The Gospel Story of the Bronze Serpent

The Gospel Story of the Bronze Serpent.

“… And the people became impatient on the way and 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 we loathe this worthless food!’ Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. And the people came to Moses and said, ‘We have sinned, for we have spoken against Yahweh and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us!’ So Moses prayed for the people and interceded for them. And the Lord Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.’ So Moses made a bronze (copper) serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.” (Numbers 21:4-9).

Lifting Up the Snake. How did Moses do it? How did he continue putting up with all the grumbling and complaining of the wandering Israelites? It was a sign of his singular leadership, though, that he went so far as to intercede for them, to pray to the Lord earnestly for these disgruntled ones in his midst. Numbers 21 shows us yet another time of bitter complaint. Believe it or not, this was their final time of complaint, which I’m sure relieved Moses and the Lord greatly. Once again, though, God here needed to show them who’s Boss and to whom the people are accountable, and the Lord sent poisonous snakes, “fiery serpents,” to reveal God’s displeasure with their attitude. The Lord called them “fiery” no doubt because these venomous snakes bit with a vengeance and left a poison that burned with a fury as the bit person died a slow, agonizing death. Many Israelites died from these punishing snake bites, and finally their hearts were struck, and the people repented. So during Moses’ intercession, asking God to forgive them, the Lord told Moses to fashion a bronze serpent and put it on a pole, high up in the air where all could see it. The same Hebrew word is used for both bronze and copper, so Moses’ serpent on the pole could very well have been made of copper. The result was miraculous… Whoever was snake-bit, all they had to do was look. That’s it, just look at the bronze serpent, and they would be healed. This so-called “look” was not just a casual glance at the bronze serpent, not merely a distracted or half-hearted glimpse at Moses’ pole. The Hebrew scholars say that the word for “look” here means to “look attentively, expectantly, with a steady and absorbing gaze.” The bronze snake wasn’t what healed the snake-bit Israelites. It was their trusting focus of sustained belief in God that healed them.

“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.” (John 3:15).

Another Gospel Story Before the Gospel. This important historical story from the Hebrew Scriptures proved unforgettable to the Jews down through the centuries.  Jesus confirmed the story as another mini-gospel, another way in which He fulfilled what was so often hinted at in the Jewish Bible. Jesus took this familiar episode and, in his night-time talk with Nicodemus, made the bronze serpent a type, a picture of Jesus and His ministry. He told Nicodemus that the mercy of God for those Israelite whiners was a picture of God’s mercy for the world through Jesus. Sure enough, this wasn’t the last time Jesus hinted at the bronze serpent. “Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.’  (John 12:31-33). The bronze serpent lifted up on Moses’ pole is a picture of Jesus being lifted up on the Cross. Jesus, represented by a snake of all things! What a vivid picture of Him, carrying the curse of sin for us on the Cross, as well as His healing of sin. Jesus, lifted up, brings healing and life to all those who are bit with that spiritually fatal poison by that old enemy serpent. And all we have to do is look and believe.

Believe. To “believe” is not at all a simple intellectual acceptance of a list of doctrinal statements. The meaning of the Greek word for believe is to faithfully trust in; to desperately cling to; to have loyal faith in; to be persuaded to fully rely upon; to have complete confidence in; to be convinced of the truth of; to entrust one’s life and well-being to; to intimately cleave to; to bet your life on. The Amplified Bible translates “Pistis” as meaning “that leaning of the entire personality on God in absolute trust and confidence.” The rebellious, snake-bit Israelites looked with fervent belief. And now Jesus is telling us that, just like those Israelites, we need to look the same way upon Him as He is lifted up on the Cross. And yes, we will be healed. Nicodemus heard Jesus explain to him that he needed to believe in Him in order to have everlasting life. To “believe in Him” meant he needed to entrust his very life to the God of Scripture, that what Yahweh said and did all through his Hebrew Bible is true, that at some point, hopefully sooner rather than later, there would be a commitment from Nicodemus to put God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in charge of his life and destiny while leaning onto Him daily. “Everlasting life,” the promised eternal life, is all about quality just as much as quantity. Rabbinic tradition focused on the quality of life enjoyed for eternity, not just the idea of living forever. Jesus made it clear in His ministry that eternal life with Him begins the moment one begins to follow Him and accept Him into one’s life.

“In Christ Jesus, the most important aspect is faith (pistis) expressing itself in love. The only thing that matters, that really counts, is faithful trust as brought to perfection through the demonstration of agape love.” (Galatians 5:6).

Fleshing Out the Faith. Belief and trust is not just an idea or an intellectual conviction. To believe is not merely a head word, but instead is a fully active word. Any reliance on Christ must be fleshed out, it must be proven in one’s life. Genine faith is actively trusting in God as a lifestyle. This spiritual connection between the mental conviction and the fleshing out not only proves our faith to be genuine, but it also energizes one’s faith. Faith is like a muscle that needs to be exercised to be useful. And like any muscle, when exercised it shows signs of life and is energized and strengthened. Our belief in the truth of Christ is truly authentic only when it is expressed outwardly in the way we live our lives. When we demonstrate our faith through love, we reveal if we even have any spiritual muscle at all.

A Description of Pistis from Hebrews 11:1: “Now faith is the assurance of the things we hope for, being the proof of things we do not see and the conviction of their reality – faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses.” Trusting in the reality of what we hope for and accepting what we need to prove the unseen. Being convinced of what is needed to bring our hopes into reality. Being fully persuaded that something is real even if we don’t see it. Accepting as real fact what is not revealed to the senses. Trusting in the hopes of our unseen foundation. Being confident of what we hope for and convinced about things we do not see.

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith… Let us look away from the natural realm as we fasten our gaze onto Jesus who birthed faith within us and who leads us forward into faith’s perfection.” (Hebrews 12:2).

What does it mean to “look upon Him”? Again, with the snake-bit Israelites, theirs was not a casual glance, it was with complete focus and miraculous expectation. So to fix our eyes on Jesus lifted up high on the Cross means to completely focus on His death and resurrection without being distracted; to thoughtfully gaze on Him as Savior and Deliverer; to trustingly keep our attention centered on Jesus, earnestly looking upon Him as the Author and Finisher of our faith story. The Greek word used for “Author” also means Pioneer, Pathfinder, Chief Leader, Trailblazer, Initiator, and Originator. Jesus is all that and more.

1. Christ originates our faith. “It is by grace that you have been saved, through faith; not by anything of your own, but by a gift from God; not by anything that you have done, so that nobody can claim the credit.”  (Ephesians 2:8, NJB). Jesus is the author of our faith story. Our faith is of His creation. He began it by drawing us to Him, by dropping a mustard seed of faith into our hearts to get things started. God’s gift. The believer didn’t start the faith. We have no reason to boast about whatever kind of shape our faith is in. We don’t have the right to pat ourselves on the back for walking down the aisle to be saved. We didn’t open the door to a life of faith. We didn’t put ourselves into the position of becoming believers. Christ gave us a seed of His perfect faith, which perfectly trusted in the Father and steadfastly finished the race. He completed what He started in His faithful life. So, Christ has the kind of faith I want. If I have to choose between the faith of Christ or the feeble faith that I manufacture on my own, I will choose Christ’s faith. I want to participate in and be shaped by His perfect faith, not my imperfect faith. I want Christ’s faith to live through me. I want to adopt the faith of Christ as my own. I want my faith to be hid in Christ. I have done nothing to be especially proud of in my faith life. It has been the faith of Christ that is triumphant. It is the faith of Christ that I have been living into. It is a free gift of grace, and I owe it all to Him who originated my faith. I find that the more I recognize the faith of Christ Himself inside me, the easier it is to disengage my ego in my faith development. My own faith is a house of cards. The faith of Jesus within me is a solid house built on a foundation of immovable rock. “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God.”  (Galatians 2:20).
2. Christ completes our faith. “For the righteous shall live by My faith, says the Lord.” (Hab. 2:4). As we participate in the faith of Christ within us, as we live into Christ’s faith, we will notice that our faith depends on Him from beginning to end. Just as He finished what He started in His own life, He wants to finish what He started in each of us as well. He has a strong desire to bring our faith, His faith within us, to full maturity. He wants to perfect our faith, to make our faith complete. Faith continues to be a gift from God, and Jesus wants the faith that we have in Him to be full of life and growth. The job of Christ’s Holy Spirit is to transform us until He consummates our faith at the end of the race, to finish our faith as we reach the finish line. “He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6). God will sustain His good work of faith in you. We didn’t originate our faith, and we won’t complete our faith. We didn’t start the race of faith, and we won’t finish it on our own. Christ’s perfect faith finished His race as He now sits at the right hand of God, and His faith within us will enable us to run until we also get the prize. This is how we share the life of the risen Christ. We imperfectly participate in His perfect faith. This takes the pressure off, doesn’t it? We don’t have to somehow concoct the perfect faith. Christ’s perfect faith is already within us. We need to instead mature in our participation in His faith, by feeding it, following it, submitting to it, studying it and growing in it. We don’t have to possess a perfect faith. We instead imperfectly live into Christ’s faith within us. And He will be sure to perfect our faith at the finish line.