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

Larry Cline – Hardin Valley Church Of Christ – 5/31/2015 “Looks Like Our Type” John 3:14-15 Larry Cline – Hardin Valley Church Of Christ – 5/31/2015

“this” is like “that” A “Type”

Numbers 21:4-9 4Then 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. 5The 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.”

6The LORD sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. 7So 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.

8Then 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.” 9And 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.

Edomite snub Loss of a leader Canaanite attack “Stinky” mood

Numbers 21:4 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.

Numbers 21:4 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.

How could they loathe what they didn’t have? Grumpy, complaining folks almost always exaggerate! 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.” (Numbers 21:5)

“The good old days” “The myth of nostalgia” “Nostalgia is when you find the present tense and the past perfect”

Numbers 21:6 The LORD sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.

Numbers 21:7 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.

What was their sin? 9Nor let us try the Lord, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents. 10Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. 11Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. (I Corinthians 10:9-11)

8Then 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.” 9And 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. (Numbers 21:8-9) This is the type we read about in John 3. “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.”

Powerful Parallels The bite of the serpent was deadly. Everyone in the wilderness was in danger.

Like offering a life boat in Mojave Desert. Without the knowledge of the deadly serpents, Moses lifting up a brass snake on a pole would seem ridiculous and useless. Like offering a life boat in Mojave Desert.

2. There was only one snake on one standard that could save people. Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” (John 14:6)

3. The bronze serpent was a replica of the deadly fiery serpent. He made Him who knew no sin [to be] sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (II Corinthians 5:21) Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law. (Galatians 3:13a)

Each person had to look on the bronze serpent himself in order to be saved. God did not remove the poisonous snakes. Instead He provided a way to be saved from their bite.

Where would you have pitched your tent?