Now, closely, I want you to notice this. God shouldn’t have to have this, but He’s always had to have it, seemingly, some object that people could look to, some object like the brass serpent. Now, they should not have had that, they should’ve believed God. But for a memorial, that there’d been an atonement, or was one coming, which the brass serpent spoke…Serpent spoke of sin; brass spoke of judgment, for judgment already; the brass serpent represented the brazen altar: sin already condemned and judged. Like Elijah went up and looked, and Gehazi said, “Why, the skies are like brass,” judgment. Brass always speaks of judgment. The brazen serpent, serpent spoke of sin. It was nailed to a pole, showing that sin would be nailed to a pole, a tree, someday for a compound cause. When the brass serpent was lifted up in the wilderness, it was for forgiveness of sin and healing of the body. Is that right? Jesus said, “As Moses lifted up the brass serpent, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,” for the same cause. One was type, and the other one was antitype. And you mean to say that there were more blessings in the type than there was the antitype? Could not be.

Faith Is the Substance, 1951-05-08, Los Angeles, CA, §28