The Suffering Savior

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 he 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. (Numbers 21:5-9)

This is quite remarkable; we see here that the children of Israel sinned because of complaining and murmuring against the Lord and His servant Moses. Then we read that God almighty sent judgment upon the people of Israel by sending deadly serpents to bit the People. But again we see God's mercy because He makes a way to be restored and healed. This all represents what Jesus did for you and I on the cross. If you remember the story found in the gospel of John when a religious man by the name of Nicodemus came to Jesus to ask about being born again; Jesus said something that perhaps made Nicodemus wonder why Jesus would say something like that. Here is what Jesus said, it is found in (John 3:14), He said, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up". When I first read this I wondered (maybe like you did) why would Jesus compare Himself to a serpent in the wilderness? When you begin to study the scriptures you understand why Jesus would say something like this. For the Bible explains the Bible, never forget that. You have study the whole Bible to understand the Bible. No-body can just pick out a scripture and understand what is being said, you have to study the whole word of God. So I will show you why Jesus compared Himself to the serpent in the wilderness. First, let's remember that a serpent is a curse thing. From the very beginning God cursed the serpent in Genesis when He declared to the serpent, "thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. (Genesis 3:14) So we see anytime a serpent is mention in the Bible it is talking about a cursed thing. So the question is why would Jesus compare Himself to a cursed thing? Here is why, in order for Jesus to die for us He had to become sin. He had to become a curse for you and I. (Galatians 3:13) when Jesus became a curse you and I were redeemed from the curse. Notice I said "were" redeemed, it is already done! Today we are free from the curse because Jesus became a curse for us.

Now back to Numbers 21:9, when Moses made the serpent he made it out of brass, because brass speaks of suffering in the Bible. (Revelations 1:15) Jesus was our suffering Savoir who became a curse for us and died on the cross. Look at verse 9 again, it declares that Moses took the brass serpent and put it on a pole which represents the cross of Jesus Christ. Then verse 9 says if any man was bitten by the serpent and he looked upon the brass serpent on the pole he would not die. This is so wonderful, today if sickness or diseases has taking hold of your body and you were told by your doctor that you have to die, all you have to do is look to the suffering savior on the cross who became a curse for you and died so that you may live and live in abundance. That's why Jesus told Nicodemus He (Jesus) would be lifted up as Moses lifted up the serpent. Jesus paid the price and became a curse so that we would live in victory over sickness and disease all the days of our lives. I think you should lift up your hands to the Lord and thank Him for taking your place on the cross, not only because of sin and death but because of that sickness and bondage that can cause such misery. Thank you Jesus!
Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com