And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up,

that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

Hey listeners, this is Nick from Scripture Central, and today's podcast addresses the question,

Why did Jesus compare himself to the brazen serpent?

On one occasion, during the Exodus when the children of Israel murmured in the wilderness,

the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and many Israelites died from the serpent's fiery bite.

After the people repented,

the Lord instructed Moses to make a serpent of brass, and raise it on a pole, which would cause those bitten to live if only they would look at it. While speaking to Nicodemus, Jesus

compared himself to this brazen serpent. And as Moses lifted up

the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever

believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. Several Book of Mormon prophets

also used the brazen serpent as a symbol for Jesus Christ. As Douglas W.

Olman explained, in many ways this comparison captures the main thought of numbers chapter 21

verses 4 through 9, and it applies to Jesus Christ in a straightforward way. The Lord provided only

one means of salvation from the snake bites, the bronze serpent.

If anyone refused to look at the uplifted serpent, he was not healed.

In a similar way, God had provided Jesus Christ as the only means of salvation.

If anyone refused to believe in Jesus as the Messiah,

he was not saved. Yet some may still wonder why Jesus would be compared to a serpent,

since serpents often have a negative connotation and are even used as a symbol for Satan in other parts of Scripture.

In the ancient Near East,

serpents actually had both negative and positive symbolic attributes, and several of the

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