In Numbers 21:1-9 God has Moses set a brass serpent on a pole so that if anybody was bitten by a serpent, they could look at this serpent on a pole and be healed. Now as real and literal as this serpent was it was only symbolic. There was no magic in the brass or the pole.

Image © Phil McKay from GoodSalt.com

This brass serpent was to point forward to Jesus who would become sin for us and die for [...]