The Serpent & the Cross: How God Provided Atonement for Everyone in the World

Jesus said the following to Nicodemus: “And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life” (John 3:14-16 NRSV). When Israel rebelled against God in the wilderness, He sent serpents in and among the camp, and they bit them. When Moses interceded for them, God instructed him to fashion an image of a serpent and set it on a pole, and “everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live” (Num. 21:8).

Without focusing on the serpent itself and what it represents (or other issues, such as the prohibition of fashioning images, the time it took Moses to fashion the image while people were in need of a cure, etc.), what is important here is not necessarily the plague as much as the cure, and for whom the cure was provided. 

The LORD Himself admitted that any person, whomever he or she may be, who had been bitten by a serpent in the wilderness may look upon it and be healed. Did God really mean, however, in an effort to be consistent within a Calvinistic framework, that any person, as long as he or she was unconditionally elected by Him before the creation of the world, could look upon the serpent in the wilderness and be healed? No, His message was as clear as these words: “and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live” (Num. 21:8 NRSV).

Jesus used this historical example while talking with Nicodemus about the salvation to be offered to the entire world. He informed him that in order to enter God’s kingdom and presence a person must be born again, or born from above (John 3:3, 5). Since He is the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), then those who trust in and receive Him shall be granted the right to become children of God (John 1:12-13). No one is saved automatically or without faith in Jesus Christ. God the Father did not send His Son into the world to condemn it, but “in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:17).

Given the fact that all people have sinned (Rom. 3:23) and will inherit death as a result (Rom. 6:23), the only way to be cured of this spiritual (and physical) plague is by faith in Jesus Christ. As the people of Israel were bitten by serpents in the wilderness, so have we all been bitten by death as a result of our rebellion (sin). But Jesus is the cure for each and every one. Jesus said: “And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life” (John 3:14 NRSV). Just as the one who looked at the serpent in the wilderness was cured of his or her sin, so the one who looks to Jesus in his or her wilderness of sin will be cured (saved).

Why did God provide this cure for the world? He did so because He loves the world (John 3:16). He loves each individual in the world -- every person that would ever be born -- without distinction. He declares Himself “the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe” (1 Tim. 4:10). Many Calvinists take the words “all people” or “the world” to mean “the unconditionally elect.”¹ 

What is intellectually and logically insulting is the Calvinistic notion or explanation of “all people” or “the world” to mean “all kinds of people.” There are not “kinds” of human beings. There are only human beings. Calvinists offer this explanation out of obligation. Otherwise, in their opinion, God has failed as Savior, for then there would be people for whom Christ Jesus died who were not actually atoned. This fallacy insists that because Christ’s death was sufficient to save all for whom he died, then it must save all for whom he died.²

God, however, did not establish this connection. Though Jesus is the Lamb of God who took away the sin of the world (John 1:29), Christ Himself foreknew that most people would take “the wide gate” that leads to destruction (Matt. 7:13) and not be saved. Yet He died for them anyway. Why? 

Jesus died for those who would never receive or trust in Him so that they may be judged with justice on the Day of Reckoning. They really could have been saved. What hindered their salvation was their unwillingness to trust Christ: “While God has over-looked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:30-31 NRSV, emphases added). Christ’s atonement provides the proper basis upon which they will be judged for their sins.

The author of Hebrews asks: “How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by those who have spurned the Son of God, profaned the blood of the covenant by which they were sanctified, and outraged the Spirit of grace?” (Heb. 10:29 NRSV) If Christ Jesus did not die for people who have spurned Him and profaned the blood of the covenant, then it is impossible for them to receive just punishment. Only when a genuine offer or provision is granted on their behalf can they be judged for spurning and profaning the offering. 

The Calvinist’s doctrine of Limited Atonement is a farce, both biblically and logically. Yes, all orthodox Christians limit the atonement in its application, but only five-point Calvinists limit the atonement in its intent. The latter renders the man-made doctrine unscriptural and therefore unsound doctrine.

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¹ This theory, however, will not survive careful scrutiny, for there is no lexicon that will support the theory. The burden of proof belongs to the Calvinist to demonstrate how “all people” and “the world” really means “all unconditionally elect people” or “the world of the unconditionally elect.” See Terry L. Miethe, “The Universal Power of the Atonement,” The Grace of God and the Will of Man, ed. Clark Pinnock (Minneapolis: Bethany House Publishers, 1995), 77-78.

² Terry L. Miethe , “The Universal Power of the Atonement,” The Grace of God and the Will of Man, ed. Clark Pinnock (Minneapolis: Bethany House Publishers, 1995), 74.