Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Ash Wednesday
Galatians 3:13 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").
THE OBJECT ON THE CROSS
When the children of Israel were being bitten by serpents, they were told to look upon a bronze serpent on a pole. In what must have seemed a contradiction, they looked up and saw a replica of what was killing them. Here were these snakes vexing them, and they were told to look at a snake. Some might say that here is where the prophecy limps because in the fulfillment of the prophecy, Jesus is not what was killing us. He is the Son of God.
Let us consider two passages that will shed more light on this subject: 2 Corinthians 5:21, "He who knew no sin became sin for us," and Galatians 3:13, "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')."
Yes, we can say that on the cross is the fulfillment of the bronze serpent because Jesus became sin for us. He took upon Himself our guilt and sin. That's how the Father viewed Him, because otherwise why would He damn Him and punish Him for crimes that He did not commit? Know full well what you are looking at when you gaze upon the cross. You are not only looking at Jesus Christ, true God and true Man, you are looking at One who was cursed and being punished for sin.
But this is the Jesus that we worship for doing this work of redemption, for lowering Himself lower than the low. The Israelites kept that bronze serpent and ended up worshiping it for a time. They called it Nehushtan. For this reason it was destroyed hundreds of years later by King Hezekiah.
There is still the temptation to gaze upon pale imitations of Christ rather than the Savior Himself. We don't worship the cross, but the One that hung upon it. He is no object of idolatry, but the real deal, Jesus Christ Himself. Look to Christ and live.
