Transcript

A story from Scotland tells of a mother’s dramatic rescue of her child. Workmen were blasting rock in a quarry.

One day, after they had attached the fuse and retired to a safe place and gave the alarm for the blast, they saw a three year old child wandering across the open space where danger threatened. Every passing second meant death was closing in on the child.

The workmen called to the child and waved their arms, but he only looked on their strange antics with amusement.

No man dared run forward knowing the explosion was only seconds away. The child most certainly would have been killed had not his mother appeared at this moment of crisis. Taking in the situation at a glance she did what her mother’s heart dictated.

She did not run toward her son or yell to frighten him. Instead, she knelt down, opened wide her arms and smiled for him to come.

Instantly the child ran towards her. Shortly later the area shook with the force of the explosion, yet the child was safe in his mother’s arms.

This is a good picture of the cross. Each of us faces the eternal danger of the lake of fire, but with outstretched arms on the cross Christ gives His gracious invitation to the world, wanting us to come to Him for eternal safety.

And when you trust what He did for you on that Cross, that He died for your sins personally and rose again, you are saved and you are safe in Christ forever.

John 3:12-14 reads, “If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up.”

In John 3, the Lord has a conversation with a Pharisee by the name of Nicodemus who came to Christ by night to question Him about His miracles.

The Lord tells Nicodemus in v. 12, that He had taught him the truth using basic earthly illustrations and he didn’t grasp or believe the spiritual truth, as He had just taught Nicodemus using the illustrations of birth and the wind.

Christ then tells this teacher who was asking for further understanding that if he taught him deeper, spiritual, heavenly truths, how would he grasp or believe that?

Knowledge of deeper, spiritual, heavenly wisdom was only possible through Him, the Son of man, who came from heaven, because no man has ever gone to heaven and then come back to earth, to teach about heavenly, divine matters and truth.

As the Son of man, who came from heaven, He is the Pre-existent One, He is eternal, He is God, and He has authority and wisdom to teach and His witness is to be believed.

And He proceeds to do this. The Lord tells Nicodemus the Son of man came down to earth from heaven and the Son of man was to be lifted up from the earth.

The Lord uses up/down contrasts here. He says that no man has gone up to heaven and come back down to teach men. The Son of man came from above down to earth, but would be lifted up from the earth, and He was lifted up from the earth at the Cross.

Moses and the Pentateuch, the first 5 books of the Bible, were very important to a Pharisee such as Nicodemus and he was very familiar with them. The Lord knew this and used a story from it to teach Nicodemus.

In verse 14, Christ refers to Numbers 21:4-9 and the story of the fiery serpents.

Numbers 21:4-9: “And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way.

“And the people spake against God, and against Moses, 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.

“And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.

“Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, 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. And Moses prayed for the people.”

“And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, 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.

“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.”

In this passage the people of Israel were journeying during their 40-year wilderness wandering. They had recently traveled from the Mount Hor area near the Red Sea to the borders of Edom near where Petra is located.

The people were discouraged and began getting cranky and murmured in the wilderness against Moses because of the difficulty of the journey and the terrain. The way was hard; there were mountains to climb and deserts to cross.

They spoke against God and against Moses that God had taken them out of Egypt just to die in the wilderness. They doubted the goodness of God.

They murmured at the scarcity of food and water. And they also complained about the manna. They were tired of the manna. God had provided the manna, bread from heaven, in bountiful supply each morning for years so the Israelites wouldn’t starve.

When it first started coming, they were all excited about it and were thankful for it. But over time, they had gotten tired of it, and now they were belly-aching about it.

We don’t know exactly what manna was, but Keith Drury has compared it to oatmeal. He said this, “I generally like oatmeal. In fact, I could eat it just about every day, at least for a while. But I think I’d get tired of it if that’s all I got for every meal every day for years and years. “Hey Ma, What’s for breakfast?” “Oatmeal.”

“Ma, What’s for lunch?” “Oatmeal.” “What’s for supper, Ma?” “Oatmeal.” “Hey Ma, what’s for thanksgiving dinner?” “Oatmeal.” “Christmas dinner?” “Oatmeal. Deal with it.”

The Israelites are a picture of mankind as a whole. What they did is often what we would have done too in their situation. And we likely would have been just like the Israelites with the manna, and started complaining after a while too instead of being grateful.

In both their attitudes and their words, the Israelites were tempting the Lord and trying His patience and forbearance by their murmuring, which was a dangerous thing to do.

In 1 Corinthians 10:9, Paul wrote the Body of Christ about this episode: “Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.”

Because of their incessant grumbling and murmuring, as a punishment, in verse 6 we learn how God without warning sent fiery, deadly, poisonous serpents among the camp.

These snakes were suddenly everywhere among the people. The venomous bites from these snakes inflicted a fiery inflammation and a burning sensation.

Many were bit. They were suffering. Many died and many were dying. There was no antidote. They were unable to save themselves.

The people panicked and began crying out and admitting that they had sinned. They knew it was a result of their sin that they were dying and facing God’s just judgment.

And this is where we need to begin in order to be saved by the Cross of Christ. We need to admit what the Israelites say here, “We have sinned.”

We must begin by seeing ourselves as God sees us, that we are sinners. And all of us are. As Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”

But the good news is that God loves sinners and Christ died for sinners. As Romans 5:8 says, “But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

The people of Israel began begging Moses to intercede and pray to God for them. And Moses as their intercessor did so, as v. 7 says, “And Moses prayed for the people.”

God in His grace and mercy then provided a remedy. But the Lord didn’t answer in the way the people might have expected. He didn’t just remove the snakes and heal the ones who had been bitten automatically.

Instead, God made a provision for those who were bitten by the snakes. And the receiving of His help and deliverance from death was dependent upon their faith.

The Lord offered salvation from the bite of the serpents by commanding Moses to make a fiery serpent, to make a serpent out of brass, resembling in appearance the snakes that were attacking and biting the people.

It was made from brass, because in the symbolism of Scripture brass is the emblem of Divine Judgment. In Revelation 1:15, Christ is seen as a Judge and it says that “His feet [were] like unto fine brass.”

Moses was to make this serpent and then the Lord told him to put it on a pole for all to see. The Lord said to Moses that any bitten person who lifted up their eyes and looked at the serpent on the pole would be healed and would live. They would be saved by their faith and obedience, and those who looked up at the serpent were saved.

Moses did as the Lord commanded and made a serpent of brass, put it on the pole, and told the people what the Lord told him: “that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.”

And Numbers 21:9 says that everyone who took God at His word, who believed and obeyed God and looked at the fiery bronze snake on the pole were healed.

There was no hope for a person who was dying unless he looked at the fiery serpent on that pole. There were likely people who were suffering and so far gone with the venom and poison of those serpents that they had to be carried out of their tents to be brought into position to look at that serpent on a pole.

And if they just lifted their eyes to look on that brazen serpent they were healed.

No matter how sick, how close to death, even if they were only a minute from death, if they turned their eyes to the brazen serpent immediately death was defeated and they lived.

Because God is faithful to His Word, verse 9 reads, “It came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.”

John 3:14-15: “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.”

Fast forward from this episode with the snakes about 1500 years, and the Lord in John 3 is approached by a high-profile religious leader named Nicodemus under the cover of darkness, who has some questions for Christ.

And the Lord likens His death to the old story in Numbers chapter 21 of Moses and the children of Israel in the wilderness.

And He says just like Moses lifted up that serpent, so the Son of Man is going to be lifted up. Christ used the bronze serpent to illustrate His own death on the Cross.

It was the Lord Jesus Christ Himself who gave Moses that command about the serpent. He knew from eternity how He would come from heaven to the earth, to die and pay sin’s penalty being lifted up at the Cross.

Sin is pictured in the serpent. Sin originally came to mankind through the influence of the Serpent in the Garden.

Now my wife hates snakes. I mean really hates them. She is deathly afraid of them. Snakes are scary and scary looking. Imagine hundreds of thousands of snakes slithering around at once biting people with a fiery venom. It’s a scary thought.

Sin and its consequences is also scary. Sin has fearful consequences of eternal death in the lake of fire. We’ve each been bitten by a serpent. All mankind has been bitten by sin, and we are all dying in our sins as a result of that deadly snakebite of sin.

And the same way that the children of Israel, carrying the deadly poison of the bite of this fiery snake could be delivered from death only by looking up by faith at a brazen serpent, so it is that all sinners today carrying the poison of sin can be delivered from death just by looking up to the Cross by faith, trusting that Christ died for our sins and rose again.

The bronze serpent provided physical healing and physical life to dying Israelites, Christ provides spiritual healing and spiritual eternal life to those dying in their sins.

By simply looking to Christ in faith, believing on Him, Israel then and we too today find life and salvation from eternal death.

But in the time period of the Gospels, when Christ spoke to Nicodemus about the Cross, belief in Christ was about believing “that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name” (John 20:31).

The Cross and the resurrection showed Christ to be Israel’s Messiah. It was prophesied that the Messiah would suffer, die, and rise again.

That is how they looked at the Cross by faith. Belief in Christ as their Messiah, brought them the forgiveness of their sins and redemption by the Cross.

And as the Lord told Nicodemus: “That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:15).

Today, under grace, we are taught to look at the Cross and trust in what Christ did for us there, that Christ died for our sins and rose again the third day. There are two different ways taught in Scripture to look at the Cross by faith and to be saved.

Today, we must trust the way Christ has revealed for us to be saved under grace, by trusting His finished work and that He paid sin’s penalty for us.

That fiery, deadly serpent was a picture of sin, and becoming like that uplifted, fiery, brass serpent reminds us that Christ was made sin for us, became a curse for us, took our sins upon Himself, and faced the fire of God’s divine judgment.

As 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For [God] hath made [Christ] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.”

Galatians 3:13 says, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.”

The serpent was a picture of the curse of sin which has bitten all of us. And on the Cross, He was lifted up and Christ became a fiery serpent for us, He was made sin, made a curse for us, as all our sins were placed on Him. And He was lifted up for you and me.

And the reason it was a “fiery” serpent is because it pictured as He was lifted up, and was made sin, He faced the fire of God’s judgment and wrath for us on the Cross.

At the Cross, the fire of God the Father’s justice and judgment was fully poured out on God the Son. His fury was unleashed on Christ. The undiluted wrath of a sin-hating Father fell upon His sin-filled Son. And the fire of God’s wrath enveloped Him.

He was our sin-bearing Substitute, our sins were poured into Him, and God poured out the fire of His divine wrath on Him. He took the wrath and judgment we deserved.

He made full satisfaction for our sins, and we who have placed our faith in the finished work of Christ are safe from judgment. There are no sins left to judge.

As the following poem says, “The flames of God’s judgment can never touch ME, for Christ has borne all God’s wrath on the TREE; I now stand secure in the burned-over PLACE, a sinner, unworthy, yet saved by His GRACE.” W. Bosch

Christ had told Nicodemus that he “must” be born again (v. 7), and now He tells him that the Son of man “must” be lifted up. And He must be lifted up so that mankind which has been bitten by the serpent of sin might have new birth and eternal life that has been provided by His finished work and resurrection.

Just as people looked upon the snake on the pole, we look to the Sin-Bearer, the Lord Jesus Christ and the Cross, whose death for our sins sets us free from sin and death. All mankind finds life and salvation from their sins only thru looking to Christ and the Cross.

It was such a simple thing to be delivered from death by the snakebite: just look at the fiery, bronze serpent on the pole. And it is such a simple thing to be delivered from eternal death caused by the snakebite of sin: just look at the Cross and believe.

When we look at the Cross, what we see, as the cross comes into sharper focus, is the love of God, the mercy of God, the grace of God, the righteousness and justice of God.

We see Christ, being made sin for us, paying for our sins as our Substitute, paying God’s righteous demands against our sins.

As we look at the Cross, we see freedom and redemption, by it we are set free from the bondage of sin and from the chains of death, we are set free to be with God for eternity.

Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Somebody has to die for sin. Either we die for our sins eternally in hell, or we believe Christ died for our sins on the Cross, and He takes our sins and death away.

Whoever looks to Christ and the Cross, believing that He died for their sins, is saved from the penalty of all their sins, and is forgiven and has eternal life through Jesus Christ.

With Israel’s snakebite and deliverance in the wilderness, it’s important to note that it was not enough to just know that salvation was offered, each person had to look for themselves otherwise God’s provision did not save them.

Each of the snake-bit Israelites were confronted with a decision: to look up and live, or to not look up and die. The decision was theirs; God would not force Himself on anyone.

It seems like a simple thing, and you’d think that we would each say, “that I know what I would do if I was there, that I’d for sure be looking up at the bronze snake.”

But Numbers 21:9 says that when anyone looked at the bronze snake, he lived. The text teaches that while the provision was for everyone, that not everyone was automatically healed, and the text implies that not everyone looked.

The cure offered by God was a test of the faith for the Israelites. This command to look at a bronze, fiery snake for the cure from a snakebite, couldn’t be rationalized, there was no logical connection between looking at a bronze snake and being cured of a snakebite.

The opportunity for life was there, but if their stubbornness and pride got in the way and they didn’t look, it cost them their lives, needlessly.

But the ones who obeyed by faith, admitting, “I have no other choice. If I want the healing and deliverance that God offers for this fatal snakebite, I need to do what God says and look at the snake.” And when they looked, they lived.

And for many, the Cross seems like foolishness and utterly absurd to think that just by faith in One man’s death on the cross, that I have the forgiveness of all my sins and eternal life and the sure hope of heaven. And they refuse to come to God, God’s way, and stubbornness and pride gets in the way, and it will cost them their lives, needlessly.

But deliverance from sin’s penalty of eternal death comes only by faith in the means provided for by God for our life and salvation, which is the Cross of God’s Son, and when we look to the Cross by faith and receive the free gift of God’s salvation, we live, eternally.

We’re all not automatically saved. The provision is available for all. But you must place your faith on what Christ did for you at the Cross, that He died for your sins personally.

And whoever who believes in Him has the gift of eternal life and is saved from the snakebite of sin. As Acts 16:31 says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”

The Cross is the power of God unto salvation. It has the power to save us and free us from all our sins and it also has the power to transform our lives by God’s grace. May that be so for each of us.