chief of sinners who looks lives, for saving faith is simplicity itself. David, bitten and poisoned by sin, upon confession with broken heart was forgiven, covered, preserved and compassed with songs of deliverance, cleansed in the fountain open for sin and made white as snow. Sinful and unworthy people are to place their helpless souls on the merits of the crucified and risen Saviour, and God restores the joy of salvation and gives strength to overcome.

Rejecting the salvation God provides in Christ leaves people to perish in their sins in hopeless death without hope. Refusing truth sent by God about the remedy is refusing Christ, turning from the source of life, and stands in grave guilt. The two outcomes are shown by the two thieves crucified with Jesus, one looking to Him in faith and living, the other refusing to look and believe and perishing.

Only practical acceptance and application of divine truth opens the kingdom of God, rescuing man from his lost condition and changing vile human nature so that character harmonizes with the pure and holy. Steadfastly beholding Christ sanctifies the soul, for God renews the person in Christ's image, transforming the whole character and shaping words and actions in righteousness and true holiness. Looking to Jesus the Lamb of God brings life to souls dead in sin and heals sin's deadly sting, giving peace with God, growing faith, love and holiness, a purified life, ennobled character, overcome world, subdued human nature and vanquished Satan. This transformation creating the heart and mind anew and writing the law in mind and heart so that they delight to do His will is the new birth that fits man for the glorious kingdom of Heaven with victory and obedience.

What Looking Means Daily

To look is to take the eyes off self, sins, weaknesses, infirmities, wounds, feelings, terror, groaning and cries of being undone, and off human and earthly help, and to fasten them upon the uplifted Saviour, the Lamb of God who takes away sin, the Way, the Truth and the Life. To look is to believe in Jesus as personal Saviour, as Advocate before the Father and living Intercessor constantly pleading for sinners, to come into living connection with Him by living faith, to plead for the grace and power He is more willing to give than parents are to give good gifts, and to roll sins upon the Sin-bearer and burden-bearer. What saves is not casual faith but faith that fastens to Him, the only source of power and the only one who can save from sin, in whom all heaven was given in the one gift, whose name Saviour means one who saves from sins.

As long as sinners look at and talk of and deplore their own wretched condition and stay away from the remedy, their wounds, bruises and putrefying sores remain, and talking about sin while staying away does no good. To keep looking at the sting and inflamed wounds instead of looking at the provision for healing is inconsistent and strange when life comes by so simple an act. Healing from the terrible wounds and bruises of sin — hasty temper, unbelief, passion, selfishness and all impurity — comes just as soon as the bitten looks at once to Jesus in sincerity and living faith, bringing freedom and life and blessing and cleansing and the healing power of grace, for He saves to the uttermost all who come to Him and casts away not one who comes.

Looking is individual work that no one can do for another, and no eloquence or ready speech avails; dwelling on wounds and saying the poison cannot be healed brings death, while looking brings life. It must be begun at once without waiting to feel saved or good, and kept up continually every moment day by day in the name of Jesus, claiming Him as Saviour with humble and contrite heart that He cleanses. To look is to be fed with Christ Himself, receiving His Spirit and His light and His love, opening the door of the heart to let Jesus in, pressing close to Him as constant companion as Enoch did, which commences the purifying and cleansing that truth does. That continual look is faith that works by love and purifies the soul, every other faith being good for nothing; it justifies, ends self, gives peace with God, opens the eyes, makes the heart new, holds believers through sorrow, suffering, sleeplessness and agony, keeps eternity of happiness and bliss before the mind, and runs the race day by day to overcome, see Him as He is, be made like Him, and win rest in the kingdom, for to gain heaven is to gain everything and to lose heaven is to lose everything.

Look and live bids the tempted, intemperate, sick, suffering, sorrowful, tried, burdened, doubting and despairing to turn from pain, weakness, past failures, envy and perplexity to Jesus, the Healer and Restorer, the mighty Healer and never-failing Helper, the Man of Calvary. He endured sorrows, struggles, temptations and tears and joined divinity with humanity to bridge sin's gulf, and He can heal both spiritual and physical disease, give peace and rest, give strength and grace to resist temptation and overcome appetite and degrading passions, give victory over temptation's stings, and give eternal life. Those suffering from sin and discouragement are to be directed to Him, and the invitation comes through the word of life in plain simple language to those with ears to hear and hearts to understand, with Christ present softening and subduing hearts and the Spirit producing hunger for the word, quick and happy response, and tearful determination, and with encouragement to trust God's goodness and work courageously through difficulties.

Looking gives life by giving oneself to Jesus, coming to Him, taking a stand on the Lord's side and from that time seeking earnestly a higher standard, trusting wholly in His merits rather than self-worth or ability to remove sin. It means coming in penitence and humility, confessing and forsaking sin, relying wholly on the merits of the crucified Saviour for forgiveness, trusting God for life rather than human strength, with undivided trust and allegiance instead of trusting self. True faith includes obedience to His commandments and following His example, being closely united with Christ, hiding self in Him, loving Him with entire affection, serving Him with undivided heart, walking humbly and circumspectly with Him, distrusting self while trusting His power and sufficiency, depending on His grace and strength for each day's needs, exalting Him before others as the only hope of the world, altogether lovely and chiefest among ten thousand, the Truth, the Light and the Way. That faith must be continually increased, learned and practiced in daily communion and prayer now in order to stand in stormy times and severe tests.

The same healing, life-giving call still sounds from Christ as Healer of body and soul through His Word, pointing those bitten by that old serpent the devil to the uplifted Saviour upon the shameful tree to look and live, meaning hope, courage, faith, pardon and life. He has died to purchase the sinner's life, can deliver the soul from Satan's power and lead it to eternal life, and heals sin's serpent bite and its poison even when its influence has spread through the whole being. All the heavenly angels are sent to assist that endangered soul, yet Satan institutes everything he can to divert attention from Christ and heaven and to intercept the view, so nothing must be allowed to block the view and believers must keep bright and clear views of Jesus, look and live, and take their stand to love and obey God. The bitten are invited as beloved children bought with a price, accepted just as they are at that very moment, with promise of resurrection to immortality at His glorious return.

Worldwide Proclamation and Mission

The uplifted serpent points to the uplifted Saviour who will be presented to people in all lands and in all places in the coming time of confusion and trouble such as never was since there was a nation, that all who look to Him in faith may live. As bitten Israelites lived when they beheld the serpent of brass lifted on the pole, so perishing souls live when they behold the lifted cross of Calvary. The cross must be lifted higher before all nations, tongues and people, by preaching the gospel to every creature and presenting the righteousness of Christ in its rich fulness, with self-denial, faithful stewardship, and united cooperation with heavenly agencies to win souls to Christ.

Israel was meant to teach the nations that the serpent lifted up in the wilderness represented Christ lifted up through the sacrificial service, and that all who looked to Him in faith would live and receive life through Him. This invitation was to reach people of every nation, for through the sacrificial service Christ was to be lifted up before the nations and all who look to Him as Saviour live, because He takes away the world's sin. This is the message missionaries are to present, together with the warning that God's kingdom is at hand, since looking to Christ answers the question of how to be saved.

He must be lifted up before the people, and no human agent must interpose himself to receive the homage due to God only, for as those dying of poison and fever received life and health by one look, so those sick with the grievous malady of sin are healed by looking upon Christ by the eye of faith, in whom alone is eternal life. Perishing sinners are saved by looking away from poor sinful selves to Jesus the Sin-bearer lifted up on the cross, beholding with the eye of faith the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world as the Way, the Truth, the Life. To look and live means to be brought by faith to the foot of the cross in prayer until the victory is won, when the Sun of Righteousness sheds bright beams into the heart and the strong tide of redeeming love pours into the parched and thirsty soul, and the sinner is saved to Jesus Christ. Leading souls to this look calls for a soul consecrated to God and broken by beholding the Intercessor in heaven, with tender pitying love overflowing from the heart, deep earnestness without a harsh loud note, talking to souls in peril, praying with them, carrying the mind up and fixing faith on Jesus, in plain simple speech that lifts up Jesus so they may look to Him and live.

The wilderness events stand as example and admonition, for the Israelites tempted Christ and were destroyed by serpents, warning later believers not to repeat their unbelief and murmuring. Those who reject God's commandments for human commandments are spiritually bitten by the serpent, and unless they repent that danger means death. As the bitten Israelites looked to the raised serpent God had appointed and lived, so the Bible is to be lifted up as the foundation of faith and as the source of truth for students and the nations. The call to look and live also describes the trust the foolish virgins lack because they have not come to know God through communion with Him, showing that mere profession without communion leaves the soul unready.