31 Mar Look to Jesus and live

John 3:14-16

¹⁴ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. ¹⁶ “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

One day, the world’s leading religious professors and scholars debated, what belief was unique to the Christian faith. They began eliminating possibilities. Incarnation? Other religions had different versions of gods appearing in human form. Resurrection? Other religions also had accounts of return from death. The debate went on for some time until C.S. Lewis wandered into the room. He asked, “What’s this commotion about?” and heard in reply what his colleagues were discussing. Lewis thought for a moment, “Oh, that’s easy. It’s grace.” And he is right. Grace is what separates Christianity from every religion in this world. Every other religion in this world can be spelled with two letters: D O. Christianity can be spelled with four letters: D O N E. That’s what grace is. Grace is scandalous because grace tells us that there is nothing we can do to save ourselves. It does not matter who we are. It does not matter what we have achieved. It does not matter what is our last name. It does not matter how hard we try, we can’t save ourselves. But grace also tells us anyone can receive salvation because the work of salvation has been done. All we have to do is to believe. Believe in the Son of God who was crucified at the cross. Believe in Jesus and we will live. But if we don’t believe, we will perish. This is what our passage is telling us. Let me give you the context first.

One night, a man by the name of Nicodemus came to see Jesus. Nicodemus was not an ordinary man. He was a member of the ruling council in Jerusalem. So, he was a highly successful person who was well respected by many people. And not only that, but he was also a Pharisee. If you grew up in church, a Pharisee may sound negative, but it was the total opposite in the first century. The Pharisees were the good guys. They took the Torah seriously. This means that Nicodemus knew his Scripture really well, and he was a very moral person. Nicodemus was the best of the best. He was the kind of person who spoke at conferences and wrote best-selling books. So, when people talked about him, they said, “Have you checked out Nicodemus’ latest podcast? It is so good. Did you see his latest post on Instagram? He is so on point. I think we should invite him to speak at our church.” Nicodemus was the sort of person people looked up to. And he was also humble. Even though he had all the right credentials, he came to Jesus who had no credentials and called him “Rabbi.” Nicodemus had heard enough about Jesus to know that there was something different about Jesus. He had heard how Jesus opened the eyes of the blind, made the lame walk, healed a leper, cast out demons, and he was convinced that Jesus must be a teacher from God. So, he came to Jesus at night, and they began to converse. And in that conversation, Jesus told Nicodemus that for him to enter the kingdom of God, for him to have eternal life, he must be born again. To which Nicodemus replied, “What do you mean by born again? How is that possible? How can anyone reenter their mother’s womb and be born again when he is old? It is ridiculous.” His argument made sense, right? Can you imagine reentering your mother’s womb? Okay, maybe you shouldn’t imagine it. It’s weird. However, Jesus was not talking about physical rebirth but spiritual rebirth. Jesus was saying, “Listen Nicodemus. In order for you to enter the kingdom of God, God must do supernatural work in your inner being that makes you a brand-new person. Nothing you have done in your life counts. Your good reputation and your accomplishments don’t count. You have to start over. You must be born again.” So, Jesus was telling the best moral religious person of his days that he could not enter the kingdom of God based on his own merits. Nicodemus then asked, “How can these things be?”

Let me ask you the same question that Nicodemus asked Jesus. How can you enter the kingdom of God? If you were to die tonight, how can you be sure that you will spend eternity in Heaven? Let me tell you John’s answer. This is the most popular verse in the whole Bible. John 3:16 – For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. The answer is really simple. All you have to do to enter the kingdom of God and have eternal life is to believe in Jesus. That’s it. It does not matter who you are. You can be the nicest person in the world, or you can be a serial killer. You can be rich, or you can be poor. You can be Asian, or you can be Caucasian. You can be John Wick or Taylor Swift. You can graduate from Sydney University with Suma Cum Laude, or you can graduate from high school by grace. The only requirement for you to enter the kingdom of God is to believe in Jesus. Whoever believes has eternal life. The question then is, what does it mean to believe in Jesus? The previous two verses will give us some context on what it means to believe in Jesus. John 3:14-15 – And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. Jesus is using the story of a bronze serpent from Numbers 21 to make his point. The story of the bronze serpent is one of those Old Testament stories that doesn’t make any sense until Jesus points us to the true meaning of it. And here is what that story is teaching us. There is only one disease that can really kill us and there is only one remedy for that disease – it is to look. So, let’s look at what happened in Numbers 21 and see what it means to believe in Jesus.

I have three points for my sermon: the poison; the means; the cure.

The poison

Numbers 21:4-6 – ⁴ From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. ⁵ And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” ⁶ Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.

Parents, does this story sound like any mealtimes at your house? When I was young, I was a very picky eater. I complained about food all the time. “What? This food again? I don’t like it. I don’t want it. This food is horrible.” And my grandma would put chilli in my mouth. Back in my days, I did not have a naughty corner. I would love to have a naughty corner. “Go into that corner and think about what you do.” That’s like heaven for an introvert like me. But what I had was a naughty belt. “You did what? Kapoow!” Does anyone know what I am talking about? But here is the thing. No parents would kill their children for complaining about food. “You don’t like the food that I made for you? Don’t you know I spent hours cooking that? You ungrateful child. I’m going to put poison on your food.” No sane parents would do that. At first reading, what God did to the Israelites seems to be overkill. The Israelites complained about their food and God killed them. But if we read carefully, we would realize that this is a lot more than simply a boy who did not like the food that his mom made for him. We are told that the Israelites became impatient on the way, and they spoke against God. What happened? Let me set the stage for us to understand this story.

Think about what the Israelites had witnessed with their own eyes so far. They saw God sent hail, darkness, and ultimately how God killed every first-born son in Egypt but spared them through the blood of the lamb in their doorpost. They saw the Red Sea split into two and they walked on dry ground. Once they got to the other side, they saw the Red Sea closed and swallowed the Egyptian army. Three days later, they had no water to drink, and they grumbled against Moses. And God turned bitter water into sweet water. Then a few days later they were hungry, and they grumbled again against Moses. And God graciously sent them quail in the evening and bread of heaven in the morning. You would think that was more than enough for them to trust God.

Then a great tragedy happened. Before they were about to enter the Promised Land, Moses sent 12 spies into Canaan to gather information. In Canaan, they saw a beautiful land flowing with milk and honey, but they also saw giants inhabiting the land. Caleb and Joshua were ready for a fight. But the other 10 spies refused to trust God and the rest of the Israelites were on their side. They refused to enter the Promised Land because of the giants. God was angry. He wanted to destroy all of Israel, but Moses begged God to forgive Israel for God’s own name’s sake. So, God spared their lives, but he promised that none of them would enter the Promised Land, except Joshua and Caleb. Because of it, Israel had to wander in the wilderness for 40 years, until the whole generation of Israelites who did not trust God died and a new generation was ready to enter the Promised Land. And in Numbers 21, the 40-year wait was almost over. The Israelites once again found themselves on the brink of entering the Promised Land. And in those 40 years of wandering, Israel never lacked anything. God provided for all their needs. God took care of them and paid attention to every little detail, including their shoes. They wore the same shoes for 40 years of wandering in the desert. They marched their way to Canaan, and they were ready to finally take hold of God’s promise for them. Then something happened.

God told them to set out to the Red Sea and to go around the land of Edom. If you look at the map of the area, you will realize something strange. Rather than going straight from Mount Hor to Canaan, they had to take a detour, which led them further away from Canaan. After 40 years of waiting, they had to take another detour because God did not want them to touch the land of Edom. And the people were furious. They became impatient. You know how it feels to be on a detour right? You had a plan. You had a vision. You had a dream. And it seemed like the fulfilment of that dream was just right in front of your eyes. When suddenly life hit, and you found yourself further and further away from your dream. What did you do? You became impatient. “God, why? I almost have it. It’s right in front of my eyes. Why detour? What’s wrong?” And in their frustration, the Israelites blamed God and Moses. They said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water…”

Can you see what is happening? They accused God of delivering them out of Egypt, only to kill them in the wilderness. I mean for 40 years God had graciously provided for all their needs. When they were hungry, God sent bread from heaven. When they wanted meat, God sent them quail. When they were thirsty, God made water come out of rock. God made sure that they lacked nothing and now they were accusing God of wanting to kill them in the wilderness. They wished they never left Egypt. They wanted to return to slavery. They were basically saying to God, “God, I cannot trust you. Despite everything that you have done for me, despite providing me with all my needs, I still can’t trust you. You are not a good God. You are just playing around with my life, and you will kill me in the end.” And they went on to say, “We loathe this worthless food.” This worthless food is referring to manna. So, they looked at the bread of heaven and they said, “I hate this food.” Do you see? This is not simply complaining about food. Israel looked at the gift of God and they said that it was worthless. They hated it. And hating the gift of God is the same as hating God. And that’s where the real problem is. Let me illustrate it for you.

Husbands, let’s say it is your birthday, and you really want a new MacBook Air for your birthday. A month before your birthday, you posted on Instagram the top 5 things you want for your birthday. And your lovely wife saw your post and knew exactly what you wanted for your birthday. So, on your birthday, your wife gives you a gift and she is very excited for you to open her gift. You are excited as well because the gift has the rectangular shape of a laptop. You open the gift, expecting to receive a new MacBook Air. And she gives you a new MacBook Air case. Not the laptop, just the case. She says, “I believe God will give you the laptop, so I got you the case.” That’s what you get for marrying a Christian woman. Even though it is not something you want, you still appreciate the gift because it is from the wife whom you love. But let’s say that soon after, a postman shows up at your front door, delivering a gift. And the gift has the rectangular shape of a laptop as well. You open the gift, and it is a new MacBook Air. Your wish is granted. Your wife’s faith comes true. You are very happy. Then you open the birthday card to see the name of the person who loves you enough to buy you this gift. And you are shocked. The gift is from your ex-girlfriend who broke up with you. She writes, “I saw your post on Instagram, and I thought I’d get you what you want to make up for what I did to you in the past. Hope you like it.” But then, seeing how happy you are with that gift, your wife asks you a million-dollar question. “Hei babe, which gift makes you happier? The laptop case from your wife who married you, or the laptop from your ex who dumped you?” Husbands, if your wife ever asks you that question, please get the answer right. Giving the right answer could be the difference between heaven and hell at home. But we understand that who gave the gift matters, right? We are a lot happier with a $10 gift from someone we love than a $100 gift from someone we don’t like.

In hating God’s gift, the Israelites did not only hate the gift but also the Giver. They were rejecting God. And this is not a small matter. This is massive. Their rejection of God’s gift shows us what is happening inside of them. It reveals their true condition. A headache might just mean we didn’t sleep very well, but it also might mean a brain tumour. There are things that on the surface don’t look that bad, but they are headaches. They are signs of a tumour. The word that the Bible uses for it is sin. What is sin? Sin is so much more than breaking the laws of God. Sin is the rejection of God. And the root of all sin is unbelief in the goodness of God. It is believing that God does not want what is best for us and he is withholding what is good from us. Think back to the story of Adam and Eve. God told them that they could eat all the fruits they wanted in Paradise except for one. There was only one thing that they could not do – do not eat the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. They lived in a world of a million yes and one no. Everything was perfect. There was no sadness. There was no sickness. There was no pain. But the serpent came to them and said, “Are you sure God wants what’s best for you? If so, why does he not let you eat that fruit? It’s probably the best fruit. Do you know what I think? I think God is holding something good back from you.” The serpent tricked them into believing that God was not good. That God did not love them. So, they trusted the serpent and they sinned. Sin is the fruit of unbelief toward the goodness of God. And ever since then, the venom of the serpent continues to affect every man and woman. The Israelites’ hatred for God’s gift shows the true sinful nature of their hearts. So, God sent fiery serpents to bite them and many of them died.

Let’s bring this truth closer to home. Do you know why we sin? Every time we sin, we believe the lies of the serpent that God is withholding something good from us. That God does not want us to be happy. That God is stingy. Therefore, it is up to us to pursue our own good. We sin because we believe it will make us happy. Think about it. Why do you lie? You lie because you believe lying will give you greater comfort than telling the truth. Why do you look at porn? You look at porn because you believe it will satisfy your sex appetite. You sin because you believe you will be happier. No one sins because they have to. You sin because you want to. But here is the thing about sin. Whatever it is that we pursue, when we get it, it will not satisfy us. Sin makes us think that nothing is ever good enough. We can have the perfect job, perfect spouse, perfect family, we can even live in Paradise, and we are still unhappy. Because our dissatisfaction is a result of the venom inside of us.

How many times have we heard stories of people who are at the very top of their careers and want to kill themselves? Let me give you one example, Borris Becker. Boris Becker, who is a tennis great, said that when he was at the height of his achievement and fame, he wanted to kill himself because when he got all those things, he still felt empty. He said something like, “I have won Wimbledon twice. Once, I was the youngest player ever to do so. I was rich. I had all the material possessions I wanted. I guess it’s like the old song about movies and pop stars who want to commit suicide. They have everything, and yet they’re so unhappy. It’s true. I had nothing on the inside.” That’s true about all of us. Listen. We have to wake up to the reality that we have spiritual venom inside of us. The reality is that all of us have been bitten by the serpent. There is poison in us that we cannot cure. And this poison makes us unsatisfied with whatever we have. Nothing is ever good enough. Not even paradise. It does not matter what we have on the outside, we are empty on the inside. It goes faster if we are successful, but we are all on our way. Unless there is a cure, we are on our way to being unhappy with everything. Nothing will be good enough.

And this poison comes in two different types. First, the irreligious type. You are the kind of person who refuses to acknowledge God. You try to do things your own way and pursue your own happiness. Why? Because you don’t believe in the goodness of God. You think that you will miss out on life if you obey God. This is the reason why some of you never get married or are so unhappy with the person you are married to and will be unhappy with anyone else you try. This is the reason why you are so unhappy with where you are in your career, but you would be just as unhappy, and you would actually get unhappier the further up you go. This is why some of you hate the way you look. You will never be satisfied. And the reason you are so dissatisfied with everything is because you do not trust God. You do not believe in the goodness of God. And second, the religious type. You are the Nicodemus. You try your best to be the best moral religious person you can be. You obey all the rules, and you try to gain God’s acceptance through your efforts. You then either become very prideful because you think you have what it takes to please God and you are better than others, or you are in despair because deep down you know you keep falling short of God’s standards. But do you know why you feel prideful or despair? Because you don’t believe in the goodness of God. You don’t believe in the grace of God that forgives you and accepts you. At the bottom of both the irreligious and the religious, is the heart that says, “I don’t believe God is good. It is up to me to pursue my own happiness.” And because of it, you are always empty. You are always dissatisfied. Nothing is ever good enough for you. You are dying and nothing in this world can cure you from the venom of the serpent.

The means

Numbers 21:7 – And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.

When the Israelites woke up to the reality of their sin, they acknowledged their sin. No blame shifting. They owned their sin. They did not say, “God, this is an overkill. This is not right.” But they said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and Moses.” But do you realize how they came to acknowledge their sin? Do you know what awakened them to that reality? Pain. Trouble. It was the serpent and the venom that woke them up to the reality of their sin. Don’t miss it. A lot of the time, we are never willing to admit that there is something wrong with us until something hits us and wakes us up to our need to go and see the doctor. I see this happening again and again. I know a lot of people who refuse to have a medical check-up because they do not want to find out if there is something wrong with them. People love to live in ignorance of their true condition. Isn’t that true? The principle is people do not want to see what is wrong with them until they get sick. They do not see the thing that is really killing them until they are starting to die. Let me put it another way. We don’t see the venom in our souls until we have the poison in our bodies.

I love how C.S. Lewis puts it. “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains; it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” Adversity awakened us to our sin and our need for God. We didn’t know what was in us until we got sick from the poison. Do you see? Nothing can awaken us to the destructive power of sin like a fiery serpent. For some of you, I can talk on and on about sin and its destructive nature, but nothing can drive you to repent of your sins like experiencing the consequences of sins. But here is what we must understand. The purpose of God in sending us trouble is not to destroy us but to bring us to him. The fiery serpent is designed to wake us up from our sins and run to the only one who can save us. Almost all our spiritual growth happens because something painful comes into our lives that wakes us up and forces us to go to God. So, the Israelites repented, and Moses prayed for the people. And look at what happened next. It is very interesting.

Numbers 21:8 – And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.”

When God’s people acknowledged their sins, God was merciful to provide a cure. But the means for the cure was very strange. Think about it. It was a serpent that bit them and caused all these troubles. And now God said that the cure was for Moses to make a bronze serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who was bitten and looked at the serpent on a pole would live. This is weird. Some people who were bitten might choose not to look. Why? Because it was foolish. Why would anyone look at the symbol of what caused their death to find life? I can at least think of four other responses that the Israelites might have in this situation. The first is to look to Moses to be their saviour. “Forget this dumb serpent on the pole thing. What we need is Moses. Moses is our guy. Moses will save us.” The second is to assume that everything will be okay in due time. “What we need is just to suck it up for now. This poison will soon go out of our body system. We just need to be patient.” The third is to help others who are affected by the poison, not realizing that they are also affected by the same venom. “We just need to be kind and help others. As long as we do good, we will be okay.” And the fourth is to fight valiantly against the serpents. “We will not let these serpents do whatever they want. We will kill them and drive them out of our camps.” But they were not looking at the bronze serpent as they were told to do. Why? Because it was foolishness in their eyes.

And that’s the picture of our lives, isn’t it? Rather than trusting God’s way to deal with the poison, we prefer to do it our way. We try to fight sin with our strength. We think we have what it takes to numb that emptiness. So, we look to our careers, relationships, family, to make us feel like we are somebody. Or we rely on our good deeds to save us. We do lots of volunteer work, we help everyone around us who has a problem, and we try to be emotionally available to people around us. Or we rely on religion for salvation. We are very active at church, we serve in many different ministries, we go to MC, and we take notes of sermons because taking notes of sermons earns us extra credit in heaven. But none of them will cure us from our poison. The only way for us to get better is for us to do what we are told to do. Look at the fiery serpent on a pole and we will live. But people don’t like it because it is a ridiculous solution. They say, “All I have to do is look? All I have to do is trust in God’s grace? That does not make any sense. That feels too easy. Tell me to do something harder. Tell me to climb the Himalayas and slay the dragon. That makes more sense. But to look and live? That’s dumb. I am not going to do it.”

The cure

Numbers 21:9 – So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.

Don’t miss the great paradox of this story. The fact that God chose to put a serpent on a pole was intentional. A serpent was the symbol of the power of Egypt that the Israelites were eager to go back to. A serpent was also what caused deaths among them. A serpent also represents Satan. When Satan tricked Adam and Eve, he took the form of a serpent. In other words, a serpent is the symbol of sin. So, God told the Israelites to look at the symbol of sin on a pole and they shall live. Do you see? The means God chose to cure the people from the poison was the picture of the poison itself. All you had to do to live was to look. That’s it. You didn’t have to offer special sacrifice. You didn’t have to make promises. You didn’t have to do anything but lift up your head and look. And anyone can look. The oldest, youngest, smartest, dumbest, weakest, strongest, richest, poorest, tallest, shortest, all can look. It didn’t matter who you were, all received life the same way. The most accomplished person and the biggest failure were cured the same way. Look at the serpent on the pole and you will live. It is only a look but it’s a very important look. Whether you live or die is determined by whether you look or not. Look and live. Do not look and die. That’s what happened in Numbers 21. And let me make it clear. It was not the bronze serpent that saved them. The bronze serpent was simply the means of exercising faith. Do not miss the substance for the means. It was not the bronze serpent on the pole that saved them; it was trusting God who provided the means for them to be saved. God was saying, “I am the only one who can heal you. Trust me and you will be cured. So, look to me and you will live.”

So why did Jesus use this story to explain salvation to Nicodemus? Because the strange cure of a bronze serpent on a pole is the picture of what Jesus would do. The serpent was what killed the Israelites. And for them to live they needed to look at an image of the very thing that killed them. Don’t miss it. The means that God chooses to rescue people from sin is the picture of sin itself. The symbol of death is transformed into the source of life. What Jesus was saying to Nicodemus is, “Do you remember how God saved your ancestor from the fiery serpent? They had to look at the bronze serpent on a pole. That is how you can enter the kingdom of God. That is how you can be cured of your poison. That is the picture of what I am going to do.” Just as the Israelites were challenged to look at the foolishness of the cure, Jesus challenged Nicodemus. The only way Nicodemus could enter the kingdom of God, the only way for anyone to have eternal life, is to look to Jesus the way the Israelites looked to the bronze serpent.

What happened to Jesus? Just like the bronze serpent, Jesus was put on a pole and was lifted up. This is the picture of the cross. And when Jesus was lifted up on the cross, what hanged on that cross was not just Jesus but sin. 2 Corinthians 5:21 – For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Do you know what Paul is saying? Paul did not say that God made Jesus sinful at the cross. He doesn’t say that. Paul says that God made Jesus to be sin. God made Jesus to be the serpent. And God treated Jesus as the serpent should be treated. At the cross, Jesus not only endured the punishment of sin, but he became sin. He became our poison, and he was crucified for it. That’s why Jesus said at the cross, “My God, why did you forsake me?” Jesus was forsaken because he took the poison. Why did he do it? He took the poison so we could be healed. He absorbed the wrath of God toward sin so we could be forgiven. At the cross of Jesus Christ, the symbol of death becomes the symbol of life. Not only that, but the phrase “lifted up” also means lifted up in exultation and glory. The wonder of the cross is that lifted up on the cross and lifted up in glory happen at the same moment. When Jesus was lifted up at the cross, he did not only die for our sins, but it was also the moment of his greatest triumph. He defeated sin and death once and for all, and he was resurrected on the third day as proof of his triumph.

And this is Jesus’ answer to the question, how can we be saved? As the snake-bitten Israelites had to look to the bronze serpent for healing, we must look in faith at Christ lifted up for healing from sin. We cannot save ourselves, which is why the call of the gospel is never “save yourself.” The call of the gospel is “Believe and you will have eternal life.” That’s how we are born again. Think about it. We are not born through our own pain and labour. We are born through the pain and labour of another, our mother. In the same way, we are not born again through our own pain and labour. We are born again through the pain and labour of another, Jesus Christ. That’s how we are cured. All we have to do is look to Jesus. But to look to Jesus, we need to stop looking at other things. We need to turn our eyes off ourselves, off our religious works, off our good deeds, off our accomplishments, and turn our eyes to Jesus. There is one thing that separates eternal death and eternal life. One second you might be on your way to eternal death but the next second you might be on your way to eternal life. And what separates the two is “look”. So, what are you looking at for your salvation today? Look to Jesus and you will have eternal life.

And for Christians, the process of healing does not stop with one look. It is not one look and you don’t need to look again. It is once you look, you don’t stop looking. Because there is still poison in your system even though you have been cured. Your total cure is still to come. And the way you continue to flush the poison out of your system is the same way you began the process of cure. You must continue to look at Jesus lifted up and trust him. Why do you think you are unhappy today? Why do you think your life is meaningless? Why are you anxious? Because you forget his goodness. So, look to Jesus and let his love heal you over and over again. As the song that we are about to sing 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.” Let’s pray.

Discussion questions:

1. What struck you the most from the sermon?
2. List out some symptoms that we have been infected with spiritual venom.
3. What is the relationship between poison in our bodies and venom in our souls?
4. If you were one of the Israelites, how would you feel when you were told to look at the serpent on the pole to live? What other responses you might have to find the cure?
5. How does the serpent on the pole story points to the gospel?