Bronze a medal of judgment. Remember the 12 bronze bowls under the basin at the temple?
At first glance, it seems strange—even unsettling—that God would command Numbers Moses to lift up a bronze serpent on a pole.
Why would the very image of the thing that was killing the people become the means through which God healed them?
The answer is profoundly beautiful and points directly to Jesus Christ and the gospel.
The Wilderness: God’s Classroom
The wilderness was not wasted time. It was God's training ground.
After the Israelites witnessed the miracles of The Exodus and heard God speak at Mount Sinai, they still struggled to trust Him. When ten spies brought back a fearful report about the giants in Canaan, the people concluded that God was not strong enough to keep His promise.
“As surely as I live... your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness.” — Numbers 14:28–29
Their unbelief sentenced them to forty years of wandering until that generation died (Numbers 14:28–34).
As A. W. Tozer wrote:
“It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until He has hurt him deeply.”
The wilderness was God's school of faith, where He taught His people both His holiness and their desperate need for Him.
When Grumbling Becomes Deadly
Years later, in Numbers 21, the people once again complained against God and Moses:
“Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?” — Numbers 21:5
They despised God's provision and resented His leadership.
In judgment, God sent venomous serpents into the camp. Many were bitten, and many died (Numbers 21:6).
The snakes were not random. They were visible reminders that sin always carries poison.
Charles Spurgeon said:
“Sin is a dragon with deadly breath.”
The serpent represented the very curse their rebellion had brought upon them.
The Cure Looked Like the Curse
When the people confessed their sin, God did not remove the serpents immediately.
Instead, He prescribed a viable remedy that required humble faith:
“Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” — Numbers 21:8
Moses obeyed, and anyone who looked at the bronze serpent lived (Numbers 21:9).
There was no magic in the bronze. No healing power in the metal. The cure was entirely from God.
The act of looking was an act of believing.
The dying Israelite was saying:
“I agree with God. My sin has brought this judgment. I cannot save myself. Lord, I trust Your provision.”
But Why a Serpent?
In Scripture, serpents often symbolize sin, evil, and judgment. So why would God use one as a means of healing?
Because God was teaching a unique breathtaking truth:
We now point back in time by faith to the Cross at Calvary where our sins were judged. Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe! They/we don't want our sins judged at the Great White Throne Judgment as some people seem to insist upon having that. People's sin will be judged in only one of two places.. on the cross at Calvary or at that judgment bar and we have time now to choose while we still have breath. KnowGog.org
The symbol of the curse was lifted up so the cursed could live. Those who walked in faith were pointing ahead in time to the Cross at Calvary.
That is exactly what happened at the cross.
Jesus Explained the Meaning
Speaking to Nicodemus, Jesus said:
“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” — John 3:14–15
The bronze serpent was a prophetic picture of Christ crucified.
Christ Became Our Curse
Jesus Christ was sinless, yet He willingly bore our guilt.
“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.” — Galatians 3:13
“God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” — 2 Corinthians 5:21
The bronze serpent had the likeness of the curse but contained no venom.
Jesus came in the likeness of sinful flesh (Romans 8:3), yet He had no sin of His own.
John Stott wrote:
“The essence of sin is man substituting himself for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting Himself for man.”
Look and Live. Repent and believe in Jesus.
The Israelites did not need to perform heroic deeds. They did not need to earn healing.
They simply had to look in faith at God's appointed provision.
So it is with salvation today.
Isaiah declared:
“Look to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth.” — Isaiah 45:22
“Look and live, my brother, live;
Look to Jesus now and live.” ~ a hymn by William A. Ogden
The Christian life begins not by self-improvement, but by fixing our eyes on Christ crucified and risen.
Beware of Turning Blessings into Idols
Centuries later, the bronze serpent itself became an idol. The people burned incense to it until Hezekiah destroyed it and called it “Nehushtan,” meaning “a mere piece of bronze” (2 Kings 18:4).
Even sacred symbols can become substitutes for God.
We must worship the Savior, not the instrument He uses.
The Gospel in One Picture
The bronze serpent proclaims the heart of the gospel:
Sin is deadly.
Judgment is deserved.
God provides the remedy.
Salvation is received by faith alone.
Christ became our curse so we might receive His righteousness.
Billy Graham said:
“God proved His love on the cross. When Christ hung, bled, and died, it was God saying to the world, ‘I love you.’"
Imagine a man getting bitten by a deadly snake. The antidote is provided free of charge, but he refuses to look because the remedy seems too simple. His pride kills him.
Others, with failing strength and blurred vision, turn their eyes toward God's provision and live.
So it is with the gospel.
Many stumble over the simplicity of faith in Christ. Yet everyone who looks to Him with repentant trust is saved.
The Most Important Look of Your Life
Jesus Christ was lifted up on the cross, raised from the grave, ascended to heaven, and exalted above all.
The question is not whether Christ has been lifted up.
The question is whether you have looked to Him.
“Whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” — John 3:16
One believing look at the crucified Savior brings forgiveness, righteousness, and eternal life.
The Israelites looked and lived.
Will you?
The Great Exchange: Christ Took Our Sin, and We Received His Righteousness
It really happened! “God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” — 2 Corinthians 5:21
That single verse has been called the heart of the gospel in one sentence. The Cross of Christ by John Stott described it as “the essence of the gospel.”
Martin Luther called it “the glorious exchange.”
His Holy Father did not hide His face from His Son Jesus at Calvay -- He heard His Son.
Here is that suffering of the Messiah.
"My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, And from the words of My groaning?
2 O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear; And in the night season, and am not silent.
3 But You are holy, Enthroned in the praises of Israel.
4 Our fathers trusted in You; They trusted, and You delivered them.
5 They cried to You, and were delivered; They trusted in You, and were not ashamed.
6But I am a worm, and no man; A reproach of men, and despised by the people.
7 All those who see Me ridicule Me; They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
8 “He trusted in the LORD, let Him rescue Him; Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!”
9 But You are He who took Me out of the womb; You made Me trust while on My mother’s breasts.
10 I was cast upon You from birth. From My mother’s womb You have been My God.
11 Be not far from Me, For trouble is near; For there is none to help.
12 Many bulls have surrounded Me; Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled Me.
13 They gape at Me with their mouths, Like a raging and roaring lion.
14 I am poured out like water, And all My bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; It has melted within Me.
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, And My tongue clings to My jaws; You have brought Me to the dust of death.
16 For dogs have surrounded Me; The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet;
17 I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me.
18 They divide My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots.
19 But You, O LORD, do not be far from Me; O My Strength, hasten to help Me!
20 Deliver Me from the sword, My precious life from the power of the dog.
21 Save Me from the lion’s mouth And from the horns of the wild oxen! You have answered Me.
22 I will declare Your name to My brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will praise You.
23 You who fear the LORD, praise Him! All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him, And fear Him, all you offspring of Israel!
24 For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; nor has He hidden His face from Him; But when He cried to Him, He heard." Ps. 22
Charles Spurgeon said, “Our sin was laid on Christ, and His righteousness was laid on us. This is the very marrow of the gospel.”
In these few words, God reveals the most astonishing transaction in human history: the sinless Son of God was treated as though He had lived our sinful lives, so that sinful people who trust in Him might be treated as though they had lived His perfect life.
Because of the sinless life and death of Jesus the God man, and cuz of His physical resurrection, you can know God the Father through Him. You can now his righteousness for free. He's the only way you've got onto His Kingdom.. that anyone willing has.
That is the gospel. That is grace for you. That is love beyond comprehension.
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