What was Jesus talking about in John 3:14?
Throughout the Bible, God uses simple, everyday illustrations to teach us spiritual truth. Jesus himself was the master of using simple parables. Who can forget the stories of the sheep & the goats, the wheat & the tares, or the man who built his house on sand? Well, imagine that you are walking in the park, and you see a poisonous snake slither behind a rock. What is the first “spiritual application” you would make? If you are like me, you would immediately think of the serpent in the Garden of Eden -- you would think of Satan. So, what would you think if someone was walking by your side, saw the snake, and said, “there’s a great picture of Christ!” You’d think he had lost his marbles! You might even think him a heretic. And yet, shockingly, Jesus himself made this very analogy when he had his famous conversation with Nicodemus:
John 3: 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. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Why would Jesus make this comparison? Let’s take a look at the book of Numbers:
Numbers 21 5 And the people spoke against God and against Moses: "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread." 6 So the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died. 7 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD that He take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people. 8 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live." 9 So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.
The snakes were killing thousands. Many people were bitten, and were about to die. But by God’s grace, the Lord commanded Moses to “make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole”, so that anyone could simply look at it and be cured. Similarly, we have all been “bitten” with sin and are infected with its poison. Eternal death is sure to overwhelm us if we are not cured. And by God’s grace, a cure has been provided. As the serpent was lifted up on a pole, so Jesus was lifted up on the cross. And if we believe in him, then we will not perish. But how could Jesus possibly picture the image of a *serpent* being lifted up on the cross? In answer to this question, let’s meditate on these awesome Scriptures:
“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)
“He was despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:3-5)
God made Jesus to “be sin for us”. That is why he pictures himself as a serpent in John 3:14. He bore our sin on the cross, and suffered the full wrath of God in punishment for *our* sin. And in Him, we become the righteousness of Christ. Thank the Lord for His infinite mercies! Praise God for what He has done!
--- article by Joseph M. Gleason - February, 2005
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