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“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up” (John 3:14).
You will remember that when the children of Israel murmured and complained as they were going through the wilderness, the Lord sent fiery serpents among them. They bit the people, and many died. But when Moses cried to the Lord, He told him to make a serpent out of brass and put it on a pole. Anyone who was bitten by one of the snakes and looked at the serpent on the pole, was healed. You can read this story in Numbers, chapter 21.
The Lord Jesus bore our sins on the cross, and He was “made sin for us.” That means that He suffered the judgment of God for sin. The serpents had caused the people to die, and it was a serpent that was made of brass, and put on the pole. Just as one look at the serpent on the pole healed a person, so one look to the Lord Jesus can save us today.
Notice that the Lord did not take away the serpents, but He provided a cure for their bite. The Lord does not take sin out of this world today, but through His Son He has made a way for our sins to be washed away.
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