<TITLE>13. Par 60-63</TITLE>L-60 Jesus, when He was here on earth, He said, talking to Nicodemus here, He said, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up." So must... Why? In the same manner, for the same thing, the same purpose, to do the same work. Many times this puzzle people when they see the serpent representing Jesus. The serpent represented Jesus in this much; did you notice the serpent was dead? There was no life in it. Jesus died. Like Cain when he slew Abel, Abel died on the altar with his sacrifice; after Abel offered his sacrifice and killed his sacrifice for his sin, then he died on the same altar with his sacrifice. In order to be born again, you have to die on the altar with your Sacrifice, just as dead as He was. And you're born again. The serpent had no life in it.

L-61 And you say, "Why was it brass?" Brass represents judgment, Divine judgment. Did you notice in the Bible, in the Old Testament, the altar was made out of brass, where the sacrifice was burnt? Brass speaks of judgment. Like Elijah, in his days, he went to look at the skies to see if any rain was coming after his prayer, and he said, "The sky looks like brass." What was it? Divine judgment upon a unbelieving people, a unbelieving nation who had forsaken God. It was Divine judgment, brassy. And the serpent itself, its form represented sin already judged, for the serpent was judged in the garden of Eden. And he was the serpent judged.

L-62 And when we look at Christ, you see the penalty. The only One, God Himself made flesh, God coming to the earth, and took on Him the sin of all of us, and the judgment and wrath of Almighty God was poured out upon His body, and there it was rivened at the cross. That's the real judgment. He tread the winepress of the wrath of God alone. Alone He walked the road. Alone He died with not no help from an Angel, from a man, from His Church, from His mother, from His brethren, from His Father. And forsaken by God, man, and nature, He died alone to show us that even nature itself can't help us in the hour of death. There's no friend, no priest, no pope, no pastor... It's death. But there was One Who took it for us.

L-63 No life in the serpent, it was absolutely crystallized. That was the penalty. He died until the--the earth got ashamed of itself. He died till the stars got ashamed. He suffered until the sun wouldn't shine. He suffered till the moon turned off its light. He suffered till even the elements of the earth was so black and dark until the midnight so dark you could feel it. Wasn't nothing, no one's ever suffered like that or could suffer like that; there's no mortal could go through it. But He suffered it. God laid upon Him the iniquity of us all and passed His judgments upon Him, and He tread the winepress of the wrath of God alone with no help. There was nothing to help Him. God placed the penalty. Everything was under that penalty and nothing could help Him, 'cause we're all guilty. There's no high priest could've come helped Him. There was nothing could help Him, no pope, no Angel. Everything stood back and watched it. That was the greatest moments was ever in the history of the world. He died until there's not one drop of life left in Him, become like the brass serpent, just a crystallized ornament hanging on the cross.


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