“the serpent in the wilderness”  is in reference to an event that happened while the Israelites were journeying from Egypt to the Promised Land. After God had again answered the prayers of His people and given them a great victory, they murmured against Him and against Moses so the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and many were bitten and died.  The people confessed and repented of their sin to Moses so he prayed for them and God provided for their deliverance by having Moses make a fiery serpent out of brass and put it upon a pole.  If anyone were then bitten, they had only to look unto the fiery serpent on the pole and they would live. Numbers 21:5-9

Numbers 21:5-9  they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!” Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. The LORD said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.”  So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived.

The Jews had a difficult time with this particular story because they were strictly forbidden from making any graven images and yet God ordered them not only to make one, but to look upon it for their salvation. They reasoned that it was not the serpent they were gazing upon, but the symbol helped them to fix their attention and their faith upon God.

There are some interesting comparisons between Jesus and the bronze serpent. At the risk of going beyond what God ever intended us to see in this illustration, here are some of them: the serpent was made of brass and not of silver or gold which compares to the humble birth, parentage, education, and death of Jesus. The serpent was an unlikely savior as was Jesus. Brass is a strong metal and Christ is mighty to save. Brass is a durable metal and Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The brazen serpent was in the form of a serpent but had no poison as Christ was in the form of a man but had no sin. There was only one serpent to help all those who were afflicted. There was only one method to heal those who were bitten. Life and death hung in the balance. One had to repent of one’s sin and look unto the serpent in faith to be healed. And the serpent was lifted up.

“lifted up” has a double meaning.  It can refer to the manner in which Jesus was going to die, on a cross, lifted in the air so all could look upon Him (John 8:28, 12:32); and it can refer to His exaltation (Acts 2:33, 5:31, Php 2:9).  His death on the cross did both at the same time.  As Morris points out, “Jesus showed forth His glory not in spite of His earthly humiliations, but precisely by means of those humiliations.” (p. 226) Jesus could not have been glorified had He not taken up His cross. The same is true for us. Can you think of any examples?

John 8:28  So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am the one I claim to be and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.

John 12:32  But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.”

Acts 2:33  Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.

Acts 5:31  God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Saviour that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.

Philippians 2:9  Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,

By stating this, Jesus has shown His foreknowledge of the cross even this early in His ministry.  Note the courage of our Lord in living out His life with the knowledge of what lay before Him.

Jesus said He “must” be lifted up. He had to die; that was His purpose in coming. That was the cry of his heart — partially out of obedience to his Father — but mostly out of love for us. He must die because he must save. The taunts to Him while He was on the cross had a certain ring of accuracy to them (Mark 15:31). He wasn’t held on the cross by Roman nails, but by a force of His own will.

Mark 15:31  In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself!

“Twas great to speak a world from nought;

Tis greater to redeem.”

  Charles Wesley

Note also that Jesus knew what was in Nicodemus and liked what He saw so much that He shared this greatest of all heavenly knowledge with him and answered even his question as to “how” this could all happen.  This may have been the very reason the rather shy Nicodemus became so bold when Jesus did later die on the cross.