Compare the texts for yourself: Numbers 21:7-9 and John 3:14, 15.
| Israelites | Christians |
| Bitten by snakes | Bitten by sin |
| Little initial pain, then intense suffering | Little initial pain, then intense suffering |
| Physical death from snakes’ poison | Spiritual death from sin’s poison |
| Brass snake lifted up in the wilderness | Christ lifted up on the cross |
| Looking to the snake spared one’s life | Looking to Christ saves from eternal death |