When the Israelites were being bitten by snakes, they needed three answers: forgiveness for complaining, deliverance from the snakes, and healing of their wounds. However, God gave them only one answer: the serpent on a pole.
How were the people going to be forgiven, healed and delivered by looking at a picture of sin and sickness? Jesus Himself gives the answer in John 3:14: "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up." Jesus was saying, "That serpent on the pole is a picture of Me when I go to the Cross."
When Jesus went to the Cross, a divine exchange took place. He became what we were and gave us what He is. Jesus became our substitute. He had never sinned, but He became our sin! He was never sick Himself, but He took on our sickness. In exchange, Jesus gave us His right standing with God and His divine health.
So when the people in the wilderness looked at a symbolic image of Jesus Christ going to the Cross, they were forgiven, healed and delivered. When Jesus went to the Cross, He forgave our sins, purchased healing for our bodies and delivered us from all the power of darkness. Then He was raised from the dead so we could become born-again, new creatures in Him.
When we look to Jesus and receive Him as Savior and Lord of our lives, all He did for us on the Cross is ours. Thank God for redemption! Thank God for Jesus' death, burial and resurrection!
Jesus took my sin, sickness, failure and spiritual death and gave me back His righteousness, health, success and eternal life. He paid the price for
all these benefits, and He freely gives them to me when I ask in faith.
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers
