the other being appointed to make satisfaction for the sins of men, and to merit in our behalf the Divine favour.
In both cases, however, the occasion was the same : death was inflicted as the punishment of sin ; and the remedy, the only remedy, against it, in either case, was to look to the object, proposed by God, and lifted up by man, for our relief.]
But let us contemplate the type yet more particularly,
II. In the end of its appointment —
The serpent was erected that all who were bitten might look unto it and live.
[An assurance was given to Moses, that all who looked to the brazen serpent should live. And so it proved, in fact. Not one who directed his eyes to it, died. However desperate his wounds might be, or however distant he might be from the object, so as scarcely to have any clear view of it at all, yet, instantly on looking to it he was healed.]
And does not the crucifixion of our Lord ensure the same benefit to those who look unto him —
[It matters not how long, or how grievously, any man may have sinned, provided he look truly and humbly to the Lord Jesus Christ as dying for him. As for the brazen serpent, it had no suitableness whatever to the end proposed. It was a mere arbitrary appointment of the Deity : and was available in that view alone. But the Lord Jesus Christ died upon the cross under the guilt of all our sins, and offered a full and perfect satisfaction for them to Divine justice. True, indeed, to the judgment of carnal reason, that also appears " foolish- ness:" but it was in reality the most stupendous effort of " divine power and wisdom ;" and it has in itself a proper suitableness and sufficiency for the salvation of all who trust in it. We may therefore safely assure every child of man, that, if he believe in Jesus, " he shall never perish, but shall have eternal life." Nor shall the conferring of this benefit be delayed. The sight of the brazen serpent healed instantly the dying Israelite : and so shall a sight of Jesus instantly remove the guilt of all our sins, and infuse into our souls a new and heavenly life. Nor shall the blessing ever terminate. The benefit that accrued to those who looked to the brazen serpent lasted but for a time : but that which the believer in Jesus shall receive, shall endure for ever and ever.]
Address —
1. Those who feel not their need of such a re- medy—
[Such persons existed in the camp of Israel : but where