I gather that the technical term for a fear of snakes is “ophidiophobia” and it’s clear that the people of Israel brought upon themselves such a condition in this account. Not, of course, a groundless fear but rather one based on the recognition that these animals appeared supernaturally and were charged with inflicting God’s just punishment on them because they had grumbled yet again against Him and against Moses. When they confess and Moses prays for them, God provides a solution which does not instantly remove the problem but rather inserts a remedy if the people will use it. A few things to note here:
- This isn’t the first time we have seen serpents having negative effects in the lives of men and women. The serpent in the Garden of Eden poisoned Adam and Eve in their hearts, introducing spiritual death, which destroyed their relationship with God. In the account above, it is likely that the affliction sent by God is a graphic re-enactment of that original scene, in which the venom of serpents causes the death of those who rebelled against God.
- When God banished Adam and Eve from the Garden, it was not without a word of promise that there would come a seed from the woman who would crush the serpent’s head. And here, in providing the remedy for the snakebite that would otherwise kill the people, God graciously gives a visual promise concerning that seed, this time in the form of a bronze serpent lifted up on a pole. When someone was bitten by a serpent, they had only to turn away from the snake that bit them and to the replica on the pole and they would be saved.
- It isn’t fanciful in the least to see a representation of Jesus in that bronze serpent. Jesus Himself gives us license to do that:
- John 3:14–15 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
- Jesus uses the language about his being “lifted up” specifically in connection with His crucifixion, when He was lifted up on the cross in order to die in the place of his people. He was suspended between heaven and earth - in the very territory of the Prince of the Power of the Air, to overcome the ancient serpent and release His people from bondage to death. The people of His day understood that He was talking of His death:
- John 12:32–34 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33 He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. 34 So the crowd answered him, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?”
- The serpent was a cursed creature (since the day of the fall) and Jesus was made a curse for us - He was made in our likeness, we who were under the curse of the law (Galatians 3:13-14). He was lifted up on a tree to manifest that curse to the world. And Moses put the bronze serpent on a pole. So the serpent points us to Jesus in this way too.
- The people had put Christ to the test, thus bringing the judgment from God upon themselves (1 Corinthians 10:9). Yet it was through an emblem of Christ (the bronze serpent) that their salvation came! How gracious is our God!
- An Israelite who realized he had been bitten by a snake and was certainly dying could look to God’s remedy - the bronze serpent on the pole - and live. In the same way, anyone today who realizes they have the deadly venom of sin in their hearts, which spells certain, eternal death for their souls, may look to Jesus, trust His work on the cross to save them (God’s remedy for iniquity) and have eternal life. That is what Jesus said in the two passages from John above.
One of the greatest preachers the church has ever seen (Charles Spurgeon) was converted by God through this text in Isaiah:
Isaiah 45:22 Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: For I am God, and there is none else.
His heart was unlocked to understand that all he had to do was to look to Christ to be saved. The eyes of his heart were opened so that he could look. He turned from himself, turned completely to Christ, and he was saved.
The way of salvation has not changed since it was anticipated in the episode of the bronze serpent and subsequently, most wonderfully, transacted by Christ on the cross. Spurgeon was saved by looking to Christ - what about you? As the hymn-writer put it:
There is life for a look at the Crucified One,
There is life at this moment for thee;
Then look, sinner, look unto Him and be saved,
Unto Him who was nailed to the tree.
Look! look! look and live!
There is life for a look at the Crucified One,
There is life at this moment for thee.
