Num 21:8-9
8 And the Lord said to Moses, Make a fiery serpent [of bronze] and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.
9 And Moses made a serpent of bronze and put it on a pole, and if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked to the serpent of bronze [attentively, expectantly, with a steady and absorbing gaze], he lived.
AMP
John 3:14-15
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
NKJV
My Comments:
In the Old Testament, it is seen that when the Israelites were bitten by serpents as a result of their sin against God, the Lord gave them a remedy by commanding Moses to make a bronze serpent and to place it on a pole; and that whoever looked at the serpent after being bitten, he would live (that is to say that he would recover). We see that this was a shadow of what Jesus would do on the Cross for us 2,000 years ago.
It is not to say that He was compared to a serpent. In Bible interpretation, the serpent is identified with sin, as it was because of it that Man fell from his position and relationship with God; and bronze is identified with a sign of God's righteous judgement which can be seen in Deuteronomy 26:23 where the Lord established it as a statute that the heavens would be like bronze over the heads of Israel if they turned from Him. (Or it'll not rain at all, which was vitally important to them for the growth of their crops.)
So when Jesus was crucified on the Cross, in the eyes of God; He was considered as a sinner not because He actually sinned, but because He took our sins upon Himself. But He also took our sicknesses as well!
The Lord's remedy to Moses for the people was that they should look at that serpent on the pole, and they would live. Notice Numbers 21:9 in the Amplified translation:
9 ...when he looked to the serpent of bronze [attentively, expectantly, with a steady and absorbing gaze], he lived.
The Israelites had to choose between looking at the snake bites or at the bronze serpent on the pole. It was not a case of switching their gaze from serpent to bite from time to time, it was looking steadfastly at the serpent!
Likewise we have to decide whether to look at our physical circumstances that may tell us our health problems, or to look at Jesus, who took our sin and our sicknesses for us. Choose to look at Jesus, attentively, expectantly, knowing that we will be healed by looking to Him!
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