The Bronze Serpent and the Cross: Seeing Jesus in Numbers 21

Published On: October 29, 2025

“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him” (John 3:14-15).

These words from Jesus point us back to a dramatic moment in Israel’s history—one that was always meant to help us see the cross.

The scene is Numbers 21. Israel has rebelled against God yet again, and judgement strikes in the form of venomous serpents. People are dying. In desperation, they cry out for mercy. God’s response is unexpected: He tells Moses to make a bronze serpent and lift it high on a pole. Anyone who looks at it will live.

It’s a strange remedy. But Jesus says it was always about Him. The bronze serpent wasn’t random—it was divinely designed to foreshadow the Saviour who’d be lifted up on a cross for our healing.

FOUR STRIKING CONNECTIONS

Both were lifted up for all to see. The bronze serpent was raised high in the centre of the camp where dying Israelites could look to it. Christ was lifted up on Calvary’s cross, publicly displayed before the world. God doesn’t hide His remedy for sin. He proclaims it openly. As Calvin noted, God condescends to meet us where we are, providing a visible demonstration of His saving grace.
Both provided the only remedy for certain death. Those bitten by serpents had no alternative cure—no medicine could save them. The same is true for us. Sin’s wages is death (Romans 6:23), and human effort cannot undo it. “Salvation is found in no one else,” Peter declares in Acts 4:12. Our spiritual condition requires divine intervention, not self-improvement.
Both required simple faith—a look of dependence. Dying Israelites didn’t have to earn their healing through elaborate rituals or perfect obedience. They simply had to look at the bronze serpent to live. Similarly, sinners don’t save themselves through religious performance. We must simply believe in Christ (John 3:16). Faith isn’t a meritorious work that impresses God; it’s the empty hand that receives what He freely offers. As the Puritans taught, “looking” means turning from every other hope to rest completely in God’s provision.
Both reveal God’s justice and mercy together. Notice the serpents weren’t removed from the camp—judgement still stood. But healing was freely offered to those who looked in faith. The cross works the same way. God doesn’t sweep sin under the rug or pretend it doesn’t matter. His justice must be satisfied. But at Calvary, Christ bears the judgement we deserved, allowing God to be “just and the justifier” of those who believe (Romans 3:26). Divine holiness and divine love meet at the cross.

WHY CHRIST’S SALVATION IS INFINITELY SUPERIOR

Yet as genuine as this Old Testament picture is, Christ’s salvation surpasses it in every way.

The bronze serpent offered temporary relief; Christ grants eternal life. Those healed in the wilderness eventually died. But Jesus promises, “Whoever believes in me will live, even though they die” (John 11:25). He offers “an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade” (1 Peter 1:4).

The bronze serpent was a shadow; Christ is the substance. God-given signs always point beyond themselves. Hebrews 10:1 reminds us the law contains “only a shadow of the good things to come—not the realities themselves.” Christ is the Reality. He’s not merely a symbol pointing to salvation—He is salvation. He is God Himself in flesh.

The bronze serpent addressed physical symptoms; Christ deals with sin’s root and power. The wilderness healing treated the consequence of one judgement but left the deeper problem untouched. Those Israelites were healed but remained sinners, still alienated from God. Christ, however, doesn’t merely treat symptoms—He removes sin’s guilt entirely (Romans 8:1), breaks its enslaving power (Romans 6:6-7), and will one day eradicate its very presence (Revelation 21:4). As the Heidelberg Catechism affirms, He delivers us from “all my sins and every evil.”

The bronze serpent provided no reconciliation; Christ restores us to the Father. Here’s the critical difference: looking at the bronze serpent saved Israelites from death, but it didn’t bring them into fellowship with God. Their relationship with the Father remained unchanged. But Christ’s cross accomplishes what the bronze serpent never could—reconciliation. “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:19). Through Christ’s blood, we who were “far away have been brought near” (Ephesians 2:13). We’re not just healed; we’re adopted as God’s children (Galatians 4:5-7).

The bronze serpent addressed one crisis; Christ accomplishes complete redemption. The wilderness healing dealt with a single episode of judgment. But Christ deals with sin comprehensively—its guilt (Romans 8:1), its power (1 John 1:7), and one day, its very presence (Revelation 21:4). As the Heidelberg Catechism affirms, He delivers us from “all my sins and every evil.”

The bronze serpent offered no inner transformation; Christ gives us the indwelling Holy Spirit. Those healed in the wilderness returned to their tents with the same hearts they had before—unchanged, prone to the same rebellion. But everyone united to Christ by faith receives the Holy Spirit, who makes His home within us (John 14:16-17). The Spirit transforms us from the inside out, producing holiness, empowering obedience, and assuring us of our adoption (Romans 8:14-16). This is the “new covenant” promise: God writes His law on our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33; Hebrews 8:10). Christ doesn’t just rescue us from danger—He transforms our very nature.

The bronze serpent served one nation; Christ saves people from every nation. That wilderness remedy was available only to Israelites in one location at one time. But Christ’s invitation extends to “whoever believes”—people from every tribe, language, and nation (John 3:16; Revelation 7:9). What began with one people has culminated in a global gospel.

LOOK AND LIVE

In John 3, Jesus doesn’t merely compare Himself to the bronze serpent—He declares this wilderness moment was always about Him. It was designed by God to help us see the cross.

The pattern of grace is consistent: We’re to look away from ourselves. We’re to look to God’s provision. And to live by faith, not by works.

The same simple faith that saved dying Israelites in the wilderness saves dying sinners today. The remedy is still lifted high. The invitation still stands. Have you looked to Christ?

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

From the wilderness to Calvary, God’s message remains unchanged: Look to the One He has lifted up, and live.

RELATED FAQs

Why did God use a serpent—the very thing that was killing them—as the means of healing? This is one of the most profound aspects of the typology. God chose the form of the judgement as the instrument of salvation, foreshadowing how Christ would become sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21) and become a curse to redeem us from the curse (Galatians 3:13). GK Beale notes this pattern throughout Scripture: God consistently defeats evil by transforming the very instrument of judgement into the means of redemption. The serpent on the pole previews the crucified Christ—judgement and salvation meeting in one lifted-up figure.

What does the Westminster Larger Catechism say about how Old Testament believers were saved? The Westminster Larger Catechism (Q&A 34) affirms Old Testament saints “were saved by looking forward to the promised Messiah” through types and shadows like the bronze serpent. They weren’t saved differently than we are—faith in Christ has always been the only way of salvation. The difference is one of clarity: they looked forward through shadows; we look back at the fulfilled reality. Same Saviour, same faith, different vantage points in redemptive history.
Did Spurgeon preach on the bronze serpent? Yes! Spurgeon’s famous sermon “Look and Live” (based on Isaiah 45:22 but drawing heavily on Numbers 21) emphasises the simplicity of saving faith. He declared: “Looking is not working; looking is the opposite of working… A look, a single glance of the eye of the heart, brings salvation.” Spurgeon used the bronze serpent to combat both legalism (those who think faith is too simple) and despair (those who think they’re too sinful). The message: you don’t have to understand everything—just look to Christ.

What does the Heidelberg Catechism teach about Christ as our only mediator that relates to this? The Heidelberg Catechism (Q&A 18) asks, “Who is this mediator?” and answers He must be “true God and at the same time a true and righteous man.” This connects beautifully to why the bronze serpent ultimately fails as a saviour—it was merely bronze, lifeless metal. Christ alone bridges heaven and earth, being fully God (able to bear infinite wrath) and fully man (able to represent us). No type, shadow, or symbol could accomplish what only the God-man could achieve.

How do modern Reformed scholars view the bronze serpent typology? Contemporary scholars like GK Beale and James Hamilton emphasise Jesus’ explicit citation in John 3:14 validates this as genuine typology, not mere allegory. They note true biblical types are: (1) divinely intended, not randomly imposed by interpreters, (2) historically real events that genuinely foreshadow future realities, and (3) always surpassed by their fulfillment in Christ. The bronze serpent checks all three boxes, making it one of the clearest Christological types in the Old Testament.
Why was the bronze serpent eventually destroyed? What’s the warning for us? In 2 Kings 18:4, righteous King Hezekiah destroyed the bronze serpent because Israelites had begun worshiping it, even burning incense to it. They named it “Nehushtan”—literally “bronze thing”—showing it had become just another idol. The warning is sobering: even God-ordained means of grace can become idols when we trust in them rather than in Christ Himself. We can make idols of baptism, the Lord’s Supper, church attendance, or even our theological knowledge—all good gifts that become dangerous when they replace the Saviour they’re meant to point us toward.

What’s the significance of the word “lifted up” that Jesus uses? The Greek word hypsōthēnai (lifted up) in John 3:14 carries a brilliant double meaning that Jesus intentionally exploits. It means both physical elevation (crucifixion) and exaltation to glory. John uses this same word in John 8:28 and 12:32-34, where it clearly refers to crucifixion, but also connects to Jesus’s glorification. What appeared to be Christ’s greatest humiliation—being lifted up on a Roman cross—was actually His path to glory and our salvation. The bronze serpent was merely lifted up; Christ was lifted up and exalted to the Father’s right hand.

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