God told Moses to put a brass serpent on a pole, and He said, "Whoever will look at the serpent will live." Why did God tell Moses to do that? Well, the serpent is a type of Jesus Christ, and brass is a type of judgment. Once again, the Israelites were looking at a portrait of their redemption—a vivid picture of the Atonement.
Some would ask, "How can a serpent be a type of Jesus? Ever since the Garden, a serpent has been a sign of sin."
Jesus never sinned in His life. But when He hung on the Cross, He became sin for us and cried, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?" (Mark 15:34). God had to turn His back on His Son because, at that moment, all the sins and sicknesses of the world were nailed to the Cross in the form of Jesus' body. Judgment fell on Him instead of on us.
When Moses held up that serpent, he wasn't showing the people a picture of Jesus as He walked the earth or was raised from the dead. He was showing a picture of Jesus when He hung on the Cross and became the Atonement for all mankind.
So when the children of Israel looked ahead to what Jesus Christ would do for them, they were not only forgiven but healed as well. And God didn't turn anyone down. He said, "Every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live" (v. 8).
In the same way, every one of us, without exception, can look back in faith to what Jesus did for us in the Atonement and receive both forgiveness and healing. God didn't turn anyone down under the old covenant, and He certainly won't turn anyone down under the new!
Jesus gave me eternal life and paid the price with His own life.
To free me from the bondage of sickness and disease, He took all the sickness of the world upon Himself. I live free and healed because of Jesus!
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers
