Thursday, February 1, 2018
John 12:32-33 "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself." This He said, signifying by what death He would die.
LIFTED UP
Aren't we getting ahead of ourselves? We've not yet begun the Lenten Season and we're already looking past the cross? We look both back and forward.
We know that Jesus was nailed to the cross and lifted up on the hill called Calvary. We also know that he was lifted up from death and exalted. He ascended victoriously to heaven where he sits at the right hand of God, in the highest position of honor and authority.
Yet, even as we see Him lifted up, we can't help but look back to the wilderness near Mount Hor. It was there that God's rescued people of Israel complained against God, accusing Him of desiring to bring evil upon them. So the Lord allowed serpents to bite His wayward and thankless people and some died (Numbers 21:1-6). Others were moved to repentance.
God then commanded Moses to make a fiery serpent and lift it up on a pole. He promised that those who looking upon that sight (believing the promise) would not die. Thus did Moses lift up the bronze serpent over a dying camp of Israelites and by God's grace they were saved from and despite their sin.
Likewise, God allowed His one and only Son to be nailed to and lifted upon a cross for a dying world of sinners. He promised and still promises that those who see the Son and believe on Him will not perish everlastingly, but will have eternal life.
Thus today we point people to the cross of Christ, so that seeing-- and by the work of the Spirit in their hearts, believing-- they may be drawn to Him and rescued. When we hear Jesus speak of His being lifted up, we can't help but remember the familiar words of John's Gospel, so let's also take these words with us today (John 3:14-16): "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
