The Bronze Serpent

Numbers 21:4-9, John 3:12-17

Intro

Emmaus series

On the road to Emmaus, Jesus reminds his disciples that everything in the Old Testament points to him

Every story, every psalm, every prophesy was about him

Tonight, we’re going to be looking at two passages, but we’re only gonna be reading one (Read Numbers 21:4-9)

Introduction

Perhaps one of the most famous verses in the Bible is John 3:16

But one of the things we often miss about John 3:16 is what word it starts with: “for”

“For” is a connecting word that leads to a conclusion, meaning that John 3:16 is a response to what was said in the previous passage

In other words, you can’t fully understand John 3:16 without fully understanding John 3:15

Which says (John 3:13–15) “No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”

Jesus is referring back to the story we just read, and he’s saying that the serpent that Moses put on the pole is pointing to him

How does the serpent point to Jesus? In three ways:

1) The Serpent and the Son are necessary because God is both just and gracious

The question that many ask when they look at this story is the same question people tend to ask of the concept of hell: isn’t God being too extreme?

The people were complaining, and while that may be annoying, did it really warrant this kind of response from God?

God understood something about human nature that you and I have a tendency to downplay, and that is this: Sin is worse than you think, and it lives in all of us

Story of Yehiel De-Nur

Prisoner at Auschwitz

Adolf Eichmann was considered by many to be the chief architect of the Holocaust and the Nazi death camps

During his trial, De-Nur gave his opening statement before collapsing on the ground rendering him unable to finish his testimony. People thought he was overcome by grief and hatred

20 yrs later, in an interview with 60 min, Mike Wallace asked him why he had collapsed. Was it hatred? Fear? The horrors of his memories flooding back?

De-Nur said neither. He said he had never seen Eichmann before, and when he walked into that courtroom, he was expecting to see a monster, or a God-like army officer whose calloused soul sent innocent men, women, and children to their deaths. But when he laid eyes on him, he was struck by how ordinary he looked. He looked just like a man

And then he said this: “I was afraid about myself. I saw, in that moment, that I am capable of doing this. I am exactly like him.”

What did Yahiel De-Nur realize in this moment? He realized something God has known all along - all sin has the same poisonous root: the venom of the serpent

What was the temptation in the Garden? Does God really have your best intentions in mind?

And it led to dissatisfaction, and a mistrust in the character of God amongst Adam and Eve

Think about that! Through the serpent’s poison, they found a way to be dissatisfied with the Garden of Eden. If sin could cause Adam and Eve to be dissatisfied in the garden of Eden, imagine what it could do to us

And I firmly believe that if any of us were in the garden of Eden, we would find something to be dissatisfied with as well

When we let the poison of the serpent take root in us, even small sins can turn into big sins.

That is why God has to be ruthless in his dealings with sin

This is his message to Cain as well. When God accepts Abel’s offering but not Cain’s, it says that Cain becomes angry.

And what does God say to him in Genesis 4:7? “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, and you must rule over it.”

So no, God sending poisonous snakes is not an overreaction

Do you remember what happened the last time the Israelites complained about God?

They complained that they didn’t know what was going on at the top of Mt. Siani, so they built a Golden Calf and worshipped it as if it were Yahweh

Even the Israelites don’t think it’s an overreaction. We see the heart of true repentance in them. They don’t complain that God is being too harsh, they say “we have sinned for we have spoken against the Lord and against you”

And that should be our heart as well. “Lord, anything you send me to wake me up is justified. Because that thing that’s devouring me, sin, is so serious that anything God has to do to get it out of me is justified

2) The Serpent and the Son embodied that which killed

Notice how the thing that was lifted up was the very thing that was killing the Israelites

By Jesus comparing himself to the serpent, he’s not just saying he will die, he’s saying he will die as the serpent. He will become the very thing that is killing us. Which is what? Sin

Notice how in 2 Cor 5:21, it does’t say that Jesus was made to be sinful, it says he was made to be sin.

Meaning, He was treated as the serpent was treated

One side note, I want to overemphasize that Jesus was not a victim, he was a willing participant

Divine child abuse - Big mean God made Jesus sin and just abused him

We must remember that the cross was a triune act

If the Father and the Son are truly unified, then we must conclude that the Father suffered in the Son. He wasn’t just witnessing the Son’s pain and death, but was profoundly unified with the Son along with the Spirit in that act.

The Son willingly submitted himself to death because the Father Son and Spirit are completely united in their atoning mission

3) Healing comes to those who look upon the Serpent and the Son

How did the Israelites receive healing?

They looked. They didn’t have to do some sort of ritual

They believed that what God said was true, they looked, and they were healed

And it’s the same with us

The Bible says that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, then you will be saved

That is looking at the Son who was high and lifted up, believing that what he said about himself is true, that if we look to him, we will be saved

This is the Gospel

But I want to encourage you with one last thing: looking is not a one time thing. The snake was left up there for the Israelites to continually look at

Why? Notice that the snakes were not taken away. The Israelites ask that Moses pray for God to take the snakes away, but He doesn’t. He leaves them there

When Jesus died and rose again, the Bible says he defeated Satan and all of the powers of darkness, and yet Satan is not in hell. The powers of darkness still rage against the light

Christian, take hope in this: the snakes are still there, the sting of their bite is still there, but their poison has been taken away through the cross

Jesus says in John 16:33 “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

The serpent has been defeated because while he may still bite you, his poison no longer runs through your veins. Instead, it’s the cleansing blood of Jesus that flows through your veins

Stop saying you’re a “sinner saved by grace!” Don’t identify yourself as a “sinner.” You sin, but you are not a sinner

A sinner is someone who is affected by the poison. Because you have looked to Jesus, the poison of sin has been taken away

John the Baptist says: behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.

When you look to the Son who was high and lifted up, and when you truly believed that his finished work on the cross has actually saved you from your sin, the snakes can bite you, but their poison no longer has any affect on you

You will still sin, but Jesus has overcome your sin and has given you the downpayment of the Holy Spirit to cleanse you of the venomous poison of sin and infuse in your bones new life that leads you to righteousness and holiness

And Christian, believe this: Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 15:55–56 ““O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin”

Paul is talking here about the life to come. One day, the sting of the serpents, the sting of sin, will be taken away