Tag Archives: Salvation

Day 28: Lifted Up

John 3:14-16 : “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. For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

Here, Jesus predicts His death on the cross. He also provides us with a story that explains the reason for His death. The story takes place after the the first Passover when God delivers Israel from slavery. As they are moving toward the promised land this happens:

Numbers 21:4-9 : They traveled from Mount Hor by the way to the Red Sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. The people spoke against God, and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, and there is no water; and our soul loathes this light bread.” Yahweh sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many people of Israel died. The people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against Yahweh, and against you. Pray to Yahweh, that he take away the serpents from us.” Moses prayed for the people. Yahweh said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard: and it shall happen, that everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” Moses made a serpent of brass, and set it on the standard: and it happened, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked to the serpent of brass, he lived.

Jesus said that He is like the serpent. This is a pretty bad thing to say. The serpent usually represents Satan:

Revelation 20:2 : …the dragon, the old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole inhabited earth…

Not only this, Jesus said that He would be “lifted up” on a pole. Now, this is a horrible thing to say also. Listen to what the Bible says about people that are lifted up on poles:

Deuteronomy 21:22-23a : If a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be put to death, and you hang him on a tree; his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him the same day; for he who is hanged is accursed of God;

Jesus is saying that the people have, like Israel, sinned against God and God sent Him specifically to become like a serpent hanging on a pole, that whosoever believes, will be saved from the death that they deserve. You see, our sinning against God is worthy of death too, just as it was for Israel. Jesus was made into evil, like Satan, and hung on a pole. It satisfied God’s justice to see that our sin was paid for by this evil that was cursed.

Isaiah 53:10a : Yet it pleased Yahweh to bruise him. He has caused him to suffer.

Jesus is better than the serpent in the desert and our sin is worse than Israel because eternity is involved. Jesus is the everlasting God, and our sin is worthy of eternal punishment in Hell. If you look to Jesus to save you, you will not die eternally, but have eternal life. This is the glorious gift of life that has been offered to us by God. This is the Gift that changed everything for those of us who have believed.

Galatians 3:13,14 : Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree,” that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Christ Jesus; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

2 Corinthians 9:15 : Now thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift!

Day 27
Day 29

Day 20: A True Believer

John 1:43-51 : On the next day, he was determined to go out into Galilee, and he found Philip. Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, of the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael, and said to him, “We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, wrote: Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Nathanael said to him, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and said about him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!” Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are King of Israel!” Jesus answered him, “Because I told you, ‘I saw you underneath the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these!” He said to him, “Most certainly, I tell you, hereafter you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

Now we can see a pattern. Jesus finds Philip and asks him to follow. Philip, like Andrew, finds someone else. Clearly, Jesus expects this pattern to happen. This shows us how evangelism can work naturally. People talk to each other and bring each other to the truth. Each person has a part in what God is doing. Nathanael was sceptical. Evidently, Nazareth didn’t have a good reputation as a town. Jesus appears to have agreed with his assessment.

Jesus appreciated Philip’s care regarding the truth. He was pretty direct in his approach to questioning Jesus’ validity. I think this is appropriate. I’m not to be shocked if you question me as I write this blog. You need to be careful. I am claiming to tell the truth and it will have big implications if you believe something that isn’t true. It is important that you check out what I say for yourself by studying the Bible on your own. I know that I have made mistakes before so you do need to take what I say with care. You can, however, rely on what God says. Take what He says instead of anything that I may say that is different.

Jesus, however, is God and He was only going to tell the truth without any mistakes. So it was easy to respond when Nathanael questioned Him. In fact, Jesus told him things that he had recently been doing. I have no idea what Nathanael was doing under the fig tree, but it caused him to believe that Jesus was the Son of God.

After questioning, Nathanael believed and Jesus told him that he would be there when Jesus was glorified. Basically, Jesus told him that he would see Heaven. This is the pattern for our salvation. If we believe that Jesus is the Son of God and our savior, we will also be with Him in Heaven. If you read through the Gospels, you will see how rare it was to find a Jew as faithful as Nathanael. What an amazing thing to be praised by the Son of God; to be told, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!“

We should also be discerning. We should also not just accept what people say without being critical and verifying that they are telling the truth. Mere men will get angry if we challenge what they say, but people who are like Jesus will be happy and expect you to be very, very careful about the truth in a world full of lies.

Day 19
Day 21