And as Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted
up: that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish but have eternal
life (John 3:14,15 KJV)
The evangelist John Wesley once spoke of grumblers
as ‘tearing the flesh from my bones.’
Christ’s words here were a reference back to Numbers chapter 21, in
which the ever-grumbling Israelites – on their way to the Promised Land – came
under the divine judgment of venomous snakes. Forgiveness and restoration were
only provided by the Lord Himself, through the raising up by Moses of a copper
serpent in the camp. Those who in faith fixed their gaze upon the serpent would
be saved from death.
This seemingly obscure episode, taking up only four
verses of the Scriptures, might have been forgotten across posterity, but for
Jesus’ application of the event to the ‘lifting up’ of Himself in saving power
when He was to die upon the Cross.
1. The Death
principle is here. Remember
that it was the Serpent, Satan, that introduced death into our human
story. Jesus now draws the
parallel between the death from serpent-bite that faced those Israelites of old
and the eternal death that all humanity faces as a result of our common
rebellion against God’s rule.
2. The Faith
principle is here. The remedy for the people’s sin was the uplifted bronze
snake. To fasten one’s gaze upon that snake was to be exercising obedient
faith. Now Jesus equates the ‘seeing’ of the snake to believing in Himself. “Lifted up was He to die’ runs the old hymn.
There on the Cross, the Lord was suspended between earth and heaven – there to be rejected by both. At that
point – in the acceptance in Himself of our sins and their just penalty - He
was the loneliest Person in the universe.
3. The
Salvation principle. Just as life would be given to those who set their
focused gaze upon the serpent of old, so today forgiveness and eternal life are
freely given to ‘Whosoever’ will trust in Christ’s atoning sacrifice.
The famous seventeenth century Puritan leader
Richard Baxter once commented, "I thank
God for this word ‘Whosoever.’ If
it read, “There is mercy for Richard Baxter,” I am so vile, so sinful, that I would have thought it must have
meant some other Richard Baxter; but this word ‘Whosoever’ includes the worst
of all the Baxters that ever lived!"
--ooOoo--
