John 3:14-15
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
Moses was commanded to make a Bronze Serpent so that the Israelites, afflicted by snakebite as a chastisement for sin, might find healing. Jesus, whose Spirit had given Moses this mysterious instruction, reveals the hidden heart of this strange Old Testament story: just as the serpent was lifted up and the people found healing from snakebite, so the Christ is to be lifted up on the cross and the world is to find in him the healing of the ultimate Snakebite, the sin and death which has afflicted us since the Serpent deceived Adam and Eve. The cross is still being lifted up today, still being exalted. And with good reason: for the serpent continues to bite and Jesus continues to heal till the last enemy"-death-"is put under his feet. Till then, we must look to the cross and find, through it, everlasting life.
