3. That serpent, so like in many points to those which hurt the people, so like in colour, in form, in outward show, was yet unlike in one, and that the most essential point of all — in this, namely, that it was not poisonous, as they were ; that there was no harm or hurt in it, as there was in them. Exactly so the resemblance of Christ to His fellow-men, most real in many things, for He was "found in fashion as a man," hungered, thirsted, was weary, was tempted, suffered, died like other men, was yet in one point, and that the most essential, only apparent. He only seemed to have that poison which they really had. Wearing the sinner's likeness, for He came " in the likeness of sinful flesh," bearing the sinner's doom, "His face was more marred than any man's," He was yet " holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners " ; altogether clear from every spot, taint, and infection of our fallen nature. What was, and indeed could only be, negative in a dead thing, such as that brazen serpent, the poor type and weak figure of the true, namely, the absence of the venom, this was positive in Him, as the presence of the
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antidote. And thus out of this Man's curse came every man's blessing, out of this Man's death came every other man's life.
^ My predecessor, Dr. Gill, edited the works of Tobias Crisp, but Tobias Crisp went further than Dr. Gill or any of us can approve ; for in one place Crisp calls Christ a sinner, though he does not mean that He ever sinned Himself. He actually calls Christ a transgressor, and justifies himself by that passage, " He was numbered with the transgressors." Martin Luther is reputed to have broadly said that, although Jesus Christ was sinless, yet He was the greatest sinner that ever lived, because all the sins of His people lay upon Him. Now, such expressions I think to be unguarded, if not profane. Certainly Christian men should take care that they use not language which, by the ignorant and un- instructed, may be translated to mean what they never intended to teach.^
^ There is a text (2 Cor. v. 21) which tells us that He " knew no sin." That is very beautiful and significant — " who knew no sin." It does not merely say did none, but knew none. Sin was no acquaintance of His ; He was acquainted with grief, but no acquaintance of sin. He had to walk in the midst of its most frequented haunts, but did not know it ; not that He was ignorant of its nature, or did not know its penalty, but He did not knx)w it , he was a stranger to it, He never gave it the wink or nod of familiar recognition. Of course He knew what sin was, for He was very God, but with sin He had no communion, no fellowship, no brotherhood. He was a perfect stranger in the presence of sin ; He was a foreigner ; He was not an inhabitant of that land where sin is acknowledged. He passed through the wilderness of suffering, but into the wilderness of sin He could never go. " He kfiew no sin " ; mark that expression and treasure it up, and when you are thinking of your substitute, and see Him hang bleeding upon the Cross, think that you see written in those lines of blood traced along His blessed body, "He knew no sin," Mingled with the redness of His blood (that Eose of Sharon), behold the purity of His nature (the Lily of the Valley) — "He knew no 8in."«
4. The Serpent and the Sin-bearer were "lifted up." The elevation of the serpent was simply intended to make it visible from afar ; but it could not have been set so high as to be seen from all parts of the camp, and we must suppose that the wounded were in many cases carried from the distant parts of the wide- 1 0. H. Spurgeon. ■ Ihid.
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spreading encampment to places whence they could catch a glimpse of it glittering in the sunshine.
^ Of the meaning of this there cannot well be any mistake. It denotes the lifting up of our Lord on the Cross ; as St. John, in another place, tells us, that when He said to the Pharisees, " I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me," He spoke, ' signifying by what death he should die." He did not mean merely that His Name should be preached in all the world, and made thoroughly known as the only way of salvation ; He meant that He should be really and bodily lifted up. He meant His nailing to the Cross, and then the setting of the Cross upright in the earth. By this He became, more especially, the " scorn of men, and the outcast of the people." ^
^ It is the lifting up that is the chief point in the comparison. The word is mentioned twice — " As Moses lifted up the serpent, even so must the Son of man be lifted up." To Jesus, and to John as taught by Him, the " lifting up " was doubly significant. It meant death upon the Cross, but it also suggested the beginning of His exaltation. As the serpent was lifted up so that it might be seen, we are compelled to adopt the same reason for the lifting up of the Son of Man. It is a marvellous thought, an amazing foresight. The death which was intended to consign Him and His teaching to oblivion was the means by which attention was directed to them. That which was to make Him " accursed " became the means by which He entered into His glory. His name was not obscured, but was exalted above all other names by the shame which men put upon it. The crucifixion was the first step of exaltation, the beginning of a higher stage of revelation.*