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THE BRAZEN SERPENT A TYPE OF CHRIST
A MORE instructive portion of Scripture than this before us we cannot easily find. The conversation of our Lord with Nicodemus was intended to lead him to the knowledge of salvation: and, being directed to a person of his rank, and high attainments in morality, it will serve as a model for our instructions to the greatest and best of men. The first point which our Lord insisted on was the necessity of a new birth: for, whatever our attainments be, it is impossible for us to enter into heaven till this has taken place in our souls; since we brought nothing into the world with us but what is carnal; and we must possess a spiritual nature, before we can be capable of enjoying a spiritual kingdom. But besides this, it is necessary also that we be interested in his atoning sacrifice: for, having once contracted guilt, we must be purged from that guilt, before we can be admitted into the Divine presence: and there is nothing but his atoning sacrifice that can avail for this. Hence our Lord, after shewing Nicodemus that he must experience a change of nature by means of a new and heavenly birth, tells him, that he must prepare to see the Messiah crucified for the sins of men, and must look to him for the healing of his soul as the dying Israelites did to the brazen serpent for the healing of the wounds inflicted by the fiery serpents in the wilderness.
The parallel which our Lord here draws between the brazen serpent and himself, represents that as the type, and himself as the antitype: and, that we may fully understand it, I will trace the resemblance,
I. In the occasion on which the type was instituted—
The Israelites were dying of the wounds received from the fiery flying serpents—
[They had provoked God by their murmuring and rebellion [Note: Num_21:4-6.] — — — and to punish them God had sent fiery serpents which they could in no wise avoid, and whose bite was mortal. To heal themselves was beyond their power. Multitudes died: and many, finding that they must die, unless God should graciously interpose for them, entreated Moses to intercede for them: and in answer to his intercession God appointed that a brazen serpent should be erected, and that by looking to it they should be healed.]
Similar to this was our state when God gave his Son to be nailed upon the cross—
[Through the agency of that old serpent the devil, sin had entered the world, and inflicted a deadly wound on every child of man. To heal ourselves was impossible. Death, eternal death, awaited us. And, as the only means of averting it, God, in tender mercy, sent his only dear Son into the world to die for us, and to save all who would look unto him for salvation.
But if there was in this respect a great resemblance between the occasions that existed for the erection of the serpent, and the exaltation of our blessed Lord upon the cross, there was also a material difference between them; the one being in answer to the prayers of men, the other being given unsolicited and unsought: the one also being appointed as a mere arbitrary ordinance, that had no suitableness to the end proposed; the other being appointed to make satisfaction for the sins of men, and to merit in our behalf the Divine favour.
In both cases, however, the occasion was the same: death was inflicted as the punishment of sin; and the remedy, the only remedy, against it, in either case, was to look to the object, proposed by God, and lifted up by man, for our relief.]
But let us contemplate the type yet more particularly,
II. In the end of its appointment—
The serpent was erected that all who were bitten might look unto it and live.
[An assurance was given to Moses, that all who looked to the brazen serpent should live. And so it proved, in fact. Not one who directed his eyes to it, died. However desperate his wounds might be, or however distant he might be from the object, so as scarcely to have any clear view of it at all, yet, instantly on looking to it he was healed.]
And does not the crucifixion of our Lord ensure the same benefit to those who look unto him—
[It matters not how long, or how grievously, any man may have sinned, provided he look truly and humbly to the Lord Jesus Christ as dying for him. As for the brazen serpent, it had no suitableness whatever to the end proposed. It was a mere arbitrary appointment of the Deity: and was available in that view alone. But the Lord Jesus Christ died upon the cross under the guilt of all our sins, and offered a full and perfect satisfaction for them to Divine justice. True, indeed, to the judgment of carnal reason, that also appears “foolishness;” but it was in reality the most stupendous effort of “divine power and wisdom;” and it has in itself a proper suitableness and sufficiency for the salvation of all who trust in it. We may therefore safely assure every child of man, that, if he believe in Jesus, “he shall never perish, but shall have eternal life.” Nor shall the conferring of this benefit be delayed. The sight of the brazen serpent healed instantly the dying Israelite: and so shall a sight of Jesus instantly remove the guilt of all our sins, and infuse into our souls a new and heavenly life. Nor shall the blessing ever terminate. The benefit that accrued to those who looked to the brazen serpent lasted but for a time: but that which the believer in Jesus shall receive, shall endure for ever and ever.]
Address—
1. Those who feel not their need of such a remedy—
[Such persons existed in the camp of Israel: but where shall one be found in our camp? Where is there one whose whole man is not impregnated with the venom of sin? If you feel it not, that only shews that your wounds are the more deep and deadly: but know assuredly, that, unless you be brought to a sense of your perishing condition, your doom is sealed; and in a little time you will perish for ever.]
2. Those who would substitute some other remedy in the place of Christ—
[What would have become of any man who should have persisted in devising some mode of healing himself, instead of looking to the brazen serpent? He must of necessity have died. And no other fate awaits you, if you will be substituting your own works, whether in whole or in part, in the place of Christ. Every other hope must be utterly renounced, and Christ alone be made the one object of your affiance.]
3. Those who desire the healing of their souls—
[Make the Israelites a pattern for yourselves. When they felt in themselves that they were dying, they sought after God through Moses their mediator; and confessed their sins, and implored mercy, and thankfully availed themselves of the proferred benefit, seeking it humbly in God’s appointed way. Thus then do ye also: seek your God through the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the only mediator between God and man; and with deep contrition implore mercy at his hands: then direct your eyes to the cross on which the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified for you; and doubt not but that you shall be made monuments of his grace and mercy to all eternity. Let no doubt about his sufficiency or your own worthiness keep you from him: for he “is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him;” and “whosoever” believeth in him shall assuredly be saved [Note: Isa_45:22.].”]
4. Those who doubt whether this mode of healing will not encourage sin—
[Such doubts were entertained in the Apostle’s days: but he spurned at the idea with holy indignation: “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid.” What think you? Would an Israelite have taken one of the fiery serpents to his bosom, because he had been healed of his wounds, and because the same means of healing were yet open to him? How much less would one who has felt the bitterness of sin, cherish it any longer in his bosom, because he has obtained deliverance from its guilt and condemnation? When he reflects that nothing but the crucifixion of the Son of God could heal him, will he think lightly of his sins? Will he not rather “look on him whom his sins have pierced, and mourn, and be in bitterness, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born?” Truly this is the proper effect of faith in Christ, who, if he redeem us from guilt and condemnation, will also “purify us unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works.”]