Now, text in the book of Numbers
21 catches the children of Israel between Egypt and Canaan in their
wilderness journey. They're on their wilderness journey,
and we pick up the reading in verse 4, Numbers 21, reading
through verse 9, then flipping to John 3, 14 and 15. Here's the text from the book
of Numbers. 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 you brought us
out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, neither
is there any water, and listen to this, and our soul loatheth
this light bread. And the Lord sent five 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, but we have spoken against the
Lord and against thee. Pray unto the Lord that he may
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
everyone that is bitten, when he looks 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. or write in John chapter 3 and
verse 14 and 15. And this is a part of our Lord's
nighttime discourse with Nicodemus. Verse 14 and 15. And as Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the
Son of Man be lifted up. But whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. Joseph Hall, I have a book
by him entitled Contemplation, and it includes a short meditation
and an account of this event. And here's a part of what Joseph
Hall wrote about this incident with the Israelites. Quote, seven
times already hath Israel mutinied against Moses and against God,
and seven times had they either been threatened or punished,
and yet now they fall to it afresh, unquote. They had not learned
their lesson. It had not cured them of their
depravity and of their rebellion. But this of course is just another
proof of what is written about Israel, that they were a disobedient
and against saying people. Romans chapter 10 and verse 21.
Isaiah 65 verse 2 and 3. They are a rebellious people
which walk in a way not good after their own thoughts, a people
that provoke me to anger continually to my face as God charges unto
them. Now how did they do that? A little
bit of history. At Mara, when they came to Mara
and how thirsty they were from their journey, they murmured
because the water that was there was too bitter for them to drink. And so they murmured. Exodus
chapter 15, verse 23 through 25. And then they began to murmur
for food in the wilderness. And they longed again for the
flesh pots that they had in the land of Egypt, Exodus chapter
16. And then in Exodus 32, they made
a golden calf because they did not think that Moses would return
again. unto them from the mouth, and
many such like things they did during the course of their journey
in the wilderness. Ah, but the mercies of God toward
them were still great, and they were still many. Here are some
of the mercies of God that should have convinced them that the
hand of God was upon them, and that God was with them. Down
in the land of Egypt, we remember that their firstborn were spared,
while all the firstborn of Egypt were smitten and died, because
they had not the blood of the Lamb upon their doorpost. And then, when they left out
of Egypt, they went across Jordan, rather the Red Sea, on dry land. God, as it were, parted the waters
that they might go across without drowning. But Pharaoh and his
armies, God did drown in the Red Sea on that occasion. During their experience in the
wilderness, they drank water out of a smitten rock. Now how unlikely a source is
that for a good drink of water. Something else was amazing. In
Deuteronomy chapter 8 and verse 4, their clothes did not wear
out all those 40 years in the wilderness. And in all that walking,
their feet did not swell while they walked in the wilderness.
Deuteronomy 29 and verse 5, neither their clothes nor their shoes
wore out, and they drank water out of a rock, and they had bread
from heaven that was sent down in the midst of them. Our text
today concerns one of the great mercies and yet one of the great
judgments of God, and that is the manna, M-A-N-N-A. When they brought a great judgment
upon themselves because of what they did, but at the same time
It gave us one of the greatest and of the closest and most spiritual
types of Christ that we have in all of the Old Testament. So look at our text in Numbers,
first of all. In Numbers 21, verse 4. The soul
of the people was much discouraged. Why? It said, because of the
way. Now Edom had refused to let them
pass through their land, which had been the short way upon their
journey. And so they had to go the long
way around because they could not get permission to pass through
the land of Edom. Numbers 20 and verse 21. Now in verse five of our text,
they complain and they murmur They murmured not only against
Moses but also against God and they made a charge to Moses that
they had made on other occasions as well. They said to him, you
brought us out here in this desert to starve us to death or that
we might die of thirst in the wilderness. You have brought
us here that you might kill us by hunger and by thirst. Now this same complaint had been
made on earlier occasion. You find it exactly in Exodus
16 and verse 3. You find it again in Exodus 17
and verse 3. You have brought us out here
only that we might die a miserable, starving, and hunger death. And they even said, would we
have died by the flesh pots of Egypt? And their thought is,
if we had even our bellies, we would have died with full belly. Now verse five says again, there's
no bread, neither is there any water. That is, there's none
in the natural way. Here we are out in the wilderness,
no bread and no water. And often moving about, they
had no time to plow, plant, cultivate, and harvest, or to dig wells
that they might have water to drink. Now we look at the end
of verse five, And as to their complaint, it rises to new and
insulting heights against God and against Moses. Look what
it said. And on top of all this, not only
is there no bread, not only is there no water, there's no food
and nothing to drink, but our souls loathe this light bread. We detest it. We hate this light
bread. Now, of course, they are referring
unto the manna. We detest it. We hate it. We
despise it, this light bread. Every day, manna, manna, manna. Every day, seven days a week,
nothing but this manna to put upon our table, and our souls
detest it. You might pardon a little personal
experience, a little bit humorous. I remember the first year that
we were married, we went on a little trip with Carey Brother Groover,
his Betty, and my wife's parents and so forth. And we were cheap,
had to be cheap. We were eating out of an ice
chest. We had a bunch of bologna. We had bologna twice a day, bologna
sandwich in the roadside park. Brother Groover said one day,
look, can't we change to cheese or something else? Tired of the
bologna. But they speak with contempt
of that manna, calling it this light bread. Now the concordance
lists the meaning of this word light as insubstantial. This is insubstantial bread for
us. And some render it this worthless,
bread, this worthless bread every day. Some even call it this miserable
bread that we have every day of our life. Calvin thought that
it was a metaphor for vile, contemptible, and valueless bread or food. Gil thinks they meant it had
little of substance in it and therefore little virtue, not
very filling and not very satisfying when they had manna to eat from
God every day out of heaven. Now whatever that might be, the
institution of this manna you have in the 16th chapter of the
book of Exodus, and it is very interesting. You have it again
in Numbers chapter 11 mentioned. Now, manna means, I guess we
could say that manna means whateness. Whateness, manna, in Exodus 16
and 15. When the children of Israel saw
it, for the very first time. They said one to another, it
is manna. And then it adds, for they wish
not, they knew not what it was. So manna means literally, what
is it? Mysterious it was, they did not
make it or grow it or buy it. It came down out of heaven and
there lay upon the ground for them. Now very quickly, in Exodus
chapter 16, it gives us the regulating commandment regarding the manna. First of all, every morning when
the dew fell, there was the manna on the ground just outside of
their tent. that they might go and gather
a day's supply. Now when the sun came up and
got hot, the scripture tells us that it melted and that it
was no more. So a late sleeper would not have
any breakfast that day. It was gathered six days out
of the week. On six days, they went out and
gathered their manna. Just enough, no more and no less,
for each person that would dwell in their tent for that day. Now
here's something amazing. If they tried to cheat and gather
an extra portion and lay it up so that they might have extra,
we read that it stunk and it had worms in it and they could
not get any value out of it. Here's another amazing thing. On the day previous unto the
Sabbath, they were to gather a double portion and it stayed
fresh It did not stink, and it did not get worms in it. And
the manna, we're told, was kind of like a honey cake, as we might
best describe it. Numbers 11, 7, and 8. Exodus
16 and 31. In Numbers 11 and 7 we read,
the manna was coriander seed and the color was the color of
bdellium. And another thing, in Exodus
chapter 16, 32 through verse 36, They were to lay up a portion
of this manna as a memorial unto the generation that were to come
after them, that they might show their posterity what God had
fed them with in the wilderness. You read that in Hebrews chapter
9 and verse 4. And the manna lasted until they
went into the land of Canaan. And every day until they were
settled in Canaan, and then it was cut off, the manna came down
for them. Exodus 16, verse 35. You have it again in the book
of Joshua, chapter 5, and verse 12, when the manna ceased as
they were in the land of promise. Now remember their murmuring,
that there was a mixed multitude that went up with them out of
the land of Egypt. Exodus 12 and verse 38. Numbers 11 and verse 4. And it was that mixed multitude
that fell to murmuring, and they began to lust and They began
to pine, and they began to desire and long for their Egyptian diet
again, what they had in the land of Egypt. And it set Israel on
the same course. Now, back to 21 and 5, our souls
loatheth this light bread. And this time, the Lord's chosen
method of judgment, what was it? At times, God caused the
earth to open up and swallow the rebels. At times, they were
slaughtered because of their rebellion and such like. But
what is God's method? of punishment and of judgment
upon this occasion. Well, the text said, he sent
fiery serpents among them. And those serpents began to bite
the people and being poisonous, many of the people of Israel
died. Now, some sort of snakes. And we read that there were serpents
in the wilderness, Deuteronomy chapter 8 verse 15. And the Lord
sent them among the people for a special reason. as the Lord
can call a ravenous bird from the east, so he can send servants
into their camp. And the Lord sent serpents among
them, and their bite was poisonous and deadly, and many of them
began to fall over with a high fever and infection, and begin
to die. So the Lord used this kind of
judgment against their murmuring. Well, quickly, the people confessed
their sin, come crying to Moses, oh, Moses, pray for us that the
Lord might take away these fiery servants, serpents. And Moses,
ever the faithful intercessor for his gigantic flock, prayed
unto the Lord. He carried the matter before
the Most High God, the throne of grace. He made intercessory
prayer once more for the people of Israel. And in verse 8 of
Numbers 21, the Lord told Moses to make the likeness of a serpent,
make a representation of a fiery serpent and then to fasten that
representation upon a pole and lift it up in the midst of the
camp of Israel. And if anyone had been bitten
by the fiery serpent, they might look upon that serpent of brass
and be healed and be cured and not die. If they looked Upon
that serpent they were spared, even though they had been bitten
and the poison presently was working death in their body. Moses did so, and we read in
verse 9. He made a serpent of brass, put
it upon a pole, and it came to pass that if a serpent had bitten
any man, when he looked upon the serpent, he lived. Now, notice something. The serpent
was not a real live one that Moses caught and placed upon
that pole. It was made in the likeness of
the serpent. It was made of brass, but itself
had no venom in it. It was a likeness, but it had
not the poisonous venom that was in the other serpent that
was causing their death. And what the people were to do,
the bitten, the hurting, the fevered, and the died, filled
with that lethal poison from the bite, what must they do?
Well, look upon the serpent. Everyone that looks upon, not
Moses, but upon the serpent, the remedy is the one and the
same for all. Look and live. And I emphasize
the word look. Look, look, look. upon the serpent
of brass. Let me emphasize it. Look upon
that serpent of brass, not rub it, not touch it, not bow before
it, not burn candles before the serpent. not make sacrifice,
not any burning incense, not even pray to it, do not crawl
upon the ground. In fact, they need not come near
the very pole or the serpent. If they could see it and look
upon it, they would be spared of their death. So they were
not necessarily to come to it. or to lay flowers or teddy bears
at the bottom of the pole. They only needed to lift up their
eye and look upon that pole. serpent, and when they did, they
were cured. We read in Numbers 21 and 9 again,
and it came to pass that if a serpent had bitten, when he beheld the
serpent of brass, then he lived. A glance upon it, and death was
stayed. Look at it, see it, and you would
not die. The bite of the poison was counteracted
by them looking and beholding the serpent. Now such a one went
away made whole, as if he had never been bitten at all. On the other hand, those who
refused it or neglected the remedy or thought it foolish and useless,
went away and died. Those who lived, those who did
not, died. For it is sure that no other
remedy was provided as a cure, an antidote, for the bite of
the fiery serpent. No other way was there to remove
the sting of death except by the looking upon the serpent
of brass. Now I think judging human nature,
that we might expect that there were those that were skeptical
of this cure and of this remedy. And they counted it foolishness
that an inanimate object upon a pole and them merely looking
at it might stay the hand of death. Perhaps they were expecting
something more dramatic, both from Moses and to be required
of them. Perhaps they thought Moses would
say a great prayer, or fire would come down from heaven, or something
after that manner. Moses would make a sacrifice
of some sort, and it'd be at an end. Or that Moses would come
out and wave his rod over them, as that rod had done so many
great wonders. It seemed like such an unlikely
cure, did it not, to the natural man? Simply look upon that. What
profit is there in looking upon the likeness of a snake fastened
upon a pole? A waste of time and a hardship
for those lying upon their pallet and in their tent at the very
point of death. Now as it did perhaps when The
prophet Elijah, you remember when Naaman went to the prophet
Elijah to be healed of his leprosy and he went and he stood at his
door and the prophet sent word, didn't even come out, sent word
out and said, tell Naaman to go dip seven times in Jordan
and his flesh will come again whole. And what did Naaman do? He stormed away mad and angry. Well, if that's what it is, we
got better rivers than this in our homeland. And then he said,
I thought the prophet would surely come out and pray and shake his
hand over me or something like that. But he told him simply,
go dip in the pool of Jordan seven times and at last he did
and his flesh came whole as the Prophet said. Now concerning
this serpent of brass, it gives us one of the clearest types
of Christ that we have under the old economy. Now let's explain
what we mean when we call something in the Old Testament a type,
a typos, a type, something in the Old Testament is a type of
something about our Lord and salvation. We see the words in
the New Testament, shadow, a shadow of good things to come, Colossians
2.17. Examples are figures in 1 Corinthians
6, And verse 10, these things were our example, and the margin
has it as figures. These things were figures unto
us. In Hebrews 8 and verse 5, the
example and shadow of heavenly things. Hebrews 9 and 9 a figure
for the time then present and Hebrews 10 and 1 the law having
a shadow of things to come and not the very image and Hebrews
11 and And 19 said that Isaac was raised up from death in a
shadow, or in a type. Now what is a type? How is something
typical in the Old Testament? What is a type? Thomas Goodman
wrote this, a type of a thing to come has prophetical resemblance,
unquote. A type has some resemblance to
something that is to come in that new and better way in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Actually, the word type means
like putting a stamp upon something, an impression or a print, as
it were, bearing a resemblance and having a very close likeness
to something that is real or that is to come. Thus Jonah,
in the belly of the great fish was a type of Christ three days
and three nights in the bowels of the earth or in the grave.
Matthew chapter 12, 38 through 40. Again, Melchizedek was a
type of Christ as an everlasting priest. Hebrews chapter 7 the
Passover lamb was typical of Christ who is our Passover 1st
Corinthians 5 and verse 7 now in the Old Testament there were
types and in the Old Testament there were three types Three
kinds of types. Number one, there were inanimate
types of Christ, such as the serpent of brass, the manna in
the wilderness, and the smitten rock. Inanimate types of Christ,
having no life in them. Second, there were animal types
of Christ, as the Passover lamb in Exodus chapter 12. And then
there were human types of our Lord, such as Adam and Abraham
and Joseph. But now, let's go to that passage
in John chapter 3 and see how our Lord answers the type of
the serpent on the pole in the wilderness. We have read it.
It is a word unto Nicodemus. It is a part of our Lord's discourse
with Nicodemus. Now, Nicodemus was an unregenerate
man, I believe at this time. He was a Jew, he was a pharisaic
Jew, he was a ruler, and he was a master of Israel as we read
in verse 10 of John chapter 3. That is, he was a teacher. He was a teacher of Israel. And the Lord refers to a passage
which this Jewish teacher should have been very familiar with. Moses lifting up the serpent
on the pole. The first part of their discussion
concerned the new birth. Our Lord tells him a man must
be born again or he cannot see or enter the kingdom of God. Nicodemus didn't understand that.
Can a man enter the second time after he's grown? and be born
again. Jesus is talking about a birth
of the Spirit. But then, the second part, he
comes to describe himself or to present himself to Nicodemus
as being the antitype the serpent which Moses set up on a pole
and lifted up among the Israelites. That there is something about
the one that foreshadows the other, and there's something
about the other that fulfills the type of in the former, so
that prefigured him in some way. George Hutchison wrote in his
commentary on the Gospel of John, quote, Christ, by subjoining
this to the doctrine of regeneration, teaches Nicodemus the way unto
eternal life. And which is evident that it
is by the virtue and the merit and the work of the Lord's Christ. That is, Christ must be lifted
up like the serpent on the pole was lifted up. That was done
in a figure and this is done in substance and reality. So let's look closer. Let's turn
aside and behold the words of our Lord for they are edifying. First the comparison. Just as
Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness. So must the son
of man be lifted up. So must he be. Must be lifted
up. It behooved him. It was necessary. It had to be. It is imperative
and that upon at least two accounts. It is imperative, one, because
God ordained him to die. The Lord appointed the Lord Jesus
Christ to become incarnate and assume a body and in that body
die on the cross. He was the lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. Revelation 13 and 8. In the mind
and the decree of God, Christ was slain before the world. When
the purpose was formed in the decree, Christ was slain. He
was born to die. This was purposed before he came
into the world. And so it must be that all things
determined and written of him must be fulfilled. But it is
imperative on another account, and that is, it was by God's
appointment the only remedy for sin. It is the only way that
a sinner might be saved. It's the only way they could
be free from the serpent's bite by looking upon that serpent. So the cross is the only way
whereby a sinner might be saved and freed from the condemnation
of sin, the death of our blessed Lord on the cross. Now, let's
notice how our Lord expresses it, His being put to death. In
like manner as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up. And we'll look at that in
a moment. What does he mean by being lifted
up? The son of man must be lifted
up. We know how the serpent was lifted
up. He was put on a pole. Poles stood
up above their head so that they might look and see it. But some there are who might
take it to mean lifting Him up in our preaching and in our worship,
lifting Him up as the Holy One of God, praising Him, exalting
Him, lifting Him up in that way. Others might think that it applies
to His ascension into heaven. that he was lifted up and a cloud
received him out of their sight. He was taken up and set down
at the right hand of God and made Lord and Christ. Now, neither of these suit the
context or the type in which we are studying this morning.
For neither of these ways was the serpent of brass lifted up. He was lifted up on the earth
on a pole above the head of the people. How high? I can't tell
you, for we're not told in the scripture. But in neither one
of these two ways was the serpent lifted up among the people. Now,
we have the Lord's own explanation of the meaning of His being lifted
up. What did He mean by it? Well,
in John 8 and verse 28, Then Jesus said unto them, When you
have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall you know that I am
He. And in the 12th chapter of the
Gospel of John, and verse 31 through verse 34, we read something
interesting. And I, if I be lifted up from
the earth, will draw all men unto me. This, he said, signifying
what death he would die. The people answered him, we've
heard out of the law, that Christ abided forever. How sayest thou
the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man? They understood that he meant
his death by being lifted up. Now, it follows his triumphal
entry into Jerusalem in the first part of John chapter 12. And
he speaks of his coming death. Instead of being a king sitting
upon a throne upon the earth, he was about to be put upon a
cross. to be lifted up and to die. And verse 33 of John 12 is very
clear. This, he said, signifying which
death he would die. His lifting up, therefore, is
his dying. And it refers to the effect of
his death, that this would be judgment and condemnation upon
the world while being a source of life unto all kinds of people. So it is clear, by His being
lifted up, He means His death. And in John chapter 12, verse
34, the people of those hearing Him understood that He spoke
of His death when they said, we've heard Messiah will continue
ever, and yet you say that He is to die. So, that yet you say
the Son of Man must be lifted up. Now they knew that he claimed
to be Messiah, and they knew that he was predicting his death
or his crucifixion. And in their mind, they could
not reconcile the two things. Scripture said Messiah will abide
forever Christ saying I'm the Messiah and I'm about to be crucified
Maybe they had in their mind Psalm 89 36 or Micah chapter
5 and 2 or Daniel 7 and verse 14 their words amount to this
we Jews have always been taught that Christ is an eternal one
and now You claim to be Him and speak of dying. By the way, this
was a major stumbling block to the whole unbelieving Jewish
nation, that their Messiah would be put upon a cross. Hear their question in John 12,
34 again. Who is this Son of Man? Now, I won't say much about it,
because that mystified me to no end, and I'm going to give
it a try next Sunday to preach about Him as the Son of Man. And when Jesus said unto his
disciple, who do people say that I, the Son of Man, am? He said, well, some say Jeremiah,
one of the prophets, or such like. And the Lord said to them,
who do you say that I am? And Peter leads the way, the
Christ, the Son of the living God. But let's go back to John
3 and verse 15. And the finishing of the Lord's
comparison. Moses lifted up the serpent in
the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever
believes on him has eternal life. Now, here's our comparison. We
have fiery serpents. We have sin. We have a pole. We have the cross in Jerusalem. We have a brass serpent. We have
the son of man upon the tree. We have type and we have any
type. One healing the flesh and one
saving the soul everlastingly. Now I want to make a statement
and hear it clearly and consider it. And that is, looking upon
that brass serpent in Numbers 21, did not save their soul. Looking upon that serpent of
brass did not save their soul. Unregenerate Jew might look upon
that serpent of brass and be cured in the body. They did not
need to be regenerate to do that. Even though, as Matthew Henry
wrote, there was a lot of gospel in that serpent. upon that Pope. But one must have a new heart,
one must be born again, one must be regenerate to believe savingly
on the Lord Jesus Christ. It is there. Whosoever believes. It is by faith, by faith only,
by faith alone and nothing else. As many as believe, everyone
that believe, they and they alone have everlasting life. And the reason is because Faith
is consistent with grace. Faith is not your work. Faith
is not your part or our part. It is the result and consistent
with grace. Grace is the cause of faith. Faith does not bring grace. Grace
produces faith. Acts 18 and 27, we read of some
who believed through grace. Romans 4 16 it is a faith that
it might be by grace Ephesians 2 in verse 8 by grace are you
saved through faith? Colossians 2 12 the faith of
the operation of God that it is a work of God and Now, we
have been bitten by that old fiery serpent that came in the
garden. Death was, death is working in
us. For sin is the cause of all death. All miseries are ultimately traceable
to sin. To the fact that men and women
are sinners. I didn't say personal sin necessarily,
but to sin. All miseries are traceable unto
sin. Then what is the remedy for this
bite of the serpent in our soul that poisoned us unto death? Well, the remedy is Christ has
been lifted up. Christ has been nailed to a cross. Christ has been publicly crucified,
not for himself, but bearing our sin. Now the brass serpent
was made in a likeness of the fiery serpent, so the Son of
God was made in the likeness of men. Philippians 2 and verse
7, in the likeness even of sinful flesh, Romans 8 and verse 3,
though not sinful, and made sin for us, 2 Corinthians 5 and verse
21. Though he knew no sin, yet was
he made sin, made the curse of the law, and lifted up on the
cross. shed His blood, died for our
sin, made satisfaction to God, answered our debt in every bit,
that whosoever believes on Him has everlasting life. But John 8, 24, if you believe
not that I am He, you shall die in your sin. If you do not believe
upon Christ, If God does not give you faith and by that faith
you espouse Christ and come unto him, then such will die in their
sin. Now with the serpent, it was
look. It was look upon the serpent and
be healed. Look not and die. With Christ it is believe or
believe not. saved or perish by the relationship
unto Christ. I find another relationship or
comparison between the two things. Did you know, have you ever read
in 2 Kings 18 and verse 4 that the Israelites kept that brazen
circle? They took it around with them
everywhere they went. They made a relic out of that
thing and kept it, and they even made it an object of worship,
and they even burned incense onto it. 2 Kings 18 and verse
4, until good king Hezekiah came to reign, and he smashed that
thing to pieces, and calling it nothing but a piece of brass. My point, there are those who
practically do the same thing with a cross, kissing it and
all that kind of thing with a material cross, instead of looking by
faith to that one who died upon a cross, as if it were a magic
cure of some kind. But not only is Christ the antitype
of the serpent in the wilderness, But he's also the anti-type of
the manna that caused all the problem in Numbers chapter 21. He's the bread of God from heaven. He's come down to give his life
a ransom and to be the bread of life. And whosoever eateth
of him shall never die. He said very clearly in the 6th
and the 18th chapter of John again He said never thirst if
you drink this water John 4 13 and 14 He's the light of the
world you see him You'll never walk in darkness or be in darkness,
but have the light of life now Christ is life He has endured
death that we might have life. He became a sacrifice that by
believing in him, we might have eternal and everlasting life. And in that, he answers the type
of that brazen serpent, the manna, the light, and all of those things.
Yes, Christ is our life. Look to Him. Don't seek anything
else. Don't depend on your works, or
your religion, or your denomination, or you being a good neighbor,
or a good provider, or being baptized. Don't trust anything
other than Christ. He alone is the Savior from sin.