Snake and Jesus

You probably know that the Bible often uses metaphors. One widely known metaphor is snake/serpent. It first appears in Genesis 3. That snake/serpent is a metaphor for Satan. The serpent caused Adam and Eve to sin. God then said in Genesis 3:15 

And I will put enmity

    between you and the woman,

    and between your offspring and hers;

he will crush your head,

    and you will strike his heel.”

This is God’s plan for dealing with sins and Satan. This verse consists of many metaphors and meanings. 

John 3:14-15 

Perhaps the most widely quoted Bible verse is John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. I call your attention to the two verses immediately preceding it. John 3:14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him. 

I have read John 3:14-15 at least 100 times. Initially, I skipped them (many things in the Bible I did not understand anyway). Then, I was puzzled. What do these two verses mean?  

Moses Lifted (Bronze) Snake 

Jesus was referring to Numbers 21: 6 Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. 7 The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. 8 The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived. Why did God instruct Moses to make a (fake) snake? This bothered me for about ten years. I did not ponder on them. But each time I read these two verses, they remind me that I did not fully understand them. 

Only a few months ago I finally understood the meanings of these verses. First, let us consider what we will do if we face venomous snakes. We may try to get rid of the snakes as the Israelis asked God to do, find antidotes, or call in a snake catcher. The problem is that our solutions do not always work and do not eradicate the root cause. God’s solution works and is final. 

Why are our solutions inferior to God’s solution? Let us consider sacrifices. All religions have sacrifices. The Book of Leviticus (and some other books in the Bible) describes many sacrifices. But sacrifices are no longer required in Christianity. Why? Hebrews Chapter 10:11 Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. 14 For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. God’s sacrifice is better and solves the root cause. The same principle applies to the snake/Satan case. God’s solution is the TRUE solution while all other solutions are just bandages. Also because the snake is a metaphor so I would not recommend trying out on real venomous snakes. 

There are more. In Numbers God directed Israelis to look at the (fake) snake. This immediately reminds me of Hebrew 12:2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. … Do you see the parallel? John 3:15 Son of Man must be lifted up … Furthermore, the main Christian doctrine is that Jesus takes away our sins. This is depicted by these passages. One may wonder why God did not say this in Genesis. It is because Jesus had not been born. Genesis 3:15 did hint that Jesus will prevail.