The entire Old Testament is meant to be read as a thorough anticipation of Jesus’ incarnation. Jesus himself thought so, at least. Two themes seem to pervade throughout the Old Testament: how desperately we need a savior from our sin, and the wonderful savior that God had been preparing for us the whole time. Probably no one in those days was aware of this. But God was preparing his people for their story’s grand fulfillment.
The storyline is so common you almost grow tired of it. The people sin, God responds with wrath, the people repent and beg for forgiveness, and God graciously obliges. You’d think they’d learn at some point! In this case, God offers forgiveness by raising up a symbol on a pole. Anyone who came to look upon this work from God would be saved from death into life. All they needed was the faith to gaze upon it.
As the hymn says, “turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.” Christ was lifted up much like the bronze snake. And in Christ, the man lifted up on the cross, there is eternal life for all who have the faith to gaze upon him, who are struck by the unfathomable saving love of God for them, and who are moved to repentance and righteousness by it. How could someone who knew the story of the bronze snake not recognize God’s hand in this? He had been preparing us for Jesus for thousands of years!
When we gaze upon Christ crucified, we contemplate the weight of the sin that put him there, the richness of his love and mercy for us, and the wonderful redeemed life that he bestows on those who believe in him. The world is a swirling, chaotic mess of sin and death and God’s just wrath. But look to Jesus. In him is salvation and life. He is the Messiah that has been prophesied since the beginning and who will reign in the end. Turn your eyes upon Jesus.
