John 3:14-15

As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Adam be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in him have eternal life.

As Moses lifted up the serpent...

What is this? What actually happened in the wilderness that brought about the fiery serpents and the brass serpent being set up on the pole? (Num. 21)

The people spoke against God and against Moses - when there was no water and only manna to eat in the wilderness, accusing God of bringing them out of Egypt only that they should die in the wilderness.

— And Hashem sent fiery serpents among the people — and many people died.

And Moses prayed for the people. And Hashem said to Moses: "Make a fiery serpent and put it on a pole. Anyone who is bitten when they look upon it shall live!"

What was the meaning?

"Your sins have become serpents which bite and kill you...

It is God who determines how and when they bite and kill. It is God who determines how and when his judgment comes to make you know this.

If you see the serpent on the pole, if you see Yehoshua raised up like the serpent on the pole, and understand, you will be healed of the bite of the fiery serpent of judgment that comes into your life.

As the brass serpent was lifted up on the pole, Yehoshua was lifted up to say that it is by the word of God that your sins kill you — and to say that this revelation is your hope.

For, Yehoshua being lifted up on the pole says this: your sins rule over you and give power to the serpent to rule over you and to kill you. It is God who decreed this to Adam in the Garden of Eden and who has not changed his decree. For he decreed this out of love.

Your sins kill you! Repent!

The brass serpent said this in a limited way, to a limited people, at a limited time.

Yehoshua's being lifted up on the pole starts from there, from what the brass serpent on the pole said to Israel, and extends this to all people in all Humanity at all times.

In identifying his testimony with the serpent being lifted up on the pole, Yehoshua starts his testimony to the world at the very beginning, at that point in the garden when the serpent gained power over Adam.

God designed the object lesson of the fiery serpents in this way, by their association with Israel’s sin, the fiery serpents pointed to the serpent in the garden — and the brass serpent on the pole, which God commanded Moses to make, pointed to God’s curse upon the primordial serpent.

Yehoshua, in comparing himself to that brass serpent that Moses lifted up, made it clear that he was to be identified in his death directly with the judgment of God upon the serpent in the garden — and with the final judgment on Adam's sin committed in the garden.

It was according to this that Paul said, (2 Cor. 5), "He made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."

Those who looked in obedience upon the brass serpent saw that it had been the very sin of their unbelief in God that had become to them the fiery serpents. Accordingly, they repented of their unbelief, for they looked, saw and understood. By faith they then lived!

Just as Yehoshua said, he was, like the brass serpent which Moses made, to be raised up on a pole, in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled that says, “Look unto me all you ends of the earth and be saved!” (Isa. 45) For those who obey and look will see the truth of the word of God to Adam.

They see that the rebellion of Adam against the word of God, which they have become a part of, empowered the serpent to rule over them in life and death. In looking at Yehoshua raised up on the pole, they see that this was in accordance with God’s decree. They see that Yehoshua, the one who God determined to be lifted up as the king of Israel, having been made to be the heir of the world, sacrificed all. They see that he, because he was the one made responsible for the whole world, being himself was without sin, accepted upon himself the sentence of death for the whole world, leaving the serpent with nothing. They look, they see and they understand that he did this in order to rectify the disobedience of Adam and overthrow the rule of the serpent.

They see then in him the blessing of life, the justification of life, its only justification, as promised to Abraham, with which God was well pleased. They see life from the dead revealed in him; they see new heavens and a new earth revealed in him, and they do not need to be told that his tomb is empty, for they know it themselves. For though it is a human voice that speaks to them, it is the Holy Spirit who they hear tell them that on the third day God raised him from the dead.

All the world is commanded to look and anyone who looks to see does see and is saved. And once they see they can no longer believe the lie of the serpent. They can no longer want to sin. They can no longer imagine a god according to their own fancy, neither one nor many. Nor can they think that a sinner can escape the judgment of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. For the one who looks up in obedience at the pole sees Yehoshua, sees the King of Israel who God anointed, sees with eyes blessed by God. They see him raised up upon the pole, as giving himself freely to be executed, but without sin, in order to kill the serpent who entered Adam’s heart and soul. And they know him to be the one who by this sacrifice became Adam’s Savior. In seeing this they see the truth of God revealed. For the blinding scales of darkness begin to fall from their eyes.

“You — tell it, and bring all near; yes, let them take counsel together and ask: who has declared this from ancient time? who has told it from that time? have not I the LORD, the God of Israel? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me.

Look unto me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.

I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.

Surely, shall one say, in the LORD have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall people come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed.

In the LORD shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory." (Isa. 45)

And this is John 3:14-17 ¹⁴ As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Adam be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁶ For it is in this way that God loved the world — that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. ¹⁷ For God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.

Note: John 3:16 and 17 are an explanation for and comment upon John 3:14-15. It is John 3:14-15 which is the actual commandment of faith to Nicodemus and to all who read and all who hear John’s gospel.

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