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 the brazen serpent was lifted up from the earth, and all who looked thereon were healed, and had temporal life, so Jesus, when thus lifted up, would draw all unto Himself, and all drawn to Him would be in Him, who is life itself, and would therefore have eternal life. Thus we see, that the elevated brazen serpent in the wilderness, was a type of the Lord Jesus in the flesh—in His Divine Humanity, effecting the salvation of all who, by the fixed eye of faith and love, look steadily up to Him. The serpent, among the most ancient people, was the representative of the sensual mind of man; for as serpents live close to the earth, so sensual men cling to earthly affections and desires; these, in comparison with celestial affections, are vile, and as dust, so that in Scripture language, "dust shall be the serpent's meat." (Isa. lxv. 25.) All reasonings from the outward senses are wily and fallacious, and are called the poison of serpents. These lead the spiritual mind astray from the truth of Revelation, and from dependence on God's Word. Hence of the wicked it is said, "their poison is like the poison of serpents" (Psalm lviii. 4), and that "adders' poison is under their lips." (Psalm cxl. 3.) This sensual reasoning against the Divine command of God, was the serpent in Gen. iii. 1; by listening thereto, man laid his honour in the dust, and lost his state of innocence and wisdom, denoted by the garden and paradise of God. Sensual reasoners have in them more of cunning than wisdom. They pretend to believe nothing but what they can either see or touch, yet they believe they have an understanding, although they never saw or touched it.

The serpent of brass was elevated upon a pole, so that the people who were healed had to look up for