Fast forward about 1,500 years. Jesus said, “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up” (John 3:14). Moses lifted up the bronze serpent on the pole as the remedy for their poisonous snake bites, and Jesus was lifted up on the cross as the remedy for the poison of sin.
Why
did God tell Moses to make a snake? The serpents were what they wanted to get
rid of! The reason was because a snake represents evil. “Christ had no
sin, but God made him become sin so that in Christ we would become right with
God” (2 Cor. 5:21). Jesus was made to be what He wasn’t (sin), so we can
become something that we aren’t (righteous). Jesus became the antivenom
for sin.
Antivenom was first introduced 100 years ago. Scientists took venom from snakes and injected it into horses. The horses developed antibodies, which they removed and used as serum to those who had been bitten. They tested many other animals and discovered the blood of a lamb produced the most effective antivenom. (ZNE Science, Feb. 1, 2021)
God created an antivenom through the blood of the Lamb of God. John the Baptist said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). “Behold” means “take a closer look.” Now, instead of looking by faith to a serpent on a pole, we look by faith at Jesus on the cross. The antivenom of the Lamb is more powerful than the serpent’s poison of sin.
