The Bronze Serpent

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”

Likely one of the most commonly used verses in Christendom is John 3:16: “For God so loved the world…” I would however speculate that the vast majority that have heard and even memorized John 3:16 could not even guess what John 3:14 says. I believe that the misuse of John 3:16 is one of the leading causes of the church or today fulfilling Revelation 3:16. Consider the following:

The account that Jesus is referring to in John 3:14 comes from 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. 5And 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. 6And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. 7Therefore 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. 8And 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. 9And 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 summary, this account tells of God’s people in the wilderness. It tells of their murmuring and complaining against God and His servant Moses. So what did God do? God gave them and us a living parable. God sent fiery serpents to bite the people. Once bitten, the people began to die from the snakebites. Eventually, the people got wise as to why they were being bitten by serpents and dying. Verse 7 records the people confessing, “We have sinned.” They then beg Moses to intercede for them and remove their sin (the serpents) from them.

So Moses prays and seeks forgiveness for the people. Then God gives Moses peculiar instructions. The token God commands Moses to give the people, is to fashion an image of the fiery serpent that is killing the people, and to set it on a pole up in the air. He then tells Moses that anyone that looked upon the serpent on the pole (in faith) would live.

So the serpent represents sin. Jesus said He must be lifted up like the serpent in the wilderness. Was Jesus comparing Himself to sin or the serpent? The parallel is this: (1) The Israelites had to realize that the serpents and their condition were the result of their own sin; (2) They had to have someone intercede for them to have their sins removed; (3) They had to look at a symbol of their own sin on a pole. In effect, they may have been down on the ground, wallowing in pain near death, and then having to look up from their knees and see a symbol of their own sin against the backdrop of heaven-God’s throne.

The same applies to us today. We have to (1) Realize that our date with death and judgment is the result of our own sin; (2) Since our righteousness is like filthy rags, we cannot stand before a Holy God with sin stained clothes and save ourselves. We must have someone intercede for us – Jesus – the Mediator of the New Covenant; (3) When we are broken over sin and repentant and we look upon the cross, we must see our sin there. That is our sin hanging on the cross. We must take 100% of the responsibility for the beatings, tortures, mockery and crucifixion of Jesus. He was punished for every sin you committed. Once you understand this, then that makes the Grace in John 3:16 that much more amazing.

John 3:16 without a personal understanding of our role in His death, makes His death seem superfluous and does not break our heart. God humbles the proud, but gives grace to the humble. We should not come to John 3:16 until we have first been humbled by conviction and guilt over our own abundant sin…then will the grace of God abound that much more.

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