The Serpent, the Savior, and the Salvation of the World

A Reflection on John 3:14-16 and Numbers 21:4-9

John 3:16 is recognized as the most famous verse in the Bible. Its popularity grew to the point of being seen in the stands at NFL games, and Stone Cold Steve Austin appropriated it with his infamous “Austin 3:16 says I just whipped your ass!” Needless to say, even that drove people to inquire where the “3:16” came from. Their search would’ve revealed, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John‬ ‭3‬:‭16‬).

It is a verse worthy of popularity, for it says something about the Christian God that is said about none of the other so-called gods: He loves the world. Most other gods are marked by their impassibility; they cannot be bothered with puny human affairs. They do not love the world enough to bat an eye or send a Son to solve the problem. The Christian God does. His actions are worthy of end zone signs and more!

While John 3:16 glows with recognizable familiarity, the verses surrounding it lie in the darkness its shadow cast. In this article, I will deal with the two verses that precede it and, in my opinion, enhance it by its Old Testament connection.

“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” — John‬ ‭3‬:‭14‬-‭15‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Numbers 21:4-9 is the passage Jesus refers to during his midnight conversation with Nicodemus, a teacher of the law who would’ve been very familiar with the theological implications of the reference. There, we find the Israelites engaging in what had become a tradition during their wilderness adventure. That is, complaining.

“And the people became impatient on the way. And the people spoke against God and against 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 worthless food.’” Numbers‬ ‭21‬:‭4‬-‭5‬

This, by the way, is representative of the world “God so loved.” It is easy for us to victimize ourselves, thus viewing God as the one who comes to save the deserving. Instead, as Paul says in Romans 5:6-11, the Son was sent on a mission to die for God’s enemies. Enemies who were actively complaining about the miraculous food — manna — God provided for them each day (cf. Numbers 11:1-9). “We loathe this worthless food.” These were the ones God so loved.

However, God does not respond to their complaints in Numbers by sending the Son. Instead, he sends in fiery snakes (Numbers 21:6), which bite and kill many of them, causing their complaints to turn to cries for mercy.

“And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.” Numbers‬ ‭21‬:‭7‬

As you and I have likely experienced, God didn’t answer their prayer as they requested. He did not “take away the serpents from them.” Instead, he had Moses fashion a serpent out of bronze and place it in the camp. That way, those bitten could look upon it and live.

Why does Jesus refer to this story before his famous John 3:16 line? There are many answers, some quite bizarre. I will stick with one that resonates with Jesus and Paul’s teachings on salvation.

Firstly, our sins deserve judgment. We are prone to forget that. It is only by the mercy of God that we are not constantly bitten.

Secondly, God’s mercy is beyond comprehension. He desires not merely the removal of the thing causing us pain but our salvation. This is why he doesn’t simply send the snakes out of the camp as he sent them in. Often, the lesson is learned through pain and suffering. Removing what causes pain may limit growth and impede salvation.

Therefore, instead of removing the pain, God provides a sacrament, a means of grace that could bring merciful deliverance if they obeyed his command and looked.

But why a snake on a pole?

Michael Heiser and other notable scholars suggest that God was encouraging Moses to use a practice called homeopathic or sympathetic magic.

“Sympathetic magic is where the cure for a problem is achieved by fashioning a physical object that relates to the problem or looks like the problem or in some ways associated with the problem in order to combat the problem.”¹

Another example is when rain dancers would pour water on the ground to invoke a similar response from the deity.² Now, don’t get your knickers in a twist. I can sense some of you preparing to report me to some council for heresy. God can use any means to heal that he chooses. Whether it is a commanding word, spit mixed into dirt, fingers plugged into deaf ears, or even dying on an accursed tree. In doing so, he consistently demonstrates that he, not the medium, has the power to deliver.

God made the very thing causing their suffering, the means through which they would receive deliverance. He did the same when he sent his only Son in the likeness of human flesh, the dwelling place of sin, to be nailed to a cross.

What do we see when we look at Jesus, hanging there forsaken and shamed? We see the very thing that was causing our torment. That is, the power of Sin in human nature.

“For our sake,” Paul writes, “he [God] made him [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

NT Wright, commenting on Romans 8:1-4, writes:

The son came ‘in the likeness of sinful flesh’; in other words, to the very point where the problem… had been identified. Sin… had become ‘exceedingly sinful’ through the law; God specifically intended that it should. Now Israel, in whom that increase of sinfulness had occurred, was summed up in one man, the representative king, the Messiah. The weight of the world’s sin was focused on Israel; the weight of Israel’s sin was focused on the Messiah. And the Messiah died a criminal’s death, with ‘King of the Jews’ written above his head. At that moment, God condemned sin. He condemned sin ‘in his flesh.’ He had cornered it and condemned it. As the prophet had said, ‘the punishment that brought us peace fell upon him; and with his stripes we are healed’ (Isaiah 53.5).”³

As the snakes bit and poisoned the flesh of the Israelites, Sin stings and infects human nature, bending our thoughts, wills, desires, and intentions out of shape. Therefore, just as God commanded Moses to fashion a snake and hang it on a pole, Jesus, being lifted on the cross, took the power of Sin into his body, where God condemned it.

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

To look and to believe are synonymous. Those snake-bitten Israelites would look at the bronze snake, expecting to be delivered. Jesus says that whoever believes in him “may have eternal life.” To believe, like looking at the bronze snake, is an act of expectant faith that puts one into contact with the source of deliverance.

There you go, one pastors take on a fascinating passage. What’s your take?

1. https://www.nakedbiblepodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Transcript-103-Moses-Bronze-Serpent.pdf

2. https://enterthebible.org/passage/numbers-214-9-the-bronze-serpent

3. Paul for Everyone: Romans, Part One: Chapters 1-8 (The New Testament for Everyone) by N. T. Wright