"Quintessential Exaltation"

"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life." (John 3:14-15 KJV) 

  "Then the LORD told him, "Make a replica of a poisonous snake and attach it to a pole. All who are bitten will live if they simply look at it!" So Moses make a snake out of bronze and attached it to a pole. Than anyone who was bitten by a snake could look at the bronze snake and be healed!" (Numbers 21:8-9 NLT) 

  Where to start this, is almost too much; the 'Swirling Eddies' are moving around so fast and so numerous, I can barely capture any, to make any sense of all of this information. Maybe it should begin with the serpent? That creepy thing that had shown up in the garden, as a subtle thing, to tempt and deceive and cause death; and with what did it use as a way to introduce disobedience? A LOOK! 

  Maybe it does not make any sense as to why or what for; but it should not come to any surprise, If looks could kill, maybe looks can also restore! In this is so many similarities, it is hard to gather them into some sort of order or sequence. The serpent was an agent of the cause of death; it was so in the garden, as he deceived Eve, thereby causing her to eat of that which looked good for her to eat; and it was in the wilderness, as there were serpents causing death to the children of Israel, for their rebellion and looking back towards Egypt. 

  Examining the model, the snake upon the pole; it is not something that was just put together, as if you mold the bronze as a piece of clay; before it could be molding into anything, it needed to be melted! It is a little hard to look upon, once you have understood what went into the modification and design. The people that looked upon it saw the finished product, but that did not tell the whole story of what made it worth looking at, or why it would even matter if they did. 

  Besides all of that, this was about something simple also; as complex as it might have appeared, it was simple to understand what to do: Look upon it and live! What is so hard about that? If only there was an additional element to what was being asked of them, like taking a bite out of the bronze serpent; maybe then it might have made better sense. At least then they might have experienced some of what went into making it a meaningful object to look upon; just maybe! 

  Then again, if you really want to know, Eve had pretty much already taken a bite of that forbidden fruit, before that serpent even showed up; he just helped her taste what she had already imagined...

"You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminals death on a cross. Therefore, God elevated him to the place of honor and gave him a name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:5-11 NLT)