Type · Old Testament
The Bronze Serpent
The people grumbled in the wilderness and venomous serpents were sent. At the Lord's word, Moses made a bronze serpent and lifted it on a pole.
Everyone who was bitten and looked at the serpent lived — healing came through the look of faith.
Numbers 21:8–9Antitype · New Testament
Christ Lifted Up
Jesus directly compares Himself to the bronze serpent: as it was lifted in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
Looking to the crucified Christ gives eternal life — the reality the old event pointed toward.
John 3:14–15
The Connection
The type and antitype are joined by the image of lifting up and of healing through a look. The bronze serpent had no power in itself — it was a sign directing faith to God.
So too the cross: salvation comes not from the wood, but from the One lifted up upon it for the sake of the people.
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