Christ’s reference to Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness (John 3:14) is a remarkable reference back to Israel’s exodus from Egypt.
While still in the wilderness of Sinai, between the crossing of the Red Sea and the crossing of the Jordan River into the promised land, the people of Israel came once again to a place without water. Numbers 21 opens with a brief summary that they had gone the long way around the land of Edom (the descendants of Esau), which represented a sinful and rebellious nation. They became impatient from the long journey.
Knowing that God provided water at Marah, water at Meribah, and manna and quail for 40 years, you would think they had learned by now. They should have prayed and trusted the Lord. Instead, we find this account in Numbers 21:4-9, “Then they set out from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the people became impatient because of the journey. The people spoke against God and Moses, ‘Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this miserable food.’ The LORD sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. So the people came to Moses and said, ‘We have sinned, because we have spoken against the LORD and you; intercede with the LORD, that He may remove the serpents from us.’ And Moses interceded for the people. Then the LORD said to Moses, ‘Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live.’ And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived.”
We should back-up to Genesis 3:14-15, “The LORD God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life; And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.’”
We know several important items from Genesis 3. The first is that the serpent represented God’s curse. In Numbers 21, the people were to look to a cursed object for salvation. The second is that the serpent represented sin. The third is the promise of a permanent conquering of evil. We have the promise of Christ in Genesis 3:15 who will one day bruise the head or bring about the death of evil.
We should notice several important items from Numbers 21:4-9. First, the serpent Moses lifted up in the wilderness represented a temporary healing from sin. Genesis 3:15 promised permanence. Second, there must be death of sin. God promised death as a result of sin, and in Numbers 21, healing from sin resulted in the death of sin. It is a precursor and fore-shadowing of our regeneration and rebirth. Third, healing was available to all who had sinned, and some refused to relinquish their doubt and unbelief.
Christ became a curse for us. In Galatians 3:13-14, we read, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, ‘CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE’—in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”
Christ took on human form, that is, He was made in the likeness of sinful flesh, the same as the bronze serpent was made in the likeness of the curse. In Romans 8:3, we read, “For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh”.
Plainly, the bronze serpent in the wilderness was a foreshadowing of that to come, namely, a Messiah who would take on the likeness of sinful flesh and permanently right the wrongs in this world. Looking unto Him, we live.
In looking unto the serpent in the wilderness and looking unto Christ, we have the promise of everlasting life. That life brings death to sin, whereas, sin brings death to everlasting life. By this, we understand new birth, regeneration, and the new nature imparted to us through the Holy Spirit. In Christ, we live unto righteousness and holiness, putting to death the deeds of the flesh. Looking unto Christ, we look away from and turn away from sin. Through the Holy Spirit, we turn away from sin and turn toward righteousness and holiness.
I want now to jump to John 3:29-30: “He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made full. He must increase, but I must decrease.”
William Barclay has this commentary entry, “The friend of the bridegroom, the shoshben, had a unique place at a Jewish wedding. He acted as the liaison between the bride and the bridegroom; he arranged the wedding; he took out the invitations; he presided at the wedding feast. He brought the bride and the bridegroom together. And he had one special duty. It was his duty to guard the bridal chamber and to let no false lover in. He would open the door only when in the dark he heard the bridegroom’s voice and recognized it. When he heard the bridegroom’s voice he let him in and went away rejoicing, for his task was completed and the lovers were together. He did not grudge the bridegroom the bride. He knew that his only task had been to bring bride and bridegroom together. And when that task was done he willingly and gladly faded out of the centre of the picture.
John’s task had been to bring Israel and Jesus together; to arrange the marriage between Christ the bridegroom and Israel the bride. That task completed he was happy to fade into obscurity for his work was done. It was not with envy that he said that Jesus must increase and he must decrease; it was with joy.”
Though we are not told John the Baptist was present during Christ’s dialogue with Nicodemus, John 3:30 is a type of response to or summary of the dialogue. Whereas Christ emphasizes the necessity of rebirth, John the Baptist explains it in a simple verse. John 3:30 symbolizes the Holy Spirit’s baptism by fire. The fire of zeal for Christ must increase, and our sin nature and the impurities of our hearts must be eliminated by fire.
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