Author’s Note: Interested readers can find all previous volumes of this series here.
Thanks for joining our Bible study. I wrote “our” to acknowledge and thank the many loyal and passionate readers who enhance this study with their thoughtful and scholarly comments about the Word of God. All Townhall readers learn from you, including me.
Today’s lesson was prompted by a call from my esteemed colleague Russ Breault. He is recognized as one of the world’s leading experts about the Shroud of Turin and a Bible scholar. Russ suggested I write a follow-up to last week’s study about manna from Heaven found in Exodus Chapter 16 that included gospel quotes from Jesus proclaiming Himself “manna” — “the bread of life, who came down from Heaven.”
Russ specifically had in mind another early Old Testament passage recorded in Numbers that also occurred during the 40 years the Israelites wandered in the desert before reaching the promised land. This intriguing, supernatural story involves God, Moses, and a bronze “snake.” Then, similar to Jesus identifying with manna from Heaven, in the New Testament Gospel of John, Jesus explains and proclaims how His forthcoming suffering on the cross and Messianic identity connect to the “snake story” in Numbers.
Russ is well-versed in this story and its relation to Jesus because he has written a forthcoming, groundbreaking book about the Bible and mysteries related to the Shroud of Turin available in early 2022. So now, let’s welcome Russ Breault as the co-writer of today’s Bible study.
First, we must read the original verses from the story in Numbers:
“They [the Israelites] traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, ‘Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!’ “
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“Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. 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. 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.' 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" (Numbers 21:4-9).
Here is how Jesus relates to that Hebrew Bible lesson.
John's gospel in verses 3:1-21 records a lengthy conversation that Nicodemus had with Jesus during a secret meeting at night. Remember that Nicodemus could not openly associate with Jesus since he was a Pharisee — "a member of the Jewish ruling council."
During their meeting, Jesus said: “ ‘Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him ’ ” (John 3:14-15). (For more about why Jesus referred to Himself as the “Son of Man,” see Vol. 53.)
Pop quiz: After John 3:15, guess what Jesus says next to Nicodemus? (Hint: One of His most famous teachings.) Answer: “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” (John 3:16). (See Vol. 32 for further study about “eternal life.”)
Later in John’s gospel, again, Jesus indirectly references the snake story using the phrase “lifted up” when He declares: “ ‘And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself ’” (John 12:32).
To review, here again, is the critical Numbers’ passage: “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.’ 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.”
Jesus alludes to the snake Moses put on the pole to prophesize His crucifixion. The serpent represents the curse, as St. Paul wrote in Galatians: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole’ ” (Galatians 3:13). (Paul, a renowned Jewish scholar, schooled in the Hebrew Bible, referenced Deuteronomy 21:23.)
Believers in Jesus know that He hung on a cross made from a tree. Then He took on the curse of sin in our place by allowing himself to be crucified — a form of execution reserved only for criminals. It was as if the snake (Satan) had bitten the entire human race with the ensuing consequence of death. Jesus compared himself to the bronze snake on the pole and became sin in our place.
Moreover, what Jesus says in John 6:40 relates to the Numbers’ snake verses: “For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”
The operative phrase is “everyone who looks to the Son” since, by God’s command, the ancient Israelites looked to the snake hanging on a pole and lived.
Thus, the lesson for today echoes Numbers 21:4-9. Believers in Jesus look at Jesus — raised up, hung on a cross — and we “live” because He “lives” and proclaimed, “..everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”
Let’s say a loud “Amen!”
Myra Kahn Adams is a media producer and conservative political and religious writer with numerous national credits. She is also Executive Director of SignFromGod, a ministry dedicated to educating people about the Shroud of Turin. Contact: MyraAdams01@gmail.com or Twitter @MyraKAdams.
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