The Scripture behind the Scripture
As Moses Lifted Up the Serpent
Numbers 21:9 tells how Moses lifted up a bronze serpent so that those bitten might look and live. Jesus applies this to his own crucifixion in John 3:14.
“And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.”Numbers 21:9
“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:”John 3:14
In its own place
In its own place. Numbers 21 recounts an incident during Israel's wilderness journey. The people grew impatient and spoke against God and Moses, complaining about the hardships and despising the manna. In judgment God sent fiery serpents among them, and many were bitten and died. When the people repented and asked Moses to pray, God instructed Moses to make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, so that everyone who was bitten, when he looked upon it, would live. Moses made a serpent of bronze and put it on a pole, and whoever had been bitten looked at the bronze serpent and lived. In its original setting this is a strange and vivid act of mercy in the midst of judgment. The people suffered the deadly consequence of their rebellion, yet God provided a means of healing that required only a look of faith toward the lifted up serpent. The remedy was not in the bronze itself but in God's provision, received by looking as God commanded. It was an act of grace to a grumbling people, deliverance from death for all who would turn their eyes to the sign God appointed. The lifted up serpent became a memorable emblem of salvation offered to the perishing.
Where the New Testament takes it up
This is a typological allusion made by Jesus himself. In John 3:14 to 15, teaching Nicodemus, Jesus says, And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. Jesus draws a deliberate comparison, or type, between the bronze serpent lifted on the pole and himself being lifted up on the cross. He does not treat Numbers 21 as a verbal prediction but as a pattern that finds its deeper meaning in his crucifixion. The being lifted up carries a double sense in John, referring both to Jesus being physically raised on the cross and to his exaltation. Just as the Israelites bitten by serpents looked to the lifted up bronze serpent and lived, so those perishing under sin and death are called to look in faith to the crucified Christ and receive eternal life. Jesus reads the wilderness episode as a picture of his own saving death, where the remedy for a deadly affliction is provided by God and received simply by believing. This is one of the clearest instances of Jesus interpreting an Old Testament event typologically as pointing to himself.
How it points to Christ
How it points to Christ. Jesus makes the bronze serpent a picture of his crucifixion. Humanity, bitten by the deadly poison of sin, is dying, but God has provided a remedy in his Son lifted up on the cross. As the Israelites had only to look at the serpent to live, so sinners have only to look in faith to Christ crucified to receive eternal life. The parallel is arresting, for the serpent, an image of the curse and of the very thing that was killing them, was lifted up as the means of healing, just as Christ, though sinless, was made a curse for us and lifted up to bear our death. Salvation comes not by works but by the look of faith toward the One God provided. In the wilderness a look brought physical life, but in Christ believing brings eternal life. The old sign in the desert was a shadow of the cross.
Questions people ask
What is the comparison Jesus draws?
Jesus likens the bronze serpent Moses lifted on a pole to himself being lifted up on the cross. As those bitten by serpents looked to the bronze serpent and lived, so those perishing under sin look in faith to the crucified Christ and receive eternal life.
Is this a prediction or a type?
It is a typological reading, not a verbal prediction. Jesus takes the wilderness event as a pattern that finds its deeper meaning in his crucifixion. He himself makes the connection, interpreting the Old Testament episode as a picture of his saving death.