Tuesday, February 12, 2013
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
THE SOLUTION OF THE CROSS
In the account of the Israelites and the bronze serpent (Numbers 21) we see that the cross provided a solution for the people. Despite the poison that was coursing through their veins, when they looked to the bronze serpent they lived. It was a simple as that. This was the one way out that the Lord gave them from their predicament. It was not possible to have an antitoxin. There was not going to be an ambulance. There were no medications. You couldn't suck the poison out of the wound. The Lord's instructions were very clear and effective.
But what about the people who didn't look to what was lifted up for them? They died. You might say that they died of a snakebite, but in reality couldn't we say that they died of unbelief? The Lord had given them salvation and a cure, but many ended up rejecting it. Some might have thought that Moses was off of his rocker while he was constructing that serpent. They might have wanted some different kind of solution. But the Lord's solution was perfect and effective.
Some say that salvation by grace through faith is foolish and seems way too easy. Believe in Jesus and your sins are forgiven? Yet this is the way of redemption that God figured out and put into place. There will be those who have Jesus right in front of them as did the children of Israel with the bronze serpent, but in stubborn unbelief they will not look upon God's solution for sin, and they will perish.
Here again the correlation to the solution that God provided for the sin of mankind is very precise. Each person has sin coursing through his or her veins. There is no other solution for this fatal disease. No pill. No therapy. Nothing. The Lord, however, provided the perfect solution in lifting up His Son on the cross that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:15).
