LOOK AND LIVE:

Numbers 21:4-9 NKJV - The Bronze Serpent

4 Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very discouraged on the way. 5 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 our soul loathes this worthless bread.” 6 So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died.

7 Therefore 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.

8 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.

God Provides a Remedy, Not Just a Rebuke

“Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole... and everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” (Numbers 21:8)

• God’s justice required judgment, but His love provided a solution.

• The bronze serpent was lifted up as a symbol of healing—not magic, but faith in God’s provision.

Humanity’s Tendency Toward Rebellion Leads to Destruction

“And the people spoke against God and against Moses…” (Numbers 21:5)

• The Israelites had seen God’s hand through miracles and provision, yet they grumbled and rebelled.

• Rebellion wasn’t just about dissatisfaction—it was a rejection of God's leadership and plan.

• This rebellion brought consequences: fiery serpents and death.

LOOK: raw-aw'

to see, look at, inspect, perceive, consider, have vision, to look at, see, regard, look after, see after, learn about, observe, watch, look upon, look out, find out, give attention to, discern, distinguish, gaze at, present oneself, o cause to look intently at, behold, cause to gaze at

LIVE: ḥāyay

to live, have life, remain alive, sustain life, live prosperously, live forever, be quickened, be alive, be restored to life or health

John 3:1-17 NKJV – Jesus and the New Birth

3 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”

3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

9 Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?”

10 Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? 11 Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?13 No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

BELIEVES: pisteuō

to think to be true, to be persuaded of, to credit, place confidence in, to credit, have confidence, to trust in Jesus or God as able to aid either in obtaining or in doing something: saving faith, to entrust a thing to one

ETERNAL LIFE: zōē

the state of one who is possessed of vitality, life real and genuine, a life active and vigorous, devoted to God, blessed, in the portion even in this world of those who put their trust in Christ, but after the resurrection to be consummated by new accessions (among them a more perfect body), and to last forever

SAVED: sōzō

to save, keep safe and sound, to rescue from danger or destruction, to save a suffering one (from perishing), i.e. one suffering from disease, to make well, heal, restore to health, to preserve one who is in danger of destruction, to save or rescue, to deliver from the penalties of the Messianic judgment

Jesus Is the Ultimate Fulfillment of the Lifted Serpent

“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up...” (John 3:14)

• Jesus draws a direct connection between the bronze serpent and His crucifixion.

• Just as the Israelites were saved by looking at the serpent, we are saved by looking to Jesus in faith.

• Application: Our healing and salvation come through fixing our eyes on Jesus, who was lifted up for our sins.

2 Corinthians 3:18 AMP

And we all, with unveiled face, continually seeing as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are progressively being transformed into His image from [one degree of] glory to [even more] glory, which comes from the Lord, [who is] the Spirit.