The Death of Christ

The Type of the Brass Serpent

Number 21:4-9
Numbers 21:4-9 presents a beautiful portrayal of Christ’s dealing with the problem of sin within His people. When the Israelites murmured against God and against Moses, God sent poisonous fiery serpents into the camp of Israel which bit and killed a number of His rebellious people. Eventually, after the Israelites confessed their sin to Moses, God told Moses to make a serpent of brass and to lift it up on a pole. Whoever then looked at the brass serpent would not die, but live. These serpents typify Satan. In light of the whole Bible, this section shows us how rebellious man has been bitten by the poisonous serpent. Those who had been bitten by the serpents had been injected a poisonous element which would eventually kill them. Therefore, they needed not merely forgiveness for their rebellion, but also salvation from that internal poison. They needed to look at the brass serpent that they may live.

The Real Brass Serpent
In John 3:14-16, Jesus made the astounding statement,

“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that every one who believers into Him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that everyone who believes into Him would not perish, but would have eternal life.”

Though verse 16 is widely known, few realize the import of this verse within its entire context. Verse 14 reveals that Christ came as the real Brass Serpent in order to deal with the “poison” within man, that is, the sinful nature which he received from the serpent, Satan. Not many have ever realized that Jesus Christ came to be the Brass Serpent. Just as the children of Israel were poisoned by the serpents in the wilderness, mankind as a whole was injected with the serpentine nature of Satan in the garden. And just as the Israelites were rescued by looking at the serpent of brass lifted up on the pole, so fallen, sinful man is rescued from his sin by believing in the Christ crucified on the cross. This wonderful parallel is apparent when the statement in Numbers 21:9: “When he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived” is compared with John 3:16: “every one who believes into Him would not perish, but would have eternal life.”

The Serpent’s Children
When man was bitten by the serpent and received the sinful nature into him, he becomes a “child of the devil,” a “serpent,” one among the “brood of vipers.” The following verses reveal this matter.

John 8:44 - You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father…

1 John 3:10 - In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest.

Matthew 23:33 - Serpents! Brood of vipers! How shall you escape the judgment of Gehenna?

The Likeness of the Flesh of Sin
By receiving the sinful nature of Satan through the fall, mankind became children of the devil, even serpents, having the serpentine nature of their father. But when Jesus came through incarnation, He became flesh (John 1:14), but only in “the likeness of the flesh of sin” (Rom. 8:3). He possessed the flesh of the old creation and looked like all the fallen “serpents,” the “brood of vipers,” but within Him there was no sin, no element of Satan. As the brass serpent possessed the form but not the poison of a real serpent, so Christ came in the likeness of the flesh of sin yet without the indwelling nature of sin. The following verses make it clear that Christ had nothing to do with the serpentine nature.

2 Corinthians 5:21 - Him who did not know sin He made sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

1 Peter 2:22 - Who [Christ] committed no sin, nor was guile found in his mouth.

John 14:30 - I will no longer speak much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and in Me he has nothing.

Look and Live
Just as God provided the children of Israel with a serpent of brass in the wilderness for their healing, He has provided Christ as the brass serpent to His New Testament believers for their redemption and salvation. The children of Israel merely had to look at the bronze serpent to live. Similarly, the way that the New Testament presents for man to be saved from the sinful nature of Satan is to believe into the Son of God. Furthermore, by believing in the Son of God, we are not only saved from the serpent’s sinful nature, but we can live to Him and by Him.

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