JESUS LIFTED UP
Jesus said, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw
all men unto Me." (John 12:32) The very next verse tells us that this spoke
of His physical death through crucifixion. This posed a question for His
hearers, who said they were taught "Christ abides forever ... [so how can
you say] The Son of man must be lifted up? [crucified] Who is this Son
of man?" (John 12:34) We know, by looking back, and having His Word to teach
us, that His being lifted up represents His taking our place of punishment for
sin. In all this, the word "draw" (which I underlined above) sticks out as the
key word or purpose for His coming. "For the Son of man is come to save that
which was lost." (Matt. 18:11) His being lifted up reveals God's love for
us, as Jesus became a sacrifice for our sins, when God sent Him to reconcile us
to Himself: "For He has made Him to be sin for us, Who knew no sin;
that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Cor.
5:21) Jesus did this in obedience to His Father, for our sake, because
"Christ also has loved us, and has given Himself for us an offering and a
sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour." (Eph. 5:2) This is an offering
which is acceptable to God (as is clearly defined in Hebrews 10). Through the
process of adoption, He has changed our position with God. We, as sinners, were
separated from God, and by the restoration work of Jesus Christ, we have been
"returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of [our] souls." (1 Pet. 2:25)
This was done "according to the good pleasure of His will, To the praise of
the glory of His grace, wherein He has made us accepted in the beloved.
In Whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins,
according to the riches of His grace...." (Eph. 1:5-7) When we truly
have faith in Him to "draw all men" unto Himself, we will preach and
teach with that confidence.
In my limited way I attempt to point out that "Jesus Lifted Up" is first and
foremost dealing with His physically being crucified. Furthermore, the word
"lost" refers to those who were ready to perish or be destroyed, not just
"missing." They (we) were in a position of being devoured, and God sent His Son
to save us all. The word "save" means to "deliver, protect, heal, and make
whole." It would be of great benefit to do a word search on all of these
definitions. Abraham going after Lot (on more than one occasion) and rescuing
him, would be a good example. Lot was hopelessly bound by forces around him.
What I find to be troublesome is how often issues are "lifted up."
When our focus is on things of this world we lose sight of Jesus. When Jesus is
"lifted up" in our view, we see all things through Him as we deal with the
issues. Most issues are good things, but they can take center-stage in our
thinking. In all these subjects that I reflect upon, I am careful to always
point to Jesus as our hope and comfort. This has been the ongoing theme of all
that I have written. Having just received some words of confirmation, I plan to
set up a web site, which will be called, "Jesus Lifted Up" by "just plain Joe."
Too often, so-called "ministries" are the focus, drawing attention to
themselves, rather than to Jesus. It may not be intentional, yet Paul warns
concerning himself and others, men tend to be followers of men: "For while
one says, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are you not yet carnal?"
(1 Cor. 3:4)
I have been troubled over a conflict that I had with a brother in Christ
which concerned Paul's thorn in the flesh. It wasn't until this week that
another brother showed me the subtle hook that has snagged my first friend. In
2 Corinthians 12:1-12, Paul wrote of God's grace being sufficient for his
weakness. He spoke of the visions and revelations of the Lord and went on to
clarify why he was given this thorn in the flesh: "lest any man should think
of me above that which he sees me to be, or that he hears of me. And lest I
should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations
[given to him], there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of
Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure."
(2 Cor. 12:6-7) This passage is widely accepted to mean that God gave
this to Paul to protect him against pride, or exaltation in men's eyes. I
believe this is what it does clearly mean. The conflict I had with my friend
comes from a bizarre theory that it is Satan who does not want Paul's ministry
to be exalted (and God, who gave Paul the abundance of revelations, does want it
exalted). The hook that I now see is in my friend, comes from the thinking that
he was taught, that "his ministry" should be lifted up. I only this week
learned this through the second friend. I tell of this conflict only because it
is relevant to the focus problem we are all prone to. There is only one
ministry, which is the Lord's, and of which we are all a part; it is called "the
Ministry of Reconciliation!" When we focus on "my ministry" we bring Christ
down, and elevate ourselves.
"Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things
of earth will grow strangely dim, in the Light of His Glory and Grace," is how
the hymn of old clearly teaches us to walk through the maze of attractions that
seek to lure our hearts. With our eyes "Looking unto Jesus the Author and
Finisher of our faith," (Heb. 12:2) we have the assurance of God that comes
from His Spirit. The righteousness of faith which is imparted to us by His
Grace, tells us clearly that the Lord our Righteousness is sufficient. "The
word is nigh thee, even in your mouth, and in your heart: that is, the word of
faith which we preach; That if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus,
and shall believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead,
you shall be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness;
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." (Rom. 10:8-10) When
Jesus spoke about His being lifted up, He said to those who would not confess
(acknowledge or testify of their belief in) Him: "He that believes on Me,
believes not on Me, but on Him that sent Me." (John 12:44) Scripture says
about His rejection: "Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed
on Him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should
be put out of the synagogue: For they loved the praise of men more than the
praise of God." (John 12:42-43) This is the typical case of men being
exalted more highly than God, when we look to men for acceptance.
The word "exalted" is the same as "lifted up," and with this understanding
we need to learn to approach all things, whether they be words or deeds: the
things of God are great, and we are called to do them; but God is greater,
and when we lose sight of this, we end up exalting the things of God! A long
time ago I learned a test of the spirits: "Does what you hear or see lead you to
depend upon the Lord, or yourself, or another?" If it is anything other than
Jesus Christ, it is false! It may be a good-sounding argument, but it if it
places the emphasis on anyone other than Him Who bore our burdens, it is leading
us away from the security that is in Christ. As we
look to Him and remain in Him, we are safe from all predators that would draw
us away from God.
We can never get enough of John 3:16. It's not just the verse, but all
around it, before and after the verse: the riches of our God continue to bless
us. Jesus talked to Nicodemus, who should have understood the things He was
saying about being born again. I should, too: I was dead in my trespasses and
sins, lost, destined to doom, and am now found, saved by Grace, made whole and
alive unto God. Again, Jesus spoke of His being "lifted up: That whosoever
believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so
loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in
Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His
Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be
saved." (John 3:14-17) The word "perish" comes from the same root word as
"lost," meaning "destined for destruction" because of sin. Jesus being lifted up
"saved" or delivered them from that destruction. "Neither is there salvation
in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby
we must be saved." (Acts 4:12) Please keep in mind that just as He spoke of
so loving the world, that God gave His Son to save it, so God desires to
"have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For
there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man
Christ Jesus; Who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due
time." (1 Tim. 2:4-6) This is The Great Commission to those who are
reconciled by Christ: "Go and Reconcile!"
Back to John 3: "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of man be lifted up." (John 3:14) This "type," or
example, of Christ, is from something that happened with a prophetic eye toward
the fulfillment of a greater need than that of the Hebrews, in Moses' day.
Jesus "was counted worthy of more glory than Moses" (Heb. 3:3) and
greater than Solomon, Jonah, John the Baptist, Abraham, and the temple (to name
a few). Things done in the Old Testament were "a shadow" of what was to come.
These "first principles of the oracles of God" are the "principles of
the doctrine of Christ." (Heb. 5:12 &6:1) By definition it means something
orderly in appearance. Jesus tells us that His being lifted up can be
understood by the example of Moses lifting up the serpent of brass. During that
time of Moses, Israel had to go south to avoid Edom, which had refused to give
Israel passage. King Arad the Canaanite fought against them, "And the
Lord hearkened unto the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites; and
they utterly destroyed them and their cities.... And [the Israelites were]
much discouraged because of the way. And the people spoke against God,
and against Moses.... And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people,
and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. Therefore the people
came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the
Lord, and against you; pray unto the Lord, that He take away the serpents from
us. And Moses prayed for the people." (Numbers 21: 3-7) Moses, a type of
Christ, interceded (prayed) on their behalf, seeking God to forgive them for
their sins, that caused the death of many. "And the Lord said unto Moses,
Make ... a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to
pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looks upon it, shall live.
And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass,
that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of
brass, he lived." (Numbers 21:8-9) These sinners were destined to perish by
the biting of the fiery serpents God sent among the people, yet God
delivered them from the consequences of their actions, when they obeyed Him, and
"looked upon" the provision of God. This provision was the only thing that
could save them! They did recognize the error of their ways, but apart from the
intercession of Moses, they would have perished. Totally without resources, no
substitutions allowed, by faith in what God could do, they "beheld," or "looked
upon," the serpent of brass that was put upon a pole. It sounds a bit foolish,
but then again, the Scriptures tell us that "the preaching of the cross is to
them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of
God.... It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe.... Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men." (1 Cor. 1:18,
21, 25)
The cross, represented by the pole, was made valuable by what was placed upon
it. If I substitute anything other than what God has provided, I reject the only
means by which I must be saved. So "I do not frustrate [reject, make
void] the Grace of God," (Gal. 2:21) lest by my own (deceptive) choice, I
make "the cross of Christ ... of none effect." (1 Cor. 1:17) When we look
upon Jesus, we need to see through the eyes of our understanding just what it is
that He has accomplished for us. It is written, He was "despised and
rejected of men; ... and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised,
and we esteemed [appreciated] Him not.... We did esteem Him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted.... Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.... He shall see of the travail of His
soul, and shall be satisfied: by His knowledge shall My righteous servant
justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities.... And He was numbered with
the transgressors; and He bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the
transgressors." (Isaiah 53: 3, 4,10-12)
Not only did God not turn His back on Jesus on the cross, as alleged
by some, but God saw the travail of His soul! In the Book of Acts, we see
that it was God that raised up Jesus from the dead; but before He went to the
cross, Jesus "committed Himself to Him that judges righteously." (1 Pet.
2: 23) David wrote of the Messiah, as quoted in Acts (2: 23-27) by Peter, who
preached to the people about Jesus: "being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God,... Whom God has raised up, having loosed the
pains of death: because it was not possible that He should be holden of it. For
David speaks concerning Him, I foresaw the Lord always before My face, for He is
on my right hand, that I should not be moved: Therefore did My heart rejoice,
and My tongue was glad; moreover also My flesh shall rest in hope: Because You
will not leave My soul in hell, neither will You suffer Your Holy One to see
corruption." "He [David] seeing this before spake of the resurrection of
Christ, that His soul was not left in hell, neither His flesh did see
corruption." (Acts 2:31) This corruption is speaking of the decay of a
physical body which is dead and buried (like David's, in verse 29).
God did not forsake or abandon Jesus on the cross, He sent Him there!
My sin was placed upon Him, and He took the punishment that I deserved. "He
[God] shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied."
(Isaiah 53:11) What was He satisfied with? The Holy offering for sin that
satisfied the judgment that was against us! Any other confidence is a deception
that causes us to forsake Him. Though Jesus felt forsaken when our sin was
placed upon Him, God did not forsake Him. If it were true that God forsook Him,
how then could we believe the Scripture that declares: "I will never leave
you, nor forsake you." (Heb. 13:5)
Please think on these things, and pray about them.
with much love, Joe (with
Mercy)