The Church of God claims that Joshua's statement that the Son of Man should be lifted up as the brass serpent was lifted up was a prophecy Joshua made in advance, knowing that he would be crucified, but this is incorrect. In the time of Moses, the Israelites who had been freed from Egypt were bitten by fiery serpents in the wilderness while blaming God, and to save them, God told Moses to make a brass serpent and hang it on a pole.

[Numbers 21:5~9] they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!" Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, "We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us." So Moses prayed for the people. The LORD said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live." So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived.

Thus, the Israelites, who had been bitten by fiery serpents and were about to die, lived to see the brass serpent on the pole, which later became an idol and was set up in God's temple.

[2 Kings 18:4] He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan.)

The Church of God interprets the history of the brass serpent being set up and worshipped in the temple as a prophecy that churches today will worship the cross. They do this because they interpret the statement that the Son of Man must be lifted up as Moses lifted up the brass serpent in the wilderness as a prophecy of his fate on the cross. However, this is a misinterpretation of Yehoshua's words. Before Yehoshua spoke of the brass serpent, he made the following statement.

Yehoshua said, "No one has ascended to heaven except the Son of Man who came down from heaven," and that the Son of Man should be lifted up just as Moses lifted up the brass serpent in the wilderness. This is in reference to Yehoshua's ascension into heaven. Just as the brass serpent on earth was lifted up to heaven, so will Joshua be lifted up. When Joshua is lifted up to heaven, the Holy Spirit descends and the saints are saved.