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The sermon interprets the bronze serpent as a divinely appointed type of Christ crucified. Sin is portrayed as deadly venom, leaving people unable to save themselves and facing death and eternal judgment. Christ, though despised by human wisdom, is the sufficient remedy, and sinners receive life simply by believing in Him. The invitation is explicitly universal: “whosoever” looks to Christ will live. Ministers therefore must lift up Christ clearly and urgently before all kinds of sinners.
Theological center: Jesus’ crucifixion is God’s sufficient and universally offered remedy for sinners, received through faith.
Applications: Look to Christ in faith · Respond today · Recognize sin’s deadly venom · Feel the urgency of death
Primary texts: John 3:14-15 · Numbers 21:4-9 · John 3:3
“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 3:14-15 WE are told by wise men that all languages are based upon figures, that the speech of men who are uncivilized is mainly composed of figures, and that indeed the language of the most civilized, when cleaved so as to bring it to its natural foundation, is based upon a set of metaphors perceived by the mind and then used in language. This much I know, that when we would teach children to speak, we are accustomed to call things, not exactly by the names by which they are known to us, but by some name which represents, for instance, the kind of noise which is uttered by some animal, but which in some way or other, by a species of figures, is easily understood by the child to represent the things. But it is certain that among savage nations, the speech is almost entirely composed of metaphors. Hear an Indian warrior addressing the chiefs and inflaming them for war. He gathers together all the metaphors of heaven and earth to make his speech. And you will note the same thing is true even in the names which the Indian warriors bear. Those of you who are acquainted with their nomenclature will remember, that the strangest names are given to their great men, by way of figure and metaphor to set forth the qualities of their mind. Now, beloved, it is the same in spiritual language as it is in natural speech. Nicodemus was but a child in grace. When Jesus Christ would teach him to speak concerning things of the kingdom, He did not talk to him in abstract words, but He gave him metaphorical words whereby he might understand the essence of the thing better than by giving him a mere abstract term. When He talked to Nicodemus, He did not say anything about sanctification, but He said, “Except a man be born of water.” He did not talk anything to him about the great change of the heart. But He said, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” He would not tell him much about the Spirit when He began, but he said, “The wind bloweth where it listeth.” And when He wanted to teach him faith, He did not begin by saying, “By faith we are allied to Christ, and derive salvation from our living head,” but He said, “Like as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness.” And so the first religious talk of converted men must always be in figures. Not the epistles of Paul, which are pure didactic teaching, but the words of Jesus must first be applied to the sinner, before he is enli…