Ephrem the Syrian

The serpent struck Adam in paradise and killed him. [It also struck] Israel in the camp and annihilated them. “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, the Son of Man will be lifted up.” Just as those who looked with bodily eyes at the sign which Moses fastened on the cross lived bodily, so too those who look with spiritual eyes at the body of the Messiah nailed and suspended on the cross and believe in him will live [spiritually]. Thus it was revealed through this brazen [serpent], which by nature cannot suffer, that he who was to suffer on the cross is one who by nature cannot die.