Hopefully, this is only a joke. Even so, it’s ridiculously poor taste. But the Dean of the School of Theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary has found a way to equate taking the COVID-19 vaccine with the salvation of Christ.

Of course, what he’s referring to in this tweet is Moses, who, in the wilderness, received a command from God to fashion a bronze serpent to heal people from the onslaught of bites from the venomous snakes that were sent by God as a punishment for their sins.

And the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live. — Numbers 21:8-9

The brass serpent was, as affirmed in by Jesus in John 3:14, was theological foreshadowing of Christ himself who would also be raised up and gazed upon for the forgiveness of sins.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, –John 3:14