Lifted Up

The commonly recognized symbol for the medical and health professions is a staff with two snakes entwined about it, known as the “Caduceus.” This actually derives from modern misunderstandings that confused this symbol of the mythical Greek god Hermes with the original “Rod of Asclepius”, of the Greek god Asclepius, who was worshiped in his form of a serpent entwined around a staff.

Devotees associated him with divine healing and medicine, establishing healing temples wherein patients would sleep on the floor of the sanctuary and numbers of non-venomous snakes would crawl around and on the patients. Priests noted any interactions of the snakes with the patients, as well as inquiring about any dreams they had, collating all of this to “interpret” a prognosis and subsequent therapy.

The modern version of the Hippocratic Oath used today hearkens back to the “father of medicine” Hippocrates who likely started his career at the renowned temple of Asclepius on the island of Kos. Another famous temple was found in the city of Pergamos/Pergamum, mentioned in Revelation 2:12-17.

Interestingly, centuries before, the Bible (Numbers 21:4-9) tells of God instructing Moses to affix a brazen serpent upon a pole. Many Israelites had been bitten by deadly serpents and died, but those who were bitten could now look upon this symbol of the very same serpents that inflicted their deadly bites and be healed. It is also no accident that in the Bible the serpent is a veritable personification of evil and Satan himself.

Connections between the Israelite serpent and Asclepius are tenuous, if there are any at all. Later some Israelites did in fact form a pagan cult around this serpent, naming it “Nehushtan” and burning incense to it. There is also a fair amount of archaeological evidence of snake worshiping cults within the Canaanite/Phoenician cultures. Early Greeks paired some of their gods with those of these cultures and also adopted their alphabet, subsequently becoming a primary ancestor to our modern Western alphabets.

But the most interesting event in all of this involves Jesus Christ, when he directly referenced the brazen serpent in relation to Himself: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:14-16)

Why would this single most central truth of Christianity be mentioned along with the image of the serpent, the very embodiment of sin, evil and the Devil himself?

The answer is found in 2 Corinthians 5: 21 “...be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made Him to be sin for us, Who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.”

In other words, Jesus Christ, Who was Himself sinless, took our sins and the penalty for them upon Himself, literally becoming sin. We are not only healed but literally saved from eternal death by repenting, looking upon and believing upon Christ Jesus, Who gave His life for us when He was lifted upon the Cross.