Advent
Post 47
12-10
You Don't Know This About Jesus: He Compared Himself to the Serpent
"Just as Moses lifted up the serpent 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
In the wilderness, venomous snakes swept through Israel's camp.
Death spread fast.
Then God gave Moses a strange command:
"Make a bronze serpent and lift it up. Anyone who looks at it will live" (Numbers 21:8–9).
No medicine.
No ritual.
Just look—and live.
To look is to choose—
one thing above all others.
Vision locks attention.
You can't look in two directions—
at once.
And here's the wonder:
in less than 200 milliseconds, the human brain can process a visual image.
Faster than speech.
Faster than thought.
That's why God chose looking.
He designed vision as the fastest path to faith.
To look at the serpent meant
to look away from the wound,
the pain,
the false cures,
the despair.
Centuries later, Jesus shocked His listeners:
You may not know this about Jesus—
He compared Himself to the serpent.
The serpent lifted brought life to the dying.
The Savior lifted brought life to the dead.
Looking was believing.
Believing is trusting.
Trusting is surrendering to the one condition God gave.
We look.
We believe.
And we live.
