在约翰 3:14, 耶稣说, 当摩西在旷野举起蛇时, 即便如此, 人子必须被举起来: 叫一切信他的不至灭亡, 但是有永生. Why was the serpent of brass on the pole a foreshadowing of Jesus’ death on the cross?
Why were the people of God attacked by fiery serpents?
The people of God were attacked by fiery serpents because they sinned: by speaking against God: And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. 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, 并且说, 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. 主对摩西说, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: 它将通过, 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 (数字 21:4-9)
God led His people in a way they didn’t want to go, 因此, they became discouraged. They were not satisfied; 因此, they murmured and complained against Moses and God and came with the familiar ‘why’.
The Israelites were not satisfied and were not excited about God’s plan and all the things that were coming.
They didn’t trust the Lord and relied on His words, but they were dissatisfied with God’s plan, God’s leading, and God’s provision.
They complained about not having bread and water and they loathed the light bread, which God provided for every day.
Due to all their complaining and murmuring and speaking against God and Moses, they brought mischief (邪恶的) 自己.
Because of the fact that God’s people turned against God, God turned against His people and took away His protection and gave them up to their ruler; 蛇, 神的敌人, to whom the people listened and were led.
When God sent fiery serpents among the people and the people were bitten by the serpents and many died, the spiritual was revealed in the natural.
The wicked have sharpened their tongues like a serpent
Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? o ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men? 是的, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth. The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies. Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear; Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely (诗篇 58:1-5)
Deliver me, 我的天, from the evil man: preserve me from the violent man; Which imagine mischiefs in their heart; continually are they gathered together for war. 他们像蛇一样尖舌头; 加法 器’ 毒药就在他们的嘴唇下. Sela (诗篇 140:1-3)
God’s people were not transformed and had not renewed their minds with the words and commandments of God and had not delighted themselves in the law and made the law of God their own
Instead of submitting to God and being led by His words and by His will, the people were led by the will and the nature of the devil aka the serpent, and turned against God and sinned against God through their words.
The serpent of brass was lifted by Moses in the wilderness
But the Israelites repented of their sins, that they had spoken against the Lord and against Moses, and they asked Moses to pray unto God that He would remove the serpents from them.
Moses prayed to God for the people, and God heard Moses’ prayer and answered his prayer, and brought deliverance for the people.
God commanded Moses to make a fiery serpent and put it on a stake. Moses obeyed the words of God and made a serpent of brass and put the brass serpent on a pole, so that the serpent of brass was lifted in the wilderness.
Everyone that was bitten and looked upon the serpent of brass would live
Everyone that was bitten by a serpent and looked upon the serpent of brass on the pole, didn’t die, but lived.
And so God brought salvation (康复) through the serpent of brass and those, who believed and obeyed the words of God and looked upon the serpent of brass, stayed alive.
Why did God command Moses to make a serpent of brass? The serpent is the father of (堕落) 人类. The generation of fallen man has the evil nature of the devil (serpent).
The serpent of brass on the pole, would remember the people of their rebellious behavior and their sin, how they spoke against God and Moses, and the fiery serpents and how God brought salvation (康复) 对那些, who obeyed His words and looked upon the serpent of brass on the pole.
The moment, when the serpent became the father of fallen man
Although Adam walked with God in the garden of Eden, there came a moment when Adam became disobedient to God and believed the words of the devil, which had come to him through the serpent and through Eve, above the words of God and obeyed the words of the devil by eating from the forbidden fruit.
Through his obedience to the devil (serpent), he yielded to the devil and death entered and his spirit died (and came under the authority of death) and lived in the power of the devil.
Through his deed of disobedience to God, Adam had fallen from his position and was (精神上的) separated from God and had become an adversary of God.
The serpent, 恶魔, had become the father of fallen man and everyone, 谁将从人类的种子中诞生, would be born as a sinner and live in the power of the devil and darkness.
From that moment sin and death reigned as king in the lives of fallen mankind (罪人).
But God had already a plan of redemption for fallen mankind, to deliver mankind from the power of the devil, 以及罪恶和死亡. God promised that the seed of the woman would bruise the head of the serpent and the serpent would bruise his heel (创世纪 3).
然而, this didn’t happen immediately, but it took a long time, before God sent His Son Jesus Christ out of love to the earth to deliver fallen mankind from the power of the devil and reconcile man back to Himself (另请阅读: What does it mean the head of the devil was bruised because the heel of Jesus was bruised?)
Jesus came to the earth to redeem the sinners from the power of the serpent
看哪, 我的仆人行事必谨慎, 他必被高举和颂扬, and be very high. As many were astonied at thee; 他的面容比任何人都更加受损, 他的形体胜过世人: 他也必如此洒满许多国家; 君王必向他闭口: 因为他们将会看到那些没有被告知的事情; 他们将考虑他们没有听到的事情 (以赛亚 52:13-15)
谁相信我们的报告? 耶和华的膀臂向谁显现? 因为他必在他面前成长，如一株嫩苗, 如同根出于干地: 他既没有形体，也没有美貌; 当我们见到他时, 没有什么美值得我们渴望他. 他被人藐视和拒绝; 一个充满悲伤的人, 并熟悉悲伤: 我们向他隐藏了我们的脸; 他被鄙视了, 我们不尊重他. 他诚然担当我们的忧患, 并承载了我们的悲伤: 但我们确实认为他受了打击, 被神击打, 并受苦。但他因我们的过犯而受伤, 他因我们的罪孽被压伤: 我们的平安的惩罚落在他身上; 因他受的鞭伤，我们得医治.
我们所有的羊都迷失了方向; 我们已经把每个人都以他自己的方式; 主已将我们众人的罪孽都归在他身上. 他被压迫, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not His mouth: 他像羔羊一样被带到屠宰场, 就像一只羊在剪羊毛的人面前哑口无言, so he openeth not His mouth.
他被从监狱和判断中被带走: 谁将宣布他这一代? 因为他从活人之地被剪除: 因为我的人民的犯罪是他陷入困境的.
And He made his grave with the wicked, 并与富人一起死; 因为他没有暴力, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
然而主却乐意伤他; 他使他陷入痛苦: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, 他将看见他的后裔, 他必延长他的日子, 耶和华所喜悦的事必在他手中亨通. 他将看到他灵魂的劳苦, 并应满足: by His knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; 因为他必担当他们的罪孽.
因此我要把他与伟大的人分享, 他必与强盛的人分夺财物; 因为他已将自己的灵魂倾倒至死: 他被列在罪犯之中; 他裸露了许多人的罪, 并为违法者代求 (以赛亚 53)
And so Jesus came in the likeness of man to earth to redeem man from the power of the serpent (恶魔).
Jesus became equal to mankind and was tempted in all things, 却又无罪, so that Jesus could become the Substitute for fallen mankind. Because if Jesus would not become equal to mankind, and had to be tempted in all things, Jesus couldn’t take the place of mankind and couldn’t become the Substitute for mankind and bear the sins and iniquities of mankind (以赛亚 53, 希伯来书 2:14-18 (另请阅读: The peace restored between fallen man and God 和 耶稣是完全的人吗?)).
耶稣, the Son of Man, was lifted on the cross
Jesus was scourged in such a horrible way, that his face was so marred and His appearance was no longer human. 然后 Jesus was lifted on the wooden cross and carried all the sins and iniquities of humanity, which the Lord laid upon Him. Jesus was made sin and became a curse on the cross.
Although Jesus did the will of God and pleased the Father, and this was all part of God’s redemptive work for fallen man, the people esteemed Jesus stricken, 被神击打, 并受苦受难 (哦. 以赛亚 53:4)
Jesus finished His work on the cross, entered Hades to take the power of death and Hell (哈迪斯) and redeem the prisoners of death, and rose from the dead with the keys of Hell and death (启示 1:18).
Jesus was highly exalted by the Father
让这个思想在你里面, 这也是基督耶稣: WHO, 以上帝的形式, 认为与上帝平等并不是抢劫: 但没有声誉, 并以他的形式, 并以男人的形式制作: 并以时尚的身份被发现, 他谦卑自己, 并服从死亡, 甚至十字架的死亡. 所以神也将他升为至高, 并赐给他一个超乎万名之上的名号: That at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, 天堂里的事物, 以及地球上的事物, 和地底下的事物; 愿万口都承认耶稣基督是主, 为了荣耀父神 (腓立比书 2:5-11)
后 40 天, 耶稣登上天堂, where Jesus was highly exalted by the Father and took place on the throne at the right hand of the Father, 最重要的是公国, 力量, 可能, 和统治 (以弗所书 1:19-21).
每个人, who believes in Jesus Christ and His redemptive work and repent and become born of water and Spirit, shall no longer live in the power of the devil (serpent) and the power of sin and death, 不服从上帝, but shall be transferred from the power of the devil to the Kingdom of God, 耶稣基督为王并掌权的地方, and shall be reconciled with God and be made righteous and inherit eternal life.
Through the disobedience of man to God, the serpent became the father of fallen man, but through the obedience of Jesus Christ to the Father, and Jesus being lifted on the cross, man would be reconciled with God and God would become the Father of the new man (罗马书 5 和 6).
The serpent of brass points to Jesus Christ, Who brings salvation and eternal life
当摩西举起荒野中的蛇, 即使这样，人的儿子也必须被抬起: 叫一切信他的不至灭亡, 但是有永生. 因为神如此爱世人, 他赐下他的独生子, 任何相信他的人都不应该灭亡, 但有永生. 因为上帝不是把他的儿子送入世界来谴责世界; 但是，通过他的世界可能会得救. 相信他的人没有被谴责: 但是那些不相信的他已经被谴责了, 因为他不信神独生子的名 (约翰 3:14-18)
Jesus didn’t come to the earth to condemn man, but to save man Because every man is fallen. Every person is a sinner and is affected by evil (罪恶的本性), 换句话说, is bitten by the serpent, and therefore every man needs salvation. God has provided for the salvation of mankind through His Son Jesus Christ. Jesus came and gave (and still gives) man a choice for life or death.
Because as the serpent of brass was lifted in the wilderness by Moses, brought deliverance from death, and gave life to those, who believed in the words of God and looked upon the serpent, 即便如此, does Jesus Christ, who was lifted on the cross on Calvary, brings deliverance from the power of the serpent (恶魔), 死亡, and darkness and gave eternal life to those, 相信他并在他里面重生的人.
And so Jesus became the Substitute, 递送, Saviour, 治疗师, 作者, and Lord of the new man, who submits to the Word and listens to Jesus and obeys and does His words and lives in the will of the Father.
‘成为地球之盐’
