DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- LIFTED UP
" 'And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.' " (John 12:32)
Many times this verse is quoted with the meaning in the Gospel sense of magnifying or proclaiming Jesus as the Savior. But the Jews who heard this saying heard something entirely different. They understood that Jesus was talking about His coming crucifixion. Being lifted up meant to be hung on a cross.
John explained it in verse 33: "This He said, signifying by what death He would die."
In another place, Jesus used this picture to foretell His coming crucifixion. He said, "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" (John 3:14-15). This is referring back to the time when God sent serpents to punish the Israelites in the wilderness because they rebelled against God and against Moses. God instructed Moses to make a bronze serpent and put it on a pole. Anyone who looked at this bronze serpent on a pole would be healed (Numbers 21:8-9).
Here is the picture. The serpent represented the sin and judgment of the Israelites. Jesus was lifted up and put on the cross as the bearer of our sin and the judgment on sin – which is death. Anyone who looks to Him as their substitute Who took their sins will be healed or saved.
Without the cross, there would be no salvation possible. God said that anyone that would be hung on a tree would be cursed (Deuteronomy 21:23; Galatians 3:13). Jesus took the curse of the law and of sin and death in His own body when He died on the cross, and through our faith in His sacrifice, we are saved.
Hallelujah for the Cross!!! Through that humiliating, excruciatingly painful, cursed death, and resurrection, we have eternal life. He was lifted up on the cross for me. Again, I say, Hallelujah for the Cross.
Love, Dad
" 'And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.' " (John 12:32)
Many times this verse is quoted with the meaning in the Gospel sense of magnifying or proclaiming Jesus as the Savior. But the Jews who heard this saying heard something entirely different. They understood that Jesus was talking about His coming crucifixion. Being lifted up meant to be hung on a cross.
John explained it in verse 33: "This He said, signifying by what death He would die."
In another place, Jesus used this picture to foretell His coming crucifixion. He said, "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" (John 3:14-15). This is referring back to the time when God sent serpents to punish the Israelites in the wilderness because they rebelled against God and against Moses. God instructed Moses to make a bronze serpent and put it on a pole. Anyone who looked at this bronze serpent on a pole would be healed (Numbers 21:8-9).
Here is the picture. The serpent represented the sin and judgment of the Israelites. Jesus was lifted up and put on the cross as the bearer of our sin and the judgment on sin – which is death. Anyone who looks to Him as their substitute Who took their sins will be healed or saved.
Without the cross, there would be no salvation possible. God said that anyone that would be hung on a tree would be cursed (Deuteronomy 21:23; Galatians 3:13). Jesus took the curse of the law and of sin and death in His own body when He died on the cross, and through our faith in His sacrifice, we are saved.
Hallelujah for the Cross!!! Through that humiliating, excruciatingly painful, cursed death, and resurrection, we have eternal life. He was lifted up on the cross for me. Again, I say, Hallelujah for the Cross.
Love, Dad
No comments:
Post a Comment