In that day the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan (wreath-like creature) the piercing (fleeing) serpent, even leviathan (wreath-like creature) that crooked (torturous) serpent; and he shall slay the dragon (monster) that is in the sea. (Isa 27:1)Who is this serpent? The real existence of the brass serpent. We see the "serpent" mentioned first in Genesis 3:1 as nachash which is defined by Strong's Dictionary as a "snake". Moses put up an image of a snake on a pole that, when lifted up with intent observation, kept the Hebrews safe from the poisonous snakes on the ground which were killing all those who endeavored to save themselves. The intent observation is with sobriety and vigilance (1 Pet 5:8). The Serpent is the devouring lion, and keeping an eye on the serpent on the pole is sobriety and vigilance. Looking at all the wreathlike serpents in the ground was too no avail. What was efficacious was looking at the lifeless snake on a pole, held high, for any willing to look.
The story of the brass serpent is one of trust. Do they trust themselves for deliverance from the poisonous serpent or trust God? The image on the pole symbolized the serpent already as if dead. The pole was representative of both the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and the unrepentant thief on his cross. The Hebrews "saw" a double image: they saw on the pole, one malefactor who could not save himself and another who looked toward Jesus for Salvation. I don't believe that the image of the serpent represented Jesus on the cross at all! It represented Satan on his cross and Christians on theirs. Hezekiah had the brass image destroyed because it did not represent God, but the serpent:
He (Hezekiah) removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan. 2 King 18:4).
Nehushtan in the original Hebrew has a double meaning: copper and harlot. Hebrews believe it represents the loss of present and future life. Where would they get that notion? From Genesis 3:1. It seems that Adam knew only of present life. He failed to understand future life!
Copper represents lust and its goddess, Venus.(ancientsymbols.com). Venus is the embodiment of erotic- type love (eros). Venus in turn was from the Greek goddess Aphrodite, from the Phoenician goddess Astarte - the goddess of prostitutes. Brass represents harlotry, not God whose metallic symbol (Kingship) is gold!
Thus, the Serpent on the Pole - Nehushtan - has a double but same meaning - harlot of harlots. We should know what harlots are because we all have seen them. Harlots are those who prostitute themselves for gain. Having another god in God's face (First Commandment) is harlotry or spiritual prostitution. Scripture refers to that as fornicating with other gods (2 Chron 21:11).
What Moses held up was the harlot of harlots... dead. Isaiah understood and saw that. Isaiah was born again because he trusted God's ability to destroy death. He saw what the apostle John saw - the death of the harlot of harlots, commencing with his baptism in fire - Satan's first death:
And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. (Rev 20:1-3)If the reader continues on in that chapter, there is also a second death. Now does the reader understand? The brass serpent on the pole has double-symbolism: the Serpents 1000-year death in the bottomless pit, and his final destruction and the end of him. The Hebrews, by looking at the brass serpent, by faith, seemed to understand present and future death... finally, after all those centuries.
If it had been God's will, the Hebrews could have died even after looking at the serpent on his tree. Physical death is just a sting, and is of short duration. Spiritual death is eternally dying, and they understood that Satan would feel the short sting (1000 years) but spiritual death as well.
In parallel with the Serpent, the unrepentant experiences two-types of death. Scripture does not even consider physical death as loss, but only gain. (Phil 1:20-23). Then death is not even the aspect of losing mortality. Both the first and second death are spiritual deaths of different people and the resurrections of those who survive the deaths.
Isaiah saw the first resurrection - when those who had not worshiped the beast (the Serpent) were made alive after one-thousand years. Then the Serpent will be unleashed again into the world, and those who were judged guilty suffered the second death, and those who were judged innocent the second resurrection. Thus spiritual resurrections are not resurrected two times, but two groups of those who had died for Christ. Everyone will be resurrected one time, thus resurrection not reincarnation!
The brass serpent on the pole has much significance. Regardless, all the reasons condense to one: Jesus defeats sin, and Satan. To be saved, anyone must believe that! Inevitably, the serpent on the pole represents the reason God came in the Flesh - to save mankind by killing the Serpent.
We deserve death, and God didn't. He died that we shall not, but only God's Flesh died on the cross; God is still alive and well!
We look at the cross in the midst of the trees in the midst of the Garden (Calvary), but what we miss is that there were three groups of trees in the Garden; God's, the Serpent's, and all the others. Jesus died on the cross for all the other "trees" and was resurrected to live forever. The third "tree" represented the Serpent and his legions who shall die and never be resurrected.
I see life on two crosses, but the third cross was reserved for death. The cross of those who looked down at the snakes was the cross of the unrepentant thief. The cross of those who looked up at the lifeless Serpent was the cross of the repentant thief. The third cross, the one of the Lord, represents choice, and the hope of salvation.
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