And the LORD said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the LORD against the sun, that the fierce anger of the LORD may be turned away from Israel.
— Numbers 25:4 KJV

The Old Testament contains many types of Jesus’ finished work on the cross. One of them is hidden in the story of Phinehas piercing an Israelite with a javelin. When the Israelites were wandering in the wilderness and passing through the land of Moab, Balak, king of the Moabites, hired the prophet Balaam to curse the Israelites. He could not curse them, but he advised Balak how he could harm them by seducing them into worshipping other gods. Because of this a plague broke out among the Israelites, and the Lord said to Moses: “Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the LORD against the sun, that the fierce anger of the LORD may be turned away from Israel. And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baalpeor.” [Num.25:4-5]

Notice the difference between what the Lord said to Moses and what Moses said to the judges of Israel. The Lord did not say to kill the people who had sinned. The difference is that the Lord commanded the leaders, the representatives of the people, to be hanged. Why? Because this is God’s plan. His plan was for the people’s representative, Jesus, to be hanged on the cross to stop the wrath, so that people would no longer die. But Moses, the representative of the law, said to kill precisely the people who had sinned, because the letter kills. [2 Cor.3:6]

Moses could not stop the plague. And how can the law save a sinner, when its essence is justice, “get what you deserve”? But God, in the person of Phinehas, did what He had told Moses to do. “And indeed, one of the children of Israel came and presented to his brethren a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping at the door of the tabernacle of meeting.” Notice the place where this happened: at the door of the tabernacle of meeting, where the altar stands, a type of the cross. “Now when Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose from among the congregation and took a javelin in his hand; and he went after the man of Israel into the tent and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her body. So the plague was stopped among the children of Israel.” [Num.25:6-8]

The plague stopped when one Israelite was pierced. Death with all its manifestations — sickness, depression, divorce, poverty — was stopped when one Israelite, Jesus Christ, was pierced with a spear on the cross, redeeming us from the wrath and the curses of the law. “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’).” [Gal.3:13] That is why, after Isaiah chapter 53, which speaks of the sufferings of the Lamb of God, in Isaiah chapter 54 the Lord says: “For this is like the waters of Noah to Me; For as I have sworn That the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth, So have I sworn That I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you.” Thank You, Jesus, for taking all the wrath upon Yourself, so that we may abide forever in God’s joy.