⚓Floatie: The Cure That Looks Like the Curse
Numbers 21:9 So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.(ESV)
God told Moses to make a statue of a snake—the very thing that was killing His people—and lift it up as the only way to be healed. Let that hit.
God didn’t remove the snakes. He didn’t give them antivenom or armor. He gave them a symbol of their sin, raised high on a pole, and said: “If you want to live, look at what bit you.”
It wasn’t magic. It was a message. And Jesus later said He was the fulfillment of that message.
✒️Forge: The Serpent and the Son of Man
The Israelites had sinned—again. They grumbled against God and Moses. So God sent fiery serpents—likely venomous snakes, maybe with a burning sting—and many died. But the solution wasn’t to kill the snakes. It wasn’t to run or hide. God commanded Moses to make a bronze serpent and lift it up. Whoever looked at it would live.
John 3:14-15 (14)And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, (15)that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.(ESV)
Jesus connects Himself to the serpent on the pole—a startling comparison. The serpent was a symbol of sin, of the curse, of what had gone wrong. And yet Jesus says, “That’s Me.”
Why? Because on the cross, He didn’t just die for sin. He became the embodiment of sin’s judgment.
2 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.(ESV)
And the material wasn’t arbitrary. Bronze in Scripture represents judgment. Think: the bronze altar in the tabernacle, where sacrifices were burned. Fire and bronze go together—and judgment is always in view.
So here’s the paradox: the symbol of sin becomes the source of healing.
⚒️Anvil: Looking at Judgment
Looking at the bronze serpent wasn’t easy. It meant admitting you were bitten. It meant acknowledging that your sin had consequences.
It was an act of obedience—but more than that, it was a public, visible trust in God’s method of salvation.
Isaiah 45:22 Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.(ESV)
This isn’t just an Old Testament object lesson. It’s a prophetic type. Because at Calvary, Jesus was lifted up—just like the serpent—and those who look to Him in faith are healed from the venom of sin.
Isaiah 53:5 But He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed.(ESV)
We’re not healed by pretending we’re fine. We’re healed when we look at the cost of our sin—when we see the serpent judged and lifted.
🔥Ember: Staring at the Thing That Bit You
What’s your serpent?
Some people were likely too ashamed to look. Some may have thought it was stupid. Others may have tried to hide the bite or treat it themselves.
They died.
Healing didn’t come by self-effort. It came by faithful submission to a hard truth: “I have been bitten. And unless I look at what God has raised, I will die.”
Hebrews 12:2 looking t o Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.(ESV)
Even now, many believers avoid looking at the cross too closely. They like the resurrection but skip over the wrath. They like the joy but avoid the judgment.
But Jesus was not just an innocent man on a Roman tree. He was God’s wrath absorbed. He was the curse made visible.
Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”(ESV)
We must look at what He became, not just what He overcame.
🌿Covenant Triumph: The Cross That Heals
The bronze serpent didn’t erase the sin. It displayed it—then defeated it.
The cross doesn’t erase our past. It judges it. But it does more than that. It transforms the very symbol of shame into the emblem of victory.
Colossians 2:14-15 (14)by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross. (15)He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in Him.(ESV)
What was once a curse is now the cure. This is the paradox of the Gospel: The cure for sin looks like sin. The source of healing looks like the source of pain. The cross is both the serpent and the savior.
[⚓ Floatie] [✒️ Forge] [⚒️ Anvil] [🔥 Ember] [🌿 Covenant Triumph]
This post follows the Forge Baseline Rule—layered truth for the discerning remnant.
Walking With Christ 
Leave a comment