By THE SPIRIT the Beloved Disciple wrote in John chapter 3:
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
The serpent in the wilderness is the one referred to in Numbers chapter 21:
4 Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very discouraged on the way.
5 And the people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.”
6 So the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died.
7 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD that He take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.
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.”
9 So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.
The people sinned against Moses which means they sinned against FATHER’S plan, will, and purpose. They called the manna “worthless”. In response the LORD sent judgment among the people and they repented. The LORD heard Moses’ prayer and had him raise up a fiery serpent on a pole which foreshadows Jesus being raised up on the cross. In comparison:
When the people looked at the bronze serpent, they were healed. When people looked to Jesus, they too were healed.
Sin and sickness came to us through the fall of man. We must look to the Savior for redemption and healing.
In Exodus 15:26 FATHER made a covenant of healing with the children of Israel. The bronze serpent was provided in response to this covenant.
Once they confessed their sins, their sickness was healed.
If every person who looked at the brazen serpent was healed then we should expect everyone who looks to Jesus should be healed as well.
The poison serpent bite resulted in the death. The wages of sin is death today (Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.).
FATHER heard the cry of the people in the wilderness and provided the serpent lifted up. The remedy today is Christ lifted up.
The remedy then was for those who looked up. The remedy today is for whosoever believeth IN HIM (John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.).
The children of Israel received forgiveness of their sin and healing in their bodies. How much better is the New Covenant!
There were no exceptions in the wilderness- “everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live”. There are no exceptions today for our remedy is for “whosoever believeth”.
Everyone was commanded to individually look at the serpent. We too must individually believe on Christ today.
The people did not beg or make an offering then. Today is no different.
They were not told to look at Moses but instead look to the remedy. We are not to look to the preacher for our remedy either. We are to look to Christ.
They were not to look to their snake bite symptoms but instead look to their remedy. We must not allow our symptoms to be our focus either but instead look to Christ Our Healer.
Their curse was removed by lifting up a type of Christ. Our curse was removed by lifting up Christ Himself (Galatians 3:13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”)).
John provided us with the comparison in verses just prior to the well known verse John 3:16. This comparison assures us of the perfect sacrifice Jesus became that we might be fully redeemed and restored. FATHER is just as interested in our welfare now as HE was with the children of Israel in the wilderness. Let us remove any and all obstacles preventing us from receiving HIS fullness.