Quote:
Originally Posted by KSA
I would like to say a few words about the brass serpent. First, we should realize that what actually healed Israelites in the wilderness was faith. They looked at the brass serpent in faith and were saved. In the same way when we look at Christ crucified in faith, we are saved. And now my main argument: if Satan is indeed present in human body, then how can he be destroyed by termination of his likeness? Everybody say that there was no Satan in the body of Jesus - Jesus came only in the likeness of the flesh of sin. Obviously this analogy of Satan being trapped in man and then taken to the cross does not hold water. There was no Satan in Jesus' flesh. Therefore, we are not talking here of some biological termination of Satan in human nature. I will touch upon how Satan was dealt with on the cross a bit later.
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KSA, I agree when you wrote "They looked at the brass serpent in faith and were saved." which is also much applicable to the present truth "In the same way when we look at Christ crucified in faith, we are saved."
However, you have missed the essence of this event in the Old Testament which was rightly referred to by the Lord Jesus in His speaking in the New Testament. You have missed the serpent's venom that have been transfused to the Israelites. This venom that had been mingled in man's body caused their death. There was no death with the Israelites prior to venom's infusion to them by serpents. Only after the venom were injected or transfused to them that they started to die one by one.
This Old Testament picture showed us vividly what happened and pinpoints the cause of the death of the people Israelites. The Israelite nation is a representative nation for all the people at the time this story was being written in the Bible. The Israelites in the Old Testament are actually "us" who have been bitten by snakes and transfused its venom into us which caused our death. Likewise, we all know that "snakes" signify "Satan", and perhaps, "venom" signifies "sin".
From my readings of this thread I can see that most of the posters are not holding the idea of "something" was transfused or injected into man after his fall, however, in this analogy made by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself displays a crystal clear event what had transpired. As I have mentioned earlier, there are spiritual things in the New Testament that cannot be perceived with our intellect but the Old Testament writing is very helpful for us to understand and realize what the Word of God is actually telling us.
Again sorry to say,
Nigel Tomes, has also missed this wonderful truth from the Bible, and therefore,
Nigel Tomes' writing is DEFECTIVE and LACKED SPIRITUAL REVELATION!