'And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish,
but have eternal life.'
(Joh 3:14-15)
Hello
@Kermos,
The reference in Numbers is Numbers 21:7-9.
'Therefore the people came to Moses, and said,
.. 'We have sinned,
.... for we have spoken against the LORD,
...... and against thee;
........ pray unto the LORD,
.......... that He take away the serpents from us.'
And Moses prayed for the people.
And the LORD said unto Moses,
.. 'Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole:
.... and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, '
...... when he looketh upon it, shall live.'
And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole,
and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man,
when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.'
(Num 21:7-9)
* It is interesting to see the follow up to that story, in 2 Kings 18:3-5a:-
'And he (Hezekiah) did that which was right in the sight of the LORD,
according to all that David his father did.
He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves,
and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made:
for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it:
and he called it Nehushtan. (ie., copper serpent of the desert)
He trusted in the LORD God of Israel;
so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah,
nor any that were before him.'
* 'Looking' in Numbers 21, was the evidence that those bitten believed God, so in that sense the comparison between John 3 and Numbers 21 drawn by our Lord is intended to convey the same truth. 'That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.'
Thank you
In Christ Jesus
Chris