The LORD said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived. Numbers 21:8-9 (NIV)
Under the law what is hung on a tree is cursed or judged and doomed to destruction. The bronze snake hung on a pole meant that the venom and the death from the snakes that bit the Israelites had been rendered powerless. By looking at that image, they were agreeing with what God was telling them so whoever did, lived.Today we have a better reality of Jesus who hung on a tree (Cross) as our sin bearer – John 3:14-15. As we look to Him believing all our sin was condemned, punished, and blotted out in Him, we can live forgiven, righteous, free and victorious.
