ILLUSTRATING THE GOSPEL

“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" (John 3:14-15 NKJV).

Here is this passage, the Lord Jesus is illustrating the Gospel in simplicity by using the example of Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness to stop the death plague that had come upon the people. Thus we want to note the curse for the cross, the command for the cross, and the cure in the cross.

The curse for the cross - The corrupt conduct of the Israelites brought a curse on the people. So “the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people” (Num. 21:6). In a similar manner sin brings pain and sorrow. It corrupts, pollutes, and defiles. Not only that, but sin brings death (Rom. 6:23). And like the Israelites looking at the serpent on the pole, sin can only be remedied by the cross.

The command for the cross - The corruption of the people along with the curse brought a need for the pole and serpent. “The Lord said to Moses, make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole” (Num. 21:8). The pole with the serpent upon it was set up in the camp of the Israelites where all could see it. This was not man’s idea, this was God’s idea. Further, there was only one pole and serpent. This means that there is only one way of salvation, and it is through Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12). The serpent on the pole pictures the curse Christ took upon Himself to provide for our salvation.

The cure in the cross – “Everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live” (Num. 21:8). The focus was on the serpent. Life came to those who looked in faith upon the serpent on the pole. The serpent on the pole, like Christ on the cross is the cure for sin. He is the focus in the Gospel. Eternal life comes to those who look to the Christ of the cross to save them (John 3:15).

(Adapted from Butler Daily Bible Reading)

Soli Deo Gloria (To God Alone Be The Glory)

Quotation of the Week

“Nothing speaks more clearly of God’s love than the cross!”

Anonymous

Word Study

Lifted up

In John 3:14 we read, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up” (NKJV).

Lifted up is the Greek word hupsoō (ὑψόω = hoop-so'-o). It means to exalt, to raise high, to elevate. In Classical Greek hupsoō means to exalt or raise high. In the Septuagint hupsoō is used to refer to the exaltations of the righteous, the exaltation of God, and self-exaltation. In the New Testament hupsoō carries both a literal and a figurative meaning. Figuratively, it is used for the most part in statements condemning human pride (Matt. 11:23), as well as in statements contrasting human pride with God’s exaltation of the humble individual. Literally, hupsoō is used here in John’s Gospel as a prophetic reference to the Crucifixion of the Lord Jesus.

In speaking about Moses lifting up the brazen serpent, the Lord Jesus was making a reference to His own lifting up and its consequent effect of granting eternal life to men (John 3:14). In His being physically lifted up, the Lord Jesus was also humiliated because the lifting took place in His execution as a criminal. Yet that very same humiliation produces eternal life for those who will look to Him, just as those in the wilderness lived who looked to the brazen serpent; they escaped the fiery serpents.

Prophecies Fulfilled by Jesus

Old Testament Prophecy – Messiah would be spat upon, smitten and scourged (Isaiah 50:6, 53:5)

New Testament Fulfillment – Matt. 27:26, 30

Bible Facts

The Bible cautions against consuming fat (Lev. 7:23). Only in recent decades has the medical community determined that fat clogs arteries and contributes to heart disease.

Bible Quiz

The chief priests and Pharisees tried to prevent the disciples from stealing Jesus’ body. According to Matthew how did they “made the sepulchre sure?”

**Answer to last week’s trivia: In the parable of the tenants, what did the tenants do to the vineyard owner’s son? They killed him (Mark 12:6-8).

That’s in the Bible

"Greater love hath no man”

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13 KJV).

“Greater love hath no man” - The expression “greater love hath no man” refers to the greatest sacrifice a person can make for another. No man can carry his love for another farther than this - when he gives up his life, he gives up all that he has. In the sphere of redemption Jesus did just that. He died for his friends. We may not have to die for someone, but we can practice sacrificial love in many other ways: listening, helping, encouraging, giving. Some people will be difficult to love, but we are still commanded to love our fellow believers.

Did You Know - Christian History

Friedrich August Gottreu Tholuck was born March 30, 1799 in Breslau, Prussia (now Poland). He was a German Protestant theologian and church leader. His father was a goldsmith and so Friedrich was expected to follow in his footsteps.

However, Friedrich was meant for the life of a scholar; by the time he was sixteen years old, he was well on his way to mastering nineteen languages. Although skeptical and claiming to find Islam more attractive than Christianity, Friedrich became a believer in Jesus after personal encounters with the vibrant Christianity of Schleiermacher, Neander. Appointed to teach at Halle, he faced opposition from fellow faculty members who were rationalists. But it was Friedrich’s warm Christian spirit that prevailed over their coldly analytical thought: the entire faculty became evangelical.

Friedrich’s love for Christ inspired him to make it his main aim to lead his students to personal faith in the Savior. His way of pressing home truth can be seen in his comment on Christ’s prayer on the cross, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Friedrich exclaimed, “How do these words on the Cross call to us, in God’s name, not to make light of sin!” He invited his students for meals and took long walks with them. Several became notable theologians in their own right; men such as the teacher-theologian Charles Hodge remembered him with respect.

Friedrich wrote several volumes of sermons and commentaries on Romans, the Gospel of John, the Sermon on the Mount and the Epistle to the Hebrews. The best-known may have been his commentary on the Gospel of John. As a preacher, Tholuck ranked among the foremost of his time. As a teacher, he showed remarkable sympathy and won great success. As a thinker he can hardly be said to have been endowed with great creative power. Friedrich died in 1877 Halle, Germany.

A Little Humor

A teacher asked the children in her Sunday School class, “If I sold my house and my car, had a big garage sale, and gave all my money to the church, would I get to heaven?” “NO!” the children all answered. “If I cleaned the church everyday, mowed the lawn, and kept everything neat and tidy, would I get to heaven?” again they answered “NO!” “Well,” she continued, “How then can I get to heaven?” In the back of the room, a five-year-old boy shouted, “You gotta be dead.”

Thought Provoking Church Sign

“Death is more universal than life; everyone dies but not everyone lives!”