The Brazen Serpent

Sunday Morning Address, by Bro. J. Wood

In our reading this morning in John 3rd Chapter, we are reminded of a circumstance in the history of the Israelites in their wanderings' in the wilderness. In Numbers 21: 4-5, we read: “And they journeyed from Mount Hor, by the way of the Red Sea to compass the Land of Edom: And the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. And the people spake against God, and against Moses, wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness, for there is no bread, neither is there any water, and our soul loatheth this light bread. And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people and much people of Israel died. 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 lie 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." This was a wonderful event that happened in the wilderness between Mount Sinai and Palestine.

Moses describes the awfulness of the locality in Deut. 8: 15, saying: “Who led thee through that great wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water, who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint?" Commentators have argued, and even disputed the truthfulness of the Mosaic account of the brazen serpent, firstly, because they thought that the second commandment forbid the making of anything that had the likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Ex. 20: 4. The golden calf had been destroyed as an abomination, what reason was there for the difference? In fact, of course, the answer may be, that the second commandment forbade not all symbolic forms as such; but those that men made for themselves to worship; but the question still remain? why was this form chosen? We have now arrived at an interesting enquiry, and our Lord's reference to it in this chapter, the third of John, and 14th verse, is an endorsement of its truthfulness. That it is a notable type of Christ, as a sacrifice for sin, of his being a healer; and of the manner of his death by being lifted up on the cross. In Matthew 16: 21, we read that from that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples how that he must go unto Jerusalem and suffer many things of the Elders and Chief Priests and Scribes and be killed and be raised again the third day: Then Peter (evidently not seeing or understanding the necessity of such humiliation) began to rebuke him, saying: Be if far from thee, Lord; this shall not be unto thee. Again he spoke very plainly as recorded by the Apostle John, 8:28: "Then said Jesus unto them, when ye have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall ye know, that I am he." And plainer yet he speaks as recorded in 12th chapter, 32 verse: "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all to myself." Now this he said signifying by what death he was about to die. Notice how careful Jesus was in stating what was in store for him, and lest any phoulrl form wrong impressions, that he probably referred to his expected ascension into heaven, the Apostle explains in the 33rd verse: "Now this He said, signifying what death he should die." Coming back now to our text: 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.

The plain matter of fact, that the serpent was lifted up on a pole, and in like manner Jesus was lifted, up on a cross, made out of a tree, it being portable, was carried a little distance, Jesus then being fastened to it by having his hands and his feet nailed to it, it was called the accursed tree, because the Mosaic law recorded "cursed is every one that hangeth upon a tree. But the question now comes, is this all that we can learn from the similarity of the brazen serpent, and Christ's crucifixion? I would answer no; there is much to be learned beside the likeness of the two, in being lifted up.

The brazen serpent was made by the command of God as a matter of mercy to cure the people that had been bitten by the fiery serpents. Had the people not murmured, and spoken against God, they might have escaped the stinging bites of the fiery serpents, and our thoughts can go farther back still; had the people not sinned in believing the false report of the ten spies, out of the twelve chosen to search out the Land of Canaan, and bring back a report; I say had they not sinned at that particular epoch, they would have had a quick entrance allowed them, and would not have had to travel through the worst part of that waste howling wilderness. As it was, they were punished by a 40 years' sojourn of travels under the direction of Jehovah. And this incident furnishes a strong reminder of that one serpent in the Garden of Eden, who had stung our first parents, by his subtle voice and enchantment, so that they, and their descendants, of whom the Israelites formed a part, were in need of a cure for that sin, which brought with it all the calamities which they experienced, as its first cause. The Deity then being their Overseer in their wanderings, teaches them object lessons, and in the brazen serpent, sets forth to them one likened to the serpent under certain limitations, that should prove a benefactor to the race.

I look upon the serpent made of brass as representing Christ. There was no malignity in the brazen serpent, it was dumb as Christ was before Pilate. The serpent made of brass resembled the fiery serpents, but instead of being a biter, it, with the help of God, was a healer, not to every one, but to all that looked up to it, they recovered from the bite.

The composition of the new made serpent was brass, and remembering that the law given at Sinai required that an altar be made of boards of the acacia tree, and covered entirely with brass, that this was for the purpose of offerings and sacrifices, generally such as peace offerings, or meat offerings, or free will offerings. It was stipulated that the fire of the altar shall always be burning: it shall never go out. The purpose of the altar connected with the offerings thereof was a means for forgiveness of trespasses or sins, and for thanksgivings. Now it is to be noticed that all the furnishings of the altar, such as shovels, basins, ash pans, flesh hooks, fire pans, also the grate of network, in fact everything connected with it, was either made of or covered with brass. Besides all this explicit arrangement, which was duly carried out by Bezaleel, the expert workman, there was an addition made to the brazen altar, by the use of 250 brazen censers, which were made into broad plates. These censers were of themselves a memorial of sin, committed by Korah and his party who rebelled against Moses for his appointment of Aaron to the office of priest. The lives sacrificed of these 250 rebels against God's appointment gave importance to their censers, seeing, that they were consecrated so far, and yet were evidences of sin that had been committed, has tended to elucidate God's meaning to be ascribed to the use of the metal brass. Having now arrived at this conclusion we can see the appropriateness of the brazen alter typifying Christ in his probationary career, as an altar of sins; flesh, for Jesus was human, born of a woman, that needed to be cleansed from that stain, which had infected all her progenitors ever since the first Adam had pinned in paradise, and on account of which sin, our first parents were expelled from paradise.

Jesus partook naturally of the infirmities of his mothers, and of his brethren whom he came to redeem. He was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners, yet at the same time, he is represented by the types as of the diameter of the brazen altar and the brazen serpent. The fact is, that his life was a conflict against the Diabolis: that is, sin in the flesh; he was circumcised, and he was baptized, and he drank of the brook by the way, Ps. 110: 7, which I apprehend to mean, that in his striving to obtain the inheritance promised and to fit himself for the mediatorship, he bowed himself in humility, like a sheep drinking at a natural brook, so he drank of the water of life found in the promises of God, for he says himself, that it was his meat and his drink to do the will of his Father which is in heaven. He became perfect through his sufferings, Heb. 2: 10. From this we know that he was not constitutionally perfect; by his victory over trials and temptations and sufferings of all kinds, including his crucifixion; so we can say he conquered when he fell, he destroyed the Diabolis in his own nature, although for the time being, he succumbed to that serpent power represented as the bruising of his heel. So he is truly represented by the serpent of brass, for there was no venomous activity there.

But the scene changes. The brazen serpent was destroyed by King Hezekiah, the king of Judah, for the people had begun to worship it. That, although it had existed as a memorial of the past, for nearly eight hundred years since Moses made it, yet on account of the people worshipping it, he was provoked, and called it by a vile epithet, "Nehushtan," and denounced it as only a piece of brass. And were it not that Jesus revives the memory of it in this third chapter of John's gospel, it might have passed out of recollection.

The brazen altar with all its furnishings is also out of use, for, although the law was given by Moses, yet it also vanished away, having been suppressed by the Romans at the destruction of Jerusalem over 1800 years ago.

The writer of the epistle to the Hebrews, wrote in the first century and referring to a new covenant yet to be made with the house of Israel, says, "In that he saith a new covenant, he hath made the first old.” Now, that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away; and so it did, but we thank God that there is an altar to take its place, which is superior, as, saith the apostle, the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ, John 1:17. And although Jesus has left the earth for a time he has not left his people without an altar, for although, in his probationary career he was represented in the condition of sin's flesh, that condition has changed, for he has triumphed over the Diabolis, and has succeeded to the divine nature. He has become the propitiatory for his people, and for the purpose of worshipping the Father he has become our Intercessor and Advocate, our High Priest and our Altar. For proof that we have an altar, read the tenth verse of the thirteenth chapter of Hebrews, as follows: We have an altar whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle. Our altar, as at present constituted, is not for bleeding lambs nor bullocks slain, as was the case with the brazen altar. Our altar is the glorified Mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ, and he has given his people the privilege to eat at his table, and to drink wine on the first day of every week, to worship the Father through him. We at the same time memorialize his sufferings and his love for us, in laying down his (psuche) or natural life, that he might rise again and take hold of that (zoen) life which is eternal.

We do not have to go to Jerusalem to approach our ever living Altar; for where two or three of his saints are gathered around his institution, there he is ready to bless them and to do them good.

This condition of things can not be abrogated or destroyed by any army that may make war upon the saints, for each member has been initiated into his name; and there is no power on earth that is able to pluck his saints out of his hand. Jesus says in John 10:29, My Father which gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I find the subject introduced for your edification, commencing with the brazen serpent, increases in interest. It comes home to our very selves, in these last days of Gentile darkness and superstition, and we would fain look ahead for the coming of our Lord to regenerate his people and the world. And we find that in the regeneration a new system of worship shall be inaugurated, when Jerusalem shall be the joy of the world, when proclamation shall be made to all people, languages and color, to come and worship in the new temple which the prophet Ezekiel declares shall be built for their use, in which will be an altar for sacrifices, when the rams of Nebaioth shall come with acceptance upon the altar provided for Israel and the nations, that are still in their mortality, and need a sin remitting institution, see Isaiah 60: 7. But the sacrificial offerings during the period of the regeneration, commonly called the millennium, will be enough matter for a future discourse.

The Christadelphian Advocate. January 1904, pgs. 321-325.