symbol · Old Testament

The bronze serpent

Numbers 21

A snake of bronze lifted on a pole; whoever looks at it lives.

SacrificeProphecy

2 connections

Prophecy

Direct

points forward to · look and live

Jesus names the link himself. The bitten Israelite was healed not by effort but by looking at the thing lifted up; John 3 makes that the shape of faith in the crucified Son of Man.

Echo

points forward to · the serpent defeated

The image is startling: the very thing that killed is raised up harmless. Genesis 3:15 promised a bruised heel and a crushed head, and both scenes turn the serpent's power into the place of rescue.