Sabbath: He Died for Us
Image © Pacific Press
Sabbath Afternoon
Read for This Week’s Study: Revelation 13:8; Matthew 17:22-23; Mark 9:30-32; John 19:1-30; Romans 6:23; 1 Corinthians 1:18-24.
Memory Text: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:14-15, , NKJV).
It has been said that we cannot avoid death and taxes. That’s not entirely true. People can avoid taxes, but not death. They might be able to put death off a few years, but sooner or later, death always comes. And because we know that the dead, both the righteous and the wicked, end up at first in the same place, our hope of the resurrection means everything to us. As Paul had said, without this hope, even “also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished” (1 Corinthians 15:18, NKJV), which is a rather strange thing to say if those who “have fallen asleep in Christ” are buzzing about heaven in the presence of God.
Thus, Christ’s resurrection is central to our faith, because in His resurrection we have the surety of our own. But before Christ was resurrected from the dead, He, of course, had to die. This is why, amid the agony of Gethsemane, in anticipation of His death, He prayed: “Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour.” (John 12:27, NKJV). And that purpose was to die.
This week we will focus on Christ’s death and what it means for the promise of eternal life.
Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, November 5.
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Beethoven's Ninth Symphony - particularly the final movement, "Ode to Joy" is a grand piece of music. It is a unique combination of melody, harmony, appegios, diminished sevenths, and all the other constructs that go into making beautiful music. You can buy books about how it is constructed. You can listen to musical analysts dissecting it bar by bar. In the end, it remains a unique masterpiece of music that is both challenging and inspirational.
Recently I listened to a "flash-mob" production of it in a town square in Europe. It was spine-tingling to see the busy crowd, slowly become aware that they were in the presence of an awe-inspiring performance of the "Ode to Joy".
Interestingly, the appeal of the music does not depend on how much you study it. Its unique combination of sound into melody and harmony goes beyond the science of music and captures hearts with its invitation to joy.
This week we are studying the death of Jesus. I would like to think that apart from all the analysis and reasoning we somehow capture the real meaning of this event:
Love is the grand theme in the symphony of Salvation. It is the chorus that stands out above the cacophony of the market square and captures our hearts.
Why was Moses to lift image of SERPENT and not something else
Considering the prophesied conflict between Christ and serpent after the fall
See 2 Cor. 5:21 and Gal. 1:4.
Does that help?
Maybe it was a snake, which signified the devil that was lifted up to show that Christ had power over the devil and that the devil would be ultimately defeated and put to death, even as by a cross.
I believe God takes that which removes life to become that which gives life.
The serpent is not the problem but what it represents. Therefore do not look at the serpent look at the principle it represents.
Matthew 16:13-20
Jesus commends Peter on his revelation
Matthew 16:21-23
Jesus tells Peter, “Get the behind me satan.”
I love your question, brother Steve! It does seem like a silly, or even alarming and revolting, solution for the Israelites’ snakebite problem. Why not put a LAMB image on a pole for healing? Why heal with the image of the very thing biting you?
I also really love Inge’s reply of 2 Cor. 5:21! Note that it says Jesus Christ became sin for us, not only that He simply carried our sin away, like the scapegoat did.
I’ve been meditating on Jesus’s ask that we not judge each other. There is of course a type of judgment He does want us to have, deciding between what’s righteous and sinful, safe and unsafe. But the judgment Jesus doesn’t want us to have is to make an identity for another human. For example, we can say “that person often lies”. That’s just identifying between good and evil, noting what is a lie and what isn’t a lie, and discerning each time it happens. It becomes the type of judgement Jesus warned against if we then add on “that person is a liar”. By labeling, we have created an identity for that person. Each time I met them I think “here comes that liar”. Thing is, we don’t know if they have responded to God’s Holy Spirit between the last time we saw them and this time. And God does not attach labels onto us like that. So while we may be aware of sin, we are to avoid “sticking” the sin onto the precious soul created by God. We are to avoid condemning them, because there is only one Judge (James 4:12; Is. 33:22)….and only God is the righteous Judge because only He can also save them/us.
What do these thoughts about “judgment” have to do with the serpent and the cross? That weekend 2,000 years ago, God the Father judged God the Son. The Father “downloaded” ALL of our sins onto Jesus. Jesus took on Himself the label “Murderer” , “liar”, “adulterer”, etc. Jesus took into Himself the memory from each sinner of committing all atrocities ever to be committed, and the guilt. The memory and horror from each human sinner of all abuse ever given out or received, all lies, selfishness, grumblings, ….the pain of all sins, plus the weight of the guilt. I think the images of everything and everyone flashed in front of His eyes and through His mind.
And as that “download” was wrapping up….the perfect Lamb turning into the form of the Serpent …. the Father judged Him and turned away. And Jesus died of a broken heart, because He wasn’t evil, His heart was pure, He had all this filth coursing through Himself, He who knew no sin . Just like the bronze snake had no venom in it, Jesus had no venom of sin in His own soul. He so identified with us that He FELT like the sin was His own. That’s why we can’t be against each other and condemn (Rom. 8:31,34)… Jesus took into Himself that person’s sins. If we condemn another we condemn Jesus on the cross bearing that sin, all ready forgiving that sin. All anyone needs to do is LOOK to the cross with the form of the Serpent on it,…the form of Jesus carrying each sin….and in that looking be saved. Only those who looked were saved from the poison of the serpent bites. Only those who look in faith to Christ are redeemed from the deadly bite of sin. The more we look, the more we are cleansed of sin’s poison.
I think Jesus pointed Nicodemus to this story because both the means and the instrument of God’s salvation are so clearly typified. A crucified Savior - who has absorbed all sin since the original sin in the Garden of Eden, to the point of appearing as, and being crushed as, the Serpent itself- is the means of God’s salvation. Faith (or looking to Him) is the instrument of salvation.
Thank you Esther. Would you mind if I share this on other public forums? This explanation touched my heart.
Praise God, thank you for sharing anything that brings honor to Him, brother Louis!
Sister Esther. Thank you so so much for your graphic and enlightening post. I had never before understood the concept of JESUS actually becoming sin for us in the way you clarified it. That even the thoughts of the wicked were placed on Him Who knew no sin. GOD bless you for blessing us.
Dear Marcia,
Thank you for sharing. The Holy Spirit has been impressing on me that better understanding, in great detail, what happened at the cross is the MOST important thing for me to understand. Col. 1:27 says that Jesus is now IN me. Phil. 2:5 tells me to LET Jesus’s mind be in me. 2 Cor. 5:17,21 says an exchange took place, Jesus became my sin and I became His righteousness at the cross.
As I see Him taking my sin-weary mind for me, over and over look at Him gazing at me in that moment, I’m quieted, relieved, humbled more and more, until someday, we’re promised, I - and all of us who fix our sight on Him - will have His humility and trust in the Father.
And still so many questions…wondering what exactly did He pour into me in exchange in that moment? What does an inpouring of righteousness FEEL like? Is it flashes of images from heaven? God’s Word says that the life is in the blood….and we know the physical reality that blood is a purifier…how exactly have I been washed in Jesus’s blood? My questions usually try to match the Spiritual truth with the physical truth.
Faith moves mountains.
God’s blessings upon you too, dear Sister Marcia, as you seek a deeper relationship with our Lord and Savior.
Hello Steve,
I see you are getting lots of responses on your thought provoking question, and this is one more.
If you read commentaries on John 3:14-16, you will see that there are many religious theories on what this passage means. Note that a person can read through John 3:1-21 in less than a minute. Clearly, Nicodemus’ conversation with Jesus took much longer than that. The apostle John records the barest of outlines so that the reader (who is reading the words with the help of the Spirit of God) may understand what transpired.
To understand what Jesus is saying, context is everything. Numbers 21:4-9 informs us that the people complained against God and Moses. When you complain against God, he honours your choice and leaves you to your own way. God’s protection removed, the fiery serpents in the wilderness began to take their deathly toll. From our understanding of the story behind Genesis 3:15, we know who instigated this situation and why, that is, Satan, the Great Serpent. The people were attributing to God the very thing that the Serpent wanted them to believe: that God did not care for them and had left them abandoned. There are obvious parallels in our own lives.
So God uses powerful imagery to show the people the reality of their situation: they must fix their gaze on the form of a dead brazen serpent coiled around and fixed to a pole to be saved from the deadly painful fiery bite of the Serpent. What looks least likely to be the remedy for their sin of unbelief is the very means by which God works their salvation. Isaiah 53 alludes to this. Paul alludes to this in his description of the mind of God in Philippians 2:5-11.
In his meeting with Nicodemus, Jesus makes it clear who is lifting up this serpent on a pole: God. It is God’s propitiatory gift to mankind, that he might win their hearts to his heart and save them from perishing. It is all about salvation, not judgment. (John 3:14-17.) Note: “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already.”
The apostle Paul underlines this in Romans 3. “But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets.” (v.21.) There is nothing in God’s salvation that is substitutionary, because God’s salvation is apart from the Law. Jesus is “a gift by His [God’s] grace” (v.24), “whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith.” (v.25.) The gift of Jesus is all about God’s demonstrating his righteousness by justifying anyone who trusts in the faithfulness of Jesus. (v.26.)
In hope that you find this helpful,
Richard
Hi, Richard. I appreciate your analysis. However, I'm having a bit of a problem with one thing that you wrote:
Romans 3:21 says that the righteousness of God, as revealed to us, is apart from the law. In context, this seems to be talking about how we can receive the righteousness of God. It comes to us when we place our faith in the merits of the Saviour, and not through our own efforts in keeping the law.
You seem to have interpreted this verse to mean that God's salvation, offered to us, is entirely unrelated to law, and that Christ's death on the cross could not therefore be in any way a payment for our sins -- for our transgressions of God's law.
For this to be correct, it seems that God's law would have to have been abolished, contrary to the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:17-18, and Paul's words in Romans 3:31. I must also question, in that case, why it was necessary for Christ to die on the cross at all. Where there is no law, there is no transgression. So then, it seems we could have been justified without His having to die for us.
Hello RG,
As I quoted, Paul wrote “now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets.” Paul is stating that God’s righteousness is demonstrated “apart from the Law,” but it is “witnessed by the Law and the Prophets.” God’s law is founded on his love, and in that sense, the law is a witness to his grace, which is also founded on his love.
Jesus in his word to Nicodemus did not say, “For God had to comply with the requirements of his Law, so he sent his only son to be executed to pay for mankind’s sins.” As a good Law-keeping Pharisee, Nicodemus might have readily understood those words. But the sense of John 3 is that Nicodemus was continually dumbfounded by the words of Jesus.
A payment is not a gift. I believe scripture is very clear: Jesus was God’s gift to mankind based solely on his love expressed as grace. That is why Paul uses the concept of propitiation (ἱλαστήριον G2435), which is strongly linked to the mercy seat of the temple. It is God’s intent that we understand the foundation of his salvation: it is in his love, not in his law.
The law is (as Paul writes) a “child-minder” whose objective is to keep us out of trouble and to bring us to Christ. (Galatians 3:24.) If it does not do this, then it has failed in its purpose. This understanding does not require that the Law be abolished—only that it is understood in its proper role.
Hoping you find this helpful,
Richard
Thank you for clarifying, Richard. Yes, I do find that helpful. To my mind, you have expressed the truth beautifully. The truth -- especially that relating to the plan of salvation -- is multifaceted. So, it seems that, when we err, it is often not so much in what we assert, but what we deny.
The idea of a substitutionary atonement is certainly only one facet, one way of looking at Christ's death on the cross. And it does seem to have been much emphasized, often to the neglect of other aspects. That said, the Scriptures do assert that:
and that:
From these verses, it is evident to me that God's character of love cannot simply pass over that which violates its requirements. That the finally impenitent are punished in proportion to the degree of their guilt is shown by the words of Jesus recorded in Luke 12:47-48.
From this, I see that there was a retributive justice for Jesus to bear on our behalf, if we were to be spared.
Seventh-day Adventist pioneer Ellen White confirms the substitutionary atonement in these words:
In heart-wrenching words, she explains what it was like for Jesus, enduring what we deserved.
Let us never minimize what Jesus suffered, and why.
I am always leery of using a parable to make doctrine because Jesus (and his prophets) were often not as careful about systematic theology as I would wish when expressing eternal truths in this format. (See Luke 16:19-31 with reference to the state of the dead.)
My concern with your statement is this: How is Love retributive? That is, if God is Love, how is that Love expressed in retribution? My reading of scripture has led me to understand that God’s love is restorative rather than retributive. I also understand God’s revelation of his character has been progressive in his historical dealings with mankind, being sensitive to their culture and society. But in these last days, his character has most profoundly been revealed in the life, death and resurrection of his son, Jesus.
I would appreciate your clarification on this.
Richard, if "nothing in God's salvation ... is substitutionary," it seems strange that God should use a system of sacrifices that looked very much substitutionary.
When Adam and Eve sinned, they incurred the death consequence that God had warned them about. But instead of their dying, at some animals (likely lambs) died to provide the clothing that God made for them to cover their nakedness (physical and spiritual) caused by their sin.
I believe it was then that "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" stepped into the gap, and the lambs slain to provide the clothing were symbolic of His death.
When Abraham was asked to offer his son, Isaac, God stopped him and showed him a ram to offer as a substitute.
When the Israelites sinned, they were to bring a sin offering to the temple gate and confess their sins over the animal, thus, in figure, transferring them to the animal. Then, with their own hands they were to slit the animal's throat, signifying that by their sin, they caused the death of the Messiah to come. They did not die, but the animal they brought died in their stead, as the Messiah would some day die.
Paul used substitutionary language in 2 Cor. 5:21 when he wrote, "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." Do you see how Christ substituted for us, being "made sin" so that we might receive His righteousness?
In Gal. 1:4 Paul wrote further about Christ "who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father." That sounds like substitutionary language to me.
Certainly Christ is a *gift* to humanity. He will be forever one with us. He *gave* up His life so that we might receive life. He bore the penalty we deserve for *our* sins, so that we might have the life that *He* deserves.
By the way, I agree fully with your first three paragraphs, but when you imply that Christ's sacrifice was "propitiatory *to* mankind" you lost me. As I understand the word, "propitiation" is offered to someone who was wronged by the one who committed the offense. I haven't really seen it used differently. So how did Christ wrong humanity, that He offered a "propitiatory gift"?
(I note that most Bible translations stick with the word "propitiation" where the KJV uses the word. But it's not a commonly used word any more, so the next most frequent translation for "propitiation" is "atoning sacrifice." )
Thank you Inge for your thoughtful reply.
May I start with God’s concept of propitiation? To propitiate someone is to act in a way that satisfies (appeases) their anger, that is, to pacifies their enmity against oneself. This immediately begs the question of whom God is trying to pacify? Himself? So is he sending his only Son to die to pacify his anger against us? To take his blows that rightfully belong to us? How does that make sense? How does beating his Son up in our place make God feel better and satisfy his “anger”? And most importantly, what kind of “love” would this demonstrate?
Secondly, I see Paul’s statement in 2 Corinthians 5:21 as God identifying (becoming one) with us that we might identify (become one) with him. God made his Christ like us (that is, in our sinful flesh) that we might become like his Christ and have everlasting life in spiritual bodies. (1 Corinthians 15:42-46.) Jesus underlined this in John 17 when he prayed that we, the Father and he would all be one. He then wrote it in blood red on the cross.
The blood sacrifices of the sanctuary teach this—it is the gospel. These rituals were a symbolic demonstration that if you desired to be fully dedicated to (consumed with zeal for) God, to be saved from unintentional or even deliberate sin (that is, failure to conform to God’s law of love), and to have true and complete fellowship with God and mankind, you must symbolically demonstrate this by identifying with the sacrificial animal (which was a type of Christ).
The sacrifice was not symbolic of substitution; instead, it is symbolic of identification (becoming one) with God through his Christ.
Again, consider the “John 17” prayer of Jesus just before he journeys the Via Dolorosa to the cross. It is all about becoming one with God. It is clearly not about substitution. The antitype dictates the interpretation of the type (sanctuary sacrifices).
Thirdly, the question of Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac was to demonstrate what was required to prove Abraham’s dedication to God. As Abraham unwittingly prophesied in his response to Isaac’s question, “God will provide for Himself the lamb.” (Genesis 22:8.) As the writer of Hebrews states, we must fix “our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith,” that is, we must make Jesus the “fixation” of our living, our “hero” with whom we identify to enter into God’s gracious presence with boldness. (Hebrews 12:1-2; Hebrews 4:16.) Again, this identification, not substitution.
Finally, this leaves us with the practicality of how this is accomplished in our lives. In the context of Genesis 3:15, the “fig leaf” clothing that we use to manage our sin is incompetent for purpose of uniting with God. Instead, we must (as the apostle Paul exhorts us) put on Christ. (Romans 13:14; Galatians 3:27.) When as children, we in make-believe dressed up like our heroes, we used clothing of our own handywork. In the Garden of Eden, God made it clear: If we want to be united with Christ, we must put on the robe of righteousness he offers and follow him wherever he leads. (Genesis 3:21; Matthew 16:24-26; Revelation 14:4.)
Again, this is a matter of identifying with him, not of substitution.
In closing, I find the concept of substitution misrepresents God’s love and easily leads to salvation by works because it gives the impression that God’s love can be bought through “expiatory” substitutionary sacrifices. This is a pitfall that Isaiah and Micah (and other prophets) warned against. (Isaiah 1:10-20,11; Micah 6:6-8.)
I hope this helps you understand my perspective with the theory of substitution. Again, thanks for the questions. They help me work through my thought processes.
Richard
Hi, Richard. I fear that we err when we try to oversimplify, either the character of God or the plan of salvation, in order to bring them within our grasp.
Is it not possible that there is an aspect of God's character of love -- justice -- that did have to be propitiated for the violation of the law that describes who He is, and yet another aspect -- mercy -- that would lead Him to actually provide that propitiation for us, at any cost to Himself?
Is it possible that identification and substitution are two different concepts, each of which separately might be useful to us in trying to comprehend the incomprehensible? Doesn't the Bible teach both?
Hello RG,
The Sabbath School class I led this morning discussed this at length, but came to no definitive conclusion. My son and I continued the discussion on the way home. He suggested I review the Wikipedia articles on Penal and Substitutionary Atonement, as they were balanced in his view.
It looks like the church has been working to understand the mind of God in regard to this matter for over a thousand years. As I wrote in my response to Inge, I am still working “through my thought processes” so that I can have an answer to my faith that is readily supportable from context-based scripture.
As one SS participant said, “God saves us. How that happens is a mystery that will occupy our attention for eternity.” So yes, it is “possible that identification and substitution are two different concepts, each of which separately might be useful to us in trying to comprehend the incomprehensible.”
If none of us get it straight now (and we can still work on it), we can rejoin the conversation (with some help from Jesus) in eternity.
Richard
Thanks, Richard. I'm a bit late with a partial reply. You write
That, of course, gives rise to your questions that follow.
However, the word "propitiate" does not necessarily mean that the person who was wronged is angry and needs to be pacified. So, to me, your questions based on the premise are not relevant.
God Himself, provided the Atonement sacrifice on the cross. He didn't beat up anybody. He Himself, was "beat up" by humanity, but that wasn't nearly as bad as the burden of sin that descended on Him *before* the cross.
I believe Ellen White understood it correctly when she wrote about Jesus approaching the Garden of Gethsemane:
(I really recommend reading the whole chapter.)
And I believe Jesus wasn't just imagining "even unto death." He was actually dying in the garden (Luke 22:41-44). Note that an angel from heaven came to strengthen Him. It appears to me that, without that strengthening, He would have died before Pilate could put Him on a cross. And, even on the cross, it was the burden of sin that killed Jesus.
Hello Inge,
Amen.
As your post points out, it is the public and stark display of God's love through the cross that wins the hearts and minds of mankind. Christ had to make it to the cross that God's love personified might draw all mankind to himself.
Richard
Maurice
Let ask this why was the snake of bronze and not gold or silver all anything else.
This was essentially the bronze age and bronze would have been the most readily available metal.
Does it mean the serpent lifted represent the our sin that brought Christ to the cross
Help me understand
Still following
I believe you're on the right track.
Since Eden, the serpent was a symbol of evil. The people had experience with serpents who killed. Evil causes death.
It makes no sense at all that a symbol of evil should bring healing. To unbelievers it makes no sense at all that a man crucified as an evil-doer could bring healing. (1 Cor. 1:23) But, as 2 Cor. 5:21 indicates, Christ was "made sin" for us. He died the death that we deserve as sinners so that we might live the eternal life that He deserves.
So the serpent in the wilderness was a symbol of Christ who was "made sin" for us. By looking in faith, the people could live.
Notice what Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3:13-16.
God bless you all for your concern. I have learned much.
Also remember that vaccines used to be made from the blood of an infected person or animal that had developed an immunity.
As well as snake bite vaccine 💉 ?
One more beautiful symbolism is that the snake was to be made of bronze. I found an article at https://www.oneforisrael.org/bible-based-teaching-from-israel/the-meaning-of-bronze-in-the-bible/ to be helpful in answering my question of “why bronze?”.
One nugget from the article states: “ Exodus gives instructions that the items inside of the Tabernacle (the menorah, incense altar, showbread table, and of course the ark of the covenant itself) were to be made of gold, but everything outside the tent was bronze. Copious amounts of bronze were required to construct various aspects of God’s sanctuary, both in the desert and in the temple. The bronze for the tabernacle’s accouterments came from Egypt, and Solomon’s bountiful wealth provided all the bronze for the temple – so much of it, in fact, that it could not be measured. So that’s how all the bronze came to be there.…
Gold is symbolic of God’s kingship, glory and holiness, and silver represents redemption (consider lives exchanged for silver coins for example). The holy place of God’s presence is lined and coated and covered with gold. The poles were made of wood, but were covered in gold, and rested in silver stands. Is this like us (wood) coated in gold (God’s own holiness) because we stand in the redemption (silver) of Yeshua’s sacrifice? Certainly there is a clear divide: gold inside, bronze outside.
So what have we got right outside the holy place of the tabernacle? The altar, on which animals were sacrificed to atone for sin, and the enormous “sea” or laver of pure water, to cleanse and purify. Before a priest could go into the holy place, into the presence of God, first they needed the blood, and then the water. The atonement and the cleansing from sin. To be covered and clean. The sin and uncleanness was dealt with at the bronze altar and the bronze sea. Bronze is where God’s judgement deals with sin – only then can a person enter the pure and holy presence of God.”
So if bronze represents sin and God’s judgement, the bronze snake lifted up represents sin and God’s judgement
…in Jesus’s purity becoming mercy and healing.
Thanks, Esther Pelletier, for your comment. I am blessed.
I believe Moses used the lifting up of the serpent as a symbol to represent healing through Christ. He bore testimony of Christ’s atonement and used the Brazen Serpent to teach salvation and the forgiveness of sins through the atonement of the Savior.
Even today worldwide, this same symbol is used by hospitals and medical facilities for medicine and healing - a serpent wrapped around a rod, called a Serpentined Asclepian staff.
The lesson writer states: “And because we know that the dead, both the righteous and the wicked, end up at first in the same place, our hope of the resurrection means everything to us." If we take lightly our being born again, having come alive in the Spirit of Christ now, how can "our hope of the resurrection mean everything to us”?
Jesus allowed freely for His body to be nailed to the cross, but His spirit never yielded to the pressures of man’s efforts to dissuade Him of His Faith. So, what is this which, when lifted up, – “that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” - His body or His spirit?
The account regarding the use of a serpent starts with Numb.11:4-9. Verse 8 and 9 speak to that “…every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.” What do we look at when we ‘see’ Jesus’ body nailed to the cross? Do we see His body ‘lifted up’, or do we see the power of the Father to heal our afflictions lifted up?
I‘d like to add one more remark to our lesson today.
Our life as Christians is a trial and a test of faith.
God could have removed the fiery serpents from amongst the Israelites but he commanded through Moses that he who looks to the serpent raised to the pole would be healed.
One author (can’t remember his name) put it this way:
At the command there were 3 groups of bitten people‘s response.
-Those who trusted and looked immediately and lived.
-The other group were distrustful and almost died, however when earnestly encouraged by those who were healed to look up, we’re able to survive although it seemed a bit too late for them.
- The third group was so hardheaded and preferred to die and not look up.
This narrative teaches us that, if we belong to the first group and always look up to Jesus in this life of disaster and turmoil, we need to tap vigorously on the shoulders of those who are skeptical about Jesus’ resurrecting power and not only triumph over our own salvation, in order that also they may believe and be saved.
Steve, when reading Scripture, keep uppermost in your mind who Scripture said that Jesus was (Heb 1:1-3; Jn 1:1-2,14). Jesus, in turn, read Scripture (Lk 4:16-21), encouraged others to read it (Mt 19:4), and asserted its reliability (Jn 10:35; Mt 26:54,56). In teaching others from it, He stated that Scripture (there was no NT) is primarily about Him (Jn 5:39,46-47; Lk 24:25,27). Those that He taught, continued in His example (Jn 1:45).
According to Jesus, Scripture therefore has a lot to say about Him and His ministry to needy humans on Earth. Interestingly, some of the things Scripture says are overt and "positive" (e.g. Gen 49:24; Ps 23:1; Ex 12:3,7-8,11,13), while others are covert and "negative" (e.g. Dt 21:22-23). The significance of a text like Dt 21:22-23 might not become apparent until Gal 3:13-14 is read. The question you asked, "Why was Moses to lift image of SERPENT and not something else...", is answered in one such covert and "negative" portion of the writings of Moses (Num 21:4-9). No reader would instinctively apply that iconography to Christ if we didn't have Jesus' own words recorded in Jn 3:14-15. He was indicating that He would become "a CURSE FOR US" (Gal 3:13 compare Gen 3:14), so that we would have ACCESS TO HIS HOLY SPIRIT (Gal 3:8,14 compare Mt 8:16-17; Zech 12:1,10 (NKJV); Joel 2:28-29)!
Steve, this was not an isolated teaching method. Considering Jesus' statement regarding Samaritan worship (Jn 4:5,7,21-*22), and historic animosity between Jews and Samaritans (Jn 4:9), He chose the "compassion" of a "certain Samaritan" (Lk 10:33 (NKJV) as a teaching tool in His parable. He purposely selected someone from a DESPISED nation to exemplify His own compassion for needy humans (Jn 3:16-17 compare Num 21:7-8). However, conscious (Jn 8:31-32,*48) or unconscious (Mt 22:29) attitudes within the mind of any student will always be an obstacle for the Teacher's effort (Jn 8:42-43; 2 Cor 3:14-16)...until the "Promise of the Father" appears (Act 1:4-5; Jn 1:32-34).