From a strictly literary standpoint, the Bible is a beautiful story, fitted like a puzzle, tied together by foreshadowing and metaphor.

In the earliest books, many thousand years prior to the introduction of the Bible’s most pivotal character, Jesus, lay references to His life, death, and significance to humanity.

In Numbers 21, the wayward Israelites are finally at the end of their wandering. They’ve defeated the Canaanites and now are on the verge of entering Edom.

But they begin to murmur. They complain about the food God has miraculously provided and they wish for Egypt, where they were enslaved. So, God sends poisonous snakes to wake them from their ungratefulness.

“We’ve sinned, Moses,“ they cry. “Pray for God to deliver us.”

God tells Moses to make a bronze snake and lift it up for all to view. As they look upon it, they are healed.

More than a thousand years later, what the bronze snake foreshadowed is fulfilled. Jesus says in John 3:14-15 that like the brazen snake, He too must be lifted up.

Humanity has been bitten by sin. The only healing, the antidote, is Him.

God has been writing our future into the pages of history since the beginning. If we look, we can see that Jesus has been a part of God’s story all along.