“The Son Lifted Up”

Numbers 21.4-9

John 3.14-21

Pastor Tom Johnson, March 18, 2012

 

The Israelites are sick and tired of the Manna—the bread from heaven. To make matters worse, The Israelites accuse God and Moses of bringing the out of Egypt in order to kill them.

It is a frightful scene. God sends the serpents. People are being poisoned. People are dying. Venom has been injected into them—through the fangs of snakes. It’s a living nightmare. There is no where to hide. There is no where to run. Snakes are on a fiery pursuit. The perpetrators of poisonous words are now victims of poisonous fangs. They have brought suffering and death upon themselves. Sadly, Jesus compares the this ugly scene with the world we live in. We humans have a tragic love affair with darkness.

Turn on the radio, turn on the television, or read the newspaper. The world is filled with perpetrators and victims of darkness. And the line between those who promote evil and those who suffer evil is often difficult to draw. “The light has come into the world,” Jesus says, “and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.”

The astonishing truth is not that our world is full of darkness, evil, and death. This is dreadfully plain to see. The asstonishing truth is that that God still loves the world. In our Old Testament reading from Numbers, God tells Moses to put a bronze serpent on a pole and lift it up. You can see this on medical alert medalions, hospitals, doctors offices, and health organizations. It is also an image found in Greek mythology that represents medicine and healing—a single snake spiraling around a staff.

For the Israelites, it’s an image of what’s killing them. The image of a serpent represents their sinful condition which manifested itself in poisonous words. The image of the serpent represents death the poisonous snakes are causing. The image of the serpent also represents the “ancient serpent,” the devil, who deceived Adam and Eve in Paradise (Revelation 12:9). All these ideas are lifted up high on a tree limb for all to see—an image of sin, death, and the personfication of evil itself. God’s instructions are simple and clear. “Look at the serpent and you wil live.” Look at what I have lifted up. And trust that I have conquered what it represents.

God does not ask the Israelites to do good deeds. God asks them to look with the eyes of faith and live. All that is required is to believe the Word of God and look—to fix their eyes on God’s instrument of salvation—a bronze serpent lifted up high on a pole. Their salvation is free—they receive new life by grace through faith. The bronze serpent is 100% Good News.

Jesus tells us what this all means. It is a short and concise sermon on our Old Testament passage. He gives us a full explanation of this account of Moses, the bronze serpent, and God’s people. He tells us that it is a picture of the Gospel—a picture of what God has done for the whole world—a picture of salvation through Jesus Christ. He says, “as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.”

The bronze serpent lifted up on a pole is a foreshadowing of the cross. In his letter to the Galatians, Paul says, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’” (Galatians 3:13). Just as the bronze serpent healed the poisoned Israelites, so Christ heals the world poisoned by sin. Just as the bronze serpent diverted and absorbed death for the Israelites, so Jesus will divert and absorb death for the world. Just as the bronze serpent was raised in victory over the snakes, so our Lord defeated Satan on the Cross of Calvary for the world. All we need to do is believe in God’s Word—to trust in the Son of God—to look at the Cross of Christ with the eyes of faith. The Son has been lifted up for the world to see.

Every week at First Saint Paul’s we have a powerful reminder of this text. The cross bearer lifts up the standard high for the congregation to see. Our worship begins “as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,” He is lifted up in triumph over sin, death, and the personification of evil itself. We raise the banner of victory. And the message is simple. “Look at the Son and you will live.” “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”