John 3-4

Reading for Tuesday November 5, 2019
​John 3-4

John 3: 14-15
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:  That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

​Everyone knows John 3:16 but without the preceeding verses, there is no context and much of the message is lost.  The original writing did not have chapters and verses and paragraphs divided and subtitled.  God had Moses lift up a bronze serpent on a pole so that people who were bitten by a serpent were to look to the serpent on the pole and be healed.  There was no magic in this pole.  People were healed by God if they had the faith to look to the pole and trust in God.  The serpent is a sign of evil in The Bible, and in the case of the Israelites who had been bitten it was a sign of the exact evil that had befallen them.  The serpent on the pole bore their problem, and by being obedient to God's instructions and trusting (or believing) that they would be healed, they would be healed.  They would live.  Jesus, like the bronze serpent, would be lifted up on a pole, or cross, and the iniquities of man would be borne upon Him.  In order that we not die from our sins, we look to Jesus on the cross in obedience to God, and with trust (or belief) that we will be cleansed of sin through Him.  We will live.