The Symbolism of the Brazen Serpent

      The one "must be" in the gospels is to be born again, so it is imperative to know how to be that. I started to write do that but it is more be that! What is that? Be persuaded:

And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead. (Luke 16:31).

    The implication here is that if Moses could not persuade the Hebrews with salvation from the fiery serpents, thus preventing those bitten from dying, how could raising one from the dead persuade them? Regeneration, or being born again, is persuaded that Jesus saves. That event in time is also referred to as conversion (Mat 13:15). Regeneration changes the attitude of those who trust Jesus for salvation.  The old creature is changed into a new creation, existing on earth as will be done in heaven (Mat 6:10).  God persuaded the Hebrews who were bitten by fiery serpents and lived (Those who were not persuaded died.)

Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again 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. (John 3:7, 14-15).

     My first thought, as most theologians, was that the serpent which Moses lifted up on the pole represented Jesus because, as scripture says, "the son of man be lifted up." However, it was not a symbol of Jesus on his pole (symbolic of the cross) but a lifeless brass-colored serpent on the pole. My own interpretation is that the bronze serpent on the pole represented the Serpent on his own tree - the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The Serpent should have died in the Garden, but instead Adam and Eve spiritually died. They were "bitten" by the first fiery  (cunning serpent) which was Satan manifested as a snake.
     Who and what saved Adam and Eve? God provided a lamb which died, shed blood, and provided the covering for sin (Gen 3). How do I know it was a lamb? Because Jesus is the Lamb of God (John 1:36). It had to be a lamb!  Jesus - the Word - saved Adam and Eve, and it was by the shedding of innocent blood (Heb 9:22), and we also discover that it must be by the blood of Jesus (Acts 4:12). Thus, back in the Garden Jesus provided the blood to save Adam and Eve from spiritual death. As Creator, the lamb was His blood to be shed!
      We must look at Jesus's purpose. God became incarnated to save mankind from Satan. Therefore, Satan must die! Genesis 3:15 is that covenant which God made with Adam which is that Jesus would someday kill the Serpent. Well, the lifeless bronze serpent on the pole is not symbolic of Jesus, but trusting that Jesus would kill the Serpent to save mankind. As such, the bronze (brazen) serpent, shining like red in the sun, represented Jesus's blood covering the dead Serpent - the future death of Satan! Moses understood that as well:

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. (Num 21:9)

     The Hebrews, like Adam and Eve, did not understand death. Adam and Eve ate, yet lived. On the other hand, they were sent outside the hedge of safety where they physically died. With the Hebrews and Moses, they lifted up Jesus, and they too lived for a short time, only to die in the wilderness. They failed to understand that when they looked up at the lifeless serpent, it was not physical  death which from which they were saved, but spiritual death. The Serpent was not dead yet but they looked on him as good as dead because they obeyed God when they beheld the dead "Devil" on his "tree."
     That was never unusual. Victors throughout history often beheaded their enemies and held them high on some type of staff. The Hebrews, although still surrounded and bitten by vipers, trusted God for safety. They indeed were safe from those snakes, and safe from perishing eternally. That's what Jesus was talking about!
     As a Christian, I know that I will die, but trust that Jesus will save me in the end. Why that faith? Because I know the rest of the story - Jesus kills the Serpent and provides eternal safety for my soul! By trusting that Jesus has the power to overcome the Serpent, Jesus has overcome the world (tribulations):

These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. (John 16:33).

     As Prince of the Air, Satan is pretender to God's throne:

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. (Isa 14:12-15)

     Isaiah saw the Serpent high in the clouds, and yet brought down to Hell. That's the same reason Moses held the snake high on the pole. He was not high and mighty (in the clouds) but was crucified on his own cross, so to speak! Isaiah is a Christian because he saw Lucifer killed, knew who would kill him, and that he would be saved from Lucifer's cunning, which scripture refers to as fiery darts (Ephes 6:16).
     The lifeless serpent represented Jesus's purpose - to die himself so as to vicariously crucify Satan. Calvary did not kill God; it killed the Serpent. Satan was as good as dead although in God's time that would come quickly. Christians look forward to that time!
     If we don't then are we truly Christians? Looking at Satan crucified on his own "tree" is confidence in the purpose of Jesus's own death. That confidence is regeneration. It's when the snakelike person becomes Christlike! Trusting Jesus rather than trusting the Satan. Original sin was when Adam and Eve trusted the Serpent. The vision of the Serpent's head crushed was what saved Adam and Eve. That too is what will save Christians if they trust Jesus to kill the Serpent. It is no wonder that we must trust that Satan was the one who died on the cross. Jesus had the victory, and we only wait for the sting of death for the Serpent!
     The bronze serpent on the pole showed that the Adamic Covenant would be fulfilled - Satan would die, and the Word would become flesh for that purpose. Do you believe that? Are you now persuaded? If so, welcome into the Kingdom of God!
     On the other hand, with time, the Hebrews lost focus on the symbolism of the serpent and pole. It became the object of worship. Righteous King Hezekiah saw the heresy. The Jews were worshiping the created rather than the Creator. The serpent and pole must be destroyed:

He (Hezekiah) did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father did. He 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 ("a mere piece of brass"). He trusted in the Lord God of Israel. (2 Kings 18:3-5).

    The Jews had made an icon out of the brazen serpent. It had become the source of their faith. When Moses held it up it was then a mere piece of brass, but those who lived looked at it differently. They saw the dead Serpent, and Jesus the victor!  Like the Hebrews, many Christians hold up the cross as an icon - a mere piece of brass, silver, or even gold.  It was not the cross which offered the gift of salvation (from the Serpent by the way) but what happened on the cross. Perhaps it's time that we break into pieces the cross, not in reality, but spiritually. Some have done that with the broken cross but not for Jesus's sake, but man's purposes. The Christian Cross is the True Cross of Peace. The broken cross mankind's version of peace without God/

Latin Cross (Christian Symbols: Thougthco)