Neal A. Maxwell
"Augmenting the verses in the Holy Bible, the Book of Mormon and the other books of modern scripture provide helpful elaboration that aids us not only in understanding more of what happened anciently, but also why, and its significance for us. Note how the writings of Moses and John in the following verses are clarified by the words of Nephi and Alma:
'And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.
And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.
And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.' (Numbers 21:6, 8-9.)
'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.' (John 3:14-15.)
'And he did straiten them in the wilderness with his rod; for they hardened their hearts, even as ye have; and the Lord straitened them because of their iniquity. He sent fiery flying serpents among them; and after they were bitten he prepared a way that they might be healed; and the labor which they had to perform was to look; and because of the simpleness of the way, or the easiness of it, there were many who perished.' (1 Nephi 17:41.)
'Behold, he was spoken of by Moses; yea, and behold a type was raised up in the wilderness, that whosoever would look upon it might live. And many did look and live.' (Alma 33:19.)
"Divinely deliberate and serious symbolism is involved. Without this needed elaboration, the Old Testament episode of the fiery serpents does not give us a fulness of spiritual insight that can clearly be 'for our profit and learning.' (1 Nephi 19:23.) The symbolic emphasis in this episode is upon both the necessity and the simpleness of the way of the Lord Jesus. Ironically, in Moses' time many perished anyway. The promise for the future is as follows: 'And as many as should look upon that serpent should live, even so as many as should look upon the Son of God with faith, having a contrite spirit, might live, even unto that life which is eternal.' (Helaman 8:15. See also 1 Nephi 17:41; Alma 37:46.)
"Thus, now we have the verified and amplified analogy, thanks to the precious and plain things given to us in 'these last records.'
"The whole episode points toward the need to look upon Jesus Christ as our Lord, likewise a simple but unwaivable requirement. How plain and precious in any age! Yet believing in Jesus is sometimes regarded as foolishness. One can imagine the scoffing comments of some in Moses' time concerning the illogicality and foolishness of looking upon a brass pole in order to be healed and saved." (Plain and Precious Things, pp. 21-2)