Lifting Up Jesus

As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. (John 3:14-15)

I keep thinking about this lifting up activity. What really gets my attention is the fact that in the first case it was a special man of God who lifted up the serpent on the pole but in the last case it was only violent sinners who hated Jesus who lifted Him up on the cross. This juxtaposition seems to raise a lot of questions as to what is really involved in this idea of lifting up Jesus in order for Him to draw all unto Himself.

Most Christians tend to assume that the phrase “lifting up Jesus” means to talk about Him and His life and their suppositions about salvation and religion. I am not wanting to argue with those suppositions though they do make me wonder sometimes how truly relevant some of them are to what Jesus intended to convey here. But what does interest me more at this point is what might be implied by the fact that the people who in fact did lift up Jesus were the last ones we might expect to have motives of wanting to further Jesus' ministry on this earth. The very ones that ended up fulfilling these words of Jesus to Nicodemus and became the agents of helping God to reveal His astounding love to the whole universe were the same people who were the most opposed to doing just that.

It is sad that it is so often the religious people of this world that do the most to obscure the truth about religion and salvation. It is not so much that they set out originally to figure out ways to distort truth and manufacture lies about God. It is just that over time they allow pride and selfishness and resistance to revelations about God that contradict their preconceived opinions to shape their choices and activities to the point where they become enemies of God without ever realizing that is what they have become. While still believing and insisting that they are God's true representatives on earth they actually become agents and channels of His arch-rival, Satan.

And yet through all of this God still accomplishes His purposes even through those who end up working the hardest against them. This is part of God's amazing ability to use anything, good or bad, to work out eventually for the good of those who love Him and are called by Him. (Romans 8:28) All are called by God to embrace and be changed by His love, but not all allow that love to transform their heart and have His love reflected back to Him. But those who choose to love Him in response to His revelations of love to them come into the position where He can work all things together for their good.

But what about these people who clearly were not in that position but were still utilized by God to be the agents most directly involved in revealing the truth about Him to the world? How is it that the children of Abraham who hated Jesus the most along with the pagan authorities opposed to God became the counterparts of Moses in helping to lift up Jesus to the world? And when we today claim to lift up Jesus so that all might be attracted to Him, which group do we think we identify with the most – the example of Moses lifting up the serpent or the example of violent protagonists trying to destroy the One who came to demonstrate God's passionate love for mankind?

I really doubt that very many people believe they want to be associated with the reputation of the priests, rulers and Romans who crucified Jesus. Most Christians especially would much prefer to be seen as followers of Moses in exercising compassion and concern by following the instructions of God in order to provide relief and salvation to the suffering and dying around them. But remember that the priests, rulers and elders who had Jesus crucified felt even more strongly than we do and that they were more likely to be identified with Moses than most people today believe in him. These were the people who knew the writings of Moses backwards and forwards and had dedicated much of their life to obeying and explaining the teachings of Moses. Yet their immersion in religion and their knowledge of all the truths presented in the writings of Moses had little effect in helping them to see the truth about Jesus as the Son of God when He spoke to them directly.

I believe there is far more danger than most of us ever realize in being steeped in knowledge about religion. I am not implying that anyone should be willingly ignorant of religion and spiritual things, but having a knowledge of truth is clearly not an antidote to avoiding sin or a misunderstanding of God. Our condition today is so close to the condition of those in Jesus day that it would do us well to seek God to convict us by His Spirit to perceive how we may be more like those who crucified Jesus than the prophet who cooperated with God in the healing of ancient Israel.

But I still ponder this strange idea that the very thing needed to display the truth about Jesus and about God most clearly to the world was accomplished through the assistance of the ones most opposed to that very revelation. Now that I think of it, it is even more bizarre than that. God actually set up circumstances whereby His own worst enemy, Satan himself was used to accomplish the purposes of God in breaking open the container that contained the sweet perfume of heaven for all the universe to inhale. Ironically it was not those who understood the truth about God the most like Moses who provided this service for Him but it was the whole array of wicked powers both in the supernatural realm and on the human level who worked together to expose the very essence of life that they were so dedicated to obscuring.

As I think about these things I begin to wonder if I am not looking at a choice God is offering me. Maybe I can choose which way I am going to lift up Jesus. Sometimes I may inadvertently lift up Jesus by my own sinful choices that expose not only the ugliness of my own sinful nature but the incredible grace, forgiveness and mercy of God. But I could also choose to cooperate with God like Moses in lifting up Jesus in different ways that will enable others to more clearly see the real truth about God and become receivers of the life that always flows from such exposure.

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live." And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived. (Numbers 21:8-9)

As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:14-16)