HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT
Why bronze SERPENT???
John 3:14-15: Jesus speaking:
"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life."
Christ was referring to the narrative in Numbers 21:4-9 where God commanded Moses to create a bronze serpent set on a pole so that any Israelite bitten by the venomous serpents sent by God to bite them, will be healed.
We all know that Christ was referring to his crucifixion as part of the road to eternal life or salvation.
BUT why bronze SERPENT and not an image of an Israelite? Why did Christ liken himself to a snake, OR DID HE? It is difficult to answer this correctly unless we refer to how the early church pastors understood it. The earliest one to write about this was Ireneaus, disciple of Polycarp of Smyrna ("the angel of the church in Smyrna" Revelation 2:8) who was a disciple of St. John the Apostle.
Ireneaus noted that the serpents were the source of death and a "serpent on a pole" would be the source of life. Spiritually, the serpents which bit the Israelites represent man's corrupted nature by which God prevented access to the Tree of Life. Ireneaus points out that this corrupted nature is what needs to be crucified in order for healing to take place. So Christ had to take on the form of corrupted flesh to nail it to the cross with Him. And when Christ requires that in order to follow him we must FIRST renounce our self and take up our cross daily (Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23; Luke 14:27). Christ MEANT we have to UNITE with Him in water baptism (John 3:5; Romans 6:3-11) so that our corrupted human nature will to be nailed to the cross with Christ and die as Christ died, buried as Christ was buried in order to rise with resurrection power as Christ rose.
OBVIOUSLY, salvation without the death of self by being crucified with Christ is NOT SALVATION AT ALL. St. Paul, who NEVER READ the Gospels nevertheless described true salvation VERY PRECISELY in Galatians 2:20:
"I HAVE BEEN CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST. IT IS NO LONGER I WHO LIVE, BUT CHRIST WHO LIVES IN ME. AND THE LIFE I NOW LIVE IN THE FLESH I LIVE BY FAITH IN THE SON OF GOD, WHO LOVED ME AND GAVE HIMSELF FOR ME."
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