Page 37 - The Mark of the Beast

serpent hung upon a pole, which is a type of rod? The rod is an image of Yahweh’s power.
In many places in Scripture we read words such as the following:

Isaiah 11:4
And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His
lips He will slay the wicked.

The rod is an instrument of power. We are told in another place that Christ will rule
the nations with a rod of iron. Christ is the rod of Yahweh’s mouth, for He is called the
Word of God, and a Word comes forth from the mouth. Christ demonstrated great power
during His ministry, raising the dead, healing the sick, making the blind to see, stilling the
storm with a word, and many other amazing displays of power. Yet His greatest act, and
that which crushed the head of Satan, was when He gave His body to be crucified and He
bore on Himself all the sins of the world. “He made Him who knew no sin, sin on our
behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (II Corinthians 5:21).
Yahshua became sin. He became as the serpent. Not only was He born in the likeness
of sinful flesh (Romans 8:3), but He became sin that He might destroy the works of the
Devil and set men free from the curse. Christ stood in man’s place. He became a curse that
men might be freed from the curse. As it is written:

Galatians 3:13
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us-- for it
is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree."

The serpent on the pole and the rod that turned into a serpent, both pointed to Christ
who would take upon Himself the sin of the world. In this way the power of the enemy
would be shattered and men could be free from the beast nature and become the image and
likeness of God. Those who were infected with the venom of the serpent, which is sin, could
be healed by looking to Christ who became sin on their behalf. A great exchange occurred
on the cross, for Yahshua took upon Himself all the sins of man, and in return gave to man
His righteousness.
Sadly, this account in Numbers of Moses creating the bronze serpent and placing it
on a pole is not the last that we hear of this matter. Many years later when Israel was settled
in their land and they had turned to much sin, wickedness and idolatry, a godly man named
Hezekiah became king. He cleansed the land of idols, abominable images and practices and
turned the people back to a pure devotion to Yahweh. While in the midst of this cleansing
work we read:

II Kings 18:4
He also broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days
the sons of Israel burned incense to it; and it was called Nehushtan.

Nehushtan means “something formed of copper.” The words “copper” and “bronze”
are used interchangeably in Scripture. These metals were not highly prized as were gold and
silver, but rather these were considered base metals. Today if someone would desire to
purchase a crucifix, an image of Christ on the cross, they would most likely choose a
precious metal in which to have it fashioned. It is common today to find crucifixes of gold