Jesus and the Serpent

The prelude to John 3:16 takes us back to the snake story told in Numbers 21.   The short version of that story tells us that the Hebrews sinned.  Poisonous snakes were sent into their camp by God as punishment.  When they cried out, Moses was told to make a bronze serpent and raise it on a pole in the camp.  As the snake bitten people looked at it, they would be delivered from their punishment.  

 

Of course, Jesus did not tell the story.  He simply made reference to it.  "And just 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."  (John 3:14-15)  Any good Hebrew would hear the reference and immediately remember all the details of the story.  What Jesus said was more than enough.  Actually, He said far more than those first century listeners might have grasped at their first hearing.  The Hebrews in the wilderness were delivered from the power of the serpent's poison and were given back the rest of their earthly life.  The Son of Man being lifted up would result in those suffering from the weight and punishment of sin to have more than just the rest of their earthly life, but would, instead, be given the gift of eternal life. 

 

What Moses provided was good, but what Jesus was offering was even better.  One was temporal while the other was eternal.  In each case it was necessary to choose to look with faith.  Even as a snake bitten Hebrew could have refused to look at the raised serpent, so could anyone refuse to look toward the crucified Christ with faith.  The choice is still the same.  Jesus has been raised up as a means of our deliverance, but the next step is always up to us.  We have to choose to look, but not as an observer of history, but as one who looks with the desperate faith of one who knows there is no hope in anyone else.