Numbers 21:8 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.”
Most people know Jesus' words in John 3:16: FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON THAT WHOSOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM SHALL NOT PERISH, BUT HAVE ETERNAL LIFE, yet what many don’t know is the previous verse, which pointed all the way back to the bronze serpent on the pole we just read about in Numbers 21.
Notice how God told Moses way back then to make a bronze serpent and put it on a pole and lift it up so that the people can look at it and live. See, the Israelites had to put their faith in God's word and thus look at the bronze serpent on a pole to live and not die. They weren't asked to bring another sacrifice, nor do this or that for the Lord first; what they had to do was LOOK!
The Hebrew word רָאָה (Ra-ah) means "to behold, to gaze upon, perceive, and look intently."
What happened physically in Numbers 21 points to what happened spiritually unto all us, for just like the poison of those serpents in the wilderness was fatal, the poison of sin is fatal, and no human effort could rid us of it.
But God asked Moses to make a שָׂרָ֔ף (saraph), which is a copper-bronze fiery serpent, because bronze in Scripture always represented judgement upon sin, while the serpent represented the curse of sin, and he had to put it on a pole.
God was showing us what He was doing with sin—He judged it!
You see, just before Jesus said the words "FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, He said to Nicodemus, "And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes will have eternal life in Him" (John 3:14–15).
Ah, Hallelujah!
With one sentence, Jesus revealed what the story way back then in the wilderness was all about! It is all about looking at Him who became a curse for us and took the judgement for our sin as He died on the cross so that we who fix our gaze upon Him and believe in Him can live!
Christ knew no sin, did no sin, and was without sin but became sin for us, as God lifted Him up so that we can LOOK UPON HIS FINISHED WORK, BELIEVE, AND LIVE!
Just as the cure for the deadly venom of the serpent back then in the wilderness was not found through human introspection and a better effort to cure us next time, the cure for a sinful nature IS NOT in our best efforts, but in looking unto Jesus and believing on Him in all He has done; through His death on the cross for us!
As Passover draws near, may you truly LOOK unto the only begotten Son through faith and live!
Amen