One night a very religious man, Nicodemus, came to Jesus Christ for an interview. During the conversation, Jesus used a story from the Old Testament to illustrate how He would save men from their sins. The story is found in Numbers 21:5-9. The Israelites were wandering through the desert and began complaining that God was not giving them bread or water. God was angry at their sin and punished the people by sending poisonous snakes among them. These snakes were biting the people and the people were dying. Since there was no human remedy to take away the poison or the snakes, the people cried out to God to take away these deadly snakes. Instead, God did something unusual. He commanded Moses to make a metal image of one of the snakes and to put it up on a pole. Then whenever a snake bit one of the Israelites, the person would simply look up at the metal snake on the pole and be healed.
Jesus said, in John 3:14, �And as Moses lifted up the [snake] in the wilderness [desert], even so must the Son of man be lifted up.� What Jesus was saying here is that the lifting up of the snake in the wilderness can be compared to the placing of Jesus on the cross. If we look at both situations, as Jesus suggested we do, we will see a number of similarities. Here are five ways that the brass snake that was lifted up can teach us about Jesus on the cross and our need for Jesus to be our Saviour:
1) The Israelites in Numbers 21 were guilty of sin and were, therefore, under a just sentence of God�s condemnation. They deserved their punishment. We too are sinful through and through and we stand condemned for our sin before a holy God (John 3:18; Romans 3:10-18).
2) The punishment for their sin was death. The same is true for us today. Romans 6:23 clearly states, �The wages of sin is death�.� We earn two types of death by our sin�physical death (Romans 5:12) and spiritual or eternal death (Ephesians 2:1).
3) There is no human remedy. Just as the people in the desert had no way to rid themselves of the snakes or to cure themselves of the poisonous bites, we have no way to really deal with sin or with its consequences. We may try to dress it up by calling it something other than sin. We may try to perform good works and hope these good works will somehow outweigh the sin we�ve committed. But God is the Judge of all the earth and He cannot acquit us of our sin. God is holy and just and �will by no means clear the guilty� (Exodus 34:7).
4) God provides a remedy. The brass snake lifted up was God�s prescribed solution to the poisonous snakebites. In the New Testament God has provided the remedy for us, ��the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world� (John 1:29). That�s what we need�one who will take away our sins. But how? God took away our sins by lifting up the Son, Jesus, upon the cross. When Jesus died God took all of your sins and placed them on Jesus. He then punished Jesus instead of you (2 Corinthians 5:21). Since God punished Jesus in your place, there is no more penalty to be paid! �Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow� (See Isaiah 1:18).
5) The required action from the person bitten by the snake was to look. Look and live. If a person said, �No that doesn�t make any sense. Just looking can�t do any good,� that person would die. If he said, �I�m going to the doctor to see what he can do for me,� that person would die. All God required of the person who was bitten was to look and live. Similarly for us, Isaiah 45:22 says, �Look unto me and be saved all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else.� Looking unto God is another way of saying: Look at what I (God) have provided for you. I sent my Son to die on the cross to be the Saviour to take away your sins. Acts 16:31 puts it this way: �Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.� That is all you have to do (see Ephesians 2:8,9; Titus 3:5). Just trust Jesus alone to take away all your sin.
The snake of sin has bitten us all. Some of us are more progressed in the dying process than others. But it is certain that we will all die and that we will all deserve to. Death is the punishment of God for our sins. Jesus has provided you a way to have your sins removed. Jesus was lifted up on the cross. Look and live. Believe on Christ that He died for you and arose on the third day. God promises you eternal life if you so believe. John 3:16: �For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life.�