Q&A: How does the bronze serpent in Exodus relate with Jesus' death and resurrection like He said it would?
"Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up," - John 3:14.
To answer this question, we must first recognise something. Jesus did not die as a carnal man but as sin. Don't believe me?
“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV
http://bible.com/59/2co.5.21.esv
Jesus was made sin on the cross, and sin was the oppressor of mankind. Let's flashback to Moses: the people of Israel had disobeyed and serpents had come upon them. To cure them, God asked Moses to build a bronze serpent and put it up in a pole, and the people, if they looked, would be set free. But why use the image of the oppressor? As sin was nailed to the cross, it was not Jesus receiving all that mocking, but sin. It was sin they were hanging up in shame! Just like the serpent - they were saying 'Look! The oppressor has been defeated!' They then realised they were free! Sin was crucified at the cross - and we can now say that it is sin being hung in shame and we are free! But just forgiving your sins wasn't enough. Jesus knew that you would turn back to your old ways. So he now gave YOU the ability to become SINLESS! As this ability can only come from God, He had to come and live in you! The death and resurrection of Jesus is not a 'restoration of fellowship' as some people call it. It is a creation of a new, godly and sinless people, that obey God and live with everlasting life!
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